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Bit Of A Blur: The Autobiography
???I was the Fool-king of Soho and the number-one slag in the Groucho Club, the second drunkest member of the world???s drunkest band. This was no disaster, though. It was a dream coming true.??? For Alex James, music had always been a door to a more eventful life. But as bass player of Blur - one of the most successful British bands of all time - his journey was more exciting and extreme than he could ever have predicted. In Bit of a Blur he chronicles his journey from a slug-infested flat in Camberwell to a world of screaming fans and private jets - and his eventual search to find meaning and happiness (and, perhaps most importantly, the perfect cheese), in an increasingly surreal world.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 28, 2007
90 people are currently reading
1700 people want to read
About the author
Alex James
2 books28 followersAn English musician and songwriter, as well as a journalist and cheesemaker. Best known as the bassist of the band Blur.
Librarian note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Librarian note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 236 reviews
October 15, 2007
Bit of a bore.
Alex tells us that he drank a lot, took drugs (although is of course too coy to mention them in any detail), and had lots of sex served up to him on a plate, with buttered soldiers. So far no surprises, and nothing particularly interesting or remarkable about this. However, end of story. Alex doesn't really think about his what happened, or analyse it, or make any of it at all interesting. Apart from the time when he drunkenly urinated on his girlfriend's head from a top-floor window. Admittedly Alex was always The Shallow One out of Blur, so with hindsight I shouldn't expect anything particularly insightful from his autobiography. He seems to think that his vintage champagne habit and that he now makes his own cheddar is fascinating enough in itself.
However what I object to most of all though is that, despite this, Alex - self-styled wit, flaneur, bon viveur and decadent etc. etc. - would clearly love to be viewed as some sort of modern-day Oscar Wilde. However, he lacks the crucial prerequisite for this, which is having wit. In fact I think Alex has done a pretty good job of making the story of an adult life with no doubt many varied experiences, emotions and even anecdotes fairly predicatable and unexciting. Which is quite an achievement really. Although Alex likes (us) to think he could have gone to Oxbridge, all of his supposedly wise and witty trusims "There are few sounds more objectionable than a young boy learning to play the fiddle" simply sound pretentious and flat.
Unfortunately in this instance I really did judge a book by its cover and the old adage is right: Julian Opie's portrait is the only interesting thing about this book. Boo to you Alex James.
Alex tells us that he drank a lot, took drugs (although is of course too coy to mention them in any detail), and had lots of sex served up to him on a plate, with buttered soldiers. So far no surprises, and nothing particularly interesting or remarkable about this. However, end of story. Alex doesn't really think about his what happened, or analyse it, or make any of it at all interesting. Apart from the time when he drunkenly urinated on his girlfriend's head from a top-floor window. Admittedly Alex was always The Shallow One out of Blur, so with hindsight I shouldn't expect anything particularly insightful from his autobiography. He seems to think that his vintage champagne habit and that he now makes his own cheddar is fascinating enough in itself.
However what I object to most of all though is that, despite this, Alex - self-styled wit, flaneur, bon viveur and decadent etc. etc. - would clearly love to be viewed as some sort of modern-day Oscar Wilde. However, he lacks the crucial prerequisite for this, which is having wit. In fact I think Alex has done a pretty good job of making the story of an adult life with no doubt many varied experiences, emotions and even anecdotes fairly predicatable and unexciting. Which is quite an achievement really. Although Alex likes (us) to think he could have gone to Oxbridge, all of his supposedly wise and witty trusims "There are few sounds more objectionable than a young boy learning to play the fiddle" simply sound pretentious and flat.
Unfortunately in this instance I really did judge a book by its cover and the old adage is right: Julian Opie's portrait is the only interesting thing about this book. Boo to you Alex James.
March 23, 2023
I wanted to love this as I went to the same school as one of the band members so with the connection and loving the band, I thought I'd really enjoy it, but I couldn't connect with it at all unfortunately.
I'm not here to rate anyone's life so while I didn't get much out of this reading experience, it's a 5 star for Goodreads purposes.
I'm not here to rate anyone's life so while I didn't get much out of this reading experience, it's a 5 star for Goodreads purposes.
September 27, 2011
So.Much.Fun.
I can't remember when a book last left me with such a sense of undiluted joy. Alex James is clearly one of those people who is extroverted, optimistic, spontaneous and naturally lucky, and the tone of the book is infectious. He has enthusiasm and curiosity about pretty much everywhere he goes and everything he does, whilst seeing his 1990s excesses through older, wiser eyes - it's lovely to find such positivity combined with self-awareness and intelligence. It seems that he rarely did stuff or hung out with people because it was supposed to be cool: he unwittingly stumbled across them and genuinely really liked them. This is friendly, funny and often aphoristic writing and it's really nice to see someone uncynically making the most of life, whether it's debauchery or geeking out over science. Heck, I probably don't know enough optimists!
I will definitely be looking out for his newspaper and magazine columns in future and I'll bet this isn't the last time I'll read Bit of a Blur. As one of the cover quotes says, this book is excellent company.
It can make you feel inspired to go to somewhere new, or finally throw yourself into some unusual interest you've pondered. But the slightly dazed simplicity of expression and tangential wit - probably the effects of years of booze and drugs - and the sense of looking back on a younger, wilder past, meant that the book also felt like it was on the right wavelength when I read the first few chapters earlier this year when quite ill, dizzy and without the energy for any projects.
Of course, one of the other reasons the book seems quite so magical is that Blur were *the* band of my teens. This is life on the other side of the stories in NME and Melody Maker, inside the London Britpop scene where we dreamed of hanging out - and the middle chapters are chock full with references that sent a shiver down my spine.
