Album · Blur
The Great Escape by Blur
The Great Escape is an album by Blur, released in 1995. 3 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 19 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Country House”, on 10 lists with a best position of #7.
The Great Escape, Blur's fourth album, came out on Food and Virgin on September 11, 1995, at the absolute peak of Britpop, with Stephen Street producing. Damon Albarn sings, Graham Coxon plays guitar, Alex James bass and Dave Rowntree drums, and the whole thing is crowded, sardonic and very English.
It's brassy, bright and a bit manic, all music-hall bounce, fizzing guitars and bitter little punchlines. "Country House" became their first number one single when it beat Oasis's "Roll with It" in the so-called Battle of Britpop; "The Universal" swells grandly, and "Charmless Man" bounces along with a sneer. It entered the UK chart at number one and went triple platinum in under a year, though later critics called it a less focused follow-up to Parklife. It closed out their Britpop trilogy, and the self-titled album that followed went lo-fi.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from The Great Escape on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Country House | 10 | #7 | – | 1995–2025 | |
| 2 | Charmless Man | 7 | #10 | – | 1996–2025 | |
| 3 | The Universal | 2 | #46 | – | 2023–2025 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.