Modern Life is Rubbish (1993)

Parklife (1994)

The Great Escape (1995)

Blur (1997)

13 (1999)

Best of Blur (2000)

Think Tank (2003)

Blur Collectors Edition CD
The Best Of Blur - DVD
Blur - No Distance Left To Run DVD

Released in 1992, the snarling "Pop Scene" was Blur's first attempt at changing their musical direction.
A brash, spiteful rocker driven by horns, the neo-mod single was punkier than anything the band had previously recorded and its hooks were more immediate and catchy. Despite Blur's clear artistic growth, "Pop Scene" didn't fit into the climate of British pop and American grunge in 1992 and failed to make an impression on the U.K. charts.

Following the single's commercial failure, the group began work on their second album, Modern Life Is Rubbish,
a process that would take nearly a year and a half. XTC's Andy Partridge was originally enlisted to produce Modern Life Is Rubbish, but the relationship between Blur and Partridge quickly soured, so Street was again brought in to produce the band.

After spending nearly a year in the studio, the band delivered the album to Food. The record company rejected the album, declaring that it needed a hit single. Blur went back into the studio and recorded Albarn's "For Tomorrow," which would turn out to be a British hit. Food was ready to release the record, but the group's U.S. record company, SBK, believed there was no American hit single on the record and asked them to return to the studio.

Blur complied and recorded "Chemical World," which pleased SBK for a short while; the song would become a minor alternative hit in the U.S. and charted at number 28 in the U.K. Modern Life Is Rubbish was set for release in the spring of 1993 when SBK asked Blur to re-record the album with producer Butch Vig (Nirvana, Sonic Youth). The band refused and the record was released in May in Britain; it appeared in the United States that fall. Modern Life Is Rubbish received good reviews in Britain, peaking at number 15 on the charts, yet it failed to make much of an impression in the U.S.

Modern Life Is Rubbish turned out to be a dry run for Blur's breakthrough album, Parklife. Released in April 1994, Parklife entered the charts at number one and catapulted the band to stardom in Britain. The stylized new wave dance-pop single "Girls and Boys," entered the charts at number five; the single managed to spend 15 weeks in the U.S. charts, peaking at number 52, but the album never cracked the charts.

It was a completely different story in England, as Blur had a string of hit singles including the ballad "To the End" and the mod anthem "Parklife," which featured narration by Phil Daniels, the star of the film version of the Who's Quadrophenia. With the success of Parklife, Blur opened the door for a flood of British indie-guitar bands that dominated British pop culture in the mid-'90s. Oasis, Elastica, Pulp, the Boo Radleys, Supergrass, Gene, Echobelly, Menswear, and numerous other bands all benefited from the band's success.

By the beginning of 1995, Parklife had gone triple platinum and the band had become superstars. The group spent the first half of 1995 recording their fourth album and playing various one-off concerts, including a sold-out stadium show. Blur released "Country House," the first single from their new album, in August admist a flurry of media attention because Albarn had the single's release moved up a week to compete with the release of "Roll with It," a new single from Blur's chief rivals, Oasis.

The strategy backfired. Although Blur won the battle, with "Country House" becoming the group's first number one single, they ultimately lost the war, as Oasis became Britain's biggest band with their second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, completely overshadowing the follow-up to Parklife, The Great Escape. While The Great Escape entered the U.K. charts at number one and earned overwhelmingly positive reviews, it sold in smaller numbers and by the beginning of 1996 Blur were seen as has-beens, especially since they once again failed to break the American market, where Oasis had been particularly successful.

In the face of negative press and weak public support, Blur nearly broke-up in early 1996, but they instead decided to spend the entire year out of the spotlight. By the end of the year, Albarn was declaring that he was no longer interested in British music and was fascinated with American indie-rock, a genre that Graham Coxon had been supporting for years.

These influences manifested themselves on Blur's fifth album, Blur, which was released in February of 1997 to generally positive reviews. The band's reinvention wasn't greeted warmly in the UK -- the album and its first single, "Beetlebum," debuted at number one and quickly fell down the charts, as the group's mass audience didn't completely accept their new incarnation.

However, the band's revamped sound earned them an audience in the US, where Blur received strong reviews and became a moderate hit, thanks largely to the popularity of the single "Song 2." The success in America eventually seeped over to Britain, and by the spring, the album had bounced back up the charts. 13 followed in 1999.

In 2002 Graham Coxon left the band, after some "falling out" with fellow members. Graham felt that the band was being run more like a business than a band. His solo efforts have been received with some positive critical acclaim. Well done GC.

February 2003 Blur bounced back with new album. Click here to order the album - Think Tank

Following a four year hiatus, Blur came back with their seventh studio album, Think Tank, which was released by Parlophone in 2003. Begun in the band’s London studio 13 late in 2001, the Think Tank sessions moved southwards when the band packed up the entire studio and migrated to Marrakech for September and October in 2002.