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Showing posts from April, 2014

Rise of the Britpop Empire: blur's Parklife turns 20

I really gravitated to Britpop from '94-'97. It was my thing; an antidote to hair metal and grunge. Alt-indie bands like Jellyfish and Weezer piqued my curiosity, but nothing grabbed me at the time like this 3rd British Invasion. This wave was more indebted to Paul Weller and The Kinks than the Beatles or the New Romantics. Here they came with thicker accents than ever. So, salute to blur's landmark album Parklife which turns 20 today (April 25). Most of you may only know blur - yes, small "b" - for Girls & Boys (see video via link) which was the first and only stateside hit from Parklife . And then, you may only know the band from their brisk rocker Song 2, which my old band Bat Country used to cover at the turn of the century. I can remember seeing the Girls & Boys video for the first time back when MTV still aired them, thinking, "My God, what is this? This is ridiculous. Please play this again." I found the CD in the used bins at a loc