How Damon Albarn won

It’s amazing how we all got the Blur v Oasis battle so wrong. By the time Oasis sold out Knebworth most people agreed they had lost the early battle (for the no1 single) but won the war. A few years ago when Blur reformed for a triumphant Glastonbury show commentators changed tack. Maybe Blur had, after all, emerged victorious from the embers of Britpop.

Well, everyone was wrong. Forget the Blur/Oasis sideshow, we’ve missed the real story. Damon Albarn won British music. I don’t just mean he won the last 20 years – he won British popular music in its entirety.

What about the Stones, what about the Beatles? They changed the world didn’t they? Led Zep and Black Sabbath invented a whole genre and probably inspired more bands than anyone else. Pink Floyd sold zillions of records and redefined how to do huge stadium concerts. Yes, but none of them did what Albarn’s achieved. He’s not just created one era defining band – he’s created two.

Blur were one of the biggest and most important bands of their generation (and I was obsessed with them). Most artists never achieve their success. Gorillaz have outsold them. Blur made their name as one of the most vital live acts of their day – Gorillaz play bigger gigs across the world to more people and having seen both I’d say Gorillaz are better.

You could argue that McCartney and Wings did something similar but you’d be wrong. Wings weren’t a patch on the Beatles. When they played live they peppered their sets with Beatles songs and the crowd would expect to hear them. Dave Grohl formed Foo Fighters and achieved huge success, but he wasn’t the creative force of Nirvana.

Last night I saw the final show of the Gorillaz world tour. They played for more than two hours and not once was a there a single reference to Blur or an attempt to play one of their songs. And, more importantly, they didn’t need to.  This was a gig, played to 20,000 people, about music for today, not a tribute show. When Noel Gallagher came out to play on one song (can you imagine that happening 20 years ago) there was no announcement, he’s just part of the band. De La Soul appeared, Gruff Rhys, Mos Def and Shaun Ryder too. They all came out, did their thing and departed without fanfare or thanks. Alongside them were a host of young artists, singers, rappers and the most fabulous and versatile backing band you’ll ever hear. And at the centre of it all was Albarn and his music.

In Gorillaz he has not only created exciting and vital modern music in a style all of its own, he’s done it with the most incredible and varied group of artists. Mavis Staples, Carly Simon, Rag n Bone man, Bobby Womack, Grace Jones, Snoop Dog, Dennis Hopper, Lou Reed and Mark E Smith have all appeared on Gorillaz albums, in addition to Gallagher et al, and there are many more I haven’t mentioned. They’re never allowed to go through the motions or revisit their musical safe spaces. Albarn creates crackling, fizzing music for them and pushes them to try something different.

This is very admirable but could easily be a bit dull and worthy. It’s not ‘easy’ music – but Albarn has pulled off the one great trick that has eluded most ageing songwriters, he’s never lost his ability to write a killer tune. Perhaps he’s managed this by constantly experimenting and refreshing his sound, but that hasn’t always worked for some artists (I’m looking at you Bowie’s Earthling album). I think it’s because he’s never stopped working, writing and performing. Apart from leading and writing all the songs for Blur and Gorillaz, he’s also written a Chinese opera, a solo album, released the Mali Music album, worked with his other band, The Good, the Bad and the Queen, as well as collaborating and touring incessantly.

During the show last night I looked around and thought how diverse and varied the audience were. Young people were there not because they were Blur fans hoping to see an old music legend. They went because Gorillaz are making music that speaks to them. Albarn gave my generation a soundtrack to our youth and now he’s doing it again for their generation. No one else has done that. Forget Blur/Oasis, forget bloated rock dinosaurs rehashing their old glories – Albarn beat them all.

Here’s a playlist of some of my favourites. (How glorious are those final two tracks?!)

https://open.spotify.com/user/1138475865/playlist/0Sp2BGfUYY6BKKTPzlK6hf?si=WnWMqP2-SM6jxID8uUw9Ow