I can't remember when a book last left me with such a sense of undiluted joy. Alex James is clearly one of those people who is extroverted, optimistic, spontaneous and naturally lucky, and the tone of the book is infectious. He has enthusiasm and curiosity about pretty much everywhere he goes and everything he does, whilst seeing his 1990s excesses through older, wiser eyes - it's lovely to find such positivity combined with self-awareness and intelligence. It seems that he rarely did stuff or hung out with people because it was supposed to be cool: he unwittingly stumbled across them and genuinely really liked them. This is friendly, funny and often aphoristic writing and it's really nice to see someone uncynically making the most of life, whether it's debauchery or geeking out over science. Heck, I probably don't know enough optimists!
I will definitely be looking out for his newspaper and magazine columns in future and I'll bet this isn't the last time I'll read Bit of a Blur. As one of the cover quotes says, this book is excellent company.
It can make you feel inspired to go to somewhere new, or finally throw yourself into some unusual interest you've pondered. But the slightly dazed simplicity of expression and tangential wit - probably the effects of years of booze and drugs - and the sense of looking back on a younger, wilder past, meant that the book also felt like it was on the right wavelength when I read the first few chapters earlier this year when quite ill, dizzy and without the energy for any projects.
Of course, one of the other reasons the book seems quite so magical is that Blur were *the* band of my teens. This is life on the other side of the stories in NME and Melody Maker, inside the London Britpop scene where we dreamed of hanging out - and the middle chapters are chock full with references that sent a shiver down my spine.
February 7, 2019
The fact is, I liked Blur a lot more before I read this book. The problem isn't so much that it is badly written (it's not) - it is more about how it made me feel as a reader. We usually read these type of books to gain an insight into the artist - not to have our faces rubbed in their wealth. Alex James chooses to largely gloss over the Blur stuff (I've often suspected the band was more driven by Albarn and Coxon anyway) and instead continually boasts about the life of luxury that he has led. Popular musicians can also become very wealthy, I get that, and I love a rock and roll excess story as much as the next guy but in this case, it is page after page of namedropping of famous friends, exclusive clubs for the wealthy, luxury hotels, even a toe curling section on his love and knowledge of vintage champagne (spoiler alert: most people reading this book could never afford it), the buying of aeroplanes and so on and so on. It can become irksome and, worse still for the reader - boring. My hope now is that as my memory of the book fades, my love of Blur will gradually return as I put my faith in the other three who haven't written books yet.
October 14, 2013
Alex James reckons bass players in bands are cool, most of the bass players I've ever even noticed on stage have hidden behind everyone else. Although Alex James seemingly set out to be the coolest bass player rock & roll has ever known he goes on to prove with a brilliant anecdote about the bass player from Coldplay the competition hasn't been that strong.
From the opening lines I was impressed with his ability to write, weaving together a series of interesting and entertaining anecdotes with an infectious enthusiasm, granted if you can't have enthusiasm for your subject when you're writing about yourself you may as well give up writing altogether, but James is erudite and witty and incredibly frank about his occasionally abhorrent behaviour. I was enamoured from the start and James (and obviously a great editor) didn't let me down, becoming, by quite some margin, my favourite autobiography/biography that I've ever picked up.
Blur came to my attention at that most impressionable time in my life, I was eleven and my favourite family member, who I thought was infinitely cool, was talking about how amazing this band called Blur were and he played me one of their songs. As soon as I had saved up enough pocket money I went straight out and bought their album on cassette. Yeah it was that long ago, I hadn't even heard of CD. And for the next twenty years if anybody asked me to name my favourite bands Blur would be in there no matter how my tastes changed over time; Blur, Pulp, Britpop in general, they have a special place in my heart. So when I recently got back in to the band, revisiting my youth in some ways, this book was always going to get read; however it is not one of those biographies that only reward people already familiar with the subject, so rarely does it touch on the ins and outs of Blur as a band, instead focussing on the human experience of somebody catapulted from reading French at Goldsmith's to international superstardom via the artistic medium of music.
Alex James, whilst being a drunken rockstar celebrity was, and still is, in the shadow of his much more famous frontman and frontmen in general. Albarn, Cocker and The Gallagher's could never have written this book, they may well write fascinating autobiographies in time but Bit of a Blur is the work of somebody who was allowed to live in the shadow, even slightly, and it is far more interesting because of it. At no point are you left with the impression that the author is concerned about their "legacy," immortality, rectifying perceived sleights, politics, muckraking and scandal, it is simply the memories of how he became famous and how he reacted to his dreams coming true.
The infectious and casual nature of the prose leaves you feeling like you're tagging along on one of his many, many nights of debauchery with his famous and not so famous friends, to the point that you worry when you put the book down that you'll miss some crazy antic whilst you're away. Now THAT is impressive storytelling that 99% of fiction authors could do with learning. Whilst at the same time he skips ALL of the boring bits that bog down most biographies without getting caught in the trap of going in to explicit detail about EVERY LAST THING that ever happened to him, cramming pre-record deal Seymour in to two chapters (thankfully) and spending a mere 200+ pages on the following 20 years of his life. The title is apt and not just a clever play on the name of his most famous music project.
I recently saw the Blur documentary No Distance Left To Run and in it Graham Coxon credited this book as being the major catalyst behind the band putting their differences behind them and getting back together. A reward much greater than being named "book of the year" by NME or being reprinted four times within a year of being published.
From the opening lines I was impressed with his ability to write, weaving together a series of interesting and entertaining anecdotes with an infectious enthusiasm, granted if you can't have enthusiasm for your subject when you're writing about yourself you may as well give up writing altogether, but James is erudite and witty and incredibly frank about his occasionally abhorrent behaviour. I was enamoured from the start and James (and obviously a great editor) didn't let me down, becoming, by quite some margin, my favourite autobiography/biography that I've ever picked up.
