When it came to the cover artwork for The Verve’s single History, the idea was to reflect the song’s themes about the broken relationship between Richard and his girlfriend of six years, Sarah Carpenter (their break up highly influenced the entire album - you can read more on that here). 

Designed by Brian Cannon, the cover artwork contained pictures of the band in Times Square. In one version they stand near a sign saying “Life Is Not A Rehearsal.”

The main CD artwork shows the band standing under a cinema sign displaying the words “All Farewells Should Be Sudden.”

The covers, however, would end up relating quite tragically to more than just Richard’s break up with Sarah, because History, the third and last single from A Northern Soul, was released on the 18th of September, 1995 after the very sudden first break up of The Verve.

An official music video for History was never made; instead a complilation of clips from previous Verve music videos was created (apparently by Richard himself, though I can’t find a reliable source on this).