Reviews (page 2 of 8)
Loved this
Have never really listened to more than a few of their tracks. Really fun album. Really creatively punky. Loved it.
I liked it very muchly
It's Blur innit. Not even listened to this record before, and surprise surprise, it's a solid one. Favourite tracks: For Tomorrow, Colin Zeal, Pressure on Julian, Chemical World, Oily Water, Villa Rosie.
Gorillaz was my intro to Damon Albarn's work, but I love me some Blur, and this album is no exception.
imaginative, blunt, animated and quintessentially british, this album is a staple of 1990s british pop. the air is cold and the atmosphere is murky and you really couldn't have it any other way. many songs in the album never feel afraid to be honest, damon almost venting about his conflicting emotions about himself and the world around him; predatory business practices, purpose, and a few cheeky inside jokes thrown in and you've got yourself an amazing and unique rock pop collection.
One of the albums that defined my teenage years. Was a perfect album celebrating a vanishing Englishness which was in equal parts nostalgic but also critical and punky. Think also the artwork sums up the colours in the record. It's autumnal sounding and slightly bleak. Coxon's guitar playing is always something to behold. There's an underlying darkness behind the 'pop'. Masterclass in songwriting and Albarn deserves to be held in the same regard as Bowie Full five stars. No questions.
This is probably my second favorite Blur album. It's very strong, start to finish. Has been on my playlist since the 90s and will continue to be. Great album.
I live this album. In fact I’m learning the guitar parts from it, rather slowly. I only properly got into Blur in the last decade or so - long after their peak which I was there for - and concluded this is their best album. For me there’s not a bad song in it (well, maybe one or two skippable ones) and it feels like it does what indie rock should. I think that’s the best way I can put it
Excellent
Das ist ein richtig gutes Album. Sehr kreativ, allein schon die Anfänge der Songs sind schon sehr hörenswert. Insgesamt würde das Album sehr dicht aufgenommen. An Instrumenten ist fast alles aufgeboten, die Lieder variabel in der Struktur, man hat nicht das Gefühl, es gibt ein zuviel. Das macht Spaß und man freut sich auf die Überraschungen. Dennoch sind es eingängige Pop Songs trotz anspruchsvoller Produktion. Und "Chemical World" ist wohl ein Test, ob die Lieder wirklich bis zum Ende gehört werden. Gelungen.
fun! but no everyone is a hit
Good stuff
GOD
¡Éste no lo conocía! ¡Qué pena! ¡Cuánto tiempo perdido!
Really good! Never thought to give these guys a listen before and I'm glad I did.
Transcendently beautiful
Mellow, quite lovely musically - very different from the Blur I'm used to (i.e., Song 2, which is a real headbanger)
The album that started Britpop. Basically sounds like a week in the life of your average Brit in 1993. Light-heartedly cynical at every turn and full of wry smiles and nods to the British way of life. Not to mention the work of a master songwriter and a genius guitarist, in Albarn and Coxon, beginning to find their feet as a creative force that would influence and lead the whole Britpop movement. And it's just a fantastic record from start to finish.
Schyssta låtar rakt igenom. Unikt och intressant utan att bli jobbigt. Vet inte vad mer jag kan säga men något mer än såhär kräver jag inte av en skiva.
I've listened to this album before, and my initial feeling upon seeing it on here was excitement. Nonetheless, I tried to listen to it with fresh ears. For Tomorrow is a standout song on this album. It really sounds like something that could've been released in the late 60's. This is a common trend throughout the album, with several of the songs having a similarly retro soundscape. Yet this album isn't so easily pinned down. There's retro, but there's also plenty of 90's style pop rock to enjoy. It's a dynamic album overall (a trait that is very important for me to truly enjoy an album). I guess the band faltered in popularity after their first album, so they really poured their soul into making something special with their sophomoric effort. It really shows. There's a lot of heart here.
Can’t be objective here. No apologies.
A perfect brit pop album that combined the links, the jam and XTC in a modern context with killer guitar.
Need to say more? Great.
Britpop! Hurra! Parklife är ju bland det bästa som hänt 90-talet. Älskar denna skiva från första sekund till sista. Chemical World är en pärla. Damon Albarns röst blir aldrig tråkig att lyssna på. La-la-la-la osv
Wow - It is interesting to think that this was released the year that Pablo Honey was. I can hear some "pre-The Bends" vibes here. Beautiful harmonies, great musicalization, and solid production. I had listened to some of these songs before but had not gone through the entire album. It is a fantastic work. No fillers. Great bridge between the "madchester" Blur and the "britpop" Blur. I love it.
an early masterpiece by a band who’ve lived there ever since
I finally listened to Blur last year, ran through their discography and this was my favorite!
Diverse, interesting tracklist. Fun to hear a song from "Baby Driver" on the set.
A contender
This is basically where it all started. The birthplace of what was to become the great, big battle of the 90’s British music scene. Blur are at times leaning noticeably closer to a rougher and more heavy guitar driven style on Modern Life Is Rubbish - and I’m all here for it. While songs like “For Tomorrow” and “Chemical World”, “Oily Water” stand out, there’s not a single bad track on this monster of a record. Parklife might be the quintessential Blur album. But this is their best.
i liked parklife by these guys and i like this album too :)
Me gusto el brit pop
Blur is everything I loved about alternative British music in the Eighties. This album doesn't disappoint.
well the score 1:0 in favor of damon albarn
Favourite blur album. Full of quality hook laden tunes. Love Blue Jeans
Brilliant, best Blur album by far. 5 / 5 stars.
Exceptional
Britpop bangers
Good. I've already been through this discography.
Brilliant, as both of its successors
This was a good listen. Probably the most uncomplicated, accessible album I have had. When I say uncomplicated, I definitely don't mean lyrics-wise. They are sharp and clever and the music is so catchy. Will listen again!
Love it
Really cool variation of songs. Loved it
Well this is one brilliant album but it’s definitely blurs most front loaded album as I love the whole run from for tomorrow to oily water then Miss America onwards is just a drop in quality. Blur overload their albums anyway this just gets a 5/5.
One of my all time favourites. Villa Rosie gets me every time.
My Favourite Blur Album and their best in my opinion. Others have better tracks or were more revered or sold more. From memory this one didn't fare too well at the time so it is nice to see it recognised
very cool
Best album of Blur? Blur is not in the same league as the Auteurs, Pulp or Suede.. but this album turns out to be just as strong as I remembered (it just needed a few extra spins and un-comparison with the Gun Club album from the day before) and it even does not include Popscene...
its fuking blur
Absolutely triumphant - They really were the best of Britpop
I own this album, on CD. Bought in the mid-90s I thought it was worth spending a week's allowance on. Having heard it now for the first time in 20+ years, I find myself humming For Tomorrow. For this, and almost this alone, I give the album five. I've got no problem acknowledging when my teenage musical self was "misguided", shall we say, but I just can't here. I came back to this thinking I'd find some egregious examples of crashy Britpop wank... But there isn't. There's just not. It obviously sets up britpop tropes, but each track seems to skirt around the edge of Britpop guff without succumbing. Astonishing. Albarn's vocals fits. Alex James' bass is tight. And the drumming from Dave Rowntree is stellar.
A prefect album from start to finish.