Blur came to my attention at that most impressionable time in my life, I was eleven and my favourite family member, who I thought was infinitely cool, was talking about how amazing this band called Blur were and he played me one of their songs. As soon as I had saved up enough pocket money I went straight out and bought their album on cassette. Yeah it was that long ago, I hadn't even heard of CD. And for the next twenty years if anybody asked me to name my favourite bands Blur would be in there no matter how my tastes changed over time; Blur, Pulp, Britpop in general, they have a special place in my heart. So when I recently got back in to the band, revisiting my youth in some ways, this book was always going to get read; however it is not one of those biographies that only reward people already familiar with the subject, so rarely does it touch on the ins and outs of Blur as a band, instead focussing on the human experience of somebody catapulted from reading French at Goldsmith's to international superstardom via the artistic medium of music.
Alex James, whilst being a drunken rockstar celebrity was, and still is, in the shadow of his much more famous frontman and frontmen in general. Albarn, Cocker and The Gallagher's could never have written this book, they may well write fascinating autobiographies in time but Bit of a Blur is the work of somebody who was allowed to live in the shadow, even slightly, and it is far more interesting because of it. At no point are you left with the impression that the author is concerned about their "legacy," immortality, rectifying perceived sleights, politics, muckraking and scandal, it is simply the memories of how he became famous and how he reacted to his dreams coming true.
The infectious and casual nature of the prose leaves you feeling like you're tagging along on one of his many, many nights of debauchery with his famous and not so famous friends, to the point that you worry when you put the book down that you'll miss some crazy antic whilst you're away. Now THAT is impressive storytelling that 99% of fiction authors could do with learning. Whilst at the same time he skips ALL of the boring bits that bog down most biographies without getting caught in the trap of going in to explicit detail about EVERY LAST THING that ever happened to him, cramming pre-record deal Seymour in to two chapters (thankfully) and spending a mere 200+ pages on the following 20 years of his life. The title is apt and not just a clever play on the name of his most famous music project.
I recently saw the Blur documentary No Distance Left To Run and in it Graham Coxon credited this book as being the major catalyst behind the band putting their differences behind them and getting back together. A reward much greater than being named "book of the year" by NME or being reprinted four times within a year of being published.
November 19, 2020
Live to tell (el bajista como testigo)
Ni siquiera me gusta tanto Blur. Una amiga me regaló este libro y lo tuve como 10 años en la biblioteca postergando su lectura una y otra vez, hasta que hace unas semanas quise leer algo livianito y lo saqué de la estantería.
Mientras lo leía pensaba que, salvo honrosísimas excepciones como Sting, Paul McCartney o Lemmy de Motorhead, los bajistas de una banda tienen un destino de papel secundario, nacidos para ser testigos, ser parte del corazón pero a la vez ocupar un rinconcito alejado, llamado a observar y, en definitiva, ejercer esa vida indirecta de quien vive para registrar y contarlo después.
¿Si les dicen "Alex James", alguien sabe de quién están hablando? ¿Cómo se llama el bajista de Oasis? ¿Y el de Pulp? El de Radiohead lo sé, el de U2 también, pero hasta ahí. Resulta que este pibe tiene toda la facha y antes de que Blur despegara ya estaba cogiendo con chicas que salían en la tapa de Vogue.
El libro no cuenta mucho de largas clases de música ni de lucharla tanto por alcanzar la gloria. Parece que tiene buen oído, tuvo la suerte de tener su departamento de estudiante en el mismo edificio que el de Graham Coxon y el resto es historia.
Una historia alucinante; de gastar en total, según sus cálculos, 1 millón de libras esterlinas en champagne y cocaína, de los que no se arrepiente; dice que "el camino de los excesos lleva al palacio de la sabiduría", de tener que elegir entre tres minas con las que convivía sexoafectivamente a cual llevaba a la cena navideña con sus padres.
Cuenta poco de las canciones; le dedica un capítulo a Song 2 - dice que la hicieron en 15 minutos - y otro a Tender, dónde cuenta que lo que escuchamos como bajo es su prueba de sonido, digitalmente editada por William Orbit.
Todo está contado con gracia, si tuvo un ghost writer quedó bien cubierto debajo de la sábana, y tal vez a mí me hubiese gustado más leer otras cosas, sobre el negocio y el proceso creativo, pero ese es un problema mío.
En fin, les recomiendo este libro si quieren leer algo livianito, como una larga nota de la revista Rolling Stone, sobre un pibe que estuvo en la cresta de la ola del Brit Pop, que se la pasó borracho hasta que recuperó la sobriedad, se casó, tuvo un par de pibes, se compró una casa en el campo - sí, como una de sus canciones más exitosas - y ahora, en la resaca escribe sus memorias.
Ni siquiera me gusta tanto Blur. Una amiga me regaló este libro y lo tuve como 10 años en la biblioteca postergando su lectura una y otra vez, hasta que hace unas semanas quise leer algo livianito y lo saqué de la estantería.
Mientras lo leía pensaba que, salvo honrosísimas excepciones como Sting, Paul McCartney o Lemmy de Motorhead, los bajistas de una banda tienen un destino de papel secundario, nacidos para ser testigos, ser parte del corazón pero a la vez ocupar un rinconcito alejado, llamado a observar y, en definitiva, ejercer esa vida indirecta de quien vive para registrar y contarlo después.
¿Si les dicen "Alex James", alguien sabe de quién están hablando? ¿Cómo se llama el bajista de Oasis? ¿Y el de Pulp? El de Radiohead lo sé, el de U2 también, pero hasta ahí. Resulta que este pibe tiene toda la facha y antes de que Blur despegara ya estaba cogiendo con chicas que salían en la tapa de Vogue.
El libro no cuenta mucho de largas clases de música ni de lucharla tanto por alcanzar la gloria. Parece que tiene buen oído, tuvo la suerte de tener su departamento de estudiante en el mismo edificio que el de Graham Coxon y el resto es historia.
Una historia alucinante; de gastar en total, según sus cálculos, 1 millón de libras esterlinas en champagne y cocaína, de los que no se arrepiente; dice que "el camino de los excesos lleva al palacio de la sabiduría", de tener que elegir entre tres minas con las que convivía sexoafectivamente a cual llevaba a la cena navideña con sus padres.
