Verse, Chorus, Monster! by Graham Coxon review – Britpop’s unlikely lad

In a disarmingly candid memoir, the Blur guitarist relates the insanity of fame and habit, his unease with Britpop, and the way people led him to greener pastures

As Blur bossed the 90s, and Damon Albarn’s bouncy songs about Englishness got here to exemplify Britpop, Graham Coxon might often be discovered scowling behind the band’s group photographs. Coxon’s MO as their guitarist typically involved lobbing “anti-solos” into the machinery, the band’s sceptical counterweight.

The 2 had met at college in Colchester, Essex, decamping to art school in London the place they discovered themselves on the centre of two artistic movements: the Goldsmiths’ art set that might turn into the YBAs, and the bands who would spearhead a new sound. One glance at the music press back then would have revealed that Coxon, bespectacled, sharp and into American music as a lot as the Kinks, was not all the time thrilled at his band’s path of journey.