
Bit of a Blur
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $11.61
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Alex James
-
By:
-
Alex James
About this listen
In Bit of a Blur he recounts his experiences living through the madness of Britpop, detailing both the pleasures and perils of fame. From nights in the Groucho with Damien Hirst, to dancing to Sister Sledge with Bjork, to being bitten on the nose by the lead singer of Iron Maiden, he offers a fascinating and hilarious insight into the world of celebrity.
Alex James is the perfect chronicler of his generation: witty, observant, frank, and brimming with joie de vivre. Bit of a Blur is as charming, funny, and deliciously disreputable as its author.
©2007 Alex James (P)2007 Hachette AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
All Cheeses Great and Small
- A Life Less Blurry
- By: Alex James
- Narrated by: Alex James
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of Alex James’s transition from a leading light of the Britpop movement in the 1990s, to gentleman farmer, artisan cheese-maker and father of five. All Cheeses Great and Small is the follow-up memoir to Alex James's first book, Bit of a Blur, the story of his excessive pop star lifestyle during the nineties. But now Alex has grown up, fallen in love and got married.
-
-
I had never heard of this guy
- By colleen on 05-26-12
By: Alex James
-
Verse, Chorus, Monster!
- By: Graham Coxon
- Narrated by: Graham Coxon
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among the noise and clamour of the Britpop era, Blur co-founder Graham Coxon managed to carve out a niche to become one of the most innovative and respected guitarists of his generation—but it wasn't always easy. Graham grew up as an Army kid, moving frequently in his early years from West Germany to Derbyshire and Winchester before settling in Colchester, Essex. A shy child, he had a thing for eating soil and drawing intense visions; his anxiety was tempered by painting and a growing love of music. These twin passions grew into obsessions.
-
-
life changing
- By Noah on 01-31-25
By: Graham Coxon
-
Good Pop, Bad Pop
- By: Jarvis Cocker
- Narrated by: Jarvis Cocker
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a Gold Star polycotton shirt to a pack of Wrigley's Extra, from his teenage attempts to write songs to the Sexy Laughs Fantastic Dirty Joke Book, this is the hard evidence of Jarvis's unique life, Pulp, 20th-century pop culture, the good times and the mistakes he'd rather forget. And this accumulated debris of a lifetime reveals his creative process—writing and musicianship, performance and ambition, style and stagecraft.
-
-
Jarvis’s voice.
- By jennifer m salvadori on 12-31-24
By: Jarvis Cocker
-
Set the Boy Free
- The Autobiography
- By: Johnny Marr
- Narrated by: Johnny Marr
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An artist who helped define a period in popular culture, Johnny Marr tells his story in a memoir as vivid and arresting as his music. The Smiths, the band with the signature sound he cofounded, remains one of the most beloved bands ever and have had a profound influence on a number of acts that followed - from the Stone Roses, Suede, Blur, and Radiohead to Oasis, The Libertines, and Arctic Monkeys.
-
-
The best autobiography I've ever read!
- By Lulu P. on 01-24-17
By: Johnny Marr
-
The Creative Act
- A Way of Being
- By: Rick Rubin
- Narrated by: Rick Rubin
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world.
-
-
Rick is Art
- By Ira Henke on 01-17-23
By: Rick Rubin
-
Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn
- By: Brett Anderson
- Narrated by: Brett Anderson
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Suede began by treading the familiar jobbing route of London's emerging new 1990s indie bands - gigs at ULU, the Camden Powerhaus and the Old Trout in Windsor - and the dispiriting experience of playing a set to an audience of one. But in these halcyon days, their potential was undeniable. Anderson's creative partnership with guitarist Bernard Butler exposed a unique and brilliant hybrid of lyric and sound; together they were a luminescent team - burning brightly and creating some of the era's most revered songs and albums.
-
-
A Must Read For Burgeoning Muscians
- By Piers Baron on 10-11-22
By: Brett Anderson
-
All Cheeses Great and Small
- A Life Less Blurry
- By: Alex James
- Narrated by: Alex James
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the story of Alex James’s transition from a leading light of the Britpop movement in the 1990s, to gentleman farmer, artisan cheese-maker and father of five. All Cheeses Great and Small is the follow-up memoir to Alex James's first book, Bit of a Blur, the story of his excessive pop star lifestyle during the nineties. But now Alex has grown up, fallen in love and got married.