A fantastic album
I've loved Damon Albarn since I got into the Gorillaz in high school. I listened to Blur a decent amount then to try and "get more of that albarn sound" and honestly didn't like it much, or didn't feel like it stood out (gorillaz are WEIRD, Blur sounds exactly like an indie rock band). But yeah, Modern life is rubbish has a lot of really fresh fun songs. I think the pacing of the album is really great and I love albarn's voice so much.
Blur’s best album.
Neat Britpop album! No complaints, pretty strong all the way through.
Nice Blur album. Although the subjects of their songs tend to be relatable (if you're from the UK) and funny, it can sometimes feel like they do not have anything better to sing about.
a classic
Def in my top two Blur albums. Love it.
A great album. Every Song slaps - would listen to again
Just really enjoyed it.
Haven’t listened to it before, despite liking blue. A bit long but it’s worth.
I liked this one, I'll probably listen to it again.
Enjoyed this one
Good. I should listen to it again, and to more Blur. I mostly missed Britpop the first time around.
Back to back Blur is crazy. I liked both albums a similar amount.
I definitely was confused with this one. I Thought I missed the album yesterday. Then I checked and it was Blur. So I thought, maybe I had already listened to it and forgot. But I was sure that wasn’t the case. Then I saw it was just back to back Blur albums. Knowing the history from the day before it’s cool hear how different this album is from their self titled album.
This album is pretty good. Living in the mid-2020's, I have to say I tend to agree with the title, and things don't look like they'll be getting better all too soon. But that won't stop me from trying. Anyway, the music. I've listened to about 30 albums classified as "Britpop" on the list so far, and they are kind of starting to blur into one another (pun not intended). This one feels like a strong example of the style, and has some unique enough variation that it stays interesting. This album was hovering just above a 3 for me, but putting the Mallard on the cover pushes it over the edge. What a beautiful piece of machinery. If more things were designed with the same care and creativity, the modern world would be a little less rubbish. Favorite track(s): bit of a weird one, but the intermission at the end of "Chemical World." The track itself is good, but the intermission blew me away the first time I heard it (which would have been in the film "Baby Driver"). Other than that, I liked "Pressure on Julian" a fair bit as well.
At first, I was pleasantly surprised and thought that this might sneak into one of my 5 out of 5s. Near the end, I feel more than happy giving this a 4. Simply put, I hadn't listened to much Blur bar their most popular songs. As a result, some of the songs I heard on this album really surprised me at how complex and interesting they were. A prime example being my favourite song of the album "For Tomorrow". This song featured orchestral strings, ghostly gospel backing vocals and a fun structure. Some of the other later songs on the album just didn't scratch the itch as much. I am looking forward to the other Blur albums since, apparently, it only gets better from here...
Man, Blur are just such a fun band. They are one that have grown off me just a little bit with time, I think that other bands outside of the big 2 of britpop like Pulp and Sugergrass are superior, but what Blur have that the others don't is an unbeatable energy. This album is witty and sarcastic as hell, and I think it's really obvious how Damon Albarn and co are just having a great time writing and playing these songs. The stories they tell in the lyrics are captivating and genuinely quite funny at times, and the music that goes along with it is just a blast to listen to while you're following along to the words.
Huh, I recently met someone in real life who's also doing this challenge and he said that this was one of his favorite albums he's had on it. And it turns out that this is actually *fantastic*. Honestly, at the moment, this is probably my favorite Brit Pop album. Their sound here has some really quirky, eclectic edges, but Blur's songwriting still has the tenets of pop music down to a science. The result is something that's *ridiculously* catchy, but fiercely creative, even explorative. It's pretty amazing that Blur have managed to write a pop album without obvious hits, which doesn't creatively suffer *at all* for it. The overall vibe ends up really fun and energetic, with some influence from grunge, electronic, Americana (maybe, briefly) and some of the weirder pop bands like XTC or Cardiacs (both of whom they were explicitly influenced by at this point). At this point in Brit Pop's development, the tropes have still not been established, so Blur is throwing a lot at the wall, and almost *all* of it sticks. Honestly, nothing stands out as a "worst" song to me. I don't know if I'm willing to call it a 5 yet, just because my enthusiasm for this album was so sudden, but it's certainly on the short list of albums I intend to revisit with the hopes of upgrading it.
I enjoy Blur a lot and I *really* like a lot of the tracks on this album. While I really do get why they are divisive (mostly why people might hate Damon Albarn's singing), as far as I'm concerned they make catchy songs that make me want to bounce up and down. They so often have interesting backing vocals and great little guitar twiddly bits. I love For Tomorrow - its a great single and remains one of my favourite Blur songs. I love Sunday Sunday - yay, brass section! I (mostly) love Chemical World (there's no need for the full length of random intermission at the end, and that's coming from someone who actually likes the tune). This is an almost entirety enjoyable album for me, but it can't get 5 stars, because it's too long. That's something that's easily fixed by removing Blue Jeans, chopping down the intermission and a couple of other tracks (Miss America could do well to lose about a minute of meandering). I feel like I'm sounding too negative, but I do absolutely like this album... I just don't quite love it. 4/5
Love Blur but wouldn’t consider this their best. Still enjoy it, and a very influential album of its era.
Started slow and kinda boring but flipped the script pretty hard for me. Definitely not rubbish
Whilst at least 50% of the members of Blur are annoying they do make a pretty solid band. This might be their best album, retaining their very English charm and style, a la The Kinks, and mostly keeps some of their wackier inclination under wraps.
I have heard a fair bit of Blur before but never this album. Blur's unique sound is starting to come through on this album, although still a little bit rough. Parkilfe and the s/t album are probably better, but I still enjoyed this. The latter instrumental part of Chemical World is incredible!
It was a mix of punk and rock. There was times where it sound like 70s punk and also like early 2000 pop. It was a good album to work out to add some good songs in inside there
This is much better and more interesting than the other albums I've had of theirs. In those cases I liked the hits, and found the rest to be a bit wanting. In this case I barely knew any of the songs, and they're nearly all really good! I really like the range of instruments and breadth of styles in here. I particularly like the brass and the funky synths. It's way more expansive than you might expect. It's also really weird and frenetic at times, but in a good way. This was really good!
I liked that about the same as their self titled album. I liked the weird scrambled Luau vibe in Miss America. 4
3.5 rounded up
All I really knew of this band is that they were rivals with Oasis in the 90’s and that their leader went on to form Gorillaz. Another pleasant surprise. Two other Blur albums to come — looking forward to them.
It gets better for blur but this a necessary step forward.
Hadn’t listened to much Blur but I like the Gorillaz.
I liked this 14 track 59 minute album. I backed Oasis in the britpop wars of the 90s, but I can see why Blur were in the running. 4 -1 for a poor Pete Shelley impression throughout. Why not just get Pete Shelley in the band? +1 for putting Mallard on the album cover (Footnote for fuckwits:- Before spouting off in your reviews about 100s of tracks on an hours-long album, take a look at the Wikipedia tracklist to confirm what tracks were on the original release, learn how to use Spotify, and just listen to those, you dumb fuck.)
Good album.
Title of the album hits close to home rn. Even though the album is dripping in classic 90s vibes, I also find Blur's sound to be pretty timeless Brit pop rock.
Honestly I never have high expectation for Blur outside of providing fun poppy in-and-out albums. This kinda hit though, was quite keen on the songwriting.
