Brit Music Scene

Blur’s Alex James Turned Down Coldplay | Move Over Oasis - New Blur Enemies Posted: 23 Jan 2009 02:16 PM PST The story of Decca turning down The Beatles is very well-known but the most famous British group ever were also turned down by HMV and Columbia before finally being signed. Who signed them? Parlophone, a label dedicated to novelty acts. Wow. While Coldplay aren’t quite as big as The Beatles, they are a very important British band, as are Blur. And it’s now come to light that the two groups are inextricably linked forever by the fact that Blur bassist Alex James turned Coldplay down when he had his own record label. James revealed the slip-up himself in an interview with The Sun. But he then went further and dismissed Coldplay as a group altogether. He either believes this or he’s saying it now in order to save face for turning down one of the best signings he could ever have made. He tells the newspaper: "I went to see Coldplay with Damien Hirst and Joe Strummer — my fellow record company executives — and we all thought they were ordinary and passed on them.” "I think everyone did, except Parlophone, just like happened with The Beatles — and Blur. Then again, I still think Coldplay are a fairly ordinary band, although the singer is good.” "It's quite hard to make a succinct three-and-a-half-minute pop song. The trick, almost no one in town can do, is to write really good words to simple melodies." The fact that James’ record company didn’t last for long is surely testament to his opinion. But there’s also another possibility to why James has chosen now to reveal this nugget of information. Could Blur be trying to start another battle of the Brit bands? Everyone can surely remember the regular bouts of fighting that occurred between Blur and Oasis back in the days when Britpop ruled the scene. In light of Blur’s reunion, I think James has chosen a huge band, Coldplay, probably the Oasis of the day, and attempted to start a ruckus. Whether it’ll succeed or not is anyone’s guess but this does add to the pressure on Blur to actually be any good when they start touring and writing new material. If they’re rubbish, expect Chris Martin to describe them as “a fairly ordinary band.” [Photo Source: From Newscom with permission] Tags: Alex James, Blur, Brit, British, Chris Martin, Coldplay, Damien-Hirst, Decca, Joe Strummer, Oasis, Parlophone, The-Beatles, UK Share This

You are subscribed to email updates from Brit Music Scene To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Inbox too full? Subscribe to the feed version of Brit Music Scene in a feed reader.
If you prefer to unsubscribe via postal mail, write to: Brit Music Scene, c/o Google, 20 W Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610