Supergrass – Caught by the Fuzz
1994
14K Likes
Best comments
1.“Reminds me of the time my friends and I smoked weed in the park and nearly got arrested... great day.”
More comments
- 2.“This man is so talented – he wrote this song at 15 years old.”
- 3.“I was 15 and still figuring out what I wanted in music... walked into a record store, asked a stoned record seller what tape I should buy... and he handed me Supergrass. Never looked back. Thank you, Supergrass – and of course, thank you, stoner man.”
The story
Supergrass were three Oxford kids – Gaz Coombes, Danny Goffey and Mick Quinn – and Caught by the Fuzz was their very first single, out in 1994. It's a true story, more or less: Coombes got arrested and cautioned for cannabis possession at fifteen and turned the whole ordeal into two minutes and change of pop-punk. John Peel put it at number five in his Festive 50 that year. The UK charts were less excited and parked it at number 43, one spot outside the top 40.
The original video, Super 8 footage of the band on and off stage, was the first music video ever by the directing duo Dom and Nic, who went on to make 14 Supergrass videos. This is the American cut, which swaps in a collage of the band knocking around the US. Somewhere along the way the clip landed on Beavis and Butt-Head.
The song later turned up on the soundtrack to Hot Fuzz, which, given the title, was always going to happen. One more bit of trivia: the US single sleeve was supposed to carry Hugh Grant's mugshot, until Grant's lawyers said no thanks.