Guess I’m a Blur fan
Was not expecting too much but ended up having a fun time with this one. Whilst it's not as packed with hits as other Blur albums, this is nonetheless filled with great songs. I especially enjoyed some of the guitar work throughout, and the lyrics were properly witty in their examination of British suburbia. Favourite song: Chemical World Least favourite song: Villa Rosie
Interesantísimo. Quizás un pelín largo de más, y eso me hace perder el focus, pero Blur son claramente el grupo superior de la ola británica de los 90.
It’s easy to pigeonhole this album for its ‘OI oi geezerism” and there is elements of that, and I never have and never will like “Sunday Sunday” but it’s full of glimpses of the band they’d become. The heavy lidded psychedelia of “oily water” and the drowsy syd barretisms of “Miss America” which I consider to be the best thing they ever wrote. I really wanted this to be a 5 star but a few too many baggy tracks
Wow... I only heared "that one song from Blur" and expected 90s pop rock cheesefest... DIDN"T EXPECT AT ALL what I'll hear. A lot of creativity. Cool melodic approach that resembles both The Beatles and Cardiacs. Still there's some moments that I liked more and some that I liked less. My personal favs: Advert (!), Chemical World, but most importantly, I really wish there would be a whole album of music like Intermission, this one is really the music that makes my brain active and happy
solid 4. Na minha opinião, Blur tem muitos outros álbuns melhores, mas Modern Life Is Rubbish é um grande salto do debut, principalmente nas composições explorando a vivência britânica. Algumas músicas soam como filler, como Turn It Up, Pressure On Julian e Villa Rosie, e acho revoltante que Popscene não entrou na edição normal do álbum, pois é a melhor música a sair dessa era. Também acho que alguma das músicas fillers poderia ter sido trocada por Young and Lovely, uma B-side que soa como material de single facilmente.
COOOLLLLLL
Solid blur album. The band sounds tight, the melodies are fun and full of a bitt of whimsy. The british irony and humor is palpable. And Damon gets really good cracks at some vocal runs. Doesn't really excite me like Park Life and Leisure. But I dig it alot. The album art work is a nice touch. Again british irony. "Modern life is rubbish" while depicting a very post modern concept train from the 1950's.
"Instilled in the band a contempt for everything American" Big up Albarn
I think I just found my new fav Britpop album. Great energy, great melodies. Favorite track: Chemical World
Curious ideas, otherwise standard rock, at times Beatles like.
Just a good album. Don't really have much else to say. 3.5 bumped up to 4.
I’m at a 4.5 that I’ll bump down to a 4. It’s not exactly the superstar version of Blur that would come to pass by their self-titled album, but it’s a pretty good album nonetheless. It’s just not one that really hooked me all the way through – these are all solid to great tracks, but this album’s connective tissue feels like a band still trying to find its identity & its musical niche. The foundation for what would come down the pipeline by “Parklife” is there, but it still really needs to be molded. Damon Albarn’s vocals are solid here, lining up with this album’s “regular guy trying to make it in this godforsaken country” approach to its storytelling. The problem is, that very quaint vibe that the lyrics & vocals give off doesn’t necessarily mesh with the instrumentals a lot of the time. These are energetic, with loud guitars, pulsing percussion & and some dynamic shifting that keeps each track fresh. To my ears though, as a full cohesive album, it just relies on that energy a little too much as its driving factor towards each track. I’m not saying these are poorly written, because there are some great lines in here, but that disconnect of the quaint lyricism / delivery & the instrumentals just becomes too apparent when EVERY track does it. That disconnect creates a sense of repetition that permeates into lots of other aspects of the album; there’s a lot of “la la la” segments, a lot of longer outros, a handful of repeating choruses, & a lot of repeating guitar effects that feel more noticeable every time they pop up. When they’re done well, they’re done very well, and this album usually does them well, making it easier to ignore it while you’re in the moment. It is, however, noticeable enough throughout this album’s hour-long runtime that it leaves each track on its own island after you’ve finished the whole thing. That’s mostly the reason I’m down to a 4 – not because of any individually bad tracks (although “Turn It Up” has the laziest lyricism I’ve ever heard from Damon Albarn), but because this album just never gains a sense of cohesion that hooked me in as consistently as they wanted it to. I can’t sit here and say there’s a great run of tracks that all fit together; there are runs of tracks that all feel good to listen to, and the entire album works well enough, but the flow of the album itself feels interrupted by all the little bits of repetition that pile up. Obviously, I can excuse parts of it for being from a band’s second album while they’re trying to find their musical identity, but it’s too persistent. It’s the type of persistency that warrants this being the lowest rated Blur album on the site, although not by much. Hence, a 4.5 bumped down to a 4; the individual strength of all of these tracks still certainly warrants a listen (if nothing else, “Oily Water” is cool as hell), and perhaps if it were re-edited to let the album flow more naturally, I’d be inclined to look towards a 5. As it stands though, it just never flows well enough for me to get there. I admire the swings & experimentation here, a lot of which helped to shape their style & refine it down the line, and I think this album’s warranted to be on the list as part of the growing pains that make their later albums hit as hard as they do. P.S.: I’m starting to think I need to give “Parklife” a revisit, because I probably underrated that quite a bit. It was super early on though, so can you blame me?
Check it out, a wolf!
I knew For Tomorrow from the best of album I have, but didn't recognize the others. Ya, I like it, very much my thing.
Good and influential
8/10
Good
A showing of great things to come by this band.
slut
En camino a la banda legendaria que llegó a ser
britpop slaps ngl
No buscan tanto el hit como Oasis, y en su experimentación me suelen agradar más. No es para cualquiera. Realmente no entiendo cómo los 90s buscaron rivalizarlos. El álbum hace el brit pop pero con cositas y detalles que lo sacan de la norma. Es un sólido álbum. 7/10
There’s quite a lot to like about this album. I’d never heard any of the tracks before, even those that charted. It’s an interesting and creative mish-mash of early British mod/pop with leanings towards a Kinks sound. For a young band it’s impressive and musically very ambitious. 4
это было хорошо
Blur's second album is another one of THOSE albums that I've been meaning to take a listen to, and unlike some other Blur albums and other musicians on the album listen list, this was good! Not my first run with Blur having liked self-titled and 13, and not liking Parklife apart from a couple songs. Modern Life is Rubbish themes are mostly about British everyday living and heavy emphasis on positivity and not anything American, which is what they were trying to do at the time. Damon Albarn (Blur's frontman) really did not like much things American, more specifically Grunge. It started because of their first tour of America went poorly and Grunge was popular at the time with Albarn saying along of the lines on how if punk was getting rid of the hippies, then he's getting rid of Grunge. So this album was a reaction against depressing, slacker, American rock and because their first album did poorly so they were also under pressure to change the sound by their label. Some songs are fairly energetic than what I was expecting, as I only knew the song "Blue Jeans" prior so I thought all songs would be in the style of that, but no, not at all! There is a nice contrast of punk-adjacent stuff (like "Chemical World") to the aforementioned "Blue Jeans" which is more like sleepy-sounding pop rock you'd hear on the next album. There are some weird stuff to compliment the rest such as "Intermission", "Commercial Break" and "Oily Water." The album cover gives off great imagery and does a good job at highlighting the point of the album. This is a good album for sure. Highlight Song/s: "Colin Zeal", "Blue Jeans" and "Chemical World"
Very British, very strong.
