Blur rode the wave of success at the height of Britpop – but the years that followed marked a turbulent period for the band who famously beat Oasis to Number 1 with Country House 25 years ago.
That battle between two indie heavyweights in August 1995 captured the imagination of millions across the country, transforming Damon Albarn and co, along with the Gallagher brothers Noel and Liam, into megastars.
Both Country House and Roll With It were both released on August 14, 25 years ago.
The joyous pop of Country House may have beaten Roll With It to the top slot on six days later but it was the iconic Manchester five-piece that became one of the biggest British bands of all time.
Blur previously enjoyed major success with Parklife in 1994 while Oasis’s debut album Definitely Maybe set them on a course for the top.
But it was the release of (What’s the Story?) Morning Glory in October that year which helped the Gallaghers’ popularity go stratospheric, culminating in two sold out shows at Knebworth in 1996 – playing to 125,000 people a night.
Blur would go on to release the album The Great Escape in September 1995 before a well-received self-titled effort in 1997.
They split up in 2002 after guitarist Graham Coxon left the band but went on to release 2003’s Think Tank.
And while they reformed to headline Glastonbury in 2009 and released album The Magic Whip in 2015, Albarn, Coxton Alex James and Dave Rowntree took off and started new lives – and in fact, complete different careers altogether.
So, what’s happened to them since?
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn has been a massive campaigner for anti-war (Image: ExpressStar)
Now 52, Albarn went on be appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music.
Most notably, he’s enjoyed massive success with Gorillaz, who he formed with artist Jamie Hewlett in 1998.
Blur briefly reformed in 2009 to headline Glastonbury but told Q he had no intention of touring with his old band mates again.
Albarn said: “I just can’t do it anymore.”
However, in 2012 Coxon reunited with Albarn and Blur once more and recorded the track Under the Westway before The Magic Whip was released in 2015.
The band released seven albums together (Image: Redferns)
Albarn enjoyed solo music career of his own.
He released Mali Music in 2002, recorded in in the African country during a trip he made to support Oxfam in 2000.
He also formed the supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen with Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen. The album, produced by Danger Mouse, was awarded Best Album of 2007 by the Observer Music Magazine.
The star has also always had charity at the forefront of his mind.
In 2016, Albarn, a long-time advocate of the music of northwestern African country Mali, titling his 2002 album Mali Music, has been given the title “Local King”, and has had a school of music and dance named after him.
He has also been incredibly open about his stance of being anti-war.
In November 2001, shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan in response to September 11 attacks, the MTV Europe Music Awards were held in Frankfurt, where Gorillaz won awards for Best Song and Best Dance.
As Albarn and Jamie Hewlett walked onto stage to make a speech, Albarn wore a T-shirt with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament logo on it.
In his speech, he said: “So, f**k the music. Listen.
“See this symbol here, [pointing to the T-shirt] this the symbol for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
“Bombing one of the poorest countries in the world is wrong. You’ve got a voice and you have got to do what you can about it alright?”
Alex James
Alex James has turned to a career in making and producing cheese (Image: Getty Images)
Born and raised in Boscombe, Bournemouth, the now 51-year-old was the bassist of the band – and has turned to making cheese.
Alex now describes his days as being part of the band Blur as a “past-life”.
Alex worked with singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor in 2003 when he played as bass player for her album, Shoot from the Hip.
He also joined his friend and singer-songwriter Betty Boo in a band called WigWam in 2005.
In 2009, James appeared as bass player on debut Bad Lieutenant record Never Cry Another Tear. The band consisted of New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner and guitarist Phil Cunningham, along with Jake Evans of Rambo And Leroy.
Then in 2007 he gave fans a real taste of what it was like to be in Blur when he released an autobiography, called Bit of a Blur. It has since been described as “the definitive guide to Britpop”.
At the height of their fame, Blur were up there with Oasis (Image: Getty Images Europe)
A few years later James published a follow-up entitled All Cheeses Great and Small: A Life Less Blurry in September 2011, charting his transformation from rock star to cheesemaker as he had moved to a farm in Oxfordshire to carry out his cheese dream.
He also wrote a monthly column on cheese for Esquire Magazine after becoming known for his production of it.
James moved to the Cotswolds, purchasing a farmhouse and renovating it into a burgeoning cheese farm.
The 200-acre cheese farm in Kingham, Oxfordshire, now produces award-winning cheeses including ‘Alex James Presents’ – a range of British artisan cheeses – ‘Good Queen Maude’, ‘Blue Monday’, ‘Little Wallop’, ‘Farleigh Wallop’, and most recently ‘Goddess’.
Dave Rowntree
Dave Rowntree ditched music for a career in local politics (Image: Redferns via Getty Images)
Rowntree interestingly enough went from being the drummer of one of Britain’s coolest rock bands to turning to politics.
The 56-year-old dropped the drumsticks to become a councillor in Norfolk County Council, representing the Labour Party.
He has been a keen supporter of the Labour party ever since he became a member in 2002.
In 2007 Rowntree unsuccessfully contested the safe Conservative seat of Marylebone High Street on Westminster City Council.
In July 2008, he fought the Labour-held seat of Church Street, a Labour stronghold since its creation in the 1960s, but a swing from Labour to the Conservatives of 14.1% meant that he was again unsuccessful.
Then, in February 2008, he was selected by the Cities of London and Westminster Constituency Labour Party to stand against Conservative MP Mark Field at the 2010 General Election.
He was defeated at that election but he didn’t give up.
In 2011, Rowntree sought selection as Labour candidate for Norwich South; he lost to Clive Lewis, a journalist and former soldier, who went on to be elected as MP.
Rowntree is now a Labour councillor (Image: EMPICS Entertainment/PA Photos)
The man of many talents is also a computer animator and owns an animation company called Nanomation.
He directed two series of the South Park-esque animated show Empire Square , which made its TV debut on Channel 4 in 2005.
Rowntree is also interested in computer graphics and has contributed to three research papers on topics related to non-photorealistic rendering.
Graham Coxon
Graham Coxon went down the solo music route (Image: Getty Images)
Graham is the band’s lead guitarist but took on a solo music career as soon as he left Blur.
The 51-year-old released six albums during his solo stint. The most most commercially successful to date is Happiness In Magazines, which reached No 19 in 2004 and spawned singles Freakin’ Out and Bittersweet Bundle of Misery.
Former Oasis rival Noel Gallagher described Coxon once as, “one of the most talented guitarists of his generation”.
But it wasn’t all fun and game and creating hit music.
During an interview with iNews, Coxon spoke of how he really felt about his fame during the 90s and why he’s more out of the spotlight these days.
He told the publication: “The 1990s were just fraught… I just didn’t enjoy it. And I always tell myself that I should have done.
“There would be a lot of b******t surrounding everything that got in the way. So if I look back to the 1990s they were just fraught… I just didn’t enjoy it.
“And I always tell myself that I should have done: ‘Why didn’t you just have a good time?'”
Blur won many awards during their years (Image: Reuters)
When the band were set to record Think Tank in 2001, he booked himself into rehab after a battle with alcoholism before the band split a year later.
“I did try to have a good time, but the only way I could have a good time in the 1990s was to get really drunk and that was the only thing that got rid of the b******t, and then when you sobered up the b******t was twice as big so it was just difficult.”
In 2008, both Albarn and Coxon announced that they had worked out their issues.
Coxon recorded the score for the 2017 Netflix television series The End of the F***ing World .
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
