Is this how UA-camrs do ad reads or did I take it too far? If you do fancy checking them out, you can get 20% OFF MANSCAPED + Free Shipping with promo code "HAWKINS" at www.manscaped.com (including those underpants, not that exact pair...obviously)
Blur is insanely talented. I love that you gave Blur some of the credit they deserve, and for touching on the Brit Pop era. This song is like they were riffing on Nirvana, but with the musicality of the Eagles- I typed this and you started playing Nirvana on que - I'm stoned
I hope they’ll keep those Manscaped commercials going!! I wasn’t expecting it and I nearly died laughing!!! Best one I’ve ever seen - Justin is now a musical AND Manscaped legend!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 And great video topic too. I LOVE Song 2! You’re always talking out of your butt, but we love hearing what comes out! 😊
As an american, I didn't know much about Blur until Song 2 came out, but it was Coffee & TV which made me decide to buy their album 13 and I was shocked at how amazing it was. Still a ridiculously great and varied album. To this day I've never listen to any other blur album yet that one is one of my favorite albums out of anything.
100% agree, 13 is a masterpiece and Coxton is a killer guitarist. I was late to the Blur party but I love them so much now, their music really stands up.
I think Blur, Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, very underrated. I’m a muso (keyboards, vocals), and their songs were always more layered than people realised. Very switched on musicians and creators.
Yeah, they got a lot of heat for The Great Escape, with Country House notoriously 'winning the battle but losing the war' with Oasis. Since then they've really shown their creativity & musicianship, as you say, with Albarn in particular becoming one of our most prolific songwriters.
Agree. Damon Albarn is closer to my "generation's Paul McCartney" than anyone from the era. He even straddled pop and punk/underground. The Gorillas are amazing also
@@Jamestele1 Blur and Gorillaz just continue to output insanely great music 30ish years on, and they still feel fresh. Magic Whip was a brilliant album and sounds like Cracker Island will be too. I think people looked at Damon (and the rest of Blur to be fair, they’re all bloody gorgeous), heard Boys and Girls and There’s no other way, and thought, meh, pretty boys doing pop, but Damon and Graham are genuine artists, excellent song writers and musicians.
I disagree about the Albarn and Coxon part. Every post talk about how good these two are, yet in Song 2 you immediately know the song from the starting drum solo, and the chorus from Alex's distorted bass. These two IMHO are very underrated.
This album from Blur was the one that got me listening to them. The whole album is incredible. I hadn’t paid attention to them prior to this album and wouldn’t have expected them to make an album that sounded like it. Great stuff
Best advert ever Justin LMAO, but even funnier for me was the moment when Justin says "I love that amateurish guitar sound (cue close up of JH looking to camera) what does that say about me?" I almost spat my coffee all over the keyboard!! As if the Manscaped ad had not already had me laughing my (not yet shaven) balls off!!!! But on a musical note, you picked out EVERY single little nuance of the song arrangement of Song 2 that I also love. Man, I have never been so connected with somebody in their musical observations. I almost always am thinking what you come out with! Just wish I had as much talent as you!! Great work as always JH :-)............... now where did I leave my after shave............. ;-)
I'm late to this video party! I absolutely love Blur. I moved to the UK when I was 21 from Australia (doing that visa thing) in 1994 and Blur's "Parklife" was the soundtrack to my life there in the UK . It's still one of my favourite records. I got to see them play in Newquay on the beach and then hitch-hiked and snuck into Glastonbury and got to see them play then too. Troublemaking! Amazing band. The other thing I love is here at home I said "I love Graham Coxon" and then you said it exactly the same way! Sympatico. Anyway, in summary, Graham Coxon is amazing, Song 2 is amazing, All their records are amazing. Blur is amazing. Coxon/Albarn also did some truly wonderful remixes of Massive Attacks "Mezzanine" album, in particular a minimalist version of the song "Angel", which just melts your face off in its beauty. In the meantime, I'll zip up my tracksuit to my chin and slip on my Adidas sneaks and go dancing! Thanks as always for the fantastic videos, Justin. You are the best thing on the interwebs....
Hi Justin, I was 15 in 1997 and years into my journey of finding 'my own' music. After the buoyant and largely upbeat British music of the previous 3 years, the releases of 1997 seemed to take a slightly darker edge. Take Attack of the Grey Lantern by Mansun, what a sombre yet brilliant sounding album (come to think of it that would make a great episode). It was as though 1997 was the party starting to wind down. By 1998 dance music and bands that employed a lot more electronic sounds took the batten and started up their own party. Back to Blur, I remember being in my first band and having Song 2 in our set. We played a battle of the bands and thought we went down a storm. Then the band on after us did Song 2 as their sound check and blew our version out of the water. Hey, ho... ...or rather wooohooo?
Facts! When I sat down and learned the Chemical World riff I was like “Damn there’s so much more to this dude’s playing than I thought. But also screw him for making such a hard riff.” 😂😂
My favourite memory is before this was released as a single I went with my brother to see Blur at the Barrowlands. We had the album and loved the song. There was a point during the gig they said here is our new song we think you will like it. They played it and there was no reaction. Damon made some comment at the end and they brushed it off. About 3 weeks later it went number one. I'll never forget the moment Song2 fell flat. We knew it was going to be massive my brother and I. Weirdest thing I've ever witnessed musically.
Coxon is such a brilliant guitarist. He’s always doing unexpected things that one would think wouldn’t make any sense. A good example of how you get a long way on creativity rather than virtuosity.
@@pyenapple he isn’t a virtuoso - by his own assessment. Watch his interview on that pedal show. He’s not a Page-Esque soloist with outstanding technical ability. He is creatively outstanding and an original in terms of his writing and playing. He says as much himself.
@Carol holloway yeah, I mean, I can shred too - but I’m no virtuoso. I agree though that it isn’t his style, which was my point. He says as much himself. I’m not saying he doesn’t have technique - it’s just that that isn’t the point.
Coxon’s guitar work was so unique. The intro to He Thought Of Cars is incredible. He also had a way of intertwining two seemingly unrelated riffs or solo lines, eg This Is A Low/Colin Zeal. Outstanding work.
Thanks for doing Blur, I'm still a bit obsessed to this day. And honestly I'm a bit clueless why, partly Damon's mix of charm and loathing, and Graham's somewhat unique elevation to the genre. Could you do some more Blur please? ♥️
Watch the bass player's documentary on cocaine. It was his penance. I hate it when musicians reform and have to apologise for past indiscretions and adventures. Not like Led Zeppelin and the Stones who made an unapologetic living out of it.
teehill, it's easy to get obsessed with Blur; don't worry about that. Blur are one of my top 6 British bands of all time. Every album is different from the last, and every song is different on every album. Sheer class. Just great songwriters.
