Best Damon Albarn Quotes Of All Time

Damon Albarn has always had a way with words. He has said so many memorable things over his musical career. Here are some of the highlights from the man himself. 

1. "I must admit that I always found it incredibly easy to get off with girls. When you’re a teenager, picking up girls is a bit like getting run over by a large vehicle. You see a juggernaut approaching and you have to know when to throw yourself under it. I always seemed to know when to throw myself on the floor and get what I wanted." (on getting girls)

2. "I don’t feel anything with a passion. I’m not a very passionate bloke. I can’t bring myself to actually believe in passion." (on his interests)

3. "Life is very different in my home. My status is extremely different. I’m not taken very seriously, in a good way. I walk around in my pants, which my daughter finds highly embarrassing. I’m just a normal, down-to-earth dad." (on fatherhood)

4."I’m actually really passionate about puppets. I had these puppets made of me when I was in Jakarta. I originally wanted to use them in a video for a song on the album, 'Hollow Ponds', which has a strong dateline of me growing up. So now I’ve got these ten puppets of me at home – and one of Barack Obama. I may turn it into a puppet show for kids. I love puppets." (on his passions)

5."That’s just been lost this year. I think that, even though we’re not necessarily aware of it at the time, we all evolve when something like this happens." (on Covid lockdowns)

6."When you’re in an indie band it’s like a marriage, you know? You’re married to everything about it. I was just at the front being a fucking knobhead frontman for quite a long period of time." (on Blur)

7."I was always accused of being a bit of a dilettante back in the day. I never really saw it like that. I was just interested in lots of different things, and I wanted to see how I could somehow articulate my own thing through other things. No one actually comes up with something that reinvents music." (on music)

8."Rock is the easy option. You can write mediocre songs, mumble words, put a lot of attitude into it and be successful. But pop is so much more of an expose. If 'Girls and Boys hadn't had something to say and the sounds that we used hadn't been thought through, it would have been embarrassing." (on writing pop songs)

9. "I don't think anybody understood the irony. I seriously doubt it. Modern Life Is Rubbish [1993] and Parklife [1994] were angry records. The Great Escape [1995, number one in the UK, and Blur's biggest-selling album worldwide to date] was a rather cynical album, everything seemed to be going down hill, and I was cynical, too cynical." (on his albums)

10. "We were together for eight years. Eight years are a long time, a very long time. Especially if the relationship is as public as our relationship was. I went through a phase where I thought I've got to justify my feelings, everything I invested in that relationship. As a musician usually music is your way out." (on his ex-girlfriend Justine Frischmann)

Top 10 Damon Albarn Quotes - New Blur Quotes 2016

Damon Albarn is known for his short, snappy interviews, mysterious ways and sometimes awkward and outlandish suggestions. This is, of course, bearing in mind that he is one of the greatest musicians in England at the moment. Here are some insightful and beautiful quotes from some of his latest interviews in 2015 and 2016.

1. "Everyone was using the flashes on their cameras, so there was this moment, like a mania, when everyone started flashing-flashing-flashing and you could see it down the coast. In itself, it was kind of a magnificent event" - on the last solar eclipse of the century in 1999.

Albarn always has his way with words. Nostalgic Albarn is even more sentimental.

2. “When I’m lonely, I press play." 

Self-explanatory really, though don't get misled from the sexual innuendo. No, we don't think Albarn means something in another context. Really. Albarn admits it in one of the album's singles, the jet-lagged video for which he shot on his iPad.

3. "Actually, a lot of Gorillaz songs were very personal. I mean, that’s why it was interesting, because it wasn’t music being made for a cartoon. It was something different. It was a much more emotional affair. I wasn't necessarily thinking in the third-person then."

4. "Let’s say I believe in the presence of other things. But have I seen a fairy? I’m not going to tell you ...” - when asked whether he believed in fairies in Hong Kong.

5. “No, nothing about Alex annoys me. He’s one of my dearest friends, but I don’t know what Alex’s political views are. We do music, not politics. We’re not a four-piece political act. So whether we agree or disagree is neither here nor there. Besides, I don’t surround myself with people who agree with me. Where’s the fun in that?” - on Alex James's quirks.

6. "Religiously, 10:30AM-5:00PM. I get anxious if it gets to quarter to six” - on his schedule. We see the perfectionist creeping back out of him.

7. "We’re in a moment of extraordinary transition as a species, and what is the outcome of that? Are we going to become closer to ourselves or are we going to become more distant?” - on Everyday Robots and its inspiration. We think Damon is going on a bit of a rant here.

