Album Club Special - 30 years to the day of Blur's Modern Life is Rubbish

Album Club Special - It's 30 years to the day that Blur's Modern Life is Rubbish was released, and we celebrate that milestone by listening to the album in full as part of the 6 Music Album Club.

The album was a moderate commercial success in the UK, but – in addition to bringing Blur’s career back from the brink of early collapse – has come to be regarded as a definining classic of the Britpop era. The album saw them embrace lush production and a more Anglocentric musical direction, incorporating ideas from traditional British guitar groups like The Kinks and The Small Faces.

Contextually, this record emerged from a desperate time for Blur. Their debut album Leisure (1991) had been commercially successful but was critically panned. Alexis Petridis, writing in Lime Lizard, suggested Blur “don't appear to know what they're doing.” Due mainly to mismanagement, Blur were also £60,000 in debt. Following a disastrous tour of the US – where audiences were more interested in the nascent grunge movement – Blur returned to England, where the music press had shifted its attention to rivals Suede. After a run of alcohol-fuelled, poorly-received shows (including a 1992 gig that featured a well-received show by Suede on the same bill) Blur were in danger of being dropped by Food Records. Albarn claimed to Mojo in 2000 "Suede and America fuelled my desire to prove to everyone that Blur were worth it.”

In an interview with NME around the time of the album’s release, Damon said, “If punk was about getting rid of hippies, then I’m getting rid of grunge. It’s the same sort of feeling: people should smarten up, be a bit more energetic. They’re walking around like hippies again – they’re stooped, they’ve got greasy hair, there’s no difference.”