-
-
I had never heard of this guy
- By colleen on 05-26-12
By: Alex James
-
Verse, Chorus, Monster!
- By: Graham Coxon
- Narrated by: Graham Coxon
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Among the noise and clamour of the Britpop era, Blur co-founder Graham Coxon managed to carve out a niche to become one of the most innovative and respected guitarists of his generation—but it wasn't always easy. Graham grew up as an Army kid, moving frequently in his early years from West Germany to Derbyshire and Winchester before settling in Colchester, Essex. A shy child, he had a thing for eating soil and drawing intense visions; his anxiety was tempered by painting and a growing love of music. These twin passions grew into obsessions.
-
-
life changing
- By Noah on 01-31-25
By: Graham Coxon
-
Good Pop, Bad Pop
- By: Jarvis Cocker
- Narrated by: Jarvis Cocker
- Length: 6 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From a Gold Star polycotton shirt to a pack of Wrigley's Extra, from his teenage attempts to write songs to the Sexy Laughs Fantastic Dirty Joke Book, this is the hard evidence of Jarvis's unique life, Pulp, 20th-century pop culture, the good times and the mistakes he'd rather forget. And this accumulated debris of a lifetime reveals his creative process—writing and musicianship, performance and ambition, style and stagecraft.
-
-
Jarvis’s voice.
- By jennifer m salvadori on 12-31-24
By: Jarvis Cocker
-
Set the Boy Free
- The Autobiography
- By: Johnny Marr
- Narrated by: Johnny Marr
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An artist who helped define a period in popular culture, Johnny Marr tells his story in a memoir as vivid and arresting as his music. The Smiths, the band with the signature sound he cofounded, remains one of the most beloved bands ever and have had a profound influence on a number of acts that followed - from the Stone Roses, Suede, Blur, and Radiohead to Oasis, The Libertines, and Arctic Monkeys.
-
-
The best autobiography I've ever read!
- By Lulu P. on 01-24-17
By: Johnny Marr
-
The Creative Act
- A Way of Being
- By: Rick Rubin
- Narrated by: Rick Rubin
- Length: 5 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Many famed music producers are known for a particular sound that has its day. Rick Rubin is known for something else: creating a space where artists of all different genres and traditions can home in on who they really are and what they really offer. He has made a practice of helping people transcend their self-imposed expectations in order to reconnect with a state of innocence from which the surprising becomes inevitable. Over the years, he has learned that being an artist isn’t about your specific output, it’s about your relationship to the world.
-
-
Rick is Art
- By Ira Henke on 01-17-23
By: Rick Rubin
-
Afternoons with the Blinds Drawn
- By: Brett Anderson
- Narrated by: Brett Anderson
- Length: 5 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Suede began by treading the familiar jobbing route of London's emerging new 1990s indie bands - gigs at ULU, the Camden Powerhaus and the Old Trout in Windsor - and the dispiriting experience of playing a set to an audience of one. But in these halcyon days, their potential was undeniable. Anderson's creative partnership with guitarist Bernard Butler exposed a unique and brilliant hybrid of lyric and sound; together they were a luminescent team - burning brightly and creating some of the era's most revered songs and albums.
-
-
A Must Read For Burgeoning Muscians
- By Piers Baron on 10-11-22
By: Brett Anderson
-
Cured
- The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys
- By: Lol Tolhurst
- Narrated by: Lol Tolhurst
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cured is not only the first insider account of the early days of the band, it is a revealing look at the artistic evolution of the enigmatic Robert Smith, the iconic lead singer, songwriter, and innovative guitarist at the heart of The Cure. A deeply rebellious, sensitive, tough, and often surprisingly "normal" young man, Smith was from the start destined for stardom, a fearless nonconformist and provocateur who soon found his own musical language through which to express his considerable and unique talent.
-
-
Thank you Lol!
