Unusual meaning of 'blur', 'hair' and 'plastic'

Question

1. What could be the meaning of "blur" in the following passage:

"Epic jam "In My Time Of Dying," written as they recorded it, was a blur of Jimmy Page's murderous slide-guitar, the band roaring like a force of nature". Standard meaning seems to me inapplicable here. Urbandictionary.com suggests: "complete and unadulterated ownage. one who is not able to be stopped" but I am not sure how relevant this is.

2. What could be the meaning of "hair" in the following passage:

"The inner sleeve of the album features a brillant photograph by hurgen D. Ernsthaler of the core members of the amazingly underrated group, bored and out of alcohol in a hotel room; you can practically smell the antagonism amid the ashy carpet, recently fried sausages, and hair."
The photo can be seen here.

3. What could be the meaning of "plastic" in the following passage:

"Although for years shunned and treated as the devil's plastic, for ostensibly shattering The Beatles' dream, Paul McCartney's first solo album is never less than charming." Any idiom, perhaps?

Thank you very much in advance

Ivanhr · Accepted Answer

1. I'd say that "a blur" refers to the way Jimmy Page played his guitar, which to the people listening must have sounded incoherent and lacking form.

2. I think that hair is used in its basic meaning. I would assume that at the time that picture was taken they hadn't washed their hair for days.

3. "Devil's plastic" refers to that particular record(Paul's solo vinyl), which by many is seen as a reason for the Beatles' breakup.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for answering. You may be perfectly right, but it still sounds strange to me -
1. the description of the music seems highly positive, why then the "murderous" guitar would be a "blur"?
2. they might not have washed their hair, fine, but why not use "dirty" or something to that effect, when the two previous details are both with an adjective?
3. the plastic is most probably the vinyl but actually I was intrigued by the whole expression "devil's plastic" - is it the work of the devil?
Anyway, thank you very much and Merry Christmas!

Ivanhr · Answer

1. I can't really tap into the mind of the author so I'm merely guessing that he/she saw his music as a blur, which doesn't necessarily suggest anything negative. For me, "a blur" is something intangibile and ethereal but still often beautiful. His music is known to be psychodelic so possibly "a blur" could imply that the listener's brain is affected by his music and the listener's perception is blurry.

2. I believe that the author didn't have to explicitly use dirty because his/her last two items were recently fried sausages and ashy carpet which both indicate bad smell and despite this bad smell you could still smell the antagonism of the band members.

3. Since the Beatles were worshipped like Gods anyone who would even consider breaking them up would be a Devil (or something like that).

Merry Christmas to you too

Unusual meaning of 'blur', 'hair' and 'plastic'

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