A breezy, boozy account of an explosive moment in pop music. London
in the mid-1990s was an epicenter of the music and art worlds,
verging on a major political shift. James, formerly the bassist in
Britpop band Blur and contributor to several British magazines,
recounts his ascent to rock stardom and the subsequent rapid
explosion of his ego with plenty of wit in hindsight. He
affectionately recalls his boyhood in Bournemouth dreaming of
appearing on Top of the Pops. "In all the time I have been making
music, nothing quite so fantastic as what happened in the next five
minutes has ever happened again," he writes of a teenage bedroom
rehearsal with two friends. In 1988, enrolled at London's
Goldsmiths College, James met best friend and Blur band mate Graham
Coxon ("brilliantly artistic, but vulnerable"), artist Damien Hirst
and first-love Justine, with whom he fell in and out for several
years. Blur, originally called Seymour, signed with EMI Records at
the height of pop music's obsession with grunge. When the shambling
Britpop sound caught on globally, James found himself rich and
famous in his early 20s. "I'd tell myself it was the duty of rock
stars to indulge themselves beyond reasonable limits," he writes.
"If I couldn't be reckless and extreme, I wasn't doing my job
properly." James felt free to indulge his passions, which in
addition to the usual drink and drugs included astronomy and fancy
cheeses, extolled in refreshing, if long-winded vignettes. Readers
may feel slightly overstuffed by the time the rock star sobers up
and settles down in the country, but James's self-awareness on the
page saves him from innumerable tabloid cliches. He'd rather name
fine hotels and bars than the glitterati frequenting them, and he
never forgets how he arrived at such a rarefied perch, looking back
with a teenager's sense of awe.A rock bio with snap. (Kirkus
Reviews)
For Alex James, music had always been a door to a more exciting
life--a way to travel, meet new people, and, hopefully, pick up
girls. 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. Success catapulted him
from a slug-infested squat in Camberwell to a world of private jets
and world-class restaurants. As "the second drunkest member of the
world's drunkest band" Alex James's life was always chaotic, but he
retained a boundless enthusiasm and curiosity at odds with his
hedonistic lifestyle. From nights in the Groucho with Damien Hirst,
to dancing to Sister Sledge with Bjork, to being bitten on the nose
by the lead singer of Iron Maiden, he offers a fascinating and
hilarious insight into the world of celebrity. At its heart,
however, this is the picaresque tale of one man's search to find
meaning and happiness in an increasingly surreal world. Pleasingly
unrepentant but nonetheless a reformed man, Alex James is the
perfect chronicler of his generation--witty, frank, and brimming
with joie de vivre. "A Bit of a Blur" is as charming, funny, and
deliciously disreputable as its author.
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