Hi, Dial-a-Vote service here again.
I voted sí because, personal history with the group aside, they were MAD influential in the development of British pop/rock of the 90's and beyond; taking influences from each decade previous (Kinks, Bowie, Wire) and giving the salivating music press a contemporary and spunky (and I emphasise the word spunky here) indie rock/pop outfit who with each release proved to be more diverse than most of their contemporaries; there is an audible progression from album to album (even between songs), making it very difficult to pigeonhole them.
Of course none of that would matter if the songs weren't great, the guitar sound (totally unique to G.Coxon) constantly inventive and astounding and the rhythm section very 70's in that super-tight and rarely-straightforward way.
I wouldn't play up the Britpop element too much... Although Blur (along with Suede) were undeniably at the forefront of the grunge/Americana backlash, which genuinely seems to have instilled a healthy demand for 'homegrown' music in the industry (even if 99.73% of it is horseshit). This inherent English shitness is something Blur started celebrating more as the early 90's wore into the mid - thus their 'Britpop' reputation. However they saw this indie-Kinks period through to embrace more styles from across the pond in the late 90's - some lo-fi here, some gospel there.
For ages I assumed that nobody outside of the UK and Europe had heard of Blur, or would be capable of enjoying them if they had; but the Last.fm figures were a big surprise and I've met lots of Young Americans online who are just getting into them, which perhaps shows that their appeal is not completely local.
If you don't want to vote for Blur for whatever deluded reason, fine... but if you give that vote to an Oasis nomination then... Jeebus help you, because you are a moron.
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