Stylorouge

For those of us that grew up amid the heady throws of Britpop, there was no escaping the nationalistic fervour that seemed to penetrate all areas of life. Labour was ‘new’, Britannia was ‘cool’, and the union flag proliferated. It was all too easy to get caught up in the optimism, my own memories of this time take place in an eternal summer, often in a beer garden. The tunes were good (honestly, they were), and they made me want to jump up and down… a lot. In hindsight of course, it is easy to see just how problematic everything that came to define Britpop was. Many of the bands caught up and profiting from it are now, perhaps wisely, cheerfully denouncing it.

If you believe the history, it was Blur that spearheaded the movement. A musical kick back against a disastrous American tour, a desire to write about British things and generally be very… well, British. In the column inches and analysis devoted to Blur, not much is given over to the artwork of the albums and singles of this period. This is a shame, because as well as being excellent and inventive, they also illustrate an important fact about the music Blur were making at the time. It wasn’t celebratory, it was ironic. Or it was celebratory in an ironic way.

If you have seen any Blur artwork from the 90s, you have most likely been looking at Stylorouge’s work. If you are familiar with the Blur logo, you are familiar with Stylorouge’s work. Right out of the gate, the visual language of Blur was defined by Stylorouge. They studiously avoided making Blur look cool. They packaged Blur as an ironic product.

The singles were where Stylorouge excelled, we were treated to condom packets, beermats and unfeasibly large burgers. There was a wistful nostalgia to some, a paean to aspirational excess to others. What each piece of artwork steadfastly refused to do, was advertise an indie band called Blur. They advertised a Britain as filtered through an indie band called Blur. Of course, this Britain has only ever existed in the minds of advertisers, keen to sell you an idea, especially if that idea is profitable. It is hardly a coincidence that any one of the artworks wouldn’t look out of place as an advert in a high-end glossy magazine, or as a spread in an over-produced brochure, the sort that can often be found artfully displayed in a showroom.

Each of Stylorouge’s creations for Blur are indelibly printed in my brain. They provoke an emotional reaction in me with the same vigour as a well-placed Blur riff or chord change. They will be forever linked to the songs that they serve. I hear the songs when I look at the art, and I see the art when I hear the songs. There is one image that has held an enduring fascination for me. It appears on the reverse of The Great Escape album, and I fervently maintain that it should have been the actual cover.

Like any self-respecting indie band, Blur had always adopted a relaxed approach to sartorial matters. Jeans, Doc Martens, Fred Perry and Converse were de rigueur. At award ceremonies, they looked for all the world like they would struggle to find the bus fare home. In this image though, we have Blur as yuppies. The rough edges are shaved off, hair is sculpted, and suits adopted. It’s a stock-image representation of the capitalist ideal. Of course, it’s ironic, a juxtaposition to poke fun at the thing it represents. But it is also really, really cool. While I have enthusiastically adopted the indie aesthetic and could accurately be described a ‘liberal’, there is a part of me – albeit a small part – that aspires to what this image represents. This cognitive dissonance: being able to object to, but sort of crave what this image represents, is why it holds such a fascination.

When the wheels fell off the Britpop bus, Blur returned darker, murkier and less polished. The same can be said for the artwork. Moody photographs became the order of the day and commentary was mostly left to the songs.

It was only after the accepted period of inactivity, that Blur reconvened for a series of live concerts, and who better to handle the visual promotion than Stylorouge. Possibly this was a decision to evoke a nostalgia in jaded middle-age fans, but I like to think it is just because the artwork they produce is just so bloody good!