Cuenta poco de las canciones; le dedica un capítulo a Song 2 - dice que la hicieron en 15 minutos - y otro a Tender, dónde cuenta que lo que escuchamos como bajo es su prueba de sonido, digitalmente editada por William Orbit.
Todo está contado con gracia, si tuvo un ghost writer quedó bien cubierto debajo de la sábana, y tal vez a mí me hubiese gustado más leer otras cosas, sobre el negocio y el proceso creativo, pero ese es un problema mío.
En fin, les recomiendo este libro si quieren leer algo livianito, como una larga nota de la revista Rolling Stone, sobre un pibe que estuvo en la cresta de la ola del Brit Pop, que se la pasó borracho hasta que recuperó la sobriedad, se casó, tuvo un par de pibes, se compró una casa en el campo - sí, como una de sus canciones más exitosas - y ahora, en la resaca escribe sus memorias.
May 30, 2013
Efternin drinkin: it does ye in but ye cannae fuckin beat it. -Francis Begbie in Porno by Irvine Welsh
Efternin drinkin, as it happens, is the reason I bought this book (see previous review). And the principal reason my memory of the first few chapters is a wee bit hazy. I have the feeling a young Alex James would have approved though.
I went to university with the express purpose of meeting a boy who looked like Alex James: floppy dark fringe, cheekbones to slice cheese (ooh, James would probably approve of that metaphor too - obviously my 17-year-old crush is still alive and well...) and a big, cushiony pair of lips. I don't know where all the Alex James lookalikes were in 1994 (Glasgow, probably - the place I'd escaped from) but they certainly weren't in Aberdeen. Not even any Jonny Greenwoods - like a more serious and intense older brother of James. [Small aside: the rare pictures of Greenwood smiling, and James not, are far more attractive than their far more familiar brooding stare and imbecilic grin, respectively] The closest I met was James, one of the guys who lived in the university flat downstairs from us, who used to play the bassline from 'Girls & Boys' ad infinitum. Sadly, neither his looks nor his bass-playing skills came close to those of his famous namesake. I used to play the tape of Parklife louder just to drown him out.
This book zips along at an entertaining pace and, although blatantly self-centred, is refreshingly free of either the "I'm so not worthy" false modesty or whiny "my incredible talent is sooo overshadowed by my fame" extremes commonly found in autobiographies. He accepts things for what they are and does his best to wring every last piece of enjoyment out of them, just to soak it all up again. He does admit that other people suffered because of this attitude, but it doesn't seem to trouble his conscience too much. Which probably makes him a prize tosser. But does make for a fun read.
February 2, 2020
This book is essentially the non-fiction memoir of Alex James, the bassist from Blur, and so as such it takes us behind the scenes of the Britpop revolution and shows just what it was like to be a part of one of the biggest bands of the turn of the century. For someone born right at the end of the 80s, all of that delicious 1990s pop culture stuff made me nostalgic.
But what I most liked here was the honesty with which he wrote about his life, as well as some of the stories about how nuts Graham Coxon is. James was studying French at university and has always had a bit of thing for the French and French culture, and that was pretty cool as well because I’ve been working on my own French. I’ve been practicing my bass guitar skills, too.
As rock ‘n’ roll memoirs go, it’s perhaps pretty tame, but that’s okay. I wasn’t too bothered with that side of things, and indeed I’m not really the biggest Blur fan and so half the time they were talking about songs that I’d not heard of. But despite that, it was an engaging enough memoir to carry it through, and I learned quite a lot of stuff that I didn’t know before, such as that the band was friends with Damien Hurst and that two of the members, James included, are able to fly aeroplanes. That’s pretty cool.
All in all, I’d probably recommend it, especially to Blur fans.
But what I most liked here was the honesty with which he wrote about his life, as well as some of the stories about how nuts Graham Coxon is. James was studying French at university and has always had a bit of thing for the French and French culture, and that was pretty cool as well because I’ve been working on my own French. I’ve been practicing my bass guitar skills, too.
As rock ‘n’ roll memoirs go, it’s perhaps pretty tame, but that’s okay. I wasn’t too bothered with that side of things, and indeed I’m not really the biggest Blur fan and so half the time they were talking about songs that I’d not heard of. But despite that, it was an engaging enough memoir to carry it through, and I learned quite a lot of stuff that I didn’t know before, such as that the band was friends with Damien Hurst and that two of the members, James included, are able to fly aeroplanes. That’s pretty cool.
All in all, I’d probably recommend it, especially to Blur fans.
August 7, 2021
Maybe I shouldn’t have read this one because I really don’t like Alex James. Don’t get me wrong, the book is entertaining to read and his writing is even funny sometimes, but some things about it bother me simply because it’s Alex’s personality bleeding through. There were some parts that were absolutely fantastic to read, like the recording process of 13, but he lost me with his monologue about space and his surprisingly frequent objectifying comments about women. There’s way too much detail about Alex hanging out with super rich people and doing super rich things. He offers no deeper analysis of how fame affected him which comes off as very shallow, but that shouldn’t be a surprise if you know anything about Alex. I wanted to read about MUSIC and all I got was champagne and Alex pissing on his girlfriend’s head. Let me know when Damon or Graham write a book.
April 15, 2024
Definitionen av ”He lives in a house, a very big house in the country”
September 1, 2023
This was a really fun read and a surprisingly good book. Alex James just seems like a very curious, joyful and positive person and I think it's quite admirable how he just seems to flow through life without second-guessing himself too much and have the most incredible things happen to him in the process. He's an artist, but not the tormented kind. As he says in the book, any creative job mostly requires thinking you're the best at what you do and showing up on time, which I found a great life philosophy. The book is basically divided in two parts: the first Blur era consisting of success, excess, drama and debauchery, and the second when he starts to realize that there's a limit to how long you can go on the same way before becoming pathetic. I really liked the first era, Alex and his bandmates and friends perfectly embodied the 90s zeitgeist, which made me a bit nostalgic for things that I was too young to live myself. Funny also how celebrities all seem to know each others and hang out in the same places, like some glorified highschoolers in a small town. However, I think he manages to make the second era of "normal" life sound just as exciting and fulfilling. And now I want to learn to play bass!