Blur has been one of my favourite bands since the nineties, and Graham Coxon is a truly under appreciated guitarist. He really did carry a lot of the songs, his work was always very unique and as someone that also plays the guitar I take a lot of influences from his style.
Plus he did amazing backing vocals on nearly all blur songs. How can he be THAT good at switching between rhythm and lead AND sing tons of interesting harmonies?!
Justin I just want to start out by saying you're the man and making your own Manscaped commercial as opposed to just doing a live read is the kind of genius I've come to expect from you. Bravo.
Yes .. Mr Coxon Is an excellent player and he’s very dynamic and versatile. Alex James tears it up too. “She’s so high” is one of the best songs ever written
Alex J is very underrated. Melodic and unusual lines that still do what the bass should do, but not in a way you'd expect, linking the drums perfectly with Coxon's guitar.
Speaking of Morrissey, you should definitely uncover some of The Smiths' work. Would love for you to break down the utter madness of Johnny Marr's guitar playing. Great vid as per usual, and the ad had me rolling. Cheers
Smiths bore me shitless. Morrissey's and Marr's autobiographies more than make up for their music. I guess you can't have everything. Just ask the rest of the band - if you can name them lol Peace
Having spoken to both Graham and the producer about this.The drums you hear at the beginning are both Graham on one drum kit and the 'actual' drummer on another kit at the same time. They were kind of messing around together and the producer really liked what they were doing and captured it. The vocals you hear are 90% the guide vocal which was largely freeform with a few overdubs made later. Cool eh!
Coconut… *spell check Coxon was heavily into Pavement around that time. What’s really interesting is how a guitarist in a guitar band was able to steer a bands sound that previously had manifested itself into a reaction (in Albarn’s words) to the ‘coca-colonisation’ of the UK’s culture just a few LP’s prior (Modern life is rubbish & Parklife) and then get turned on to US college indie bands, who themselves had been influenced by UK indie bands. I liked it when bands had the time to mature and evolve, when it wasn’t all personal curation instead of a bands curation resulting in an LP. I guess the moral of the tale is keep music reactionary & eclectic, that’s one thing I’ve always respected about Blur (Who were huge fans of Cardiacs as mid era Blur B sides testify to & having the Cardiacs supporting at Mile End) is their eclecticism. It’s funny really… the vast influence that the US has had up post (second) world war British culture… imagine if it was Belgium or Botswana or Iraq, people would be up in arms. One thing for sure is Coxon was/is one of the most inventive UK guitarists of the last 50 years, self taught. Awesome.
Always thought a lot of Fugazi influence in song 2, the drum part played on the rims, the skronky guitar, the awesome heaviness, the title to name but a few, and saw mr Coxon at their rather incredible gigs. And yes, for me Ok Computer killed Britpop stone dead, and we can never thank Radiohead enough for doing so.
@@winstonsmith2079 Wow what an incisive, articulate cutting edge comment Winnie. Post some links of your guitar playing and let us be the judge of that lol
This is great. I loved the Darkness when I was a teenager in the 2000s and was learning guitar, and was wondering what Justin and co were up to now. A really sensitive and thoughtful analysis of a brilliant track.
Blur is one of the greatest British bands ever, part of the noble lineage that started with the Beatles and ended with...them! And yeah, Graham is a top guitarist, inventive and adventurous, the likes of whom have tragically disappeared.....
Alban was spending a lot of time in Iceland at the time of recording this album. This song is very close to a certain song by an Icelandic band (Botnleðja), that Blur befriended and spent a lot of time with playing football and getting high/hammered. Love the ad Love Coxon Love the channel
Your acoustic 'take' on 'Pretty Vacant' is a mark of your own musicality, and of the unexpected brilliance of the song. You need to cover it - probably acoustically. Not because it will make money, but because it will make people happy!
It’s so great to see one of my favourite singers dissect and study a song from one of my all time favourite bands. The eponymous album featured some great songs. Beetlebum my all time fav followed by song 2 because it was the second song on the album and country sad ballad man which is awesome. M.O.R. was essentially chord for chord Bowies boys keep swinging so much so I think Blur got hit with infringement. Still those were the days when music even the tracks that were so called rip offs still sounded good. Connection from elastica springs to mind it was Wire’s three girl rhumba
I’ve spent so much time watching graham coxon vids, he has such a lovely and interesting voice that draws you in, 4 hours later you wonder where that time has gone, he’s so humble and genuinely excited when he’s talking about his music. He’s up there with you Justin!
As a lifelong Blur fan, this song means very little to me. It's a hiccup at best. I think that happens a lot however, that some watered down version of something that's going on becomes the story of it. It's not a bad song by any means, but it's very simple and silly. A novelty song. I feel a little weird that this song together with the despicable Country House is most peoples way into this marvellous, varied, original band. But it is interesting none the less. The next album, 13, was a magnificent sonic spaceship however, and it's still roaming the minds of all who got into it. Cool vid, man :)
Thanks for mentioning Warrant, my favourite big hair 80’s band. Quite right - Cherry Pie was their biggest hit and yet most fans of the band hated it, even the songwriter was not a fan of it. Go deeper on their first 3 albums, ignore the rampant misogyny of the day, and they were a brilliant, Queen-influenced, melodic rock band.
Only time I’ve ever been watching a video and not double and triple tapped the right side of the screen to skip 20-30 seconds of the video when its sponsor is being plugged. Wonderful.
What an amazing youtube channel - huge fan of your music and delighted I came across it - love the music theory and breakdown of songs. More power to you.
Where do I start?! I usually moan when your video are interrupted by adverts but....wow! That's the best darn ad I've seen in years! Now we all know you are truly Manscaped lol. In regards to Blur...Great band. In the 90's I was convinced I would marry Damon one day! I still regularly listen to most of their albums, I'm not a fan of The Great Escape as Country House is just too cheesy for me. Modern Life Is Rubbish rocks hard in many places so that's probably my fave. Thanks for the channel, please keep it going as its just hugely entertaining and interesting. Carol. X
I disagree, this doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of their discography. From their SINGLES, sure. But they had other album tracks that weren’t utterly dissimilar, and plenty of weird noisy raw b-sides. Blur were always wild and difficult underneath.
@@jbaker6811 then why say it if it isn’t true? I think he genuinely doesn’t know they started as a noisy weird art rock group before the first album. It’s not helpful to assume things
My then 3 year old (1997) played percussion on a pringles container in his car seat. Its how I knew he was a musician. He's 28 now and plays it all. I have fond memories of this song for that reason.
From what I've always heard, the main riff was inspired by Fell off the floor man, by a contemporary Belgian band dEUS which came out a year earlier. Apparently Albarn once confirmed this but I never saw a definitive source for it. Both songs are awesome though.
