kgfs

damon has never seriously come out as queer or anything to my knowledge. the "intellectual bi" thing was jsut to piss off brett andersen forget about it. justine did say damon went through a period of snogging lads idk what was up with that.

were they ever a thing? no. not officially, explicitly, quoted in public atleast.

but was/is their relationship far more closer than one would assume conventional male friendships to be? also yes. they met when they were pre-teens, their journey as musicians started each other, the core of blur as a band has always been their friendship. they both had matching friendship necklaces for god sakes. they've both, and particularly damon, have always spoken of their relationship in really reverent, intimate terms: you can find interviews from the 90s full of quotes about how much they love each other, how protective damon is of graham, how deep and fluid their connection is blah blah blah. and yes the kissing. they did that, though at the time damon was like yeah we kiss we homies so what. they kissed at their wembley gig in july as well. y'know just guy thingz.

but their relationship has been complex. im sure u can find the details if u dig around a little. by the late 90s their friendship was kinda falling apart. substance abuse issues, issues in their own relationships, differences in ideas about where blur should go next etc etc. but even at the worst point of this, their intimacy in songwriting prevailed. 13, damon's great grand breakup album, is as much about graham as much as it is about justine

damon has written atleast two songs about/for graham "sweet song" from think thank- which was written when graham left the band. and "my terracotta heart" from magic whip- when they got back together. he's on record saying these are about graham. incredibly heartbreaking both of them. graham said he felt like pattie harrison having songs written about him. im sure there are other songs scattered throughout blur, solo damon and solo graham discography that could be read as being about each other.

also ive never EVER heard a man speak about his friendship breakup with such openness and vulnerability as damon did during the early 2000s. they eventually made up after not talking for years, and that making up story is rather dramatic and sweet as well. they wouldn't shut up abt how happy they were to be back in each others lives and how much they still loved each other. etc etc etc. all very sappy and sweet.

their relationship took ages to mend and i suppose its a lot different now compared to the intensity it had back in the day. damon though is back in form mentioning the story of how they met each other and how well graham understands and communicates with him through writing songs together and all that in every interview possible. damon has recently split from his partner of 25 years and the latest blur record is mostly about that. its really poignant to me that out of all his projects, he chose to go back to his oldest friend and oldest creative partner to bring these songs to life.

tl;dr: they werent boyfriends they werent friends they were a secret third thing.

Angel Torres: and ME!

modern greek mythology stories as penguin classics