Chumbawamba are not who you think

I like to make fun presentations. Mostly about software development adjacent stuff. So this video might come as a bit of a shock to the system if you’re expecting something similar to that. Chumbawamba were a really cool band, and you need to know about them. Context.. I was talking to my friend about politics and political music LOL, as you do. And when they brought up Chumbawamba I was a little confused to say the least. In my head, Chumbawamba have always been, you know, the party band.

00:34 - They got that one song, you know? You’ve probably heard of it? Most likely once every four years? Something to do with the foot ball? Kinda goes something like this. I take a whiskey drink. I take a chocolate drink. And when I have to pee, I use the kitchen sink. Now. As a brit, most non-brits expect me and the old footy to go together hand in hand. Or foot in foot. Even if I didn’t play, there might be an assumption that I love the Beautiful Game. To give you an understanding of my personal relationship with the football, I’ll take you back to 2006. It was the Newcastle versus Fulham match.

01:03 - My dad had taken me to my first ever football game. The crowd was alive, cheering, singing, bellowing support, and abuse, to the players on the field. We had seats right in the middle of the crowd. But can I tell you what actually happened in that game? Well no, not really. I fell asleep five minutes in, woke up at half time, fell asleep again, and only came to when the fans started to leave. Long story short, I don’t hate football, I tolerate football. But it seems I find it so dull, that I’m willing to pass out in the middle of a stadium full of people. People who got very violent, very quickly in that particular instance, and so pretty much anything relating to football was a bit of a write-off for me. Back to the present, and I’m desperately confused as to why my friend is recommending I listen to Chumbawamba. You know? The football band. So I went away confused and I had a read about them, and.. Oh my god..

