Blur: 'Record company were followers'

Blur have claimed that record company Food was following rather than leading when the band achieved their mainstream breakthrough in the mid-1990s.

The group told The Times that the company, who signed a licensing agreement with EMI, wanted the group to sound more American to capitalise on the recent success of grunge.

Singer Damon Albarn said: "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 Is Rubbish] was really the opposite of that. I was quite delicate and wordy and parochial, really."

Guitarist Graham Coxon added: "Apparently, [the label] wanted us to rerecord the album with Butch Vig, which is a pretty laughable idea. We were really just fighting for survival."

Drummer Dave Rowntree said: "They were really followers, rather than leaders. They thought we should Americanise up our sound, just like they'd thought we should Manchester up our sound earlier on in our career.

"But the only real way to have a career is to do the opposite of what everybody is doing."