Blur - Country House

What this video is

Released 14 August 1995 as the lead single from Blur's fourth album The Great Escape, 'Country House' became the central artifact of the 'Battle of Britpop' — a media-amplified chart war against Oasis's 'Roll with It' released the same day. Blur sold approximately 274,000 copies that week, defeating Oasis's 216,000 to claim their first UK number one. The video, directed by Turner Prize-winning artist Damien Hirst…

Why it matters

Archetypal Britpop promo fusing music-hall comedy, fine-art directorial provenance, and lad-culture visual grammar at the genre's commercial zenith. Its rapid-cut slapstick aesthetic and intertextual Queen parody exemplify the self-consciously referential, populist strand of 90s British guitar-pop…

The director

Born 1965 in Bristol, grew up in Leeds; studied BA Fine Art at Goldsmiths College, University of London, 1986–89. Leading figure of the Young British Artists (YBAs); awarded the Turner Prize in 1995, the same year he directed this video. Internationally…