24 February 2024

Some 30 years after BLUR kickstarted the Britpop era with the peerless Modern Life Is Rubbish and Parklife albums, all the key ingredients were intact: frontman Damon Albarn’s gift for writing stirring, melancholy hymns to the travails of modern existence, Graham Coxon’s angsty guitar wizardry, Alex James’s effortless sangfroid and showcase bass playing, and Dave Rowntree’s inventive, impeccable drumming.

To salute Blur’s status as one of the greatest and most culturally significant bands of modern times, MOJO has brought together its finest writing on the group, charting their mercurial journey from inebriated art-school noise-niks to chart-topping ’90s heroes and, today, 21st century music legends.

As our in-depth features and exclusive interviews reveal, along the way there have been plenty of dizzying highs – ‘winning’ the so-called Battle Of Britpop against Oasis with Country House in 1995, cracking the American charts with Song 2 in 1997 – and wretched lows – most notably a disastrous early tour of the US, after which Blur were almost dropped by their record label as sessions for Modern Life foundered.

You can purchase a copy and let it be sent to your home. Info HERE .

California here we come