Song · Blur
“The Universal” by Blur
From the album The Great Escape (1995)
“The Universal” by Blur appears on 2 radio countdowns from 2 stations between 2023 and 2025. It was first released in 1995 on the album The Great Escape. Its best result is #46 on the Absolute Radio 100 Ultimate Britpop Anthems.
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Blur put "The Universal" on The Great Escape, their fourth album, and Food released it as the record's second single on 13 November 1995. Damon Albarn wrote the words, all four members (Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree) share the music credit, and Stephen Street produced, with John Smith engineering and TJ Davis and Angela Murrell guesting on backing vocals.
It's a science fiction song, and the visuals leaned hard on Stanley Kubrick: the sleeve nods to the opening shot of 2001: A Space Odyssey, while Jonathan Glazer's video dresses the band up as Alex and his droogs in homage to A Clockwork Orange. It went to number five in Britain and 12 in both Iceland and Ireland.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 735 | The Current | The Current's 893 Essential Songs of the '90s | 893 |
| 2025 | 46 | Absolute Radio | Absolute Radio 100 Ultimate Britpop Anthems | 100 |
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