Blur’s Dave Rowntree recently talked to NME about the band’s career from its early days to its latest album, ‘The Ballad of Darren.’ When asked about the Blur track that had the same name as a Blondie single, the drummer answered:
“Dunno! We didn’t do a track called ‘Heart Of Glass‘ – I would have remembered that!”
Then, recalling a past performance, he went on:
“We were onstage once in front of tens of thousands of people, and I didn’t recognize the next song on the setlist at all. I was protesting: ‘We’ve never done a song called that!’ Worse, everybody was looking at me to start it, and I had to call over one of the stage crew to sing it in my ear!”
After the interviewer told him the correct answer was ‘X-Offender,’ Rowntree said:
“Even in the dark depths of Blur’s fandom, you’d struggle to find anybody that’s ever heard of that track! [Laughs] On the ‘Obscure Blur B-sides’ album, that would be the last track!”
Although the Blur member protested against singing a Blondie song on stage at one point, he recreated the band’s look for an NME photoshoot with his bandmates in 1991. During the recent chat, he also spoke of that picture and recounted:
“It was bizarre how convincing we all looked in that Blondie photoshoot. It’s become iconic.”
Comparing the experience to Blur’s usual photoshoots, the drummer added:
“It was a fun alternative to the endless string of tedious photoshoots where your only instruction is: ‘Can you all just get in a bit tighter and be more compact?’ That was our 9 to 5 for years. Yes, we occasionally got to play our instruments, but, by and large, our job was to be welded into one eight-legged-and-armed beast that could fit into the camera viewfinder.”
Rowntree went on to explain whether the band would reprise the look on their world tour:
“I’m not sure we’d look quite so convincing today! [Laughs] Time has taken its toll – sadly on me at least.”
Not through the Blondie look, but Blur did nod back to the past during their ongoing comeback shows. Damon Albarn revived his image in a Fila tracksuit jacket for the band’s performance at Wembley Stadium a few weeks ago.
