I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea, and I think about leaving the house

[cosmolinguist]

"You're really getting into this Blur album aren't you?"

"What?" was all I could say. "It's just on repeat; I haven't bothered to find anything else yet."

"No, you're typing in rhythm with the music," Andrew said.

"What!" I said again. "I am not!"

He started laughing,"Yes you are."

"I don't think so."

He continued laughing at me until the song was over. I still think he's crazy. At best, I'm willing to allow the possibility of a coincidence, as both my typing and that song are fast and loud.

It is also a coincidence that he's right: I am getting into this Blur album (Parklife).

Andrew and I don't watch TV except at his parents', so a week ago when we were there we ended up watching a show about potential inductees to the UK Music Hall of Fame with his mom. When they got to Blur I said, "I know one of their songs ... I think."

"Yeah, that'll be 'Song 2'," he said. "That was their attempt to sound American."

That would explain why I had only the vaguest idea of who they were and didn't remember the song specifically. I did recognise it when they played a clip on TV; it sounded just like lots of other things I heard on the radio at that time.

But until then, Blur had been an interesting British band. Andrew compared them to the early Kinks stuff and, hearing just bits of their songs, I could see what he meant. A hint of the Beatles in there, too. Blur did all kinds of cool songs.

Everyone in Britain knew this, and no one told me!

At the same time they were asking each other "Oasis or Blur?"—the sort of inkblot question that "Beatles or the Stones?" may have been to an earlier generation—I was stuck with hearing Mariah Carey, the Smashing Pumpkins*, Dr. Dre, TLC, the Gin Blossoms, Jewel, and boring things like that on the radio. No wonder I hid myself in '60s pop; at least that was good pop. Oh, we knew all about Oasis, and I did buy and enjoy What's the Story Morning Glory, but I was totally ignorant to the rest of what was going on.

It wasn't just Blur and Oasis, anyway. When the mention of that question came up on the TV show, Andrew's mom said, "Pulp! That's how I always answered 'Blur or Oasis': Pulp!" And indeed Pulp managed to be very good but almost totally unknown in the states. I first heard them when Andrew played one of their records for me when I got here. If anybody in the US has heard about Pulp now, it's probably because of William Shatner's cover of "Common People." This is only one of the reasons I find that song an abomination. setharoo recently made the mistake of mentioning that he liked that song, and that he hadn't heard the original, thus subjecting himself to a half-coherent, half-informed rant about Pulp and Britpop from me.

Yes, I'm excited about this. Yes, I know that's lame.

I'm annoyed as well, though. Not that there's good music I didn't know about; I've been realising that my whole life, and it delights rather than bothers me. Not even that there was such good music being made when I was stuck listening to bad stuff on the radio. What really annoys me is that this good Britpop music is exactly the sort of thing I would've loved most when I was that age. Andrew said that these bands made it less dorky to like the Kinks and the Beatles again, and that would've been perfect for me. Just being able to play music like the Blur album I've been listening to this afternoon would've made my junior high existence a bit less grotesque.

All kinds of good things are hiding where I don't know about them, and sometimes I think my whole life is spent chasing them around and trying to find out about everything.

---

* I know people who still like the Smashing Pumpkins, and while I've tried to understand this, I cannot. I like Billy Corgan's voice, and I remember reading at least one interview with him that made him seem like a decent enough guy, but I just do not get anything out of their music.

(Crosslink: gfonk doesn't understand America.)

Comments

[strangeidea.livejournal.com]

If anybody in the US has heard about Pulp now, it's probably because of William Shatner's cover of "Common People.

Patently untrue! I've been a creepily-obsessive Pulp fan ever since I saw "This Is Hardcore" at three in the morning on MTV back when they still played music videos.

Also, I like the William Shatner/Joe Jackson version or "Common People." :D

[cosmolinguist]

I know Pulp fans do exist there; I have a friend who might be one. Or she might just be saying that to impress someone else, I'm not sure. ;-)

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

You've been friended, partly because you're a friend of Holly's, partly because you're a Pulp fan, partly because of the wording in your speech bubble and partly because you're into Grant Morrison.