- By Goobs on 10-24-16
By: Lol Tolhurst
-
Cinema Speculation
- By: Quentin Tarantino
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Quentin Tarantino
- Length: 10 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In addition to being among the most celebrated of contemporary filmmakers, Quentin Tarantino is possibly the most joyously infectious movie lover alive. For years he has touted in interviews his eventual turn to writing books about films. Now, with Cinema Speculation, the time has come, and the results are everything his passionate fans—and all movie lovers—could have hoped for. Organized around key American films from the 1970s, all of which he first saw as a young moviegoer at the time, this book is as intellectually rigorous and insightful as it is rollicking and entertaining.
-
-
A letdown I didn't see coming.
- By polycow on 11-03-22
-
Acid for the Children
- A Memoir
- By: Flea
- Narrated by: Flea
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Iconic bassist and co-founder of the immortal Red Hot Chili Peppers finally tells his fascinating life story, complete with all the dizzying highs and the gutter lows you'd expect from an LA street rat turned world-famous rock star.
-
-
Flea gets it right...
- By Anonymous User on 11-15-19
By: Flea
-
Surrender
- 40 Songs, One Story
- By: Bono
- Narrated by: Bono
- Length: 20 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
As one of the music world’s most iconic artists and the cofounder of the organizations ONE and (RED), Bono’s career has been written about extensively. But in Surrender, it’s Bono who picks up the pen, writing for the first time about his remarkable life and those he has shared it with. In his unique voice, Bono takes us from his early days growing up in Dublin, including the sudden loss of his mother when he was fourteen, to U2’s unlikely journey to become one of the world’s most influential rock bands, to his more than twenty years of activism.
-
-
Fantastic!
- By Josh on 11-04-22
By: Bono
-
The Philosophy of Modern Song
- By: Bob Dylan
- Narrated by: Bob Dylan, Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dylan, who began working on the book in 2010, offers his insight into the nature of popular music. He writes over sixty essays focusing on songs by other artists, spanning from Stephen Foster to Elvis Costello, and in between ranging from Hank Williams to Nina Simone. He analyzes what he calls the trap of easy rhymes, breaks down how the addition of a single syllable can diminish a song, and even explains how bluegrass relates to heavy metal. These essays are written in Dylan’s unique prose. And while ostensibly about music, they are really meditations on the human condition.
-
-
Needs chapter headings
- By kaon on 12-22-22
By: Bob Dylan
-
Down the Rabbit Hole
- Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny
- By: Holly Madison
- Narrated by: Holly Madison
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The shocking, never-before-told story of the bizarre world inside the legendary Playboy Mansion - and finally the secret truth about the man who holds the key - from one of the few people who truly knows: Hef's former number-one girlfriend and star of The Girls Next Door.
-
-
Entertaining but a bit one sided and snobby
- By Kindle Customer on 06-28-15
By: Holly Madison
-
Into the Void
- From Birth to Black Sabbath—And Beyond
- By: Geezer Butler
- Narrated by: Geezer Butler
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With over 70 million records sold, Black Sabbath, dubbed by Rolling Stone “the Beatles of heavy metal,” helped create the genre itself, with their distinctive heavy riffs, tuned down guitars, and apocalyptic lyrics. Bassist and primary lyricist Geezer Butler played a gigantic part in the band’s renown, from suggesting the band name to using his fascination with horror, religion, and the occult to compose the lyrics and build the foundation of heavy metal as we know it. In Into the Void, Butler tells his side of the story.
-
-
Geezer, The Only Member Of Sabbath You Can Trust.
- By monday night by satellite on 06-15-23
By: Geezer Butler
-
Life
- By: Keith Richards, James Fox
- Narrated by: Johnny Depp, Joe Hurley
- Length: 23 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Now at last Keith Richards pauses to tell his story in the most anticipated autobiography in decades. And what a story! Listening obsessively to Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters records in a coldwater flat with Mick Jagger and Brian Jones, building a sound and a band out of music they loved. Finding fame and success as a bad-boy band, only to find themselves challenged by authorities everywhere....
-
-
Ins and outs
- By Jesse on 11-07-10
By: Keith Richards, and others
-
Ayoade on Top
- By: Richard Ayoade
- Narrated by: Richard Ayoade
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At last, the definitive audiobook about perhaps the best cabin crew dramedy ever filmed: View from the Top starring Gwyneth Paltrow. In Ayoade on Top, Richard Ayoade, perhaps one of the most 'insubstantial' people of our age, takes us on a journey from Peckham to Paris by way of Nevada and other places we don't care about. It's a journey deep within, in a way that's respectful and non-invasive; a journey for which we will all pay a heavy price, even if you've waited for the smaller paperback edition. Ayoade argues for the canonisation of this brutal masterpiece.