April 3, 2020
Disappointingly pedestrian, unilluminating, predictable, annoying and just plain disappointing.
This is the well trod trajectory of an art school student, aspiring, then hugely successful musician, who looses his way in the usual pit of ultimately miserable bacchanalian excess - and guess what? Material wealth, possessions, celebratory status, success and adulation didn't lead to happiness - who'd have thought?
Whilst clearly that does seem to have been the life of Alex James - what is disappointing here, is not that he lead that life, but that this book tells us nothing new, there are no insights and neither is it told in any kind of interesting, amusing or even stylish way.
Sorry Alex - probably better stick to bass playing and cheese making?
This is the well trod trajectory of an art school student, aspiring, then hugely successful musician, who looses his way in the usual pit of ultimately miserable bacchanalian excess - and guess what? Material wealth, possessions, celebratory status, success and adulation didn't lead to happiness - who'd have thought?
Whilst clearly that does seem to have been the life of Alex James - what is disappointing here, is not that he lead that life, but that this book tells us nothing new, there are no insights and neither is it told in any kind of interesting, amusing or even stylish way.
Sorry Alex - probably better stick to bass playing and cheese making?
November 4, 2019
I have had this book in my pile for quite some time and decided to pull it out on a recent long flight.
Though it started cute and insouciant, I found Alex soon grew tiresome. I guess that is what happens when you are the bon vivant bass player and not the gifted guitarist or lead singer/leader.
The book jumped around way too much and I jumped around but then felt like it was missing huge chunks.
I read a lot of fluffy celebrity bios. This one was not fun. It was a drudge and a sludge.
Though it started cute and insouciant, I found Alex soon grew tiresome. I guess that is what happens when you are the bon vivant bass player and not the gifted guitarist or lead singer/leader.
The book jumped around way too much and I jumped around but then felt like it was missing huge chunks.
I read a lot of fluffy celebrity bios. This one was not fun. It was a drudge and a sludge.
Read
October 18, 2023Enjoyed it. Alex James seems to have come out of the excesses of Britpop surprisingly unscathed. Fascinating to see what doors money (and fame) immediately open. Talk of cheese but also unexpectedly Mars/Beagle and learning to fly.
September 3, 2020
something i started reading due to being a fan of blur resulted in surprising and amusing me to no end. a very pleasurable read. james' voice is light, amusing, incredibly likeable, and informative. the author doesn't write only about pop culture and rock'n roll bands, but about other subjects that he finds just as interesting, and ones he manages to sell to the reader as well.
UPDATE: heard that blur was first called seymour after my favourite Glass (sorry, franny) and realised I remembered fuck-all of the book. not surprising, given that it is almost five years since I’ve read it (hence the vague and empty review, see above). I enjoyed the book second time round. the tone is light and amusing, the name checks cheeky and the picture painted of british culture and band life pretty.
the fit one from blur tells you about all the fun he had, the girls he's slept with, the drinks he's had. he does not touch up on the unsavoury bits as much as i would’ve liked - what drugs did you take exactly, al? would have liked to see more pictures of/with his Justine, and more details on the Gra/Damon business. all in all a good, fun read, lots of interesting music/book recommendations in it too.
bit too light to be truly self-reflective, but really, what were you expecting?
UPDATE: heard that blur was first called seymour after my favourite Glass (sorry, franny) and realised I remembered fuck-all of the book. not surprising, given that it is almost five years since I’ve read it (hence the vague and empty review, see above). I enjoyed the book second time round. the tone is light and amusing, the name checks cheeky and the picture painted of british culture and band life pretty.
the fit one from blur tells you about all the fun he had, the girls he's slept with, the drinks he's had. he does not touch up on the unsavoury bits as much as i would’ve liked - what drugs did you take exactly, al? would have liked to see more pictures of/with his Justine, and more details on the Gra/Damon business. all in all a good, fun read, lots of interesting music/book recommendations in it too.
bit too light to be truly self-reflective, but really, what were you expecting?
April 11, 2008
How many bass playing figures who can write a good memoir as well. Ok, there is Charles Mingus, but there is also Blur's Alex James. Well first of all he's charming. He loves cheeses (really into the cheese thing), drinking (lot of drinking and quality drinking but still a drunk), into sex (can't say no), and yet, he's intelligent, well-read, and has a deep interest in science. He is also a very good travel guide type of writer for the world.
And Alex James is also handsome. So one has to think 'what is wrong with this guy?'' Well, basically nothing. He's funny on top of it. Do you like Blur? No? It doesn't matter because you are not going to like this book due to his music. He makes sharp observations about the world around him, and he basically a very grounded fellow. Reading this you get a slice of group life, the groupie situation (which for him is super good), and various cocktails in very nice bars. In fact he has the knack to write in almost fetish terms the art of drinking.
Alex James is a good guy. He wrote a very good book. One would wish that there were more guys like Alex James out in the world.
And Alex James is also handsome. So one has to think 'what is wrong with this guy?'' Well, basically nothing. He's funny on top of it. Do you like Blur? No? It doesn't matter because you are not going to like this book due to his music. He makes sharp observations about the world around him, and he basically a very grounded fellow. Reading this you get a slice of group life, the groupie situation (which for him is super good), and various cocktails in very nice bars. In fact he has the knack to write in almost fetish terms the art of drinking.
Alex James is a good guy. He wrote a very good book. One would wish that there were more guys like Alex James out in the world.
