 According to Mark Redfern of Under the Radar , Blur eschewed Britpop in favour of American indie rock . NME magazine similarly argued that it favoured lo @-@ fi and alternative rock over Britpop . By contrast , Margaret Moser of The Austin Chronicle characterised its music as " a punchy brand of muscular Brit @-@ pop " , while AllMusic 's Stephen Thomas Erlewine said it " may superficially appear to be a break from tradition " but is a " logical progression " from Britpop rather than an abandonment of it . Album opener " Beetlebum " has been described as a " Beatles tribute " by several publications ; Erlewine wrote that the song " [ runs ] through the White Album in the space of five minutes . " Q magazine 's Andrew Collins compared the song to The Auteurs as well as a " slightly menacing Free as a Bird " , due to " a slight drone undulating in the foreground " and a " sweet , elongated coda busied by what sounds like an invasion of turkeys . " Albarn admitted that " Beetlebum " was about heroin and the drug experiences he had with his then @-@ girlfriend , Justine Frischmann of Elastica . Albarn also stated that the song describes a complicated emotion , sort of " sleepy " and sort of " sexy " . The song 's title is a reference to the phrase " Chasing the beetle " which refers to inhaling the smoke from heated heroin , morphine , or opium that has been placed on a piece of tin @-@ foil . " Song 2 " is notable for its hook which features Albarn yelling " woo @-@ hoo ! " The song 's intro has been called Coxon 's " finest moment . " 
