"Popscene" is a song by English

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band Blur, released as a non-album single on 30 March 1992. Despite its relatively low chart placing, it has since become critically praised and regarded as one of the pioneering songs of the

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s United Kingdom, British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. Musically, Britpop produced bright, catchy alternative rock, with significant influences from British guitar pop of the 1960s and 1970s. B ...

genre.

Recording

The song was first played live in late 1991, and recorded at Matrix Studios in

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

with producer Steve Lovell. The lyrics showed frontman

Damon Albarn Damon Albarn (, ; born 23 March 1968) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman, main vocalist, and lyricist of the rock band Blur (band), Blur and the co-creator and primary musical con ...

's distaste for the music business, complaining that there were too many insignificant indie bands. Musically, it was different to the style seen on the group's first album ''

Leisure Leisure (, ) has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, Employment, work, job hunting, Housekeeping, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as ...

'' and featured heavily flanged guitars, a Can influenced drumbeat, and brass from session players the Kick Horns. The band considered "Popscene" to be the loudest and best thing they had worked on at that point.

Reception

The single reached No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart, and was panned by both ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' and ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

''. The

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

, guest reviewing for NME, suggested the record would sound better played at 33rpm instead of 45. The low chart placing came as a confidence blow for the band, who were £60,000 in debt. Food Records boss Andy Ross later said "we were totally devastated ... we thought it was a brilliant single." The band have since said that the popularity of American

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

music contributed to the single's failure, as they felt the song had a very British feel. Guitarist Graham Coxon said "It was

Nirvana Nirvana, in the Indian religions (Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism), is the concept of an individual's passions being extinguished as the ultimate state of salvation, release, or liberation from suffering ('' duḥkha'') and from the ...

that really fucked 'Popscene' up." Sylvia Patterson from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' rated the song two out of five. She wrote: "

he song He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

starts off like the

Inspiral Carpets Inspiral Carpets are an English rock band, part of the late-1980s/early-1990s Madchester movement. Formed in Oldham in 1983, the band's most successful lineup featured frontman Tom Hingley, drummer Craig Gill, guitarist Graham Lambert, bassist ...

in a car crash and ends up exactly like Mancunian punk-poppers from yesteryear

The Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. They ...

. A bizarre commotion from hell. Not very good either." The experience of recording "Popscene" led the band to believe they should simply play music in their own style and not worry about trends. The "Britishness" of "Popscene" carried over to the group's second album, ''

Modern Life Is Rubbish ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' is the second studio album by the English alternative rock band Blur, released in May 1993. Although their debut album '' Leisure'' (1991) had been commercially successful, Blur faced a severe media backlash soon afte ...

''. The song was not released on the British version of the album, though it was added as an extra track in the United States and Japan. In Australia, "Popscene" was not released until 1998, when it was issued as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

with " On Your Own"; it reached No. 69 on the

ARIA Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

. The song has since become a fan favourite and is still performed live. Retrospective critical reaction to "Popscene" has been positive. Jonathan Holden, writing in the ''Rough Guide To Rock'', declared the single to be "excellent" and that its "punky, energetic and brass-fulfilled pop" was out of place in 1992. John Harris considers the track as one of the first ever

songs, and a starting point for the movement. The song had never been included on a UK Blur album, until 2009 when it was released on the compilation '' Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur''.

Track listings

All songs were written by Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree. 7-inch and cassette # "Popscene" – 3:12 # "Mace" – 3:24 12-inch # "Popscene" – 3:12 # "I'm Fine" – 3:01 # "Mace" – 3:24 # "Garden Central" – 5:58 CD # "Popscene" – 3:12 # "Mace" – 3:24 # "Badgeman Brown" – 4:47

Production credits

* "Popscene" produced by Steve Lovell * "Mace", "Badgeman Brown", and "Garden Central" produced by Blur and John Smith * "I'm Fine" produced by Blur'' *

: lead vocals, synthesizers * Graham Coxon: guitars, backing vocals * Alex James: bass guitar * Dave Rowntree: drums * The Kick Horns: brass

Charts

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Authority control 1992 singles 1998 singles Blur (band) songs Songs about pop music Songs written by Damon Albarn Songs written by Graham Coxon Songs written by Alex James (musician) Songs written by Dave Rowntree 1992 songs Food Records singles