All The People...

In 1995, Britpop icons Blur released The Great Escape, the follow-up to their multi-platinum Parklife, and a record that, as Blur biographer Martin Power wryly notes, “was deemed a masterpiece… Then, all of a sudden, it wasn’t.” What accounted for that sudden shift in critical perspective, and what could that question tell us about the shibboleths of pop music criticism?

I've been listening to all of Blur's work obsessively for the last year or so, and wrote about the band, Britpop, and The Great Escape for PopMatters. I'm really glad to be up at such a lovely site, and thank them for making the piece look as shiny and alluring as a great pop single. You can read it by clicking here.