Blur's bassist Alex James is real talented. To me he carried the sound of Blur during their Britpop era as much as Coxon. His bass notes in (for example) Popscene, Girls and boys and Entertain me are killers! Sadly he never made a solo career.
He did put out a few singles me me me hangin around with the drummer from elastica. Two singles with Fat Les, and played bass on murder on the dancefloor by Sophie Ellis Bextor
I think I heard Graham Coxon say in an interview that the drum intro is actually a loop they created and was meant to sound kind of robotic and the guitar is barely in tune as part of the joke on the record company.
Excellent episode! The main guitar riff in Song 2 actually sounds a bit like the verse melody in The Chauffeur by Duran Duran. Hadn't noticed that before.
Thanks again Justin. Blur is one of my favourite UK bands apart from The Darkness . Please tell me your Gibson Acoustic is it a Gibson Songwriter ? Cheers brother 🇿🇦
Coxon also plays the power chords in the 2nd inversion which gives an even fatter sound and is just genius. His riffs are always awesome e.g. Beetlebum (1st track of the same album)
Love love love this video! I was 15 when Song 2 came out and every time I hear it, it just takes me back to happier, teenage days of no responsibilities and bloody good music 😊 Thanks so much for talking about this track, Justin, loving the channel and can't wait to see you guys play Gone Wild festival next month. Keep up the awesome work!
The part you say sounds like a bass overdub - yes, it’s Alex playing his bass through one of those tiny little Marshall practice amps with a two-inch speaker, powered by AAA batteries. Warren Huart does an interview with Graham on his Produce Like a Pro channel and they talk about this.
No lie, I had sworn never to buy any Manscaped products because of their ads interrupting videos I'm watching (as is my policy) but THIS ad has me changing my mind lol. Well done sir!
deconstructed like this, it reminded me of Joey Santiago/Frank Black in the 90s... (the pedal) Graham was always special (5 years later) happiness in magazines has epic moments. It sounds like the clash, the libertines, shellac, frank black, black keys...
Fun fact! The drums in the verse is a drum loop. They recorded the the song live in a room together including the vocals, when the vocals get isolated you can hear massive amounts of instruments bleeding through.
The point made about the single note drone which resides in the pre-chorus is so crucial. It's those million little choices about what not to play in a band that separates the great from the good. Brilliant.
Alex is one of my all time favourite base players. If you listen to what is going on with the bass in Blur songs, it is so interesting, but not overwhelming either.
I saw a bloke many years ago with the immortal "CLAPTON IS GOD" meme on his t-shirt. The Clapton bit was crossed off and replaced with "COXON". I thought Mmm, not a bad shout fella!
The guitar is the power chords you see in the verse all played on the 5th string, then for the loud bit he creates an inversion by also covering the low fifth on the 6th string with his 1st finger for that big smashing pumpkins or weezer blue album power chord sound. The high drone notes are overdubs.
Finally embarrasing YT advertisement done right. Thank you, Justin! Oh, and by the way, since over the past few months you quickly have become my favourite person I don't actually know (a fun category for everyone, old and young, all sexes)... please do get into Spoon, they might be the best band of the last 20 Years and I'd like you to share my joy. I mean it... share my joy, buster!
Funny story, I was a teenager at the time and saw Song 2 on MTV's 120 minutes and HAD to get it from the music shop. Well I went down to the store and looked for Blur but grabbed Modern Life Is Rubbish by mistake because I didn't get a chance to see what the song was called when I saw it on the TV.. Listened to the entire album waiting for Song 2 and it never came but I fell absolutely in LOVE with the album but I still had to hear Song 2 again so I marched right down to the shop again, bought the right self titled Blur album and then bought everything I could find from them thereafter. They were the biggest influence on my continuing playing guitar and becoming a proper musician.
Like the whole self-titled album it was Grahams revenge on Britpop, burning Damon’s Country House to the ground and abrasively calling time on all those cheery brass instruments and cheesy videos with page 3 girls. It was the sound of a brilliant and seminal band reinventing themselves in a way Oasis (with all respect to them) never could.
Oasis and Blur are sonically very different, though I absolutely love them for what they are in their own league, and I have to admit Blur wrote songs that Noel Gallagher could even hardly think of BUT Don't Believe the Truth and Dig Up Your Soul displayed some reaaaaally nice tunes from the Gallagher Brothers
From America! That manscaped ad was freaking genius! They should take that ad all over the internet and TV. It's the kind of ad that can take on a life of it's own. Just remember me when the money's rolling in! And thanks for the laugh!
OK Computer was 1997. It's hard to call anything in Radiohead's discography after that 'Britpop,' in my opinion. They definitely became something else. Btw, I feel you found your new calling in voiceover work. That manscape shit was amazing!
Hands down the best manscaped sponsor ad ever. Holy shit. I have seen a LOT of them over the last few years... but holy fuck that is the best one!. Ok time to embarrass myself. I never read or looked up the lyrics to this song. I'm 32 now, this happened a few years back... 4 or so ish. My partner and I were driving somewhere and Song 2 came on... just after the verse started -keep in mind I've known this song for basically my entire life... without knowing the lyics- I looked at him and said "what the fuck is a chamboche?" Queue awkward conversation about why I thought "Jumbo jet" was "chamboche". We've been together for 11 years... and that happened about 7 years into it XD Never a dull moment with us I guess lol
I loved Blur, i was never an oasis fan, it was always blur for me. Leisure and Modern Life is Rubbish were excellent. I sadly went off them when they did parklife, and their mockney accents started to grate. But i still listen to and love those 1st 2 albums!
0:24 After Britpop was Post Britpop. Oasis released Be Here Now in 1997, which gave them two of their eight #1s - D'You Know What I Mean and All Around The World, which at 9min 36secs is the longest running British #1 ever. The Mancunians also released The Masterplan, a B-sides and rarities compilation of songs not already on a studio album, like Acquiesce and the title track. Oasis disbanded in 2009. Counterparts Blur gave us their self-titled effort in 1997, which featured darker songs like Song 2 and Beetlebum. They also released 13 in 1999. They've been on hiatus since 2015. Overly depressing rockers Radiohead self-produced OK Computer in 1997, which was a smash hit. That same year Stereophonics released their debut album Word Gets Around but reached greater heights in 1999 with Performance and Cocktails. A year later fellow Welshmen the Manic Street Preachers made This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, which gave them one of two #1s, If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next. Scottish group Travis created The Man Who in 1999 which stayed at #1 for 9 weeks on the Album Chart. As mentioned, The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony was released in 1997 along with its parent album Urban Hymns, which was very good. The Verve broke up in 1998, just after the recording of Oasis' Cast No Shadow, which was about The Verve's lead singer Richard Ashcroft.
