Modern Life Is Rubbish

Blur

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 16, 1993)
• Original Release Date: November 16, 1993
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B000002USH
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #19,185 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording
Until this album, Blur was just another English dance-pop band recycling '60s guitar licks and that tired Manchester beat (dugga-dugga-cha, dugga-dugga- dugga-cha). But Modern Life is Rubbish turned out to be the weirdest and most endearing head-rock album since the Flaming Lips' Transmissions from the Satellite Heart. The 17 songs revel in strange chord changes, bizarre sound effects, off-kilter beats, gonzo lyrics, and English eccentricity, bringing to mind Ray Davies, Syd Barrett, and Julian Cope jamming together under the influence of what Blur calls the "Chemical World." Songs like "Colin Zeal," "Pressure on Julian," and "Sunday Sunday" boast killer hooks amid the chaos, making Modern Life Is Rubbish valuable trash indeed. --Jim DeRogatis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eccentricity has rarely sounded so good, November 17, 2003

By	Wheelchair Assassin (The Great Concavity) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

As a genre, Britpop has certainly had its moments, but too many of its more noted practitioners haven't quite been able to emerge from the overwhelming shadow of their Beatles influence (hell, Oasis don't even try). Many of these bands, or at least the ones that tend to hit here in the States, mean well, and they're certainly not without talent, but their music ultimately comes up lacking because the originality just isn't there (I'm looking your way, Coldplay). That's where Blur come in, with a sound and vision all their own. Blur's roots are in the same Beatles-derived template that a million other bands have borrowed from, but instead of appropriating this formula Blur twist it around and expand on it to create a style that's recognizably British but still unmistakably theirs. These guys take thirty years of British rock history and throw it in a blender, but what comes out is their own convention-dodging creation. And they're a lot more fun than Radiohead to boot.

The irreverent attitude of original British-invasion bands like The Who, The Beatles, and The Kinks is here in all its glory, but "Modern Life Is Rubbish" is a Britpop album for the mind. The album is filled with odd time signatures, off-center arrangements, and the kind of skewed guitar sound that you won't hear on your local modern-rock station because it's too busy playing the latest terrible Nickelback single. Damon Albarn's voice is usually a bit off-key, but since everything else here is as well, it works perfectly. Blur's quirkiness brings to mind the Flaming Lips more than Oasis, and just like with the Lips, "Modern Life Is Rubbish" isn't just weirdness for its own sake; these guys have a batch of immensely enjoyable songs on their hands.

"For Tomorrow" starts out with one of the catchiest hooks you'll ever hear, and then gets even catchier with a "la la la la la, la la la la la la la" chant that'll rattle around in your head for days. The riff-driven "Advert" actually rocks pretty hard, while "Colin Zeal" even introduces a reggae-dub beat that would do the Clash proud. And you've got to respect a band that would follow up the swooning guitars and and biting vocals of the bizarre "Pressure On Julian" with the joyous, transcendent pop of "Star-Shaped." For its part, the lyrically sly, musically stunning "Chemical World" is a classic, pure and simple. Is there a better lyric out there than "The peeping Thomas has a very nice view/ Across the street at the exhibitionist"? I think not.

For its second half, "Modern Life Is Rubbish" actually manages to get slightly weirder, showcasing the commitment to diversity that truly separates Blur from the crowd of pretenders. After "Chemical World," the album mixes (relatively) straightforward pop with some more experimental stuff, sometimes within the same song (see "Pop Scene" for an example of what I mean). In a real curveball, "Intermission" starts out as a jazzy piano piece before skidding into a fascinating mess of noise and distortion. The distorted vocals, jumbled drum beat, and snatches of guitar noise that make up "Oily Water" combine to form one of the oddest, coolest rhythms you'll ever hear on a "pop" album. "Miss America" and "Resigned" are the quietest, most minimal songs on here, but their music and lyrics still keep them from resembling anything you'll hear on the radio.

To sum up, not only do I consider "Modern Life Is Rubbish" one of the best British albums I've ever heard, but it's quickly become one of my favorite albums of any kind, ever. And given the fact that my CD collection is filled with punk, hardcore, and ultra-extreme metal albums, that's no small achievement. On one final, throwaway note, anyone who likes this album should check out Porcupine Tree's masterful, Britpop-meets-prog-rock-meets-metal album "In Absentia." I think you'll like what you hear.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars blur's first great one, February 2, 2001

By	Bryan Wilson (Lexington, MA United States) - See all my reviews

the little i've heard from blur's true first album, "leisure", i did not like, and many will agree that "modern life is rubbish", being so markedly different, is their first recording of true significance. maybe that's harsh, but it's also a testament to how good this record is. not as immediately enjoyable as "parklife", and not as complex as "the great escape", their other two "british" releases, "mlir" accomplishes a quasi-perfect balance that mapped out their musical direction for the next 3 years. the songs here all reek of british culture and that's a good thing, because albarn paints wonderful pictures of british life through his characters' words. as many have pointed out, blur was undergoing a sort of image makeover as they'd grown sick of the madchester, shoegazing scene that my bloody valentine and the stone roses had made so popular. this album, in many ways, ushered in the brit-pop sound of the 90s - that's a tremendous feat given blur's insignificance and the fact that critics ignored them at the time. songs like "chemical world", maybe the best here, bring back the meaningful pop hook-chorus days of the 60s, and incorporate the musical weirdnesses of bowie and the kinks. the first 9 tracks on the album are great and never let up, especially "for tommorow" and "star shaped". there's that genuine brit-feel i was talking about. the latter half of the album sags a little, but there are interesting tracks that recapture the spirit of the earlier songs, like "villa rosie" and "popscene". this is certainly an important album for blur fans and those interested in the roots of current brit-pop. casual fans of blur may not be thrilled with the album though, because it is difficult to grasp without giving it ample time to sink in, much like "great escape" and even "13".

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There finest, May 12, 2005

By	glider "anglophile" (Canada) - See all my reviews

Blur would continue on to build upon the moderate success of this album and the return of there critical stock. But this is also the work of a band building a scene and style all there own. the lyrics are so heavily identified as kinks esque in many reviews but the strength of this album lies in its punkish straightfoward manner, though it betrays post punk and american alternative leanings among others (check out the My bloody valentine styled break in Oily water or the beautiful Lo-fi of miss america)Damon slurs and scowls throughout the album, it remains Blurs most cohesive and stands as a statement of there intent. they would explore diffrent facets of there sound from here but this album remains there finest. ragged intellegent and untainted.