[strangeidea.livejournal.com]

Hooray! I knew that combination would serve me well someday.

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

You don't get Pulp in the US?? that's terrible! Hmm actually that does remind me of when I was at the International COnvention of my Youth group, and me and the brits all got along because we were singing Common People and Disco2000 and I'm not sure if any Yankers were joining us. Probably not then.

But I think when people here think of Blur that 'Boys and Girls (someone you really love)' song is the one that they all think of first. I know I do.

[gfonk.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA Thanks for the shoutout :)

[cosmolinguist]

I thought you gave a very nice asseessment of the situation.

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

actually blur are a bit more complicated and go, a bit ropey but interesting, bit more interesting, really good and interesting (parklife), absolutely iredeemably awful (the great escape), and then interesting again if like me you like squonks and weirdy lo fi stuff. if you don't, just pretend they finished around about "parklife"

as for pulp - well i think the shatner thing is a wonderful, WONDERFUL thing for a start, but i think they were everso slightly a big thing for a bit around the time of "different class", but then jarvis showed how obstinate a cove he was and scared most people off with "this is hardcore" so barely anyone in britain had heard of them after that...

[cosmolinguist]

I'm sure Blur are more complicated than how I presented them here. That they're interesting at all is all I've really managed to figure out at this point. :-)

Andrew actually tells me he doesn't like Parklife much and thinks The Great Escape is good. But he also told me that he's the only person who thinks that; your opinion is apparently the widely-held one.

Many people I know love the Shatner thing. I've had to forbid Andrew from playing it too much, because it drives me crazy, and while I don't understand what's so likable about it, I do know many people who like it.

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

no no no no no no no no no no. andrew is welcome to his opinion but no no no no no no no. i mean "stereotypes"? ugh. "charmless band" sorry "charmless man"? "country house"? ugh. and even the best song on the record, "the universal" is structured really badly - it should BUILD to the chorus not just fritter it away after thirty seconds. it's a bit lazy and trying too hard to second guess what they did right on "parklife". even the cover is horrible. awful thing. took me until they stripped away all the artifice and clutter and released "beetlebum" to actually see what the fuss was about blur...

now, the shatner thing. well for a start he's actually understood the lyrics and just not gone "hello i'm being overwrought". secondly it's a *great* arrangement and thirdly it's got ruddy joe jackson singing the chorus. i think it's absolutely majestic and has made me reconsider shatner as not just a mad old ham but a mad old ham who knows ENTIRELY what he's doing. one of my friends described him as a "magnificent bastard" and i can see why - plus the cameo in "third rock from the sun" where he played the big giant head which i saw lately was just amazing...

[cosmolinguist]

It's nice when people like you like things that I don't like (or at least don't understand) because you explain them well. :-) It's nice to hear something about this besides, "Uh, I like it." So even if I never do come around to your way of thinking on the song, at least now I think I understand why you're such a fan of it yourself.

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

yeah i was a bit dubious to say the least. i had it in my head it would be all theatrical and silly but actually it's rather sly and well thought out. he knows what he's doing far more than i ever suspected... and, hey, joe jackson! what more would a man want?

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

I didn't say I don't like Parklife, just that I prefer The Great Escape. I actually haven't listened to the album in several years, but I remember loving it at the time. There's some absolute dreck on there (Mr Robinson's Quango, Stereotypes), but there's some really good stuff (Best Days, He Thought Of Cars, The Universal) as well. Of course it didn't help that they released all the worst tracks as singles...

And you are right about Shatner.
And Pulp were more than quite big in late 95/early 96 - I know you weren't really following the charts all that much around then, but they were festival headliners and playing stadia for a year or so then, and to be honest that was the best place for them - Cocker is best when playing to a large audience, like Michael Stipe or David Byrne. But yeah, when only three people bought This Is Hardcore that pretty much ended their pop stardom...

