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 put on makeup any more

Graham Coxon enters the studio by way of a thick cloud of vapour. “Banana and yoghurt,” he broadcasts cheerfully. I had expected Coxon to be a bit extra taciturn, given his status as the second least chatty member of Blur. But earlier, as I waited outdoors, I heard him loudly, fortunately tootling a music to himself. As he vapes, he fizzes with enthusiasm, his physique barely nonetheless for a second, even when he is making an attempt to take a seat down and speak. “I can get quite careworn,” he says, shuffling in his seat, “but I’m in an excellent mood 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 youngsters falling in love, for which he wrote the beautiful soundtrack. He abbreviates it to “The End of the World”, although, as a result of he's around youngsters rather a lot, his own now being 18 and five. “The older one hears a couple of expletives once in a while, but I don’t swear that much any extra. I simply find it a bit grating. I’ve used every swear word beneath the solar however… ” He shrugs. “Who’s obtained the power to be that het up that they’re going to use swear words? You want to be enjoyable, not swearing. It's essential to be doing one thing else.”