Song · Elbow
“Grounds for Divorce” by Elbow
From the album The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)
“Grounds for Divorce” by Elbow appears on 13 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 2008 and 2026. It was first released in 2008 on the album The Seldom Seen Kid. Its best result is #15 on the WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2008. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #73 indie & aaa song of 2008, #1,309 indie & aaa song of all time and #109 of the '00s.
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Video from YouTube (ElbowVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Grounds for Divorce" was the first single from The Seldom Seen Kid, Elbow's fourth album, out on Fiction in March 2008, and it's the band at their most brawling. Craig Potter produced and mixed it, all five members share the music credit, and Guy Garvey's words follow a narrator sliding down the local pub's bottomless drain while a relationship curdles, opening on a drink named after the song itself. Uncut rated that opener among the best first lines pop had heard in years.
Paste heard the heaviest guitar line the band had yet put down, Digital Spy called it their loudest, most rocking track, and a stretched-out "whoa" chant keeps rolling through it like a pub singalong at closing time. Dan Sully directed the video.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 84 | 107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY | WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2008 | 107 |
| 2008 | 15 | WXPN Philadelphia, PA | WXPN Year in Review: Top 100 Songs of 2008 | 100 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 163 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Songs That Matter from the Last Decade | 913 |
| 2009 | 571 | WYEP | WYEP 913 Essential Songs | 913 |
| 2010 | 529 | WXPN | WXPN 885 Ultimate Road Trip Songs (2010) | 885 |
| 2018 | 41 | WTMD | WTMD Listeners' Top 897 Songs, 2003-2018 | 896 |
| 2019 | 322 | KEXP | KEXP Listeners' Favorite Songs of All Time | 627 |
| 2022 | 299 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 2000s | 907 |
| 2024 | 414 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 1055 Songs of the 21st Century | 1055 |
| 2024 | 585 | WXPN | WXPN The 885 Greatest Songs of the 21st Century (2024) | 885 |
| 2025 | 340 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the 21st Century | 909 |
| 2025 | 177 | WYEP | WYEP Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far) | 714 |
| 2026 | 784 | KXT | KXT 917 Song Countdown | 917 |
Also listed as: Grounds For Divorce.
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