"Beetlebum" was inspired by heroin and the drug experiences Damon Albarn had with his then-girlfriend, Justine Frischmann of Elastica.

points out that "Beetlebaum" is "the name of a horse in comedian Spike Jones’ parody of the William Tell Overture, released as a single in 1948.

"[12] Street similarly pointed to the song as a pivotal one for the band, commenting, "Listening back to Damon Albarn’s vocals on 'Beetlebum' for the first time, I had tears in my eyes, thinking: 'This is special'.

"[12] Despite these fears, "Beetlebum" sold 120,000 copies in the UK during its first week on sale, becoming the band's second number-one single (after "Country House").

[18] The downbeat video[12] combines a performance of the song in a room in a tall building with computer-generated zoom-outs from the set showing the Earth in the centre of kaleidoscopic patterns.

Alex James' cigarette and Dave Rowntree's Coke can are censored, although in a version of the video more recently released, both of these items are uncensored.

The video concludes with the camera zooming out of the room to show a shot of the River Thames and London's skyline.