Released: May 30, 1994

Songwriter: Damon Albarn Graham Coxon Alex James Dave Rowntree

Producer: John Smith Blur

Look at him, grumpy old man
You sour old bedpan
Look at him, gone dropped his fag
He's got a fly between his ears
It catches light and buzzes him mad
He shuffles to an old chest of drawers

It's a long time, innit? Fumes of life
Who put that bleeding goose in here?
Got yer!

Blur

British rock group Blur formed in 1988 and began life as a fairly unsuccessful shoegaze/madchester outfit, but the band quickly developed into becoming one of the leaders of the massive 1990s Britpop scene.

Their rivalry with contemporaries Oasis culminated in one of the most famous chart battles in British history – one which Blur won when “Country House” outsold Oasis’s “Roll With It” by 50,000 copies, giving Blur their first #1 single in the process.

Following this, the group embarked on a new musical direction, deliberately heading away from their trademark Britpop sound and instead taking influences from American alternative rock, a sound which earned them new fans in the US and gave them their second UK #1: “Beetlebum” in 1997.