May 4, 2015
This was actually a lot nicer than expected - mainly because I didn't know Alex James is such a good writer. I would give it 3 and a half stars if I could.
It's obviously recommended to those who like/liked Blur, but it's a nice book in its own right. It gives you insight on Britain in the 90s, and since I spent a lot of my 90s there it was clearly interesting for me. I have the impression I would have found Alex James a terribly annoying character if I met him a ffew years ago - his 2.0 version of himself as a... Cheesemaker and a dad seems a lot friendlier.
On the whole, it's a light, entertaining book that you will read in a few days. I also agree with some other readers here who write it's a book brimming with optimism, wonder for what the world can offer and gratitude and awareness of being a lucky person. I actually underlined lots of passages I agree with. I think I found these qualities most refreshing, especially at a time like now. Lovely read :) oh, and now even more than before - I need to go to a dune desert.
It's obviously recommended to those who like/liked Blur, but it's a nice book in its own right. It gives you insight on Britain in the 90s, and since I spent a lot of my 90s there it was clearly interesting for me. I have the impression I would have found Alex James a terribly annoying character if I met him a ffew years ago - his 2.0 version of himself as a... Cheesemaker and a dad seems a lot friendlier.
On the whole, it's a light, entertaining book that you will read in a few days. I also agree with some other readers here who write it's a book brimming with optimism, wonder for what the world can offer and gratitude and awareness of being a lucky person. I actually underlined lots of passages I agree with. I think I found these qualities most refreshing, especially at a time like now. Lovely read :) oh, and now even more than before - I need to go to a dune desert.
March 28, 2014
EXCELLENT rock bio.
Alex's writing style reminds me of Anthony Bourdain. He's a great storyteller and you can hear his voice while reading his words.
I really enjoyed how the stories were very short - it felt like having a long conversation with a friend about many things, rather than a stuffy, overly researched history of events.
The stories about Blur's first North American tour, about Alex's love life and about meeting other celebrities like Damian Hurst were especially entertaining.
I would recommend this whether you're a fan of Blur or not, as it doesn't go too deep into the music. The stories are just so well written that I could not imagine anyone not enjoying this!
Alex's writing style reminds me of Anthony Bourdain. He's a great storyteller and you can hear his voice while reading his words.
I really enjoyed how the stories were very short - it felt like having a long conversation with a friend about many things, rather than a stuffy, overly researched history of events.
The stories about Blur's first North American tour, about Alex's love life and about meeting other celebrities like Damian Hurst were especially entertaining.
I would recommend this whether you're a fan of Blur or not, as it doesn't go too deep into the music. The stories are just so well written that I could not imagine anyone not enjoying this!
March 9, 2018
I adored this book, but then I am one of the biggest Blur fans to grace the planet. That aside this is a very good book. It's entertaining, action packed and witty. Yes it's fairly shallow, but it's a lot of fun. I Always enjoy hearing about that transition that all successful bands seem to make from living in grotty flats and drinking all the time to touring the world drinking all the time. For a musician Alex James is a great writer with a very clever turn of phrase.
November 19, 2024
In the late 90s I would read all those misogynistic lad magazines from the UK for the music reviews etc and when I think back to them I’m like “surely they weren’t that bad”. Alex James had a column in one of them and I’d even convinced myself he was interesting and maybe even high brow.
But turns out they (“lads”) were all worse than I had ever considered. In a cheat on your girlfriend of several years with literally anyone, invest in space travel, go to expensive clubs, piss on your girlfriend our a window cos you’re just so drunk, learn to fly as a hobby, buy a plane on a whim kind of way.
Also turns out I accidentally got the abridged version and honestly what a gift because it was unbearable and I couldn’t have handled any more.
There are some absolute gems in here but you know what? Not worth it.
But turns out they (“lads”) were all worse than I had ever considered. In a cheat on your girlfriend of several years with literally anyone, invest in space travel, go to expensive clubs, piss on your girlfriend our a window cos you’re just so drunk, learn to fly as a hobby, buy a plane on a whim kind of way.
Also turns out I accidentally got the abridged version and honestly what a gift because it was unbearable and I couldn’t have handled any more.
There are some absolute gems in here but you know what? Not worth it.
October 2, 2024
Great read.
November 3, 2012
I reading a Rolling Stone article listing the 25 best rock memoirs and this book was on the list so I checked it out from the library. I'm not a Blur fan though I did really like that Boys & Girls song when it came out. I just felt it would be interesting to read about this time period in music. I've read a lot of rock memoirs but realized most of the British ones I've read are acts from the 60s & 70s. Alex James is my age so it seemed like a good idea to get this book.
Well, I must say it started out horribly. I had no idea what he was talking about - don't know about many towns in England and what their reps are, don't know about British tv, magazines, stores etc. He seemed to be randomly bringing up people that he rode the school bus with, neighbors, friends of friends etc with no rhyme or reason. Also, his writing style and tone were so twee & pretentious yet simple minded, like he'd been dropped on the head as a baby. It was like a parody of Hemingway. "I went to the store. The store was big. My neighbor Fred was there. Fred has a sister who walks with a limp" etc. I started to wonder about who wrote that Rolling Stone list.
However, I am very glad I persevered with the book. I think at the beginning Alex was attempting to write like he was a naive child/teen. Gradually the tone & style of the writing changed & he seemed less idiotic. Also, I think I got used to his voice. Similar to when I read Patti Smith's memoir - at the beginning of her book she seemed so arty-farty & pretentious but then I started to like her way of looking at things. Same with Alex.
The memoir is less about the band and more about Alex. If I was a big Blur fan, this memoir would have made me angry. He does not go into a great amount of detail about anything in regards to the band. The fact that the guitarist left the band acrimoniously was totally glossed over. Thank goodness for Google. I had to keep looking up things that Alex would barely mention in order to understand what the heck was going on. He wrote a bit about recording the albums & writing the songs but not much. As for the parts about the tour, it was all anecdotes about partying & sex with random women. He does explain this lack of detail about the machinations of how the band worked by saying he felt his job was to be a wild rock star & wild rock stars do not concern themselves with things like contracts and schedules.