Just watched a video of Graham Coxon breaking it down (similar to a Rick Beato video) and there is distorted guitar playing the main riff, but the bass pretty much dominates it. I played this with my band recently and since we didn't have any pedals and only two guitarists we had to omit the repeated one-note part.
Also the heaviness of the riff was explained by Paul Davids - it sounds like the guitar was downtuned, but in the first two chords Graham also bars the E string
1 of the greatest songs of the 90s! I usually SKIP presenters 'ads' for a sponsor, but I watched yours Juz! Just a brilliant bit of dark humour, & sarcasm! (Adult humour at the end was mint as well! )
Justin of the Hawkins. I salute you sir on your consistently entertaining UA-cam channel, your moustache and for writing one of my favourite bangers - It’s Love, Jim. I wondered if you might review in your own inimitable style something by one of my all time favourites bands - The Wedding Present. Perhaps - Everyone thinks he look daft from George Best, Take Me from Bizarro or perhaps Corduroy from the seminal album Seamonsters. Looking forward to seeing The Darkness in person next year in Glasgae.
Thank you for breaking it all down! And, for breaking your rock star status down, as well. Now you are a fan, -a rock´n roll nerd like so many of us! But, you have a foot inside the business, and I appreciate every video! ROCK ON!🤘
I remember seeing an interview with Graham and he said there's a bass track where it's played through one of those tiny battery powered Marshall stacks, on the overdub bass part you mentioned.
That is the first 'Manscaped' ad read I haven't skipped through. It's right up there with Internet Historian's "Raid Shadow Legends" and Norm Macdonald's "Man Grill" ad reads. Sublime.
Very much enjoying these vids Justin... your genuine curiosity and enthusiasm shows... brings out more interesting and thoughtful takes on songs I've not really seen in other music breakdown channels.
You have an incredible ear and a firm grasp of all things musical. I love watching you break this stuff down and seeing how you look at the neck of a guitar. Still getting my value!!! Obliged to once again invite you back to Nashville!!! Anytime.
The "woo-hoo" part in Song #2 was inspired by the chorus of the song "Þið eruð frábær" by Icelandic rock band Botnleðja, which opened for Blur on their 1997 UK tour. This is pretty well known in Iceland and Damon Albarn actually got an Icelandic citizenship last year.
![Woo-hoo!: How Blur Mocked Grunge & Destroyed Britpop ["Song 2"] | New British Canon](/img/n.gif)
Is this how UA-camrs do ad reads or did I take it too far? If you do fancy checking them out, you can get 20% OFF MANSCAPED + Free Shipping with promo code "HAWKINS" at www.manscaped.com (including those underpants, not that exact pair...obviously)
Much better than others. I didn't skip forward. Ha ha! Could always have a sponsor logo in the corner and a quick mention as well. 😀
I normally hate those Manscaped ads but I nearly choked with laughter on my evening scran with yours Justin. Well done!
@@andybailey97 Oh good!
I prefer Au Natural and just let it hang out the bottom of my trousers :)
Brilliant, so funny. Your sense of humor is great.
Blur is insanely talented. I love that you gave Blur some of the credit they deserve, and for touching on the Brit Pop era. This song is like they were riffing on Nirvana, but with the musicality of the Eagles- I typed this and you started playing Nirvana on que - I'm stoned
i'm a negative creep and
THAT IS THE SINGLE GREATEST COMMERCIAL IN HUMAN HISTORY. Manscaped owes you an incalculable amount of cash.
Hear! Hear!
I hope they’ll keep those Manscaped commercials going!! I wasn’t expecting it and I nearly died laughing!!! Best one I’ve ever seen - Justin is now a musical AND Manscaped legend!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
And great video topic too. I LOVE Song 2! You’re always talking out of your butt, but we love hearing what comes out! 😊
Couldn’t agree more😂
Epic, no other word for it!
Could not agree more. I’ve rewatched the ad spot at least a hundred times already! The single most successful yet thoroughly enjoyable advert ever!
I HATE the Manscaped ads, but I LOVE what you did with it. Absolutely cracked me up.
Agree 100% about Graham Coxon. Absolutely amazing guitarist
As an american, I didn't know much about Blur until Song 2 came out, but it was Coffee & TV which made me decide to buy their album 13 and I was shocked at how amazing it was. Still a ridiculously great and varied album. To this day I've never listen to any other blur album yet that one is one of my favorite albums out of anything.
So you never listened to their other albums?
If u like those u would like Graham Coxon's solo album Happiness and Magazines
Well the lead singer is the guy behind Gorilllaz
Graham Coxon is so awesome. Such a creative guitar player. The stuff he did on 13 is some of my favorite stuff ever.
One of the smartest guitar players of his era, his riffs are so fun and intriguing
100% agree, 13 is a masterpiece and Coxton is a killer guitarist. I was late to the Blur party but I love them so much now, their music really stands up.
💯agreed 👍
I take any chance I get to talk about the later Blur albums, 13 and Think Tank were masterpieces, like a Blur Gorillaz hybrid.
13 is a fucking great album , start to finish
I think Blur, Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, very underrated. I’m a muso (keyboards, vocals), and their songs were always more layered than people realised. Very switched on musicians and creators.
Yeah, they got a lot of heat for The Great Escape, with Country House notoriously 'winning the battle but losing the war' with Oasis. Since then they've really shown their creativity & musicianship, as you say, with Albarn in particular becoming one of our most prolific songwriters.
Agree. Damon Albarn is closer to my "generation's Paul McCartney" than anyone from the era. He even straddled pop and punk/underground. The Gorillas are amazing also
@@Jamestele1 Blur and Gorillaz just continue to output insanely great music 30ish years on, and they still feel fresh. Magic Whip was a brilliant album and sounds like Cracker Island will be too. I think people looked at Damon (and the rest of Blur to be fair, they’re all bloody gorgeous), heard Boys and Girls and There’s no other way, and thought, meh, pretty boys doing pop, but Damon and Graham are genuine artists, excellent song writers and musicians.
I disagree about the Albarn and Coxon part. Every post talk about how good these two are, yet in Song 2 you immediately know the song from the starting drum solo, and the chorus from Alex's distorted bass. These two IMHO are very underrated.
wow, you're a muso... fantastic. that gives your comment so much more gravitas.
That was without question the funniest Manscaped endorsement to date 🤣🤣🤣😂 👏👏👏
Literally didn't skip the ad bc of your comment! And you're right!
You're not wrong, but that's an incredibly low bar to set, to date. Present endorsement excepted, as you said.
#1
Gorgeous wasnt it.
