That time Blur trolled Sanremo
To summarize what happened on the stage of the Ariston theater that evening of February 20, 1996, you could go to the forty-second second of the video below, with the cut to the foreground of the live television broadcast on Graham Coxon’s hardback. Something so surreal that in front of the Rai cameras present at the forty-sixth edition of Sanremo Festival passed into the cavalry, almost unnoticed.
The great guests of Sanremo 1996
Because twenty-five years ago, at the Festival della Song never. In the middle there were also the Blur.
Damon Albarn and his band had released “The Great Escape” a year earlier, the album that had earned them in the midst of the Cool Britannia period – thanks to the single “Country House”, which had defeated “Roll With It” by Oasis – the “battle of Britpop”, but the then future leader of Gorillaz and his companions already had their heads projected on what would come next. And the effort to imagine a future was not easy: the relationships between the four elements of the group began to become tense. It was, in particular, who showed signs of impatience Graham Coxonwho was starting to find ‘s rock star attitude unbearable Alex James and Albarn’s control freak. In short, not exactly the best of situations.
Blur couldn’t have known about the playback, and yet…
When the invitation to Sanremo arrives i Blur they cannot fail to know about the playback imposed on all musical guests. There had been groups much larger than them, like the Queen in ’84. The English quartet accepts anyway, but in their own way.
Pippo Baudo is a giant of Italian television, but he is ecumenical and institutional. Damon Albarn he’s a twenty-eight year old who feels on top of the world, and who for a lot of reasons – right or wrong – feels compelled to desecrate everything desecrable. So while the host presents them as “an English band, in the limelight with great prestige for five years”, even risking a comparison to the Fab Four “because of the lyrics”, Albarn bursts onto the stage with a military step, marching behind the host, who – despite being disoriented – manages to remain staid and professional. But it was only the beginning.
The hardback of Graham Coxon, the bodyguard in place of Alex James
At the beginning of “Charmless Man” the director frames the big face of the life-size hardback of Graham Coxoninstalled to the left of the frontman: behind the drums there is Dave Rowntreewho mimes his part with dignity, but is there on bass SmoggyAlbarn’s bodyguard, who – bleached hair, unlikely glasses and standard parka – resembles Alex James only regarding height. In practice, at Sanremo 1996 Blur showed up with half the band, collecting the full attendance fee, and also taking the piss. Isn’t that much rockier than a smashed guitar on an amp and a middle finger pointing at the audience?
