Blur - "The Best Of Blur According To Monkey Bastard" (2001)

Alright, here we go! Let's start this one with a bang!

Britpop. Ah yes, Britpop. What a wonder era in music history that was. I don't know how much of this was noticed outside Europe, but for some reason Britain kept spitting out one great band after another between circa 1993 to 1997. Some say this creative peak was because kids being sick of the conservative rule, and I suppose that's an explanation as good as any.

Strife and struggle always create good music. There's a reason there's been countless fantastic rock bands from dismal cities like Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Detroit, and Berlin, while you have to look pretty hard to find even one good rock band from Hawaii. Because what do they have to write about? Pineapple shortage?

Whatever the reason, this was a great time for music, hell I even dug bands like Menswear, that everyone else seemed to agree was shit. The most successful ones, sales wise and certainly in terms of media attention, were Blur and Oasis. There was this fued going between the working class lads in Oasis and the prim and proper middle class boys in Blur, but I loved both bands so I didn't give a shit.

How sad to see some fans actually choosing sides. It's okay to like both, you know. You're allowed to like both Pink Floyd and The Sex Pistols. Both Neil Young and Lynyrd Skynyrd. Just because two people don't like each other, don't mean you can't like both.

This little (well maybe not so little, it's 71 mb) Blur mix is something I made in 2001 after borrowing my sister's Blur collection. I simply took the tracks I dug the most, and burned them onto a cd.

And I must say these aren't just my favorite Blur songs, these are some of my favorite songs by anyone. Songs like Strange News From Another Star, Badhead, The Universal, To The End, Best Days, Tracy Jacks and End Of A Century are at times too good to be true. Perfect little pop masterpieces.

I never really cared for Leisure (1991) or Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993) though, so these songs are all from Parklife (1994), The Great Escape (1995), Blur (1997) and 13 (1999). What about the album made after guitarist Graham Coxon left? Well... Let's pretend that never happened, shall we?

Parklife = @
The Great Escape = $
Blur = %
13 = #

1. End of a century @
2. London loves @
3. Song 2 %
4. M.O.R. %
5. Parklife @
6. Best days $
7. Strange news from another star %
8. The universal $
9. Tender #
10. Beetlebum %
11. Charmless man $
12. Chinese bombs %
13. You're so great %
14. Stereotypes $
15. Tracy Jacks @
16. Coffee & TV #
17. Movin' on %
18. Death of a party %
19. I'm just a killer for you love %
20. Badhead @
21. To the end @

(zip) The Best Of Blur According To Monkey Bastard

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