This album from Blur was the one that got me listening to them. The whole album is incredible. I hadn’t paid attention to them prior to this album and wouldn’t have expected them to make an album that sounded like it. Great stuff
Same. I often wonder what Noel Gallagher must’ve thought when he heard Song 2 and Beetlebum.
i knew this one, but got into Blur by going backwards from the gorillaz
Best advert ever Justin LMAO, but even funnier for me was the moment when Justin says "I love that amateurish guitar sound (cue close up of JH looking to camera) what does that say about me?" I almost spat my coffee all over the keyboard!! As if the Manscaped ad had not already had me laughing my (not yet shaven) balls off!!!! But on a musical note, you picked out EVERY single little nuance of the song arrangement of Song 2 that I also love. Man, I have never been so connected with somebody in their musical observations. I almost always am thinking what you come out with! Just wish I had as much talent as you!! Great work as always JH :-)............... now where did I leave my after shave............. ;-)
I'm late to this video party! I absolutely love Blur. I moved to the UK when I was 21 from Australia (doing that visa thing) in 1994 and Blur's "Parklife" was the soundtrack to my life there in the UK . It's still one of my favourite records. I got to see them play in Newquay on the beach and then hitch-hiked and snuck into Glastonbury and got to see them play then too. Troublemaking! Amazing band. The other thing I love is here at home I said "I love Graham Coxon" and then you said it exactly the same way! Sympatico. Anyway, in summary, Graham Coxon is amazing, Song 2 is amazing, All their records are amazing. Blur is amazing. Coxon/Albarn also did some truly wonderful remixes of Massive Attacks "Mezzanine" album, in particular a minimalist version of the song "Angel", which just melts your face off in its beauty. In the meantime, I'll zip up my tracksuit to my chin and slip on my Adidas sneaks and go dancing! Thanks as always for the fantastic videos, Justin. You are the best thing on the interwebs....
Hi Justin, I was 15 in 1997 and years into my journey of finding 'my own' music. After the buoyant and largely upbeat British music of the previous 3 years, the releases of 1997 seemed to take a slightly darker edge. Take Attack of the Grey Lantern by Mansun, what a sombre yet brilliant sounding album (come to think of it that would make a great episode). It was as though 1997 was the party starting to wind down.
By 1998 dance music and bands that employed a lot more electronic sounds took the batten and started up their own party.
Back to Blur, I remember being in my first band and having Song 2 in our set. We played a battle of the bands and thought we went down a storm. Then the band on after us did Song 2 as their sound check and blew our version out of the water. Hey, ho...
...or rather wooohooo?
Modern Life Is Rubbish is such an underrated album of theirs as Graham is such an underrated guitarist!
Yea listen to that if you like to hear great guitar sounds.
Facts! When I sat down and learned the Chemical World riff I was like “Damn there’s so much more to this dude’s playing than I thought. But also screw him for making such a hard riff.” 😂😂
The best Blur album as far as Im concerned.
very underrated guitarist
Graham Coxon is constantly sited as an influential and wonderful guitarist.
My favourite memory is before this was released as a single I went with my brother to see Blur at the Barrowlands. We had the album and loved the song. There was a point during the gig they said here is our new song we think you will like it. They played it and there was no reaction. Damon made some comment at the end and they brushed it off. About 3 weeks later it went number one.
I'll never forget the moment Song2 fell flat. We knew it was going to be massive my brother and I. Weirdest thing I've ever witnessed musically.
Coxon is such a brilliant guitarist. He’s always doing unexpected things that one would think wouldn’t make any sense. A good example of how you get a long way on creativity rather than virtuosity.
You think he’s not also a virtuoso? Hmmm
@@pyenapple he isn’t a virtuoso - by his own assessment. Watch his interview on that pedal show.
He’s not a Page-Esque soloist with outstanding technical ability. He is creatively outstanding and an original in terms of his writing and playing. He says as much himself.
@@pyenapple you must not know what virtuosity is
“when it was ok to like Morrissey…”.
@Carol holloway yeah, I mean, I can shred too - but I’m no virtuoso. I agree though that it isn’t his style, which was my point. He says as much himself.
I’m not saying he doesn’t have technique - it’s just that that isn’t the point.
Coxon’s guitar work was so unique. The intro to He Thought Of Cars is incredible. He also had a way of intertwining two seemingly unrelated riffs or solo lines, eg This Is A Low/Colin Zeal. Outstanding work.
I love This is a Low, No Distance Left to Run has beautiful instrumentation as well.
@@FacheChanteDeux you should listen to the b side "polished stone"
This Is A Low might be the pinnacle. Utter gorgeous brilliance
Thanks for doing Blur, I'm still a bit obsessed to this day. And honestly I'm a bit clueless why, partly Damon's mix of charm and loathing, and Graham's somewhat unique elevation to the genre.
Could you do some more Blur please? ♥️
Watch the bass player's documentary on cocaine. It was his penance. I hate it when musicians reform and have to apologise for past indiscretions and adventures. Not like Led Zeppelin and the Stones who made an unapologetic living out of it.
teehill, it's easy to get obsessed with Blur; don't worry about that. Blur are one of my top 6 British bands of all time. Every album is different from the last, and every song is different on every album. Sheer class. Just great songwriters.
Loathing?
@@pyenapple oh yeah, for me it's dripping with contempt and loathing (under a sugary sweet exterior).
@@natsaan hahahaha whatever it means i love it carry on 💙
Blur has been one of my favourite bands since the nineties, and Graham Coxon is a truly under appreciated guitarist. He really did carry a lot of the songs, his work was always very unique and as someone that also plays the guitar I take a lot of influences from his style.
I love his playing. Like I love David Gilmour’s, Neil Young’s and Mark Knopfler’s. Very different styles all, but soul and passion by the bucketload!
Plus he did amazing backing vocals on nearly all blur songs. How can he be THAT good at switching between rhythm and lead AND sing tons of interesting harmonies?!
@@pyenapple I agree! Truly an amazing musician.
Justin I just want to start out by saying you're the man and making your own Manscaped commercial as opposed to just doing a live read is the kind of genius I've come to expect from you. Bravo.
Yes .. Mr Coxon Is an excellent player and he’s very dynamic and versatile. Alex James tears it up too. “She’s so high” is one of the best songs ever written
Alex J is very underrated. Melodic and unusual lines that still do what the bass should do, but not in a way you'd expect, linking the drums perfectly with Coxon's guitar.
You win the internet today, what a sponsorship ad! Also feeling fairly ancient realising that this song is 25 years old.
Speaking of Morrissey, you should definitely uncover some of The Smiths' work. Would love for you to break down the utter madness of Johnny Marr's guitar playing. Great vid as per usual, and the ad had me rolling. Cheers
Smiths bore me shitless. Morrissey's and Marr's autobiographies more than make up for their music. I guess you can't have everything. Just ask the rest of the band - if you can name them lol
Peace
Having spoken to both Graham and the producer about this.The drums you hear at the beginning are both Graham on one drum kit and the 'actual' drummer on another kit at the same time. They were kind of messing around together and the producer really liked what they were doing and captured it. The vocals you hear are 90% the guide vocal which was largely freeform with a few overdubs made later. Cool eh!
