Word: blur
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Blur recognizes that the stylistic flow of ’90s rock is one that celebrates and explores the ironies of musical history—not surprising for a decade lit off by the perverse cheerleaders of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The guitar-rock that Oasis so convincingly emulates frequently clung to a set of themes about pastoral English life, reflected in such songs as the Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” or “Penny Lane,” and the Kink’s magnum opus...
...this tradition that Blur subverts in their music and artwork: their albums are sketches of British life, celebrating all of it, from Prozac-popping country house dwellers to rudely awakened pigeon-feeders, and for all of life’s pleasantry and dark side. This all runs conceptual loops around Oasis’s retreads of pieces about love, and it all occurs under a penumbra of sonic innovation—the range of styles the band touches on is incredible, incorporating the best parts of guitar-pop, two-tone ska, and the early shoegazing sound that characterized their debut...
...don’t disagree that Oasis’ albums are well-produced, but better produced (or with a better music video) than “Coffee and TV”? When Blur wants to shoot for that sound, as on this stand-out, they succeed with flying colors. But, for the most part, this isn’t what they’re after—rather than accept themselves as heirs of British rock, they explore just what it means to be a British rocker, and even just to be British, and these level of inquiry and musical...
Revision and renormalization are legitimate parts of artistic production—the artistic discourse, if you like—and I don’t see how your meta-claim that Blur was both aware of and subverting the ironic ethos of ’90s grunge makes that band any more effective. Introspection doesn’t have to be overt; not everybody can (or should) be Thom Yorke, and just because “Song 2” is an ironic song about irony doesn’t mean that Blur is any more interested in analyzing...
...semi-cryptic lyrics of the Oasis canon point in the opposite direction: “Tonight, I’m a rock and roll star,” Liam sneers in the chorus of “Rock and Roll Star” (there’s a title Blur would never be as confidently arrogant to use), and there can be no confusing that level of grandeur with provincialism...