3.5
Actually I like this one better than I thought I would. For some reason I've always been at arm's length with blur though there is quite a few songs that I do enjoy in fact even love by them but full albums have never grabbed me as much. This one I can really hear The Kinks influence all over this album. In fact it has one of the same drawbacks that I have about The Kinks is that it's a bit too British for me, but much like the Kinks, I find it a wonderful listen and a quirky sort of way. Though I think I like this album the most when they dial up the guitars probably my favorite song is "Chemical World" which seems to have *all the young Bowie* feel to it. Maybe this is that turning point album of Blur I've been looking for. (8.7) ★★★★
This would be a five star album if Damon Albarn's voice wasn't in the band.
нормалек, но без бенгеров, к сожалению.
Being a huge fan of Parklife, I had never heard this album before. Fantastic, full of quirky fun melodies and stories of British life.
Innovative rock album from an upcoming band.
a good listen. very eclectic. "sunday sunday" and "oily water" are definite highlights.
First half is a cracker and up there with their best work but it falls away towards the end and overall is a bit too long. Would have made a great 10 track album.
I like blur!
That's an hour of newish music for me. Bits are not total rubbish, but maybe recycle them. I kinda like the snarky lyrics.
Love me some Blur. There are some seriously underrated songs on here. Is the whole thing 5 star worthy? Not quite, but still a good album.
The Special Edition version of this album is super long and a major slog. The regular version is not bad all though so I'm rating based on that one. Couple boppers on there.
Intermission was genuinely my favorite track here, but the rest was good
Of the 3-album britpop run, I like Modern Life is Rubbish the least. It's the most English and the most beholden to their roots. It's still a fantastic album with charming, silly, thoughtful, or fun songs though. It just falters under its own weight towards the end.
Kad ir trunka 2 val., nebuvo dainų, kurios įgristų. Tikrai visos įdomios ir eina išklausyti.
I'll start with the obvious: WTF is this here ahead of Parklife? Anyway, this is a very good Blur album, the first where they sound like the Blur some of us know and love. Also, there are entirely too many BritPop albums on this list, many of which are very good and most of which you didn't need to hear before you died
I tried this album in high school and it was too brit pop for me, maybe this will be the turnaround. Music is still impressive, just too britpop for me.
TLDR: I didn't care for it very much at first but after a few listens, I do think it's pretty good. Not sure it should be on this list seeing how they have 2 others here but we'll see after I hear the other 2. Before: Blur, I know their first album and liked it a little but I don't know this one. I'm sure I've at least skimmed through it though. During: First track is For Tomorrow, nothing remarkable about it. Not bad and not good. Advert, again nothing remarkable. This is the kind of music I get bored with pretty quick. Colin Zeal, nope. Nothing notable to say about tracks 1 - 7. Oh, hold on, the last 2 minutes of Chemical World are interesting. Sunday Sunday is not bad, it reminds of Lazy Sunday on the Small Faces's Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake released in 1968. Oily Water is pretty good, as is Miss America. After that, the next 3 songs are just like the first 6. The final song Resigned is OK, it has a nice transition and ends with an interesting riff, but the first 4 minutes of the song could have been condensed to just 2 minutes. After : It looks like there are 3 Blur albums in this 1001 list. Why? I think one would be plenty. The only album of their's that I liked a little back then was their first one, Leisure, which is not one of the 3. Maybe I only liked it because my girlfriend at the time liked it and used to play it all the time. Looks like I have to rate this a 3, and should it be on this list? No. Post: So I listened to this album around 4-5 times throughout the course of the day and I have to say that it did grow on me. Will I ever listen to the whole thing again? Probably not, but I do think it's pretty good and am going to rate it a 4. Favorite tracks are Oily Water, Miss America, and Resigned.
Sure
Link above tried to take me to a double album that is over two hours long. No thanks. Fortunately Spotify has the option for the standard album. I mean I think these guys are big in the uk. Yes they have the woohoo song but never heard anything else from them. Let’s see - over 10 million Spotify followers still gotta be doing something right. So very British and i liked it a lot. Good stuff.
A very low 4 star. Lots of “rubbish” on this album, which is probably more the fault of execs than anything. A lot of people don’t like Albarn, but love him or hate him, he has a great ear and great taste.
another damon albarn record that i have very little in the way of a strong reaction to unfortunately! but it doesnt necessarily feel like its slipping thru my fingers either which ill take! its definitely bouncy and catchy , and tows right up to the line of how "fun" its allowed to be without losing its snottiness and cynicism, which is where britpop starts to lose Me Personally but it cant be denied its part of the appeal. i cant even rly make a lil joke about the over-presence of the genre on the 1001 list cuz tbh its been a long time since ive gotten one of these so this was actually a lil refreshing! if still clearly not my genre. but hey every time i noticed a song was playing it was very clear that it was a good song. 1001 britpop albums. ect ect.
No single standouts but good overall
Probably their best album, really bright pop-rock that does get a bit unimpressive near the end, but regardless it's great.
Peak Brit pop. I know all these bands hate that term, but it is what it is. Every song is smart, witty, totally engaging, and catchy. Great stuff by a great band.
Don't think any album title has ever conveyed so perfectly how I feel about the current state of the world
blur>>>>> oasis
don't like this genre of music but i have to admit: it's a great album
1990s sure did have good rock music. nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden, rcp and blur.. this is the best blur album for me. Favorite track: chemical world other picks: for tomorrow, oily water, miss america
This was pretty good. I like it when Blur really leans into their Britpop and Britishness, it gives the album more personality than their later works. Most songs here are fun and upbeat, quite a bit of variety too. Some songs dragged on for a bit too long, they'd be nice at first but then have 3 minutes of nothing tacked onto them. Still a fun album and a good effort.
i apologize blur i was not familiar with your game
While this is still an overall good Blur album, this album’s inclusion is proving once again the author failed the readers by not limiting the number of albums per artist/band. This could have easily been replaced with another album when better examples of a band’s work are already there.
7/10
4/5
No complaints from me
Some damn good 90s Brit pop rock. Interesting songwriting and great instrumentation are abound in this album.
Chonky, muscular, creative. I can dig it! Will be revisiting
4.7! Very nice English rock album
I like me some Blur.
I'm pretty sure I'ver never heard all of this before. Yes, they definitely went a bit overboard on mimicing Ray Davies in places but I enjoyed this quite a lot.
Really dug it
Blur is a mixture of post new wave, surf rock lite, and classic Brit pop. It does not sound great reading it back but it actually works really well. They are often compared to a few very successful bands, although I would strongly suggest they have their own unique sound. This again is an odd combination, a band that at times can be a sort of common sounding, yet really is quite unique. This may not even be my favorite album of theirs but it is worth a listen to be sure.
I don’t know enough. Does not seem as good as later albums
British and quite noisy at some points.
äh jag tyckte om detta ändå.
Fun listen until you get like halfway through and realize there’s still seven more songs. Dig the way they omit some of the Britpop quirkiness for more power pop influences.
Modern albums are rubbish compared to the Blur train constantly putting out the hits and concept albums.
Not a perfect album - gets a little too self-indulgent at times - but a good one, certainly not rubbish. It makes sense why Blur are the gold standard for Brit pop.
