Damon Albarn!

The Golden Miller

I know this is probaby more suited to the music forum, but I think some topics hold more general mass appeal and interest than putting them in their designated subsets. And the prolonged, and enduring appeal, of this man and his work must be up there as something of particular notoriety. He made a conscious decision to "leave the limelight" at the end of the 90's, but his work and projects continue to be played everyday, if you don't know his name, everyone knows his songs, from Gorillaz to Blur and beyond.

We talk about songwriters, or people excelling in their fields, but for over 3 decades now, I'd be hard pressed to find another person, who continues to be as relevant and excel in their field, and all to commercial and critical success. This was very evident when he criticised Taylor Swift last year, she'd generally keep things to herself, but was so hurt by what he said, she took to twitter to tell the world. Even Billie Eilish brought him on stage last year. Theres so few original songwriters left, he's to this day, the biggest influenence of most up and coming artists.

From Parklife, to Song 2, to Girls and Boys, to the Universal, to Clint Eastwood, to Feel Good inc etc, it's incredible, all these decades later, these are household songs to even teenagers today. There's very few musicians, or artists in any field, who continue to stand that test of time, and continue to have such a huge pull within the industry itself. And this is a man who withdrew from the limelight, but continued public pressure, has "forced" him to reform Blur on several occassions.

The word "genius" gets thrown around a lot, but it should be reserved for a select few who continue to innovate and excel in their field, and push the boundaries. Whatever "image" you may have had of him in the 90's, put that to the side, and appreciate what he's gone on to do in his career since, it's been special. I think the man has been one of the greatest talents the music industry has ever seen, and although he doesn't want the limelight, press, attention, and actively withdraws from it, it should be acknowledged. He's a generational talent!

People will no doubt miss the point and say Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd were bigger or pushed more boundaries etc. Thats missing the point. Not one of them, or any of their members, has evolved, progressed or transitioned to so many genre's, instruments, styles, and all to critical acclaim as Albarn. Many bands have pushed the boundaries of music, the reality is, Albarn has transcended that, to someone who has pioneered music as an artform! I've never seen such scope, and although theres more "gifted" musicians out their technically, he's the only one to have done it in the mainstream and maintain commercial appeal to this day! It's unheard of otherwise tbh!

Rooks

Yawn

Mrs OBumble

Who?

_H80_GHT

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122951458#Comment_122951458

Wanting to display ignorance on any topic I always found to be an odd thing to do. But people like to do it.

o1s1n

Never really got the appeal to be honest.

Thought Blur were good when I was about 12 and always saw Gorillaz as a bit of a novelty band.

I don't see anything particularly original or groundbreaking in any of that work. It's just standard pop / rock.

klondike99

Oasis or Blur?

OscarMIlde

Personally he seems a tricky individual, but musically he's fantastic. He really loves music and art, and I think it comes through in his music, although he is a bit of a snob about it. I love that he and Noel are friends now, would never have seen that coming in the 90s.

I am biased, as was a massive Blur fan when younger, Parklife was the first album I ever bought, and it's still a great album to this day.

felonious_Gru

He's just too smug to like but Blur had some great songs though no classics in my opinion

COVID

Probably more suited to the music forum.

EmmetSpiceland

Wait a minute, Blur’s lead singer is named Albarn? I’ve been calling him Alburn. Why didn’t someone tell me? Oh, I’ve been making an idiot out of myself.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122951544#Comment_122951544

the music execs for sure knew this

bodhrandude

I recommend watching the Blur documentary that came out this year called To the End, a fascinating look at the bands history and where they are going, culminating in their sell out Wembley performance from 2023.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt31218239/

jucko

it all went downhill after "theres no other way"

L Grey

There's no geniuses in music.

trashcan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058384236/damon-albarn

He’s no Will Jarvis though, in fairness.

(Sorry, couldn’t resist 😂 - non soccer following readers will be going “what ?”

1 Modern Life Is Rubbish

2 Parklife

3 The Ballad Of Darren

4 13

5 The Great Escape

6 Think Tank

7 The Magic Whip

8 Leisure

9 Blur

There's a big gap between 8 and 9

felonious_Gru

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122952406#Comment_122952406

We just thought it was funny so didn't say anything

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122951494#Comment_122951494

He's gone away beyond Blur and Gorillaz. Look at his body of work. It's unparalleled

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122951933#Comment_122951933

Dunno. You could argue anything should be in their subset forums. But certain individuals or topics of certain people or things, deserve a bigger audience no?

Albarn is a generational talent as I said. He doesn't want the recognition and chooses not to be a household name, but still does deserve the recognition!

gandalfio

Dr Albarn.

You didn't even mention The Good, the Bad & the Queen

endacl

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122951495#Comment_122951495

Slayer.

Put It In H

Prefer him as a songwriter than a vocalist; there are a few Blur/Gorillaz songs that I'd enjoy more if he wasn't singing on them, but alas something about his voice irritates me.

No doubt that he played a big part in creating some brilliant tunes though; "Tender" and "No Distance Left To Run" are probably my favourite Blur songs.

Strumms

….

TinyMuffin

…….

AyeGer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122951544#Comment_122951544

The whole blur vs oasis thing seemed to be contrived to start off with. Either the media for sales or the bands/record companies to generate more interest. Two great bands though. Both Damon and Noel were great musicians.

Musically I liked both, probably more so Oasis.

NIMAN

I never liked Blur, just a couple of their songs.

Since he moved on, I have liked maybe a handful of his songs in different guises.

Anytime I hear him singing live on TV, it's very clear he is a better songwriter than a singer. He has a terrible voice.

I'm probably a philistine though.

Rooks

There is nothing innovative or groundbreaking about his music. Nothing.

Jinglejangle69

Blur were an incredible band.

All their songs were so different but brilliant individually.

Universal is one of the best songs ever written.

NIMAN

The word 'genius' is thrown around easily these days.

Rooks

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955239#Comment_122955239

Apparently writing 1 or 2 good three chord pop songs every few years qualifies you as one.

Jinglejangle69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122955239#Comment_122955239

Where did I mention genius?