It seems like only yesterday that Blur, the cheekily adorable quartet from Colchester, England, was bouncing across MTV's 120 Minutes whining, "There's no other way." Between picking fights with rival artists in the British press, Blur found time to write a slew of fantastically creative pop tunes, making it one of the most important bands of modern British pop. Ten years and seven albums later, including the recently release Blur: The Best Of (Virgin), pinup frontman Damon Albarn looks back on the band's wild ride to the top -- and looks forward to landing on Mars.

What the greatest hits album demonstrates best is the wide range of styles you've incorporated in your music over the years, from Manchester rave to new wave to torch songs. What ties it all together?
The thread between all of the singles is that it's pop music. They're simple songs with simple melodies, but we constructed them all in very different ways. I've had mad love affairs with all different types of music, and I've never broken up with any of them. People used to find it quite shocking just how flirtatious I was with different music. But now they just kind of expect it.

When you listen to the greatest hits collection, do you sit back and think, God, we were fucking geniuses?
I don't really look back on any part of our career with that sort of sense. I haven't reached the point where I don't think [we're] improving, and I think we can still make music that's better than what we've done in the past. I had mentioned to a member of Can that I wasn't happy with everything I had done as a musician up to now, and he said, "Don't worry about it. Just look at it like you were at college" -- which I thought was a great of categorizing [our past] and realizing where were can go in the future. Plus, it's nice to think of it like we've just left college. It gives us another 10 years.

Blur has only played two American shows in the past few years. Do you hate us?
No, I love playing in America. But I've become kind of tourshy recently. When we were taking touring seriously, [I'd] go away for eight months at a time. At this point in my life, I would rather spend that eight months playing with my daughter and making music in my studio, rather than re-discovering how much I can drink. I was just up for it more when I was younger. Now, my body can't take it, and I've got a lot more responsibilities. I might enjoy going on tour with my family, but that's not very rock 'n' roll, is it?

On the recent VH-1 special The Greatest Rock 'N' Roll Fueds, Blur's infamous bout with Oasis in the British press ranked No. 12, just ahead of LaToya vs. The Jacksons. Was the catfight as fun for you as it was for us?
The aftermath of that whole thing with Oasis was awful. I spent six months not being able to go anywhere without an Oasis record being put on immediately. People would open their windows when I passed and start shouting, "We're on your side!" There's never been [a band feud] quite so vitriolic or all encompassing. It was as big as the Beatles vs. the Stones. It was ridiculous, really.

Who would you pick first for your football team: Liam Gallagher or Robbie Williams?
Well, Robbie's a much better footballer, but I'm not a particularly big fan of either of them as a human being. But you are a big fan of Dan The Automator, aren't you? Yeah, we took a holiday to Sardinia together a few weeks ago. We're really good friends, actually.

You and Dan the Automator seem like an unlikely pair. How did the two of you hook up?
I had half-finished working on the Gorillaz record, [the forthcoming soundtrack to cartoon created by "Tank Girl" illustrator Jamie Hewlett], and we were thinking of [a producer] who might work well with the mixture that we were looking at -- a combination of hip-hop, reggae, Latin music, funk. So I just rang him up, and he said that he would produce the record, whatever it [sounded like]. He came over, and we spent a little time together in London and Jamaica. Apparently, I recorded my vocal bits for the Deltron 3030 record while we were in Jamaica.

Apparently?
Well, I only vaguely started to remember doing them. It was all very stoned, really -- as it often is in Jamaica.

Where you also stoned when you told the NME that Blur would provide the soundtrack to a British space exploration to Mars in 2003?
No, that's true. Alex [James] and Dave [Rountree] have always been interested in space exploration. They got a chance to meet the head of the British Mars Institute (something like that), and he asked us to write a bit of music that would play when his spaceship landed on Mars. So I thought, Great, let's do it. I always said that Blur would be the biggest band on Mars anyway.

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