I'd somehow never listened to a full Blur album until now, despite enjoying plenty of their songs and being a fan of Damon Albarn's output in general. Given that this album came before a lot of their more well-known hits, it has a slightly different feel to it than I'd come to associate with Blur, but it's a side of them that I enjoy all the same. I can see how people would consider it less unique and interesting than their later output, but this sort of guitar-driven, melody-focused sound is right up my alley. Honestly, any album that just gives me lovely melodies to get lost in is going to get a good review from me. Maybe I'm just easily pleased. Miss America in particular, even though it's admittedly quite a sonic departure from the rest of the album, I thought was practically hypnotizing. I could listen to a lot of these tracks for hours. The hooks are great, the lyrics are charming in their irreverence, and the instrumentation and production are immaculate. It's just a great album from almost start to finish (tracks 4-6 are a bit whatever, but I love the rest). I'm definitely going to check out the rest of their catalogue now. Favourite tracks: Miss America, Oily Water, Colin Zeal
For Tomorrow 3.6 Advert 3.8 Colin Zeal 4 Pressure on Julian 4.2 Star Shaped 3.6 Blue Jeans 3.7 Chemical World 3.5 Sunday Sunday 3.6 Oily Water 4 Miss America 3.4 Villa Rosie 3.5 Coping 3.6 Turn It Up 3.6 Resigned 3.5 Score: 3.685714286
Good solid Brit pop, but not Blurs best
Très bien blur on va pas se mentir
I was so worried this would be another British punk album. Thank God it wasn't.
Anche il peggior album dei blur è meglio del miglior album degli oasis. E questo non è il miglior album dei blur. Le mie preferite for tomorrow e oily water
I enjoyed this
Solid album. I've listened to Gorillaz but very little Blur. This is probably a sign I should check more of their stuff out. Sweet guitar and bass tones. I suppose Damon Albarn's voice is a bit of an acquired taste, but I acquired it long ago. The production is nice.
Having never listened to blur outside of "Song 2", I didn't really know what to expect. With that being said, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was effectively a combination of Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and the Kinks, mixed with instrumentation that occasionally reminded me of Soundgarden. Colin Zeal and Star Shaped were 2 favorites in particular
Bro this was fire
Train album! I think! It gets too long, but is interesting and listenable, especially the first part. Risky 4.
хороший альбом
I'm tired of all these britpop albums. Nearly every britpop band just has too many albums on this list. But you know what, if there's any britpop band that I'm okay with having 3 albums on this list, it's probably Blur. Don't get me wrong. I don't think Blur should have 3 albums on this list. I think they should be at 2 albums to put them on the same level as Oasis since they have 2 albums that kind of have to be on this list. But yeah, this is my second Blur album of this project and it's easily the most cuttable one. I mean, Parklife is Parklife, that one kinda has to be here, and self-titled is the one with the funny woo-hoo song! But back to what I was saying before, Blur is the britpop band that I'm most okay with having a high album count because I really like this band. Damon Albarn is such a talented guy. I've probably heard his voice too many times for this album project, but it's not a voice that I'm upset to hear. I will say that this album definitely feels like its earlier in Blur's discography in that it's not as experimental as an album like Parklife. Parklife felt like each song was switching between styles and even genres to an extent. It had a ton of variety. Modern Life is Rubbish is certainly not a monotonous album, but it definitely feels less experimental and less remarkable. This is a good album, don't get me wrong. Unlike modern life, this album is not rubbish. However, I don't love this one nearly as much as Parklife. There are some very good elements here, obviously. The general Blur style is still fun here. The songwriting is solid. "For Tomorrow" is great. However, I'm less impressed by this album than I was for Parklife and I definitely can't give it the 5 that I gave it. Still, I do enjoy Modern Life is Rubbish quite a bit and would still call Blur a band that I enjoy. Light 4/5.
A nice morning coffee companion.
own
Pretty cool album
Pretty cool sound, especially contrasting grunge at the time
A good Britpop album? It DOES exist!!! I mean, maybe expected - it’s Blur, one of, if not the best Britpop groups, and this is the album I’ve enjoyed the most from them on this list so far (I think there's been two previous to this). The songwriting is great, the compositions are fun, the harmonies kill. Great stuff.
Not the record I would have picked to represent Elton. I bought this when I was 14 - only a couple of years after it came out and about the same year as I started discovering Black Sabbath, T.Rex and things that were not on my mom’s radio station as she drove us to school. My mom loved a.m. radio in the 70’s. Tony Orlando and Dawn, ABBA, Captain and Tennille- my mom loved it all. I remember buying Crocodile Rock when it came out and then bought Don’t Shoot Me I’m only The Piano Player. Madman soon followed. Tiny Dancer is an undeniably great song and a great start to this record. As the third record released in 1971 (King Gizzard like work) this album I think suffers from a lack of focus. Tiny Dancer, Levon and Madman Across the Water are the most focused and best songs on this record. The prog rock touches are awful. What dooms this record are songs like Razor Face. It’s a song about a drunk drifter with a razor face who is back in town and meeting by a travel inn to get drinks. WTF was Elton thinking? And that’s the song stuck between Levon and Madman Across the Water. Madman Across the Water has a Stairway to Heaven vibe. At least it’s interesting. A little too prog inspired but at least Elton gives it a puncher’s chance with an inspired vocal. Indian Sunset is also a head scratcher. The guy is from England. Why is he spending 6:00 minutes singing about the Iroquois. Really, I’m starting to think the author who assembled this list of 1001 albums was doing it to fuck with people like me. Absolutely no self respecting critic is going to go wow- this is a stunning work unless they are absolutely fucking stunned that this record is a platinum selling record because it’s mostly shit. I remember seeing literally hundreds of copies of this record in the used bins right beside the Billy Hoel records. The rest of the record is merely a turd circling the drain. Even Elton fans are not going to be shouting out “play Holiday Inn!” I couldn’t wait until Goodbye finished. 3 songs and ditch the rest. It’s a rotten peach. See how I did that?
its so cool hearing a band evolve over time. This early entry once again showcases Damon Albarn at his best as usual. I usually hate this brand of UK rock/punk singing, but he consistently nails it and the majority of this album kept me interested. Its fast and energetic but not obnoxious.
Really enjoyable album by the Blur Boys! This list has really shown me that I’m just a big fan of Damon Albarn. Obviously the Gorillaz are amazing but Blur is a top tier Brit rock band and i hear a lot of Albarn on every album of theirs we’ve gotten.
I really like this one, definitely felt very kinksy with the satirical Ray Davies - like lyrics. I felt this was just a better version of parklife with more interesting and fun songs without that horrible histories feel despote it being in similar style and production in most ways. Favourites: For tomorrow, Star shaped, Chemical World (mostly due to that great intermission), Sunday, oily water and Villa Rosie. Overall, 7/10.
Surprisingly good album. The best and worst thing that happened to Blur was "Song 2" in the US. They are only known for that song and nothing else. This album is every bit as good as an Oasis album from the same time.
