Talk:Modern Life Is Rubbish/Archive 1

Comment 2007
Food initially rejected the album due to there being no singles on it, and told albarn to go and write some. he came back with for tommorow and chemical world.

Albarn said in an interview he wanted "young and lovely" on the album instead of "turn it up". food included turn it up to appeal to the american and japansese teenage markets.

both from 'blur' by John Ewing, ISBN 0752518585, in all good charity shops! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.98.159.158 (talk) 19:51, August 30, 2007 (UTC)

Comment 2008
On the US release there are 69 tracks, so 18 and 19 should read 68 and 69. I couldn't figure out how to fix it without breaking the list. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.138.230.156 (talk) 03:19, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Changes to lead
Several IP users (possibly the same person?) have removed the following from the lead over the period of 2-3 days claiming it to be "Removed blatant NPOV-vio garbage".

Although their debut album Leisure (1991) had been commercially successful, Blur faced a media backlash soon after its release, and fell out of public favour. After the group returned from a disastrous tour of the United States, poor live performances and the rising popularity of rival group Suede further diminished Blur's status in the UK.

The statements are adequately referenced and the lead is only summarising the article which the editor hasn't seen fit to change. I'm not really sure what the editor sees as being so controversial so I'll deal with each point individually here.


 * Their debut album Leisure (1991) had been commercially successful - I will assume there's no problem here


 * Blur faced a media backlash soon after its release, and fell out of public favour - Reference is to an article in British newspaper The Guardian by professional journalist Jim Shelley. Again I can't really see what's controversial here - are you suggesting Shelley has an agenda and that there wasn't really a 'backlash' at all? If so why would he state this? He is not affiliated with the band and is simply telling the history of the band.


 * After the group returned from a disastrous tour of the United States, poor live performances... - the quote references an article in music magazine Mojo by professional journalist David Cavanagh. Again I can see no reason why Cavanagh would have an agenda and try to suggest a successful tour was 'disastrous'(I have removed this word from the newest edit) Footage from the tour itself appears in the video Starshaped where the band are visibly seen to be disintegrating and moan about life in America and their poor performances. The article features a direct quote from Albarn in which he addresses the tour by stating "Suede and America fuelled my desire to prove to everyone that Blur were worth it."


 * ...rising popularity of rival group Suede further diminished Blur's status in the UK - see quote from Albarn above and again reference to Cavanagh's article.

I hope the editor will place any further criticisms here rather than engage in a pointless edit war. I am reasonably sure he/she is acting in good faith and hope that they can see that I'm am acting in good faith as well. Cavie78 (talk) 10:23, 19 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Absolutely nothing provided to support the ghastly intro. Incessant user then pointing to Newspaper articles from the 1990s which are conveniently nowhere to be found. I could say that Damon Albarn single handedly wiped out Burnage in 1996, with "The Guardian, 12-5-96, page 34" as the cite. Where's the article? Nowhere. 1) One journalist's OPINION is being cited and 2) The articles don't even exist. If the sickening NPOV violations constantly being re-inserted into the intro are true, then it should be easy to find reliable online resources with articles which actually exist. Until then it's garbage. I think I'll set up an article in my own name now saying that I've sold 10 billion records and am worth £75 billion. With "Heat Magazine, 20-2-09, page 20" as the ever-reliable source, of course. 79.79.177.192 (talk) 00:16, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
 * First of all, there's absolutely no need to use only online sources; in fact, print sources are preferred since they are permanent. If you have to trouble with the sourcing, go out to a library and check the books yourself.
 * Anyway I sourced the Mojo article from this article reprint. (I didn't link to it since we shouldn't link to copy-vio articles). Please don't arbitrarily remove that information again or it will be considered vandalism. indopug (talk) 06:55, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
 * A Blur fansite? In no way an acceptable cite. Intro claims remain unsourced. Christ, some people are relentless when it comes to inserting garbage into the article. Even if they did exist (which there is no evidence of), terms like "disastrous" are entirely subjective journalist OPINION and cannot be used for an encyclopedia. Sure, if there were relevant cites you could claim that the concerts sold poorly or that there were mishaps on stage, but all that's being cited is second-rate, opinion-laden journalism. 79.79.177.192 (talk) 07:30, 22 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Its a Mojo magazine article reprinted on the fansite, so yes its reliable. Further, the John harris book confirms the same. There is no need to cite the lead since everything is already cited in the article body (see WP:LEAD). And I'll replace "disastrous" with "unsuccessful".
 * Oh, and please be civil. Thanks, indopug (talk) 07:37, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Japanese edition
This was widely available in the UK on import. I don't see why it's "unnecessary" to mention it. I believe it's notable because it contains the rare but important single Popscene. Just because this is a GA doesn't mean it can't be made more comprehensive.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 19:37, 13 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I've re-added the information as a footnote. Hopefully this time there will be no objections.--Pawnkingthree (talk) 22:49, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

What's a 'mop-top skinhead'? 82.41.4.162 (talk) 15:40, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Silence
All Music (http://www.allmusic.com/album/modern-life-is-rubbish-r189962) lists 23 four second silent tracks followed by "Untitled". Rich Farmbrough, 01:23, 24 June 2011 (UTC).

Cover
The album cover is actually quite a famous painting - The Mallard, by Paul Gribble. We should maybe credit the image to him. I'm sure they did find an image of it in a library, but it's a famous painting in it's own right. Thnaks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.171.128.173 (talk) 10:23, 20 January 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks for this info. I'll mention Gribble in the text as soon as I can find a reliable source that backs it up.

Unfortunately I cannot recall the source (either a music magazine or a heritage railways one, inevitably) but did read some years ago that the Gribble painting was the second-choice cover artwork; a railway scene ("Duchess of Hamilton" ascending Shap Fell in Cumbria) by noted transport artist Terence Cuneo was to have been used, but he would not give permission for it to be reproduced.86.132.64.76 (talk) 18:36, 10 August 2015 (UTC)