"Crazy Beat" is a song by English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band Blur

Blur (band)

Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...

. It was released as the second single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 from their seventh album Think Tank in 2003. "Crazy Beat" has been compared by critics and the band to Blur's 1997 hit "Song 2

Song 2

"Song 2" is a song by English alternative rock band Blur, the second track on and second single released from their fifth album Blur in April 1997...

" in its guitar-driven simplicity. Released in the United States as the first single from the album, it became Blur's first single since "Song 2" to chart on the Modern Rock Tracks

Modern Rock Tracks

Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...

 chart, reaching #22.

Video

"Crazy Beat" was supported by two music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

s. The official video sees the band performing the song and creating a beast composed of green lightning which attacks people in a pub. The alternate video shows four women performing a peculiar dance to the song, wearing matching brown dresses and blonde wigs.

Cover art

The single's cover art features a satirical portrait of the British Royal Family

British Royal Family

The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...

 by the English graffiti artist Banksy

Banksy

Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...

. The mural was painted on a building in Stoke Newington

Stoke Newington

Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...

. In September 2009, workers sent by Hackney London Borough Council

Hackney London Borough Council

Hackney London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Hackney in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. The council is unusual in the United Kingdom local government system in that its executive function...

painted over most of the mural with black paint, against the building owner's wishes.

Track listings

7"

1. "Crazy Beat"
2. "The Outsider"

CD

1. "Crazy Beat"
2. "Don't Be"
3. "Crazy Beat" (alternative video)

DVD

1. "Crazy Beat" (video)
2. "Don't Be"
3. "The Outsider"
4. "Crazy Beat" (animatic)

CD (Canadian version)

1. "Crazy Beat"
2. "Tune Two"

Production credits

• "Crazy Beat" produced by Norman Cook, Blur and Ben Hillier
• "Don't Be" and "The Outsider" produced by Blur and Ben Hillier

Charts

Chart (2003)	Peak position
Canadian Singles Chart	30
German Singles Chart	98
Swedish Singles Chart	20
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	22
UK Singles Chart	18