The Story Behind: "Song 2" by Blur

Song 2 (also known as »Woo Hoo«) is a song by English alternative rock band Blur. It was released the second single from their fifth self titled album released in 1997.

Backstory

The song was initially written as parody song, which made fun of the famous grunge scene in the United States in the early 90's. The band initially didn't want to release the song because it was too short and simple, but was later talked into releasing the song by their US Record company that loved the song. The song that the band was specifically trying to parody was most likely the famous Nirvana hit Smells Like Teen Spirit (released in 1991), which featured mellow verses, heavy and loud choruses and cryptic lyrics. The title of the song was Song 2 when the band was still working on it before the recording sessions, but later stuck with the band so they decided to keep it.

The band's bassist Alex James told the Q Magazine: "I remember having a really bad sweaty hangover that day. And it was very sunny. We were at Mayfair Studios, Primrose Hill, and I'd been trying to think of a title for a TV show a friend was doing about Rock Wives. Then it came to me: 'Hits and Mrs!' So I thought that was my work for the day over. It sums up Song 2 really. We didn't think about it at all. Graham (Coxon) set up two kits, Dave (Rowntree) and Graham started playing drums at the same time, this real "aggro" beat. Then the chorus is two distorted basses and Damon's guide vocal. It was kind of a throwback. We'd always done brainless rocking out, though maybe it's not what we're known for."

Recording

The song was recorded in the Mayfair Studios in London, where the first recording sessions took place, while the second half of the album was recorded in Iceland, where the band took a break from the huge britpop scene in the 90's. The production of this specific song proved to be difficult, as the band wanted more production on the studio version of the song. After trying to produce the song several times, the band decided to leave the song without any big changes in the production. Bassist Alex James said: "The realization you don't have to polish everything. Sometimes the thing you do first of all is when you mean it."

The original version of the song was also a third slower than the later version of the song. It was later suggested by guitarist Graham Cozon to speed up the song a bit: "It's definitely better the way it ended up. As soon as I hear myself doing anything I've done before I just do something else. I go the other way or I just go below or above. I can't bear repeating myself. As soon as I've finished something I think, 'That's terrible. Right, I better start again."

Awards/Legacy

The song reached number two in the UK Singles Chart, number six on the US Billboard Alternative Songs and number four on the Australian ARIA Charts. The music video for the song was nominated at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards for the Best Group Video and Best Alternative Video. It was also nominated at the 1998 Brit Awards for the Best British Single and Best British Video. The song is still to this day used in TV, Film, Video Games and several Sporting events.