Poor Dave 😂 ‘the actual drummer’ (Dave Rowntree)
Graham is arguably the best drummer in blur.
And arguably might be a stretch. Some amazing work on his solo records. Takes some skill to pull of metal and hardcore punk effectively.
@The Black Painter & Decorator Graham hung out in the pub with painters and decorators during his lost weekend time so maybe you sppke to him too?
@The Black Painter & Decorator, nope. What's pathetic is your sad little post.
Coconut… *spell check Coxon was heavily into Pavement around that time.
What’s really interesting is how a guitarist in a guitar band was able to steer a bands sound that previously had manifested itself into a reaction (in Albarn’s words) to the ‘coca-colonisation’ of the UK’s culture just a few LP’s prior (Modern life is rubbish & Parklife) and then get turned on to US college indie bands, who themselves had been influenced by UK indie bands. I liked it when bands had the time to mature and evolve, when it wasn’t all personal curation instead of a bands curation resulting in an LP.
I guess the moral of the tale is keep music reactionary & eclectic, that’s one thing I’ve always respected about Blur (Who were huge fans of Cardiacs as mid era Blur B sides testify to & having the Cardiacs supporting at Mile End) is their eclecticism.
It’s funny really… the vast influence that the US has had up post (second) world war British culture… imagine if it was Belgium or Botswana or Iraq, people would be up in arms.
One thing for sure is Coxon was/is one of the most inventive UK guitarists of the last 50 years, self taught. Awesome.
Spot on!
Always thought a lot of Fugazi influence in song 2, the drum part played on the rims, the skronky guitar, the awesome heaviness, the title to name but a few, and saw mr Coxon at their rather incredible gigs. And yes, for me Ok Computer killed Britpop stone dead, and we can never thank Radiohead enough for doing so.
Like Kurt Cobain how many people have Radiohead killed stone dead? Could be the smack thing I suppose lol
Yeah definitely Fugazi, along with that sort of Pixies loud quiet vibe…. Even the lyrics is Pixiesk.
Agreed, Fugazi are a massive influence on so much music...
Anyone can play guitar.
@@winstonsmith2079 Wow what an incisive, articulate cutting edge comment Winnie. Post some links of your guitar playing and let us be the judge of that lol
This is great. I loved the Darkness when I was a teenager in the 2000s and was learning guitar, and was wondering what Justin and co were up to now. A really sensitive and thoughtful analysis of a brilliant track.
What a great episode. Loved the commercial (amazingly) and loved the joy in figuring out all the guitar/bass work.
Blur is one of the greatest British bands ever, part of the noble lineage that started with the Beatles and ended with...them! And yeah, Graham is a top guitarist, inventive and adventurous, the likes of whom have tragically disappeared.....
Alban was spending a lot of time in Iceland at the time of recording this album. This song is very close to a certain song by an Icelandic band (Botnleðja), that Blur befriended and spent a lot of time with playing football and getting high/hammered.
Love the ad
Love Coxon
Love the channel
THAT was, without any doubt, the FINEST manscaped ad I will ever see. Give that man an award!
Your acoustic 'take' on 'Pretty Vacant' is a mark of your own musicality, and of the unexpected brilliance of the song. You need to cover it - probably acoustically. Not because it will make money, but because it will make people happy!
It’s so great to see one of my favourite singers dissect and study a song from one of my all time favourite bands. The eponymous album featured some great songs. Beetlebum my all time fav followed by song 2 because it was the second song on the album and country sad ballad man which is awesome. M.O.R. was essentially chord for chord Bowies boys keep swinging so much so I think Blur got hit with infringement. Still those were the days when music even the tracks that were so called rip offs still sounded good. Connection from elastica springs to mind it was Wire’s three girl rhumba
I adore Graham Coxon's guitar playing. Very different to Brian May (my other favourite guitarist) but both glorious in their way.
Dammit Justin! I almost spit out my water on my keyboard at work! That Manscaped Ad is fucking brilliant!
Love your analyses.
Thank you!! You're far too kind.
I’ve spent so much time watching graham coxon vids, he has such a lovely and interesting voice that draws you in, 4 hours later you wonder where that time has gone, he’s so humble and genuinely excited when he’s talking about his music.
He’s up there with you Justin!
As a lifelong Blur fan, this song means very little to me. It's a hiccup at best. I think that happens a lot however, that some watered down version of something that's going on becomes the story of it. It's not a bad song by any means, but it's very simple and silly. A novelty song. I feel a little weird that this song together with the despicable Country House is most peoples way into this marvellous, varied, original band. But it is interesting none the less. The next album, 13, was a magnificent sonic spaceship however, and it's still roaming the minds of all who got into it. Cool vid, man :)
I loved Blur and followed Damon Albarn when he started Gorillaz that voice loved it
Thanks for mentioning Warrant, my favourite big hair 80’s band. Quite right - Cherry Pie was their biggest hit and yet most fans of the band hated it, even the songwriter was not a fan of it. Go deeper on their first 3 albums, ignore the rampant misogyny of the day, and they were a brilliant, Queen-influenced, melodic rock band.
Cheers Darryn!
in my opinion blur are the most underrated band of all time. Would love to see more love for them again. Great vid. Thanks
Depends on what country. In a lot of countries around the world outside the U.S they're very popular.
100% agree. One of the best bands I've ever heard. Their song quality and diversity is so so high.
So are The Kinks.
Everyone says that every band is underrated.
They're generally highly rated. But maybe not overly popular in global terms. Most very good bands are like this.
Only time I’ve ever been watching a video and not double and triple tapped the right side of the screen to skip 20-30 seconds of the video when its sponsor is being plugged. Wonderful.
What an amazing youtube channel - huge fan of your music and delighted I came across it - love the music theory and breakdown of songs. More power to you.
Where do I start?! I usually moan when your video are interrupted by adverts but....wow! That's the best darn ad I've seen in years! Now we all know you are truly Manscaped lol. In regards to Blur...Great band. In the 90's I was convinced I would marry Damon one day! I still regularly listen to most of their albums, I'm not a fan of The Great Escape as Country House is just too cheesy for me. Modern Life Is Rubbish rocks hard in many places so that's probably my fave. Thanks for the channel, please keep it going as its just hugely entertaining and interesting. Carol. X
I disagree, this doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb from the rest of their discography. From their SINGLES, sure. But they had other album tracks that weren’t utterly dissimilar, and plenty of weird noisy raw b-sides. Blur were always wild and difficult underneath.