He certainly was good at the wild rock star bit. He was a hopeless drunk for years and years. Also did cocaine. He talks less about coke than he does booze but it is apparent when you read between the lines how much coke he had to have been doing. Booze & coke go together like peanut butter & jelly. He would go on multiple day benders with no sleep. You can't do that on booze alone. I was quite impressed with this story of a 4 day bender in NYC. He flew there from London with nothing but his passport & wallet. No suitcase, no hotel reservation. He just floated from crazy situation to crazy situation, losing his shoes in the process. He has lots of stories like that.
His social circle was surprising to me. In most rock memoirs I have read, the rock star hangs out with roadies, security guys, strippers, porn stars, groupies, drug dealers etc. Of course, they also hang out with other famous people too - but usually other musicians. Alex James was more part of the posh jet set. The type of people who have their photo in Tatler. A lot of them I had to google since they were famous in the UK and Europe more than here. He drank at private clubs & 5 star hotels & mansions & castles. He palled about with artists & politicians & writers & scientists & aristocrats & supermodels & billionaire businessmen. Nary a porn star mentioned.
Even though he spent a dozen years being flaky & loaded, Alex manages to land on his feet. Suddenly he decides to stop drinking and get a personal trainer and get his shit together. Why? Who knows. Alex is not terribly introspective in the book & doesn't reveal many personal things. He breaks up with his long suffering girlfriend & immediately jumps into a new relationship with a woman he promptly marries & has babies with. Hooo-boy, I bet his ex-girlfriend had many drunken conversations with her girlfriends trying to figure that out. "I stick with him for years while he is constantly high & cheating on me. As soon as he gets sober he dumps me & marries this other woman & moves to an estate in the Cotswolds & has babies." Oh boy. I feel bad for her. He buys the aforementioned estate in the Cotswolds, becomes a country gentleman who makes artisan cheeses & has 5 kids. Happily ever after!
I'm not sure what audience this memoir is directed to. There aren't a lot of details about Blur. And most people aren't odd like me & read random musician's memoirs. Yet it is a good memoir. Maybe if you just go into it as reading a non famous person's memoir, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
Well, I must say it started out horribly. I had no idea what he was talking about - don't know about many towns in England and what their reps are, don't know about British tv, magazines, stores etc. He seemed to be randomly bringing up people that he rode the school bus with, neighbors, friends of friends etc with no rhyme or reason. Also, his writing style and tone were so twee & pretentious yet simple minded, like he'd been dropped on the head as a baby. It was like a parody of Hemingway. "I went to the store. The store was big. My neighbor Fred was there. Fred has a sister who walks with a limp" etc. I started to wonder about who wrote that Rolling Stone list.
However, I am very glad I persevered with the book. I think at the beginning Alex was attempting to write like he was a naive child/teen. Gradually the tone & style of the writing changed & he seemed less idiotic. Also, I think I got used to his voice. Similar to when I read Patti Smith's memoir - at the beginning of her book she seemed so arty-farty & pretentious but then I started to like her way of looking at things. Same with Alex.
The memoir is less about the band and more about Alex. If I was a big Blur fan, this memoir would have made me angry. He does not go into a great amount of detail about anything in regards to the band. The fact that the guitarist left the band acrimoniously was totally glossed over. Thank goodness for Google. I had to keep looking up things that Alex would barely mention in order to understand what the heck was going on. He wrote a bit about recording the albums & writing the songs but not much. As for the parts about the tour, it was all anecdotes about partying & sex with random women. He does explain this lack of detail about the machinations of how the band worked by saying he felt his job was to be a wild rock star & wild rock stars do not concern themselves with things like contracts and schedules.
He certainly was good at the wild rock star bit. He was a hopeless drunk for years and years. Also did cocaine. He talks less about coke than he does booze but it is apparent when you read between the lines how much coke he had to have been doing. Booze & coke go together like peanut butter & jelly. He would go on multiple day benders with no sleep. You can't do that on booze alone. I was quite impressed with this story of a 4 day bender in NYC. He flew there from London with nothing but his passport & wallet. No suitcase, no hotel reservation. He just floated from crazy situation to crazy situation, losing his shoes in the process. He has lots of stories like that.
His social circle was surprising to me. In most rock memoirs I have read, the rock star hangs out with roadies, security guys, strippers, porn stars, groupies, drug dealers etc. Of course, they also hang out with other famous people too - but usually other musicians. Alex James was more part of the posh jet set. The type of people who have their photo in Tatler. A lot of them I had to google since they were famous in the UK and Europe more than here. He drank at private clubs & 5 star hotels & mansions & castles. He palled about with artists & politicians & writers & scientists & aristocrats & supermodels & billionaire businessmen. Nary a porn star mentioned.
Even though he spent a dozen years being flaky & loaded, Alex manages to land on his feet. Suddenly he decides to stop drinking and get a personal trainer and get his shit together. Why? Who knows. Alex is not terribly introspective in the book & doesn't reveal many personal things. He breaks up with his long suffering girlfriend & immediately jumps into a new relationship with a woman he promptly marries & has babies with. Hooo-boy, I bet his ex-girlfriend had many drunken conversations with her girlfriends trying to figure that out. "I stick with him for years while he is constantly high & cheating on me. As soon as he gets sober he dumps me & marries this other woman & moves to an estate in the Cotswolds & has babies." Oh boy. I feel bad for her. He buys the aforementioned estate in the Cotswolds, becomes a country gentleman who makes artisan cheeses & has 5 kids. Happily ever after!
