Graham Coxon: 'I was a mardy brat in my 20s … I'm quite mellow now'

Blur’s guitarist displays on the state of pop music, swearing, and why he’s glad he doesn’t should wear makeup any extra

Graham Coxon enters the studio by means of a thick cloud of vapour. “Banana and yoghurt,” he pronounces cheerfully. I had anticipated Coxon to be a bit more taciturn, given his fame as the second least chatty member of Blur. But earlier, as I waited outdoors, I heard him loudly, happily tootling a track to himself. As he vapes, he fizzes with enthusiasm, his body barely still for a second, even when he is making an attempt to take a seat down and speak. “I can get fairly careworn,” he says, shuffling in his seat, “however I’m in a great temper once I’m in the studio.”

We're in London’s Konk Studios, close to where Coxon lives, to speak about The Finish of the F***ing World, the Channel 4/Netflix drama about two damaged teenagers falling in love, for which he wrote the beautiful soundtrack. He abbreviates it to “The End of the World”, though, as a result of he is around youngsters rather a lot, his own now being 18 and 5. “The older one hears a number of expletives every so often, but I don’t swear that much any extra. I just discover it a bit grating. I’ve used each swear word underneath the solar however… ” He shrugs. “Who’s acquired the power to be that het up that they’re going to make use of swear phrases? You could be enjoyable, not swearing. It's essential to be doing something else.”