The 6 Biggest Science Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

119 Synonyms & Antonyms of BLUR

Balfe and Ross suggested that the band change its name, submitting a list of alternate names for the group's approval. A trailer and tips video for the game on Xbox Live mentioned a feature that never made it to the final game. The feature, called "double tap", was meant to allow a player to combine several powerups of the same type for a more powerful effect, by double tapping the special power use button. The video was removed near the release of the game and little, if any, mention of the feature, seems to have been made again. The "double tap" feature was not present in the free multiplayer sellbitz demo of the game offered on Xbox Live.

13 debuted at the top of the UK charts, staying at that position for two weeks. The album's lead single, the gospel-based "Tender", opened at the second spot on the charts. After "Coffee & TV", the first Blur single to feature Coxon on lead vocals, only reached number 11 in the UK, manager Chris Morrison demanded a chart re-run because of what he deemed was a sales miscalculation. The Great Escape, which Albarn told the public was the last instalment in the band's Life Trilogy, was released in September 1995 to ecstatic reviews.

Along with it came "Fool's Day," a limited-edition single timed to coincide with 2010's Record Store Day. Along with this box came "Under the Westway/The Puritan," a single to support the box and the group's headlining spot at the closing Olympic ceremonies in August 2012. That concert at Hyde Park was released digitally the following week as Parklive; it later came out as a physical release that year.

It was a completely different story in England, as Blur had a string of hit singles, including the ballad "To the End" and the mod anthem "Parklife," which featured narration by Phil Daniels, the star of the film version of the Who's Quadrophenia. Initially, Blur were one of the multitude of British bands that appeared in the wake of the Stone Roses, mining the same swirling, pseudo-psychedelic guitar pop, only with louder guitars. Following an image makeover in the mid-'90s, the group emerged as the most popular band in the U.K., establishing itself as heir to the English guitar pop tradition of the Kinks, the Small Faces, the Who, the Jam, Madness, and the Smiths. In the process, the group broke down the doors for a new generation of guitar bands that became labeled as Brit-pop. With Damon Albarn's wry lyrics and the group's mastery of British pop tradition, Blur were the leader of Brit-pop, but they quickly became confined by the movement; since they were its biggest band, they nearly died when the movement itself died.

Race with the AI or compete with other players in the online multiplayer. Apply Nitro to boost your speed, drop mines to blow up your rivals, and more. The game tracks present eight different powerups that the cars can pick up. Each car can carry a maximum of three powerups at any given time, that they can then switch and activate at will, or discard. Out of the eight powerups, five of them are weapons, with the remaining ones being a defensive shield, a repair wrench that restores any damage that the car may have sustained, and a nitrous boost. Several of the weapons' behavior can be modified to select whether the player wants them to fire forwards or backwards, and most of them can also be used defensively against attacks from other cars.

Andy Ross and Food owner David Balfe were convinced Blur's best course of action was to continue drawing influence from the Madchester genre. Blur attempted to expand their musical sound, but the recording of the group's debut album was hindered by Albarn having to write his lyrics in the studio. Although the resulting album Leisure peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart, it received mixed reviews, and according to journalist John Harris, "could not shake off the odour of anti-climax". The band consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree.

13 was creatively dominated by Coxon, who "was simply allowed to do whatever he chose, unedited", by Orbit. Albarn's lyrics—more heart-felt, personal and intimate than on previous occasions—were reflective of his break-up with Elastica frontwoman Justine Frischmann, his partner of eight years. While Q called it "a dense, fascinating, idiosyncratic and accomplished art rock album", the NME felt it was inconsistent and " a quarter-of-an-hour too long".

Blur's official Twitter and Facebook pages announced that the band would release two singles "The Puritan" and "Under the Westway" on 2 July. That August, Blur headlined a show at Hyde Park for the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony. In 2013, the band performed at the Rock Werchter in Belgium, the Spanish and Portuguese dates of the Primavera Sound festival, and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in the United States. In 2009, Blur reunited with Coxon back in the band and embarked on a European reunion tour. In the following years, they released several singles and compilations and toured internationally. In 2012, they received a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music.

NME magazine wrote in 1991, " are acceptable pretty face of a whole clump of bands that have emerged since the whole Manchester thing started to run out of steam." Albarn stepped out with the hip-hop/pop cartoon group Gorillaz in 2000, a collaboration with artist Jamie Hewlett that soon eclipsed the popularity of blur internationally. Coxon departed during the recording of Blur's next album, with Albarn stepping in on guitar.