Bugman is another example, also some from the first album are very noisy
This v true. If you listen to their earlier stuff
I think he's talking to the wider audience who, like me, didn't buy Blur albums or singles and aren't aware of their whole catalogue.
@@jbaker6811 then why say it if it isn’t true? I think he genuinely doesn’t know they started as a noisy weird art rock group before the first album. It’s not helpful to assume things
My then 3 year old (1997) played percussion on a pringles container in his car seat. Its how I knew he was a musician. He's 28 now and plays it all. I have fond memories of this song for that reason.
From what I've always heard, the main riff was inspired by Fell off the floor man, by a contemporary Belgian band dEUS which came out a year earlier. Apparently Albarn once confirmed this but I never saw a definitive source for it. Both songs are awesome though.
Blur's bassist Alex James is real talented. To me he carried the sound of Blur during their Britpop era as much as Coxon. His bass notes in (for example) Popscene, Girls and boys and Entertain me are killers!
Sadly he never made a solo career.
He made a lot of cheese though
He did put out a few singles me me me hangin around with the drummer from elastica. Two singles with Fat Les, and played bass on murder on the dancefloor by Sophie Ellis Bextor
@@audiochris78 exactly but is easier access to his music than his cheese :(
@@Adamnme01 I've never heard of fat lies before, thanks. And I love murder on the dance floor! I didn't know that 😯
@@audiochris78 Great comment, great username.
I think I heard Graham Coxon say in an interview that the drum intro is actually a loop they created and was meant to sound kind of robotic and the guitar is barely in tune as part of the joke on the record company.
Excellent episode! The main guitar riff in Song 2 actually sounds a bit like the verse melody in The Chauffeur by Duran Duran. Hadn't noticed that before.
Best Advert on youtube
Thanks again Justin. Blur is one of my favourite UK bands apart from The Darkness . Please tell me your Gibson Acoustic is it a Gibson Songwriter ? Cheers brother 🇿🇦
Thanks Cashel! Yes it is a songwriter!
@@JustinHawkinsRidesAgain awesome bud. I to have a Gibson Songwriter, they are fantastic guitars.
Coxon also plays the power chords in the 2nd inversion which gives an even fatter sound and is just genius.
His riffs are always awesome e.g. Beetlebum (1st track of the same album)
Love love love this video! I was 15 when Song 2 came out and every time I hear it, it just takes me back to happier, teenage days of no responsibilities and bloody good music 😊 Thanks so much for talking about this track, Justin, loving the channel and can't wait to see you guys play Gone Wild festival next month. Keep up the awesome work!
song is so hype, heart just beats faster
The part you say sounds like a bass overdub - yes, it’s Alex playing his bass through one of those tiny little Marshall practice amps with a two-inch speaker, powered by AAA batteries. Warren Huart does an interview with Graham on his Produce Like a Pro channel and they talk about this.
there are also 2 drum tracks playing at the same time. the intro part is looped throughout the whole song
No lie, I had sworn never to buy any Manscaped products because of their ads interrupting videos I'm watching (as is my policy) but THIS ad has me changing my mind lol. Well done sir!
Best paid promo ever. Even your adverts are entertaining. Thank you, Justin Hawkins, thank you.
Song 2 was all they played in the states... but damn does Blur have a hell of discography so many are missing out on!
Yes, they do and I pitty everyone, who can only name the "Whoo-Hoo-Song", when it comes to BLUR.
deconstructed like this, it reminded me of Joey Santiago/Frank Black in the 90s... (the pedal)
Graham was always special (5 years later) happiness in magazines has epic moments. It sounds like the clash, the libertines, shellac, frank black, black keys...
Fun fact! The drums in the verse is a drum loop. They recorded the the song live in a room together including the vocals, when the vocals get isolated you can hear massive amounts of instruments bleeding through.
Love that I saw this video show up 2 minutes after it was uploaded
Oh the vanity (or lack there of) of the ad was brill!
And your discussion fabulous, thank you JHRA (:
The manscape commercial is fucking brilliant!
The point made about the single note drone which resides in the pre-chorus is so crucial. It's those million little choices about what not to play in a band that separates the great from the good. Brilliant.
You are a fearless cat. Great advert. Song 2 is a great track.
Thats the first Manscaped ad I've watched in it's entirety. Nice one Justin. Big love from South Africa 🇿🇦
Alex is one of my all time favourite base players. If you listen to what is going on with the bass in Blur songs, it is so interesting, but not overwhelming either.
Blur's basslines are deliciously singing, tracks such as Entertain Me or I Know display such inventive melodies on bass
I saw a bloke many years ago with the immortal "CLAPTON IS GOD" meme on his t-shirt. The Clapton bit was crossed off and replaced with "COXON". I thought Mmm, not a bad shout fella!
The guitar is the power chords you see in the verse all played on the 5th string, then for the loud bit he creates an inversion by also covering the low fifth on the 6th string with his 1st finger for that big smashing pumpkins or weezer blue album power chord sound. The high drone notes are overdubs.
Finally embarrasing YT advertisement done right. Thank you, Justin! Oh, and by the way, since over the past few months you quickly have become my favourite person I don't actually know (a fun category for everyone, old and young, all sexes)... please do get into Spoon, they might be the best band of the last 20 Years and I'd like you to share my joy. I mean it... share my joy, buster!
That was the absolutely best commercial I've ever seen! 👏
Funny story, I was a teenager at the time and saw Song 2 on MTV's 120 minutes and HAD to get it from the music shop. Well I went down to the store and looked for Blur but grabbed Modern Life Is Rubbish by mistake because I didn't get a chance to see what the song was called when I saw it on the TV..
Listened to the entire album waiting for Song 2 and it never came but I fell absolutely in LOVE with the album but I still had to hear Song 2 again so I marched right down to the shop again, bought the right self titled Blur album and then bought everything I could find from them thereafter. They were the biggest influence on my continuing playing guitar and becoming a proper musician.
Surely you would have worked out you bought the wrong album, given the song’s title after the first bar of ‘Advert’ (the *second* song on MLIR) 😂
@@ArtistSoftwareEngineer lol. Thankfully I didn’t and just kept listening like a dumb teenager.
Like the whole self-titled album it was Grahams revenge on Britpop, burning Damon’s Country House to the ground and abrasively calling time on all those cheery brass instruments and cheesy videos with page 3 girls. It was the sound of a brilliant and seminal band reinventing themselves in a way Oasis (with all respect to them) never could.
Oasis and Blur are sonically very different, though I absolutely love them for what they are in their own league, and I have to admit Blur wrote songs that Noel Gallagher could even hardly think of BUT Don't Believe the Truth and Dig Up Your Soul displayed some reaaaaally nice tunes from the Gallagher Brothers
Coxon’s guitar work is genius - truly original! His chord voicings are the shiz!
