Modern Life Is Rubbish

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Modern Life Is Rubbish
Modern Life Is Rubbish cover
Studio album by Blur
Released 10 May 1993
Recorded 1992-early 1993
Genre Britpop
Length 58:57
Label Food
SBK Records
Producer Blur, Stephen Street, Steve Lovell, John Smith
Professional reviews
Blur chronology
Leisure
(1991)		 Modern Life Is Rubbish
(1993)		 Parklife
(1994)

Modern Life Is Rubbish is the second album by English alternative rock band Blur released on 10 May 1993 in the United Kingdom. It spun off several minor hit singles in the UK, including "For Tomorrow", "Chemical World" and "Sunday Sunday". The album was certified Gold in UK.

With Modern Life Is Rubbish, Blur incorporated more pop influences into their sound, causing the album to have a better reception than Leisure, their previous album. Modern Life Is Rubbish's perception as the first Britpop album[1] has aided its considerable growth in popularity since its release, highlighted by its recent placement at #6 on the NME's "100 Greatest British Albums Ever!" list.[2]

Contents

[edit] Recording history

After the success of Blur's previous album, Leisure, the band toured America to promote the album there, where it had not caught on yet. During their tour of America, however, Blur were increasingly disheartened with what they saw of the country, and on their return, formulated the idea of an album against American culture, called Blur vs. America.

However, their producer Stephen Street talked them out of the idea, pointing them instead towards recording an album influenced heavily by classic English pop groups such as The Beatles and The Kinks. Hearing this idea, the heads of their record label, Food, warned the band that the album was "commercial suicide".[3] The name of the album also was later changed to Modern Life Is Rubbish, reportedly taken from graffiti Albarn saw on London's Edgware Road.[4] This also seems to be a nod toward the 1960s modernism movement.

When the album was released, Albarn was rumoured to graffiti the album name with a spray paint can to reproduce the title in public places such as toilets in public houses and on walls to raise the profile of the new album.[5] Bassist Alex James said of the graffiti in a 2007 interview, "We got fined by Colchester Council for spraying the title on a wall. There's probably a frame around it now".

[edit] Track listing

All lyrics written by Albarn. All music by Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree.

[edit] UK release

  1. "For Tomorrow" – 4:19
  2. "Advert" – 3:45
  3. "Colin Zeal" – 3:16
  4. "Pressure on Julian" – 3:31
  5. "Star Shaped" – 3:26
  6. "Blue Jeans" – 3:54
  7. "Chemical World" – 4:02
    • "Intermission" – 2:29
  8. "Sunday Sunday" – 2:38
  9. "Oily Water" – 5:00
  10. "Miss America" – 5:34
  11. "Villa Rosie" – 3:55
  12. "Coping" – 3:24
  13. "Turn It Up" – 3:21
  14. "Resigned" – 5:14
    • "Commercial Break" – 0:55

[edit] US release

  1. "For Tomorrow" – 4:19
  2. "Advert" – 3:45
  3. "Colin Zeal" – 3:16
  4. "Pressure on Julian" – 3:31
  5. "Star Shaped" – 3:26
  6. "Blue Jeans" – 3:54
  7. "Chemical World" – 3:45
  8. "Intermission" – 2:29
  9. "Sunday Sunday" – 2:38
  10. "Oily Water" – 5:00
  11. "Miss America" – 5:34
  12. "Villa Rosie" – 3:55
  13. "Coping" – 3:24
  14. "Turn It Up" – 3:21
  15. "Pop Scene" – 3:14
  16. "Resigned" – 5:14
  17. "Commercial Break" – 0:55
  18. "When the Cows Come Home" - 3:47
  19. "Peach" - 3:56

[edit] Release notes

  • The U.S. release featured an altered track listing, with "Popscene" inserted between "Turn It Up" and "Resigned", and the bonus tracks "When the Cows Come Home" and "Peach". In early pressings, the demo version of "Chemical World" was mistakenly included in place of 'Chemical World (Reworked)', which was based on the original demo arrangement and rerecorded at SBK's insistence.
  • "Popscene", released as a single in the United Kingdom, was dropped from the UK release of the album, but later reinstated for the American and Japanese. It is now only available in the UK on the DVD version of Blur: The Best Of.
  • The album cover features a painting by Paul Gribble of a LNER Class A4 steam locomotive No. 22 Mallard. The engine is in post-war condition, circa 1947.
  • The tracks "Intermission" and "Commercial Break" were originally used at the beginning and end of Blur's early live performances as "Intro" and "Outro", respectively. The demo versions of both were included by Stephen Street without further editing.
  • "Oily Water" was recorded in 1991 with John Smith as producer, it was mixed by Stephen Street.

[edit] Media References

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stylus Magazine: The Rise and Fall of Britpop [1]
  2. ^ NME "100 Greatest British Albums Ever!" [2]
  3. ^ MTV show "Blurography", December 1996
  4. ^ BBC profile of Blur. [3]
  5. ^ As reported in a 1993 NME feature by journalist John Harris.
v • d • e
Blur
Damon Albarn · Graham Coxon · Alex James · Dave Rowntree
Albums
Leisure · Modern Life Is Rubbish · Parklife · The Great Escape · Blur · 13 · Think Tank
Compilations
Singles
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