The Drugs Don't Work

"The Drugs Don't Work"
Single by the Verve
from the album Urban Hymns
B-side	"Three Steps" "The Drugs Don't Work" (original demo) "The Crab" "Stamped"
Released	1 September 1997 (1997-09-01)[1]
Studio	Olympic, London
Genre	Psychedelic rock Britpop
Length	5:05
Label	Hut
Songwriter(s)	Richard Ashcroft
Producer(s)	The Verve Youth Chris Potter
The Verve singles chronology
"Bitter Sweet Symphony" (1997) "The Drugs Don't Work" (1997) "Lucky Man" (1997)
Music video
"The Drugs Don't Work" on YouTube

"The Drugs Don't Work" is a song by English rock band the Verve. The song was written by Richard Ashcroft and is featured on their third studio album Urban Hymns. It was released on 1 September 1997 as the second single from the album, debuting at number one on the UK Singles Chart. The beginning of the video shows the band walking down the street, following on from the end of "Bitter Sweet Symphony".^[2]

Ranked number seven on Channel 4's list of the "100 Greatest #1 Singles", the sombre nature of the song unintentionally captured the spirit of the nation as it was released the day after Princess Diana died.^[3] In October 2011, NME placed "The Drugs Don't Work" at number 78 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".^[4]

Background and recording[]

Lead singer Richard Ashcroft wrote the song in early 1995. He briefly mentioned it in an interview at the time, relating it to his drug usage: "There's a new track I've just written ... It goes 'the drugs don't work, they just make me worse, and I know I'll see your face again'. That's how I'm feeling at the moment. They make me worse, man. But I still take 'em. Out of boredom and frustration you turn to something else to escape."^[5]

Ashcroft also performed the song when the band was touring in support of A Northern Soul.^[6][7] The song was eventually recorded for Urban Hymns. The album's producer, Chris Potter later referred to it as both the best song and best vocal he had ever recorded.^[8]

Music video[]

The music video for the song was directed by Andy Baybutt. The video begins with several references to the Verve's earlier work. The band appears in the same formation and clothes as they did at the end of the video for "Bitter Sweet Symphony". The cover of the machine on the front of the album No Come Down also appears briefly. The band turns around a corner and walks over to a vending machine called "Feelings". This refers to the song "Life's an Ocean" from their second album, A Northern Soul, where Ashcroft sings, "I was buying some feelings from a vending machine" (the same vending machine is also seen on the back of that album). The rest of the video shows, partially in black and white, the band playing the song indoors. The video ends with a piece of burning wood, with the words 'Urban Hymns' written on it, floating on water. The original concept for the video was to have the band filmed in a maze to illustrate "loss of direction".^{[citation needed]}

Track listings[]

Charts and certifications[]

Weekly charts[] Chart (1997–1998) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[15] 22 Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[16] 2 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[17] 8 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[18] 9 France (SNEP)[19] 72 Germany (Official German Charts)[20] 87 Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[21] 9 Ireland (IRMA)[22] 3 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[23] 61 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[24] 10 Norway (VG-lista)[25] 13 Scotland (OCC)[26] 1 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[27] 18 UK Singles (OCC)[28] 1

Year-end charts[] Chart (1997) Position Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[29] 92 UK Singles (OCC)[30] 32 Certifications[] Region Certification Certified units/sales United Kingdom (BPI)[31] Platinum 600,000 Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions[]

• The song was covered by Ben Harper on his live album Live from Mars.
• It has been covered by Skin.
• James Walsh (Starsailor) also covered it.
• In Australia, it was covered by Grinspoon for youth radio station Triple J's Like a Version CD.
• Adam Gontier released a version of the song.
• A Eurohouse cover of the song was performed by Devorah, a short-lived covers project, along with "Bitter Sweet Symphony".
• It was covered by Australian pop vocalist/entertainer Kate Ceberano on her live album Kate Ceberano and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.
• In 2009, Taiwanese rock singer Faith Yang recorded the song as a part of her album Self-Selected of English-language covers.
• Terra Naomi performed an acoustic cover of the song on YouTube in August 2008.
• Howie Day covered the song for a promotional EP for his debut album, Australia.

References[]