Music and lyrical themes Modern Life Is Rubbish

—damon albarn summarising songwriting effort on modern life rubbish

modern life rubbish s sound highly influenced traditional guitar pop of british bands such kinks, jam, small faces , who. album s songs explore number of styles—punk rock ( advert ), neo-psychedelia ( chemical world ), , vaudeville music-hall ( sunday sunday ). opening track tomorrow is, according nme, quintessential blur. damon, perennially bored, never stops singing, , graham [coxon] supplie[s] usual immaculate guitar accompaniment . while oily water harked baggy sound of leisure, nme described intermission pub piano knees-up rinky-dinks along gets frazzled in guitars , speeded-up drums . of songs on album melodic , lushly produced, supplemented brass section, string arrangements , backing vocals. offer contrast classicist songwriting, allmusic noted coxon s guitar tears each song open, either unpredictable melodic lines or layers of translucent, hypnotic effects, , work creates great tension alex james kinetic bass .

deriving biting humor of ray davies , bitterness of paul weller , albarn s lyrics on modern life rubbish social commentary , satire on contemporary suburban english life. while rubbish celebrates modern british life, takes cynical @ middle-class existence. overt anglo-centricism of album retaliation against american popular culture; james later explained, f***ing scary how american s becoming ... whole thing f***ing big 2 fingers america . nme summarised theme of thinly-veiled concept album london odyssey crammed full of strange commuters, peeping thomases , lost dreams; of opening windows , breathing in petrol ... s village green preservation society come home find car park in place .