Blur guitarist Graham Coxon hated the kings of grunge Nirvana.
He even blamed the band from Seattle for almost wrecking Blur’s career, calling their music “awful”.
The guitarist, who lives near Canterbury, said the Britpop stars’ success almost plummeted after Nirvana's success took off in 1991 with the single Smells Like Teen Spirit.
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain went on to commit suicide in 1994 and drummer Dave Grohl became the singer and guitarist for the Foo Fighters.
But Coxon loathed the group. He told Contact Music: “I didn't know it at the time, but our career was in jeopardy.
“We had what was going to be our second album Modern Life Is Rubbish, which was very English-sounding and kind of clever, witty pop music, and nobody was interested in that sort of thing.
“Apparently, the label wanted us to rerecord the album with Nirvana's producer Butch Vig, which is a pretty laughable idea. We were really just fighting for survival.
"The mood was Nirvana, and that whole disgusting movement that came over from America. I mean, Nirvana were not disgusting, but in their wake was just the most awful s**t, and Modern Life was really the opposite of that. I was quite delicate and wordy and parochial, really."
The 40-year-old rocker adapted his song-writing style during that time.
He said: "My new material was fuelled by the complete disillusion of having spent that time in America and seeing the seed of a new commercial Britain evolving.
“I didn't really look back after that, because I'd found my sense of detachment and disillusionment with the politics of our country, and started to be able to channel it in music."
A documentary on the current Blur reunion will be in the cinemas January.
POSTED: 06/12/2009 15:00:00
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