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

"the universal" bothers me because of the fact the "and it really, really, really could happen" bit comes in FAR too early and should have waited a good minute or so to come in. i don't much care for "best days", but "he thought of cars" is alright. just generally it's like wading through a band trying to second guess themselves. at the time it just underlined my general scepticism towards them

i know pulp were huge here around the 95/ 96 period because i was by then following the charts, but i was meaning i wasn't cure how well they did in america. i think "this is hardcore" - which MOJO wonderfully reminded me i was thinking of when listening to the new wreckless eric material - is a wonderful thing, as i do "we love life" - not sure about "his and hers" though. never did like that much...

[cosmolinguist]

I'm not sure how well Pulp did in America either. Like I said, I know one person who sometimes talks about them but I think it might be just to impress other people. But that would mean that there are other people who might like Pulp ... I just don't know them. However, for what it's worth, I'm fairly sure that This is Hardcore is what she was talking about. I don't know anything else about it, though.

The only Pulp stuff I know is what Andrew played at me: Different Class. And I don't even know that very well (plus, as Andrew points out, it's a more British thing and someone like me probably can't really get it anyway). Like I said, all this Britpop didn't show up on my radar at all, and I'm just finding out about it now.

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

not true! sarah loves "a different class" though it must be said she does love "this is hardcore" a lot more so i don't think you need to know the culturally specific stuff. i mean yes, jarvis observations like "Your house was very small with wood-chip on the wall" and "The crowd gasp at Cocker's masterful control of the bicycle, skillfully avoiding the dog turd next to the corner shop" are cleverer if you know the context, but still it doesn't take too much to get it i think

other britpop: much maligned, but loved by me is the boo radleys' deeply misunderstood "wake up!", the fantastic "i should coco" by supergrass which is worth it for "sofa (of my lethargy)" alone and personally "lux" by thurman. though also for post britpop i'd keep my eye out for the superb pop psych and free pop up board game that was octopus' "from a to b"

[cosmolinguist]

Hey, Andrew's the one saying someone'd have to live here for like ten years to really get it, that wasn't me. I don't know which ten years he had in mind, though. :-)

I've heard of the Boo Radleys, and Supergrass (I think). The other cool thing about people who know what they're talking about is that when I say "hey, where'd this Blur thing come from?" they can say "if you like that, you might like this half-dozen other things ..." :-D

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

i think what andrew is right about is that if you have lived in britain for some time you get a real sense of another depth to the record, but i don't think it is essential to the enjoyment

the boo radleys, bless 'em, are one of my favourite bands ever but are worth being a bit cautious around because they are frequently misunderstood. "wake up!" came with a big fat annoying pop record that annoyed the hell out of everyone on the radio for ages, but is in fact a lovely raggedy pop/ psych/ shcizophrenic album of wonderfulness. they returned to similar territory one more time with their final album but the rest of their stuff is either all droney shoegazey stuff (so wonderful then!) or noisy angry stuff (so again - wonderful!). supergrass are great fun, and their debut album probably the most genuinely carefree of the period

i also forgot super furry animal's absolutely masterful "radiator" - d'oh!

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

His 'N' Hers sounds like they're trying to do three things at once - there's the old Cocker sleaze (Babies and Do You Remember The First Time and tracks like that) which I like in moderation, and then there's the other songs, which sound like they're trying to do the social comment thing they did on Different Class, but also sound like they're trying to appeal to a targeted group of stereotyped indie listeners - stuff like We Like Driving On A Saturday Night (or whatever it's called) sounds very calculated to me. There's still, of course, an element of that on Different Class, with stuff like Misfits, but it's far more all-embracing, and less targeted, to my ears.

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

i know what you mean - i just think "his'n'hers" tries too hard and frequently fails because it just hasn't worked out what it fully wants to do. "different class" though just fixed eyes with the zeitgeist and was absolutely FEARLESS in what it set out to do which is why it probably is the best of the britpop albums of that period...

actually "do you remember the first time" is my favourite song on that album, though mainly because it reminds me of the great little documentary they did with viv stanshall and john peel and the like talking about when they lost their virginity