The tail end of this album was pretty good. But I just kept thinking "I can't wait until he gives this up and forms Gorillaz"
Another cool one by blur, but less than parklife<3
Thi was a great album - really solid, fantastic songs. Admittedly 1001 serving me up the deluxe version meant that two hours of Blur was a lotttt of Blur, but even the bonus material was still good.
lowkey liked this so much i only listened to this album for the last week instead of any new album whoooops. really great though i love how fun and out there this record is. gives me airplane over the sea vibes
3.9
Hard to put my finger on it which I think is the point. Experimental post grunge alternative punk with pop elements. Creative and interesting production decisions which Alban would go to throw into high gear with the gorillaz. This particular album had eluded me. I picked up the one with their more popular hit “song #2” at a garage sale at a formative age but never bothered to listen to anything beyond that. I dig it. As an album, it works very well. Individual tracks would seem out of place in a playlist. But it kept me interested. I’m going to run this again sometime in the future as there is a lot going on.
What a fun name. I don't know the timeline of musical influences, what they took inspiration from or what they may have come up with on their own, but I heard things that I believe inspired later bands, different guitar riffs and melodies I think Disc 1 was stronger than Disc 2. The most fun section was the last 2 minutes of Chemical World, when it builds up, getting more and more frantic. It is hard to pick 2-3 favorite songs, I will be replaying this album.
A filling serving of meaty guitar passages laced with baroque pop elements. From the the parlor piano on Chemical World, to the scattered woodwinds and lush string arrangements elsewhere, it holds attention across its 14 tracks. Though drawing from across the British guitar pop spectrum, it remains grounded by its chugging guitars, fizzy passages, and dense grooves, like on standout track Advert, with its cheeky cynical lyrics. In Britpop fashion the vocals veer a bit too Colin Newman/Wire-esque, somewhere between board and pretentious - yet the pure power(pop) of the tracks here stand as a testament in and of themselves. While still sounding fresh, some might find the overall density of the album a bit tiring.
This is good stuff; I like Blur. I don't like this quite as much as later (more Pavement-y?) Blur. Still a solid four though.
Quintessential 90s Britpop.
good! i mean its blur
Not my favourite from them, but still good stuff. Simpsons: No
Enjoyed it more than I thought I would.
An early Britpop classic
Some great tubes on here. I can see what they were aiming at. Show BUSINESS, baby!
Second Blur album in a row... what is this black magic???
Blur were still trying to find their sound in their second album. Still before the main Britpop era, it included many different sounds from Madchester to Beatles-esque 60s. Lyrics were a huge improvement from their debut album which I thought were pretty basic. Overall, a joy to listen to and some hidden gems in this one. Update: It's 2026 and I love Blur and this one even more than I did when I first reviewed in 2025!
Good, would be better if each track was a minute shorter. Or if Albarn had a less annoying voice.
Solid album throughout!
it’s such an enormous shame that the list doesn’t have the deluxe version of this album. i realize that’s a ridiculous expectation but i’ll never stop extolling the brilliance of this album’s B-sides over the track list on the original release—so many examples of blur’s best songs, or at least the best examples of damon’s songwriting and graham’s guitar in conjunction with one another (which i suppose are not necessarily the same thing). this would include ‘peach’, ‘bone bag’, ‘my ark’, ‘garden central’, ‘young & lovely’, and of course ‘beachcoma’ which is one of their best best best songs for real this time…and their cover of ‘maggie may’ which i stan idgaf…replace all the clunkers on MLIR with those and you’ve basically got a perfect album. in any case the actual album is just alright. i don’t like most of the singles (’chemical world’ and ‘sunday sunday’ in particular are damon at his most mealy-mouthed). but i’ve learned to enjoy almost all of it through repeat exposure and i think many of the songs are FUN if not actually all that GOOD. however ‘oily water’ is a real stroke of genius and it’s exciting to see a glimpse of the far more experimental/abrasive sound they would adopt later. that swirly guitar on so many of the best tracks sounds like how a gasoline spill looks in a puddle, iridescent and shimmery and strange... this is definitely the record that launched britpop so it deserves to be remembered in the grand scheme of music history. and they were sooooo so cute during this era in their little mod-adjacent looks ^_^ fav tracks (going by the original release only…as much as it pains me): oily water; miss america; blue jeans
i think this album isn't as good as my rating reflects. but i had fun. i'm not sure I would think this album was worth being on the list if i didn't already know it well, but i do think it's kind of emblematic of the nascent britpop moment of the time so i guess it's representative of that part of music history. it's just a bit one note compared to their later albums; it's a lot of songs that are all kind of doing a similar thing, and some of the songs do that thing better than others. Fav tracks: For Tomorrow, Chemical World, Blue Jeans
Lost me in the first half but loved everything in the second half
blur were a group whose first three albums each represent a quantum leap forwards on their predecessor. This one in the middle sees them adopt a mod persona that they'd tweak further on Parklife. Three very strong singles, Chemical World a favourite of mind, and a sense of a band about to happen.
I actually really liked this one.
Liked this album much more than their self-titled 97 album. Good catchy power pop riffs throughout, like a heavier version of the Kinks, but I like the Kinks, so ok. There were a couple tracks that pull the score down: Oily Water (didn't like the guitar effect or the noisy ending) and Miss America (with guitar detuning like My Bloody Valentine, which I hate). Admittedly, Oily Water grew on me once I got past the effects and Miss America surprisingly sounded better on close listen. One other small quibble - the mix was a little too trebly - I had to turn the music up pretty loud to get good bass sound, which was a shame because the bass player has a lot of interesting riffs. Beyond that, though, I enjoyed the album. Favorite tracks: For Tomorrow, Advert, Chemical World (including the piano "intermission"), Villa Rosie, Coping.
I enjoyed this one. Decent variety, some weird, unique and rougher rock songs that I loved. Chemical world was a chaotic blast. Oily Water was great.
Second Blur album already. I like this one more than the other, quite frankly. A more cohesive sound, I feel.
This is an interesting listen. Lots of ear candy and variety of songs. I know it’s irrelevant but this record alone is so much more rewarding than any Oasis album I’ve heard. Like many CD era albums, it’s too long for one sitting, but to my ears the quality remains steady throughout.
This was super freaking long and somehow I was not bored by the end. I am now a blur enjoyer
Blur is solidly in the “4/5” band territory for me. Always enjoyable, never really stands out enough to get a 5. Oasis better
I have not listened to this in a long time and honestly, I think it might be my favorite album of theirs. As a whole, even without the big hits, I appreciate the weirdness here more.
tiene cada temon un metal pero mas relajado diria yo
Damon I love yiu
Blur is a confusing band to me. On the surface, it feels like they got worse over time as they became more and more enamored with studio trickery and experimentation, then accidentally experimented by making a “joke” mainstream album that ended up being pretty good, and then went back to their diminishing returns. But also, like…Blur were always a weird band, always experimenting, always making the weirdest pop song imaginable while still making a pop song. That’s evident here on Modern Life Is Rubbish, which is no different in its kookiness than later Blur albums that I don’t like as much. So why does Modern Life Is Rubbish work for me? Well, I think it’s mostly because the experiments feel natural. Like, this is still extremely chaotic– sometimes to a fault– but throughout the entire thing, it always feels like they’re having fun with it. The fun is palpable, and infectious even. Also, while the songs are quite stoned-out, you can still get a sense of Blur’s hitmaker capabilities buried beneath the edgy lad fuck-around energy. That said, Modern Life Is Rubbish is far from perfect. The biggest issue, and the one I’ve never really been able to shake, is that it feels like it goes on forever. On paper, none of the songs feel particularly long, and 14 tracks for the CD era doesn’t feel that bloated; in practice, every song meanders past its conclusion, often to veer into studio fuckery. If it was only a couple of tracks, it’d be negligible, but when it’s every track, it does drag. The experimentation is like a feedback loop for exhausting length, and the exhausting length a feedback loop to invite experimentation, and that hellish symbiotic relationship wears this record down from great to only pretty good. Still, this is Blur’s best album, bar none. Sure, it lacks a mega-hit, or even a catchy standout, but it’s consistent. More importantly, it’s extremely ✨itself✨ in its sound, and while sometimes that means you have to put up with some annoying lad bullshit, most of the time, it’s endearing. It’s actually kind of crazy how Blur became standouts of the Britpop scene, because this does not sound like Britpop….this just sounds like Blur. Singular, warts and all, take-it-or-leave-it. I don’t think that means I’m a huge Blur fan, and I’m definitely not warmer to Britpop as a result, but I think I appreciate Blur more than their peers, because at least this record has a voice, is fun, and feels unique. At very least, I’ll return to Modern Life Is Rubbish here and there whenever I’m feeling a bit loopy and silly, which is exactly the kind of fun energy this album exudes.