-
-
Listened for an hour and a half, didn't laugh once
- By Wesley on 12-13-19
By: Richard Ayoade
-
Faith, Hope and Carnage
- By: Nick Cave, Seán O'Hagan
- Narrated by: Nick Cave, Seán O'Hagan
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Faith, Hope and Carnage is a book about Nick Cave’s inner life. Created from more than forty hours of intimate conversations with Seán O’Hagan, it is a profoundly thoughtful exploration, in Cave’s own words, of what really drives his life and creativity. The book examines questions of faith, art, music, freedom, grief, and love. It draws candidly on Cave’s life, from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work ethic, and his dramatic transformation in recent years.
-
-
Enlightening
- By S. R. on 11-14-22
By: Nick Cave, and others
-
Meet Me in the Bathroom
- Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011
- By: Lizzy Goodman
- Narrated by: Charlie Thurston, Nicol Zanzarella
- Length: 19 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the second half of the 20th century New York was the source of new sounds, including the Greenwich Village folk scene, punk and new wave, and hip-hop. But as the end of the millennium neared, cutting-edge bands began emerging from Seattle, Austin, and London, pushing New York further from the epicenter. The behemoth music industry, too, found itself in free fall, under siege from technology. Then 9/11/2001 plunged the country into a state of uncertainty and war.
-
-
Deeply disappointing.
- By ChicagoRob on 01-18-20
By: Lizzy Goodman
-
Thanks a Lot, Mr. Kibblewhite
- My Story
- By: Roger Daltrey
- Narrated by: Roger Daltrey
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The result of this Roger Daltrey's introspection is a remarkable memoir, instantly captivating, funny and frank, chock-full of well-earned wisdom and one-of-kind anecdotes from a raucous life that spans a tumultuous time of change in Britain and America. Born during the air bombing of London in 1944, Daltrey fought his way (literally) through school and poverty and began to assemble the band that would become The Who while working at a sheet metal factory in 1961.
-
-
Wonderful storytelling
- By Martin B. Forstner on 11-08-18
By: Roger Daltrey
What listeners say about Bit of a Blur
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Heidi
- 01-20-13
Surprised at my disappoinment
Any additional comments?
I love Alex James, and I love his voice. I have this book in paperback, but when I saw it on audible and that it was narrated by him I had to get it. Thus my audible gold membership happened (and I'm now enjoying so many books!)
I was disappointed however, I knew the book was abridged, but I thought really good parts were left out, but the most shocking fact however was Alex James as a narrator.
I had always pictured he'd nail it - narrating a book, and especially his own, but I found myself getting annoyed at the pace and the straight forward narration. I'm sorry, I adore you Alex, but this surprised me.
It has a bit of fan value I guess, other than that, I'd go for the paperback.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
- Lee
- 07-29-11
This was great
I missed the Blur years by quite a bit. I knew the song, "Coffee and TV" and the milk carton video, but that's it. I was going to give this book 4 stars because it won't change your life, but I'll give it five because it was so much fun.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mr S D Swan
- 04-27-15
Fun but short, too short
Too short, was ok while it lasted. Narration was fairly good, always nice to be in the authors voice. Good for Blur fans
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- JustThisGuyYouKnow
- 12-11-07
Good stuff
Very funny perspective from a guy too smart for the music business but just drunk enough to indulge anyway.
Captures a weird and wonderful time in British music when every band proclaimed themselves to be ordained by God as the greatest....and some of them were pretty close.
Great cast of famous characters in precarious situations...I'm sure the author made lots of enemies with this one.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- margaret gjerstad
- 05-12-19
Blur is so cool
Very amazing
Awesome
Cool
Super best book I've ever read
Super cool
Super cool!!!!!!!
Make one about Damon Alban
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 06-18-23
Memories
Loved it, memories of my time at Grouchos with Keith Allen and Blur, thank you Alex, this was an awesome audio, so much I didn't know was going on
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!