"How Soon is Now?" also comes to mind...as far as tremendous songs that don't fit within a band's oeuvre...
From America! That manscaped ad was freaking genius! They should take that ad all over the internet and TV. It's the kind of ad that can take on a life of it's own. Just remember me when the money's rolling in! And thanks for the laugh!
OK Computer was 1997. It's hard to call anything in Radiohead's discography after that 'Britpop,' in my opinion. They definitely became something else.
Btw, I feel you found your new calling in voiceover work. That manscape shit was amazing!
Radiohead was not ever even slightly britpop.
The Bends kinda was, especially the title track
@@inkwisitive (listening back) oo yeah, they WERE slightly britpop, at least in elements of the sound.
Hands down the best manscaped sponsor ad ever. Holy shit. I have seen a LOT of them over the last few years... but holy fuck that is the best one!.
Ok time to embarrass myself. I never read or looked up the lyrics to this song. I'm 32 now, this happened a few years back... 4 or so ish. My partner and I were driving somewhere and Song 2 came on... just after the verse started -keep in mind I've known this song for basically my entire life... without knowing the lyics- I looked at him and said "what the fuck is a chamboche?"
Queue awkward conversation about why I thought "Jumbo jet" was "chamboche". We've been together for 11 years... and that happened about 7 years into it XD Never a dull moment with us I guess lol
I loved Blur, i was never an oasis fan, it was always blur for me. Leisure and Modern Life is Rubbish were excellent. I sadly went off them when they did parklife, and their mockney accents started to grate. But i still listen to and love those 1st 2 albums!
sadly ☹..don't be sad
Agreed. Still some great work in later albums. But Leisure and MLiR are wall to wall great albums for me, especially the later.
Coxons solo on coffee and t.v is one of my favourites. A weird, awesome noise maker!
Song 2 was an amazing song by Blur, I always liked their song "Beetlebum" more.
_Beetlebum_ still astonishes me to this day. For me, Blur remain both a great singles and a great album band.
Strange News from the Stars is such a great track too.. Not my favourite Blur album, but still gold
0:24 After Britpop was Post Britpop. Oasis released Be Here Now in 1997, which gave them two of their eight #1s - D'You Know What I Mean and All Around The World, which at 9min 36secs is the longest running British #1 ever. The Mancunians also released The Masterplan, a B-sides and rarities compilation of songs not already on a studio album, like Acquiesce and the title track. Oasis disbanded in 2009.
Counterparts Blur gave us their self-titled effort in 1997, which featured darker songs like Song 2 and Beetlebum. They also released 13 in 1999. They've been on hiatus since 2015.
Overly depressing rockers Radiohead self-produced OK Computer in 1997, which was a smash hit. That same year Stereophonics released their debut album Word Gets Around but reached greater heights in 1999 with Performance and Cocktails. A year later fellow Welshmen the Manic Street Preachers made This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours, which gave them one of two #1s, If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next.
Scottish group Travis created The Man Who in 1999 which stayed at #1 for 9 weeks on the Album Chart.
As mentioned, The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony was released in 1997 along with its parent album Urban Hymns, which was very good. The Verve broke up in 1998, just after the recording of Oasis' Cast No Shadow, which was about The Verve's lead singer Richard Ashcroft.
I loved Blur when I was a teen.
My introduction was "Girls and Boys."
I always love a good electronic dance track.
Still a great song
One of the finest basslines of that era
Loved that, and Coffee and TV. The video is still iconic.
@@stef2432 I have a milk carton tattoo on my ribs!
@@imonahorse cool!
That sigh about journalism was deep. I felt that and I totally agree.
"Blur's stuff is arranged a little bit more delicately." I love that observation about a song that is full of bluster.
Just watched a video of Graham Coxon breaking it down (similar to a Rick Beato video) and there is distorted guitar playing the main riff, but the bass pretty much dominates it. I played this with my band recently and since we didn't have any pedals and only two guitarists we had to omit the repeated one-note part.
Also the heaviness of the riff was explained by Paul Davids - it sounds like the guitar was downtuned, but in the first two chords Graham also bars the E string
1 of the greatest songs of the 90s!
I usually SKIP presenters 'ads' for a sponsor, but I watched yours Juz! Just a brilliant bit of dark humour, & sarcasm! (Adult humour at the end was mint as well! )
Justin of the Hawkins. I salute you sir on your consistently entertaining UA-cam channel, your moustache and for writing one of my favourite bangers - It’s Love, Jim.
I wondered if you might review in your own inimitable style something by one of my all time favourites bands - The Wedding Present.
Perhaps - Everyone thinks he look daft from George Best, Take Me from Bizarro or perhaps Corduroy from the seminal album Seamonsters.
Looking forward to seeing The Darkness in person next year in Glasgae.
Thank you for breaking it all down! And, for breaking your rock star status down, as well. Now you are a fan, -a rock´n roll nerd like so many of us! But, you have a foot inside the business, and I appreciate every video! ROCK ON!🤘
In the UK, Song 2 was used in the promotional trailers for the movie Starship Troopers
I remember seeing an interview with Graham and he said there's a bass track where it's played through one of those tiny battery powered Marshall stacks, on the overdub bass part you mentioned.
That is the first 'Manscaped' ad read I haven't skipped through. It's right up there with Internet Historian's "Raid Shadow Legends" and Norm Macdonald's "Man Grill" ad reads. Sublime.
You couldn’t be more right about Graham Coxon. A true artist.
Love the shows.. love that guitar. 🕺
Very much enjoying these vids Justin... your genuine curiosity and enthusiasm shows... brings out more interesting and thoughtful takes on songs I've not really seen in other music breakdown channels.
The "saturated tight little roomy" drums sound is actually Dave and Graham playing a drumset each! :)
Also while the bass does fuzz bass for the choruses, there is also a rhythm guitar doing power chords in the right channel.
Ostinato definition merch!.. Good video too. You made the ad for nadz strimmers funny as well.
You have an incredible ear and a firm grasp of all things musical. I love watching you break this stuff down and seeing how you look at the neck of a guitar. Still getting my value!!!
Obliged to once again invite you back to Nashville!!! Anytime.
Hahaha! What an advertissement! Super cool, Justin.
I love Blur, especially 13, it's one of my favourite albums of all-time. But as for stand-out stompers you can't beat Song 2!
The "woo-hoo" part in Song #2 was inspired by the chorus of the song "Þið eruð frábær" by Icelandic rock band Botnleðja, which opened for Blur on their 1997 UK tour. This is pretty well known in Iceland and Damon Albarn actually got an Icelandic citizenship last year.