I looked at the comments before listening to the album and kinda fove in backwards since many people seemed to absolutely hate it. This was so much better than I expected, such a great blend of genres and influences! I heard some Bowie, R.E.M., Talking Heads, and more in there. I wouldn't say it is perfect, but I will recommend this album to the appropriate people and will surely listen to it again. 4,5/5
Hab ich gern gehört
Buen disco, el único problema es su carrera posterior con Parklife, Blur o inlcuso The Ballad of Darren, pero esta fue su primera muesca en el marcador de discos que merecen la pena por sí solos. No es un pariente menor de Parklife, se defiende por sí mismo. Star shaped, For tomorrow, Turn it up... Algo estaba cambiando en el 93 y allí estaban ellos para asumir el liderazgo, algo que harían en su siguiente obra maestra.
Pretty easy listening. Im a fan of Blur and Damon Alburn so I probably may enjoy this than most. Very unique style and like UKs grunge.
Hyvä ysärirocklevy!
I'm not a big Blur fan. But I recognize the importance of this album for the so-called Britpop of the 90s. I'm not sure if this is the right album to be in the 1001 albums. I personally consider Parklife a much better and more important album. But anyway, I'll leave 4 stars here and leave.
Its true, Food processors are great. I feel like they were a 90s Beatles lite but not in that Oasis way, more in that Tomorrow Never Knows way... Def doesnt suck.
Mm, you know what, I submitted this as 3 stars initially, but I flipped through the songs again and think I will give it a four. I'd say 80% of this really works for me. I think I like future-Blur a bit more, but this is still right up my alley, and who am I to deny that?
Good album. Singable. Melodic. Rhythmic.
definitely cool and well executed, but nothing special
Creative! Lots of interesting themes across the songs. Second album I've listened from Blur, and so far, they've been grand. The frantic outros on some of the songs make me feel like the train on the cover, chugging at full speed frantically on a track that goes to nowhere.
That was pretty great
4 stars
I never listened to much Blur, basically just Song 2 and Beetlebum. This album was some solid fun britpop, no real standouts though
Just enough bangers to tip this into 4 star territory. Barely.
Great album from my favourite band I've discovered through this project. Not as strong overall as Parklife, and is a bit too long. There's a good 4-5 songs that could probably be cut to create a stronger record
Ik vind Blur best leuk, al scoren hun albums bij mij tot nu toe steeds een 3. Wel moet ik zeggen dat ik drie keer Blur in deze lijst een beetje overdreven vind. Wat heb ik hier dan verder nog over te melden? Niet zo enorm veel. Het zijn prima popliedjes voor op de achtergrond. Een paar liedjes zijn 10% leuker dan de andere liedjes. Overall is dit een best fijn album. Ik vind dit prima. Ik geef ze een keer een 4, want ik heb er al vaker over getwijfeld.
Catchy pop album
Good Blur Album not my favorite one but still good!
This album is not immediately accessible lyrically, at least for a non-Brit like me. But you can drop the needle anywhere on this album and it sounds great. The band is working with a breadth of possibilities. One warning: You may be sent over to a deluxe edition that is hours long. You may find the original, hourlong edition has enough to explore!
I believe I've listened to this at least once, when I did a half-hearted listen through of the first handful of Blur albums a few years back. Can't say I'm too well versed in Britpop-related music, but I do certainly enjoy the sound. Reading how XTC's Andy Partridge was initially tapped to produce really helped me see Blur in a fresh light. Listening with that connection to XTC, even though Andy ultimately did not produce this album, I think makes clear the influence from and the similar style to XTC, some songs much more than others. I'm not sure if I was an XTC superfan when I did the Blur album listens before, but it certainly is opening up my interest in revisiting more. This is probably the first album that has come up that isn't a "slam dunk", obvious all time classic album, but I certainly am not challenging its inclusion on this list, it's a great record. Providing a little kick in my arse to keep exploring Blur's catalogue, maybe sooner than later!
Another good album by Blur, who is probably my favourite britpop band, I guess. MLIR has been slightly under the radar in their discography, and I think that's fair - it's a very solid album with fun songs, but nothing really stands out or catch you by surprise. Just a very good release.
Some good stuff in here, feels like it defines a lot of upcoming alt rock. 4* Highlights: for tomorrow, villa rosie
A little long but still its a very enjoyable time. Strong 3 to light 4 cant decide
Cool variety, English sound
tough one. I love the blur aesthetic, especially the parklife era and this is no exception. I do think the songs run a little bit out of steam towards the end which leaves me which leaves me a bit in between, but to give it the benefit of the doubt, 4 stars
I've always had a soft spot for this record, it sounds amazing, and the songs are great
This album just went on forever. Not really the worst thing, but I did get tired of the peppy vibe by the end. There were some vocal moments that reminded me of Bowie.
Good album! I like the arrangements and surprises in those arrangements. Good blend of punk, indie and Britpop. good 4
First of all, this is one of the most sick cover arts I've seen... and second of all, the music is almost on par. I was not expecting much from this album as I don't have a great tack record with pop rock, but wow, was I impressed. Finally, pop rock that actually does its job well! Despite the sad name, it's a bunch of fun songs with simple but great riffs and vocals. It's a bit on the longer side but manages to hold up well. This is what pop music supposed to be. Sorry, Blur, I was not familiar with your game.
okay look a lot of it is very good but i did also involuntarily say "jesus Christ how long is this shit" somewhere near the end
По мнению А: 4/5 По мнению С: 5/5 ИТОГОВАЯ ОЦЕНКА: 4/5 (03.02.2025)
86/100. An extremely impressive Britpop rock record. It’s not Blur’s best, but definitely one of their strongest. High tempo throughout, good lyrics, and some psychedelic elements. A very enjoyable record with a high standard of production.