I'm not sure what audience this memoir is directed to. There aren't a lot of details about Blur. And most people aren't odd like me & read random musician's memoirs. Yet it is a good memoir. Maybe if you just go into it as reading a non famous person's memoir, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
March 23, 2023
Uitgelezen op de 55ste verjaardag van frontman Damon Albarn
September 11, 2021
I owned this for years without reading it (likewise Adam Ant and Tony Wilson’s books). The beginning and the end parts were more interesting and LOL than the explosion of hedonism in the middle. The similarity between this book’s cover and that of Alan Clayson’s book about George Harrison, which I also own, cannot be a coincidence. I used to have Alex James’ quote about knowing how George Harrison felt (qua songwriter) in my .sig.
February 1, 2022
Such an entertaining book. Alex is a cheating bastard but a lovable character. As a Blur fanatic there are slight chronological errors but then again this was written by the man who admits that he spent "a million pounds on champagne"
A really entertaining read
A really entertaining read
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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July 19, 2024träffade en kvinna som nämnde att hon nämndes i denna bok!! behövde läsa om för att checka!!! hon nämndes mycket väl!!! jag är starstruck!!
July 27, 2017
I LOVE HIM. That's my review.
March 4, 2020
Growing up in the 90s, Britpop was as huge as K-Pop today, or bigger but they were better for sure. The difference is 90s kids did not have internet or google or social media. The news about our idola were as limited as the weekly tabloid or the music magazines, especially for me who lived far away from the epicentrum of the IT Culture.
.
Blur was the face of Britpop, the were the kings. I would dare to say that Blur were the alter-ego of my adolescent. But Alex was not my favorite, Damon was. Damon was the king of the king of Britpop, he was the icon. At that time, I thought Alex was only the wing man of Damon and Gra. I was dissapointed when Think Tank was released without Gra, it was not Blur. Thank Gld they reunited and I finally rich enough to buy their ticket concert. Watched them live was one of my biggest prayer, my ultimate bucket list.
.
My assesment on the book would have been different if I read it 20 something years ago. I would praise everything Alex had written no matter what. But I grew up, I have two different point of view on his autobiography. First, it’s a memoir of a grown up man who went through everything and had lived the dream of every rock star wannabees. Second, it’s like showing he’s being humble brag. As if, yeah I did this and that and they were all bad, that’s okay, I looked cool, girls still love me. He was narcissist. That’s pretty suck actually.
.
As soon as the band reached its success, the story got bored. But I enjoyed how Alex expressed his feelings toward Gra. I always thought Gra was the most depressed personnel. And I was right.
.
Anyway, the book was published in 2007. Probably the story is different now. Damon and Gra had got back together. Blur has their own movie, No Distance Left to Run that I have watched several times. I guess I love the lads as a group not the individual member.
.
Blur was the face of Britpop, the were the kings. I would dare to say that Blur were the alter-ego of my adolescent. But Alex was not my favorite, Damon was. Damon was the king of the king of Britpop, he was the icon. At that time, I thought Alex was only the wing man of Damon and Gra. I was dissapointed when Think Tank was released without Gra, it was not Blur. Thank Gld they reunited and I finally rich enough to buy their ticket concert. Watched them live was one of my biggest prayer, my ultimate bucket list.
.
My assesment on the book would have been different if I read it 20 something years ago. I would praise everything Alex had written no matter what. But I grew up, I have two different point of view on his autobiography. First, it’s a memoir of a grown up man who went through everything and had lived the dream of every rock star wannabees. Second, it’s like showing he’s being humble brag. As if, yeah I did this and that and they were all bad, that’s okay, I looked cool, girls still love me. He was narcissist. That’s pretty suck actually.
.
As soon as the band reached its success, the story got bored. But I enjoyed how Alex expressed his feelings toward Gra. I always thought Gra was the most depressed personnel. And I was right.
.
Anyway, the book was published in 2007. Probably the story is different now. Damon and Gra had got back together. Blur has their own movie, No Distance Left to Run that I have watched several times. I guess I love the lads as a group not the individual member.
January 21, 2015
Amazing book. Alex James is a stunning, witty, essentially British writer, which for me was completely unexpected. I'd venture to say he's a better writer than bass player. (Though really, no, that's not true.)
What I love most, besides the quality of his prose, is his inherent optimism. It permeates the entire book, and keeps it from sounding dull, trite, mean or too self-serving. This is not a 'poor little rock star' story by any means. Alex owns all of the choices he has made in his life, and does not necessarily regret any of them. He simply finds that as he's grown older, he's grown more mature, as we all hope to do, and has made choices that are probably more healthy now that he is a bit wiser. But who can say they regret the adventure of the full rock star experience? It seems to me that if you have the chance to do it, you should do it while you can, then introduce quiet and calm later on in life, as Alex did. I'd venture to say he was probably wiser in retrospect than he thinks he was.
There is no doubt Alex has lived an uncharacteristically exciting life, and I for one am thrilled to have been privy to some of the events in it through reading this hilarious and heartfelt book.
[Another cool thing about the book is that is was finished and published before there was ever a chance that Blur might reunite. Now it's the perfect companion piece to that reunion. :)]
What I love most, besides the quality of his prose, is his inherent optimism. It permeates the entire book, and keeps it from sounding dull, trite, mean or too self-serving. This is not a 'poor little rock star' story by any means. Alex owns all of the choices he has made in his life, and does not necessarily regret any of them. He simply finds that as he's grown older, he's grown more mature, as we all hope to do, and has made choices that are probably more healthy now that he is a bit wiser. But who can say they regret the adventure of the full rock star experience? It seems to me that if you have the chance to do it, you should do it while you can, then introduce quiet and calm later on in life, as Alex did. I'd venture to say he was probably wiser in retrospect than he thinks he was.
There is no doubt Alex has lived an uncharacteristically exciting life, and I for one am thrilled to have been privy to some of the events in it through reading this hilarious and heartfelt book.
[Another cool thing about the book is that is was finished and published before there was ever a chance that Blur might reunite. Now it's the perfect companion piece to that reunion. :)]
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