Blur

Initially called Seymour, Blur was formed in 1989 in London by Damon Albarn (vocals/guitar), Graham Coxon (guitar), Alex James (bass) and Dave Rowntree (drums). Like Suede, The Charlatans, Elastica, The Boo Radleys, Oasis, Supergrass, Echobelly and other bands, Blur was one of the main exponents of Britpop.

After playing a few shows and recording a demo tape, the Seymour quartet signed with Food Records, a subsidiary of EMI, who suggested that the band change its name. Blur was the chosen name. In October 1990, the band released "She's So High", their first single. In April of the following year, the second, "There's No Other Way", was released and, in August, the first album, Leisure, produced by Stephen Street, best known for his work with The Smiths, was released. At the time of the release of their debut album, Blur was compared to bands such as Soup Dragons, Jesus Jones e Inspiral Carpets.

In March 1992, Blur released the single "Popscene", the song that marked a change in the direction of the group's music, is considered, alongside "The Drowners" (by Suede), as the starting point of the Britpop movement. The following year, the band released their second album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, which features 1960s British rock influences from groups like The Kinks and Small Faces.

It was with Parklife, an album released in 1994, that the band achieved great success on the British charts. That work stayed more than a year among the top twenty sellers in the United Kingdom. The danceable "Girls & Boys", "To the End", "Parklife" and "End of a Century" were the songs that stood out on this album.

"Country House", "The Universal" and "Charmless Man" were the hits of The Great Escape, the group's fourth album, released in 1995. In 1997, Blur arrived, the album best remembered for the hit "Song 2". 13, a 1999 album, featured the singles "Tender", "Coffee & TV" and "No Distance Left to Run".

From the year 2000, Damon Albarn began to dedicate himself to Gorillaz, a project that achieved enormous success with the first album, released in 2001. The following year, Blur began recording a new album. However, Graham Coxon left the band during the recordings. Entitled Think Tank, this work arrived in 2003.

After Think Tank, the band went on a long break. With Coxon back, the group reunited in 2009 for a series of shows. However, a new studio album only came out in April 2015, when the band released The Magic Whip. In 2023 The Ballad of Darren was released.