Super fun album. One of their best
Overall: 7/10 So I'm a huge Gorillaz fan and I remember when I found out that it was basically just one dude AND he was in the band that did the "woo hoo" song I was ecstatic to listen to more of them. Sadly, I was a dumb teenager at the time and I was just dissapointed that Blur didn't sound like Gorillaz (besides Albarn's distinctive vocals). I wish I could go back in time and force myself to listen to them without that context cause I was missing out. Getting into this album specifically, there's so much to love here. First off, Albarn has such a great voice that you could recognize a mile away. To go with the vocals, the lyrics can be very strange but in a fun way. The real star of the show, however, is the guitar work. I feel Graham Coxon isn't talked about enough because he's always doing something interesting and cool. The reason this isn't getting a higher/perfect rating is because it's waaaaaaaay too damn long. I would have cut out at least 3 of these tracks to make it a shorter and more pleasurable listen cause you really start feeling that length around the 40 minute mark. In any case, it is a really good album and I think a good introduction to Blur (although you'd be better off starting with Parklife or the self-titled album). Fav Song: Blue Jeans Least Fav Song: Chemical World
Chemical World is a classic. Love Damon Albarn, great album,.
I enjoyed this album overall. Very chill.
Veldig blir, veldig bra
While most Brit pop tends to fall flat, Blur’s sophomore attempt really resonates with me. I’m not sure how many “hits” we have here, but that’s not the point. The album works as a whole really well, and we dip our toes into a wide variety of sounds.
Modern life’s not so bad if you ask me.
C’est vraiment le streak de bangers de Noël! Même si Modern Life n’est pas le pinnacle de Blur (j’en reviens pas que The Great Escape n’est pas sur la liste), tu trouves quand même des bombes comme Chemical World et For Tomorrow, pis même les fillers sont bons. Anyway, j’ai pas le temps, c’est Noël!
Muy bueno
Very nice album, lots of different sounds and while it's kind of old the production sounds very good.
Probably my favourite Blur album with For Tomorrow my favourite Blur track. I do find Damon's vocals a little grating at times.
I'm still shocked that the only way pop rock, power pop and theatrical stuff clicks with me is still in the context of britpop, it feels like this is the only genre that has all these influences and makes them sound like good and fun alt rock with edge and not something too dorky or too revivalist of the past. Blur manage to melt the current rock sound in England (the touches of psych and noise pop are appreciated) with just incredibly catchy songwriting that doesn't feel cheap or like an annoying ear-worm. Hell It's even crazier how in its almost 70 mins it only has like ONE bad song and that was a hidden song, everything else is fantastic, how did they do it?
nagyon akartam szeretni a blurt valamiért, de nem sikerült. :D pedig tök oké ez az album meg minden, szóval egy négyest azért kap
The Kinks for the 90s, sharp and wry with a real playfulness. Bigger things were ahead.
Modern Life is Rubbish is the second album from Blur, and the release before their breakout album, Parklife. The album includes more experimental efforts than found on the band's debut, Leisure, with the band exploring a range of sounds, but all well within the world of brit pop. Blur is, unfortunately, the Brit pop band right before Oasis, and they may be lesser known for that timing. Modern Life includes a fun selection of melodic, upbeat songs. While this album didn't find the commercial success that the band's later work did, these songs show the band's ability to craft great pop songs.
More excellent Britpop from Mr. Albarn and friends, always tuneful, intelligent, exciting, and a cut above the average.
It was a fine showing, fun songs, good instrumentation
Not terrible. Don’t really like the vocals but good album
I liked this quite a bit better than the other, later Blur CD. It's a little more grungy, and the twee British (I believe this is the correct twee British term for it) "rubbish" is reserved as a bit of color, e.g. the little jingly intro to to "Advert", before he hits you over the head with overdriven guitar. There's some cool tricks on it too. They've got nice backing vocals on most songs, not too over the top. And for such a bone-crushing guitar sound, they do really well covering the treble end of the register, in a variety of different ways. "Colin Zeal" is a really nice song. Ripping grunge guitar, soaring backing vocals, snide lyrics. Couple others on there are nice too. I'd listen to it again.
Oh Blur..... the 90s answer to the Kinks. Ray Davies and the boys produced no less than 5 tremendous brit-rock gems of the sixties. Blur didn't eecord 1/2 the music the kinks did, but they managed about 4 entries into the pantheon of brit-rock. I'd say this is their "Something Else", while "Parklife" serves as "Village Green"
Modern Life Is Rubbish, along with Parklife, is the most British album i think i have ever heard. Everything about this album just screamed England from the title to Damon's voice to a lot of the musical ideas and i really like this album for that. The album generally sounds great with some well done guitars and fun musical offshoots which don't get distracting which really helped this album in the long run. I like this album more than Parklife since there was never a point in the album which was distractingly different from the rest of the album. The self-titled album may still be better but i still think this album is really good. Best Song: Turn It Up Worst Song: Miss America Side note: Since i reviewed every Blur album on this project, I'm gonna do what i did with Simon & Garfunkel and rank all their albums on this project so, here goes 1. Blur 2. Modern Life Is Rubbish 3. Parklife
Schönes Album.
British AF
2 whatever songs and the rest is enjoyable.
Straightforward 60's British invasion inspired pop album. I really like it. Sure it's not as creative or has the peaks of Parklife or the S/T album but it's very consistent and quite enjoyable.
Britpop bright spot of the early 90’s, strong album throughout. Deserves to be a permanent but spread out rotation.
I liked it better then Parklife. Seemed more focused.
Being a teen in the UK in the 90’s, this had lots of nostalgia for me. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but there was probably a bit more filler than I remember. Still, great Brit Pop album, and even greater things to come from Blur.
🎶la la, la la la, la la la la la la la la🎶
It really is
Альбом неплохой. Хуже Parklife, но мне скорее понравился, несмотря на процент. 4/14
this is good but this isn’t the best blur can get, it’s kind of like mid blur which is still good but
Doesn't have the biggest hits but this was a fun listen. IMHO a more consistent album overall than Parklife.
A classic, even if it’s not my favourite Blur album!
After having listened to and not really enjoying Parklife, I went into this album with lower expectations. But I have to say this pleasantly surprised me. It took a few tracks to click, but once it did I found myself enjoying every song that came on. Definitely a more digestible and fun britpop album. Top tracks: Star Shaped, Oily Water, Resigned
Enjoyable songs and melody
Loved it!
The only Blur song I had heard prior to this was Song 2. I went into this album not expecting a whole lot and was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it. Overall, a solid 90s Brit-pop-rock album. My favorite track was Miss America.
Not my favourite by Blur - but it's still Blur.
I quite enjoyed this one, overall I was surprised by some thoughtful and creative musical approaches (instruments and harmonies). It's much more than a "typical British album from the 90's" or "yeah that album before Definitely maybe"
Wow, that was great. Haven’t dived in to Blur’s back catalogue but I was excited to see this come up and very much enjoyed it. Quite ‘early work’ but I think I’d have loved it when it came out. Lots of people on here comparing it to the Kinks, who are shit, and those people are wrong.
I listened to this and the next thing I knew I was wearing Blue Jeans Coping with the outcome of the Miss America contest.
Me likey
Pretty good. I like Blur, but this feels like a relatively weaker album for them. Good overall but no breakout-bonkers-catchy songs like some of their other albums. Although I would probably feel very differently if I was a teenager in UK when this was released. The strength of Chemical World’s chorus just barely gets this album to four stars.
Pretty definitive of the 90s Britpop style. This record sounds like London. It is calculated pop music, but it’s deceptively smart. Lots of range, all of it well done. 4/5
Sterk 3 eller svak 4, men fakker med gorillaz så dunker 4
A solid 90s alt-rock offering. Hard to beat it, but can’t call it perfect either.