ASH - A Life Less Ordinary

1997

ASH - A Life Less Ordinary (1997) Director: Garth Jennings (Hammer & Tongs) Era: Britpop / Post-Britpop Crossover (1997) - Late-peak Britpop era intersecting with mainstream British indie-rock and film soundtrack culture; a period when UK guitar bands bridged chart pop and cinematic tie-ins. High curatorial value as a documented artefact of the 1997 British cultural moment when Britpop guitar bands, prestige UK cinema, and high-concept music video direction briefly converged. The video preserves Hammer & Tongs' early-period aesthetic, practical sets, physical stunt work, intercutting with source film, before digital compositing became dominant. It also documents Ash's lineup at a specific transitional moment (Hatherley's first visual appearance with the band) and contains a notable behind-the-scenes production incident (McMurray's hospitalisation and stand-in substitution) that is part of the documented record of 1990s UK video production conditions. Context: Released 13 October 1997, 'A Life Less Ordinary' occupies a culturally loaded intersection: it is a non-album single bridging Ash's #1 UK debut album 1977 (1996) and Nu-Clear Sounds (1998), commissioned directly for Danny Boyle's romantic comedy of the same name at the recommendation of Ewan McGregor, himself a devoted Ash fan. The single peaked at #10 on the UK Singles Chart and received prominent coverage in NME and Melody Maker, reinforcing Ash's transition from raw indie-punk to mainstream British rock. The song also marks the first studio recording to feature new guitarist Charlotte Hatherley, signalling a deliberate evolution in the band's sonic identity. The film tie-in situated Ash within the broader 1997 moment when British cinema (led by Boyle post-Trainspotting) and Britpop-adjacent guitar music briefly coalesced as global cultural exports. Director notes: The video was directed by Garth Jennings under the Hammer & Tongs banner, with Nick Goldsmith serving as producer. Filming took place at an airfield in North London in August 1997, ahead of the single's October 13 release. The set featured a heart-shaped area marked with crash barriers on a racetrack, inside which the band performed. Four cars were staged to crash into the band, with further sequences of the band performing on car bonnets, culminating in staged car crashes. Footage from Danny Boyle's 1997 film of the same name was intercutting throughout the band performance segments. During production, drummer Rick McMurray was incapacitated by bronchitis, collapsing on set and requiring hospitalisation; a crew member stood in for him in the hooded sections of the video.