Editing Damon Albarn (section)

====Britpop era====
After discovering they were £60,000 in debt, Blur toured the US in 1992 in an attempt to recoup their losses.<ref>Harris 2004, pg. 66</ref> Albarn and the band became increasingly unhappy and homesick during the two-month American tour and began writing songs which "created an English atmosphere".<ref name="shite">Harris, John. "A shite sports car and a punk reincarnation". ''NME''. 10 April 1993.</ref> Blur had undergone an ideological and image shift intended to celebrate their English heritage in contrast to the popularity of American [[grunge]] bands like [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]].<ref>Harris 2004, pg. 79</ref> Although sceptical of Albarn's new manifesto, Balfe gave his assent for the band's choice of [[Andy Partridge]] of the band [[XTC]] to produce their follow-up to ''Leisure''. The sessions with Partridge proved unsatisfactory, but a chance reunion with Stephen Street resulted in him returning to produce the group.<ref>Harris 2004, pg. 82</ref>

The second Blur album, ''[[Modern Life Is Rubbish]]'', was released in May 1993 and peaked at number 15 on the British charts,<ref name="UKChart">"[http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/blur/ Blur Single & Album Chart History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022195217/http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/blur/ |date=22 October 2012 }}". [[Official Charts Company]]. Retrieved 21 August 2012.</ref> but failed to break into the US [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]], selling only 19,000 copies.<ref>Duffy, Tom. "SBK, Blur focus on U.S. market". ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]''. 28 May 1994.</ref><ref name="allmusicawards">"[https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blur-mn0000758444/awards Blur – Awards] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727010751/https://www.allmusic.com/artist/blur-mn0000758444/awards |date=27 July 2020 }}". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 August 2012.</ref> Despite the album's poor performance, Albarn was happy with the band's direction and wrote prolifically for Blur's next album. ''[[Parklife]]'' was released in 1994 and revived Blur's commercial fortunes, with the album's first single, the disco-influenced "[[Girls & Boys (Blur song)|Girls & Boys]]", achieving critical acclaim and chart success. ''Parklife'' entered the British charts at number one and stayed in the album charts for 90 weeks.<ref>Harris 2004, pg. 142</ref> Enthusiastically greeted by the music press, ''Parklife'' is regarded as one of Britpop's defining records.<ref>Dee, John. "Blur – ''Parklife''". ''NME''. April 1994.</ref><ref>Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r202255|pure_url=yes}} ''Parklife'' review]". [[AllMusic]]. Retrieved 16 June 2008.</ref> Blur won four awards at the [[1995 Brit Awards]], including [[Brit Award for British Group|Best British Group]] and [[Brit Award for British Album of the Year|British Album of the Year]] for ''Parklife''.<ref>Harris 2004, pg. 192</ref> Coxon later pointed to ''Parklife'' as the moment when "[Blur] went from being regarded as an alternative, leftfield arty band to this amazing new pop sensation".<ref name="totalguitar">Tuxen, Henrik; Dalley, Helen. "Graham Coxon interview". ''[[Total Guitar]]''. May 1999.</ref> Albarn was uncomfortable with fame, however, and he suffered from [[panic attacks]].<ref name="pulse" />

Blur began working on their fourth album ''[[The Great Escape (Blur album)|The Great Escape]]'' at the start of 1995.<ref>Harris 2004, pg. 222</ref> Building upon the band's previous two albums, Albarn's lyrics for the album consisted of several third-person narratives. James reflected, "It was all more elaborate, more orchestral, more theatrical, and the lyrics were even more twisted ... It was all dysfunctional, misfit characters fucking up."<ref>Harris 2004, pg. 223–24</ref> The release of the album's lead single "[[Country House (song)|Country House]]" played a part in Blur's public rivalry with Manchester band [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]] termed the "[[Battle of Britpop]]". Partly due to increasing antagonism between the groups, Blur and Oasis decided to release their new singles on the same day, an event the ''NME'' called the "British Heavyweight Championship". The debate over which band would top the British singles chart became a media phenomenon, and Albarn appeared on ''[[ITV News at Ten|News at Ten]]''.<ref name="liveforever">''Live Forever: The Rise and Fall of Brit Pop''. Passion Pictures, 2004.</ref> At the end of the week, "Country House" outsold Oasis' "[[Roll with It (Oasis song)|Roll With It]]" by 274,000 copies to 216,000, becoming Blur's first number-one single.<ref>Harris 2004, pg. 235</ref>

''The Great Escape'' was released in September 1995 to positive reviews, and entered the UK charts at number one. However, opinion quickly changed and Blur found themselves largely out of favour with the media. [[BBC Music]] writer James McMahon recalled how the "critical euphoria" surrounding the album lasted "about as long as it took publishers to realise Oasis would probably shift more magazines for them".<ref name="bbcmusic2">{{cite web |last=McMahon |first=James |date=2011 |title=''The Great Escape'' review |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/8qwx/ |access-date=2 January 2017 |publisher=[[BBC Music]] |archive-date=26 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171126092235/http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/8qwx/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Following the worldwide success of Oasis' ''[[(What's the Story) Morning Glory?]]'', the media quipped that Blur "wound up winning the battle but losing the war."<ref>[[Stephen Thomas Erlewine|Erlewine, Stephen Thomas]]. "[{{AllMusic|class=song|id=t1315546|pure_url=yes}} 'Country House' song review]". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 June 2008.</ref> Blur became perceived as an "inauthentic middle-class pop band" in comparison to "working-class heroes" Oasis, which Albarn said made him feel "stupid and confused".<ref name="liveforever" /> Bassist James said: "After being the People's Hero, Damon was the People's Prick for a short period ... basically, he was a loser – very publicly."<ref name="select">Maconie, Stuart. "The Death of a Party". ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'' (August 1999).</ref> In the ''New Statesman'', [[Stuart Maconie]] noted "Albarn... was mocked as the posh boy of Britpop when in fact he’d gone to a comprehensive in Essex and his family was just mildly bohemian. Nowadays he’d be decidedly 'below stairs'".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2015/02/privileged-are-taking-over-arts-without-grit-pop-culture-doomed | title=Stuart Maconie: The privileged are taking over the arts – without the grit, pop culture is doomed | date=4 February 2015 | access-date=16 October 2022 | archive-date=16 October 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016015516/https://www.newstatesman.com/long-reads/2015/02/privileged-are-taking-over-arts-without-grit-pop-culture-doomed | url-status=live }}</ref>