8. "Do you spend all your day talking to everybody as opposed to actually doing something? Is that something that just teenagers do, or will people grow out of it? It only really just occurred to me and it’s probably just a load of old bollocks, but I have been thinking that the reason we had so many big cults back when I was younger is because there was no social media, and that was a way of feeling you were in a community. But now to become part of a community is so much easier." - on questioning the existence of social media.

9. "I have great respect for anyone who makes a fantastic musicial... but I never said that I hate modern musicals." - on BBC Breakfast, defending his hatred for modern musicals.

10. Not a quote- but a little clip:




Do share!

Dave Rowntree explains 'On Your Own' music video!

Finally, a Dave Rowntree story that is guaranteed to make you laugh (and perhaps admire how terribly witty Dave's sense of humour is). Dan Rolling Stone Brain, a Yahoo! Answers user asked a question on the Q/A website about Blur's music video for the single 'On Your Own', that goes:

---

Yahoo! Answers: Open Question

What is Dave Rowntree doing in the Blur-On Your Own video?

If you watch the video to Blur's On Your Own (single- '95), Damon is jumping around, Graham is playing guitar behind walls and Alex is just walking around. Dave Rowntree, however, is in a sort of booth, playing on a keyboard. I don't understand why. The video has no story or plot, and what he's doing has no relevance/correlation to the song or the lyrics. I'm confused. Why is he messing around on a keyboard? And why is he in a metal shelter/booth? (Oh, and it's like a typewriter/computer keyboard, not a piano-like keyboard)

• 2 days ago
 
• - 2 days left to answer.

---

Believe it or not, the actual Dave Rowntree answered the user's question! We learned from Dave's official twitter page that he "spent breakfast" this Wednesday typing a lengthy, detailed response to the question about what he was doing for the music video shoot.

---

Answers (2)

• David

  We had to make this video while on tour on a day off, so our options were pretty limited - it basically had to be some kind of performance. To make it even vaguely interesting, it would have to be in an interesting location.

  
  

  I couldn't swear to it, but I think we were in Portugal at the time, and there was a power station nearby that was in the process of being demolished. The director had taken a look, and thought there were enough odd locations there to keep an MTV viewer from switching over for 3 minutes or so.

  
  

  To add extra interest, Damon had bought an unusual hat, which he decided to wear.

  
  

  While filming, we found a metal trap door in the ground. On opening, we found it concealed a large underground bunker. There was a metal bar across the entrance, and it was decided that I would sit on it for my close-up.

  
  

  My turn came.

  
  

  "Action" shouted the director.

  
  

  I sat on the bar, smiled and waved."STOP F***ING WAVING!" suggested Damon.

  
  

  "Well what can I do?" I asked, "I can't fit my drums in here!"

  
  

  A moment passed while heads were scratched.

  
  

  "Why not play this?" said one of the crew, and gave me a tiny Casio keyboard.

  
  

  So that's what I did.There's no real story to the video, if you're yearning for one, think of it as the story of a man playing keyboards in a bunker while another wears an unusual hat.

  
  

  Source(s):

  
  

  Dave Rowntree

  • 7 hours ago

  ---

  
  Well, at least now we all know why Dave's sitting in that tiny cellar-like, cramped space jamming on the keyboards in the 'On Your Own' music video. And we learned that Damon has a very strange taste in hats.
  
  Enjoy what is probably one of the strangest Blur music videos ever below. Thanks to Dave and his boring Wednesday morning internet surfing, that's two more Blur mysteries solved.
  
  
  
  
  

  Order the new Blur vinyl HERE
  August 2012 Maida Vale gig full coverage HERE

  Damon Albarn says it's the End of Blur! Read HERE

  Margate Gig (2012) review and pictures HERE
  

  Check out Blur's rumoured new album HERE. 

  
  

  SUBSCRIBE NOW!

  
  

  If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!

  
  

  Remember to subscribe to RSS and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook.

  
  

  Stay Tuned, leave us a comment below and Get The Latest Blur News delivered straight to you- BlurBalls is the most updated Blur fan site on the internet!

Graham Coxon wants to be in Def Leppard

Graham Coxon did an interview for NME - The Blur man fields your questions and he chats kung-fu, making soundtracks and organs. He's looking quite sharp in his sunglasses and we are loving his new potential projects! 

SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Stay Tuned and remember to subscribe and "LIKE" BlurBalls on Facebook, or email subscribe to receive the latest news on everything Blur, Gorillaz, Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon! 

If you missed old news, visit the NEWS ARCHIVE to read about past news!