01:48 - Oh my god! If it wasn’t clear for anyone watching this channel I’m a wee bit of a lefto And so hearing and reading about how amazing this band has been That has been so within my reach for so long 20 years I was a little frustrated I hadn’t found them sooner As I was very quick to discover Chumbawamba are an anarcho-punk, folk, pop band That’s a lot of words that might not mean a lot to most people. So let’s break it down Pop music is music that’s easily accessible by most people aka popular Okay we can check that one off Folk music is a little tricky to define but generally refers to music about a people group Or the people Often played on traditional instruments What that includes is incredibly varied But generally things that aren’t in common usage Punk music can be generally defined as music that speaks truth to authority Or usually alternative based music Emphasizing a distance from the status quo And also none of the vocalists can sing And finally anarcho or anarchist Doesn’t mean what you think it means Okay let me explain a little further Anarchism is the belief in the abolition of all hierarchical structures You know The government The state Corporations Multinational conglomerates Parent teacher associations? Etcetera And the organization of society on a voluntary and cooperative basis Without recourse to force or compulsion Thanks Wikipedia I could have gone for a while there Anarchism is not Buying a shirt with the little ‘A’ symbol on it Or attacking people for no reason Or starting a fire in your nan’s house Or about Pissing in the streets I’ve seen some wild arguments against it These are just a few of them People seem to have a Dennis the Menace understanding of the ideology I mean it probably doesn’t help that he bears the anarchist colours but i digress Anarchism is the chief ideology guiding the actions of And influencing the creations of Chumbawamba Which is evidenced in their activities They took part in a lot of activism Feminist Anti-racist LGBTQ plus Anti-fascist You get the point they were good eggs They also took part in a lot of charity work Specifically joining the charity Artist Against Racism And a lot of this was mostly during the Thatcher years in the 80s Where being anti-LGBTQ and being racist And loving neoliberal nonsense were in vogue Not that any of that nonsense has gone away mind you They had a lot on their plate But i think being an anarcho-punk, folk, pop band i.e a band driven by anarchist principles That speaks to the people And makes music with accessibility to the every person I can imagine that had a big effect on people So, after a very brief and enlightening read I actually sat down and properly listened to the music and Oh my There are quite a few of their songs that definitely caught my eye. Unfortunately listing every single one of their 200 plus recorded songs it’s not really that interesting So I’ll be selecting only a handful of the songs that jumped out to me when first diving in Interestingly enough the first song I’m going to talk about happens to be the first one I listened to that wasn’t Tubthumping Amnesia is the second song on the album Tubthumper as well as having its own single The song is an expression of the band’s frustration at the ignorance of voters in the run-up to an election Alice Nutter, a member of the band And apparently a scriptwriter for radio, tv, and theater. Oh my god Said the following about the song People forget that what Bill Clinton says before he gets elected is not what Bill Clinton will do once he’s in office And that’s not about Bill Clinton, that’s about all politicians More specifically the song is about the 1997 general election And how Tony Blair’s New Labor will leave people “sold down the river” Good god what an understatement that was Generally though The song’s really good Some incredibly poignant lyrics and a timeless message I wonder what they’d think of Labour’s current path Pass it along is a song that didn’t really hit me too hard the first time I listened to it I’ve never really personally been a fan of the talk-poetry Shatner-esque vibe that the verse has taken this one The chorus definitely stuck with me though And because of this I gave it another listen There are quite a few themes in this one that we can pick up on Largely though, the song is about the futility of petitions without action They also touch on the middle-class reluctance of actually going to less affluent areas to help out And how instead they’ll tend to stick to online petitions and sharing emails So they never have to “drive to the wrong part of town” I think the song came to me a very interesting time Well what about the last century has been anything but interesting But specifically the UK, US, and many other countries are going through some very intense ideological discussions To say the least For the most part, people’s eyes have slowly been opened to the struggle of non-white Specifically black communities And how racism cannot be erased unless the systems which it crops up in are fundamentally dismantled and rebuilt better These large discussions are often accompanied by petition after petition After petition But to what end? Whilst a lot of petitions take donations which largely go towards mutual aid efforts for these affected communities A large part of the problem with petitions is that it passes on the responsibility to the group that organized the position Oh my god the song has a double meaning “Pass it along” like pass the petition to a friend But also pass the responsibility to someone else Who’d have thunk it Just to make this clear, I don’t think petitions are a bad thing at all But when they’re the only thing being utilized, they fall a little flat The best way to help out is to take part, or take part as much as you can Which is why I’m going to be linking some mutual aid charities in the description, and comment section below Brace yourself for this one If it wasn’t particularly clear from the title of this song Land of do what you told is about the authority of the state and corporations over its workers And the eventual commodification of these workers There’s quite a lot to this one But first i’m going to briefly look at the context of this song Trade unions in the UK over the years have been weakened to the point of impotency Neoliberal policy spearheaded by Prime Minister Thatcher’s government has all but destroyed any power that trade unions held Because of this companies are able to run free Mistreating their workers and otherwise governing their lives The song alludes to that heavily The bridge to the chorus making reference to contracts in small print, etc The workers are bound and owned by the companies And there isn’t really much that trade unions can do to remedy this At the moment The song ends with a parody of the striker’s chant Ten Per Cent by Mike Harding The ending comes across quite sarcastically As if the personas that the band take on are fully aware of the futility of their strike Land of do what you told hits me way harder, to say the least, than most other Chumbawamba songs For many obvious reasons But the almost upbeat energy of the song Coupled with the sarcastic nature of the lyrics And the lyrics themselves Does a brilliant job of expressing how the band was feeling at this point A feeling a lot of people, especially on the left, and certainly working-class people will find themselves experiencing The song came out in 2005 on the album “Sing-song and a scrap” It was just into Tony Blair’s third term Ignoring Thatcher Neoliberalism had well and truly taken over the UK I can imagine the band were experiencing a lot But I hear something else in this song Whilst a lot of the lyrics are sarcastic in tone I can’t help but feel the, perhaps delusional, optimism at the end of the song Is something to keep working for And whilst trade unions in the UK have been defanged quite a bit over the years They’re certainly still a force for some positive change Those of you who can, please consider joining a union Since nothing particular happened in the 80s Union membership has been slowly dropping As a knock-on effect of this workers rights have been slowly eroded To the point that employers are getting away with what was once considered abhorrent Whether it’s unions like Acorn, banding together to prevent landlords and estate agents from unfairly evicting tenants Something they’ve been very successful at by the way Or the Bakers and Allied Food Workers Union Protecting the rights of all those working the food sector Trade unions can be such a force for good I’ve linked a few resources in the description of this video such as examples of recent union wins As well as a couple of union finder links But please do consider joining If not to help yourself, then to help others in your community Now I don’t know about you But i’m feeling pretty shattered after all that critique and thinking and stuff That’s just the discussion of these topics as well I haven’t even done any activism and god am I exhausted And I can imagine that’s what Chumbawamba felt like a lot of the time The band built their whole identity around activism and education Exhaustion doesn’t really do it justice That brings me to the one song you all know and love And have probably heard a thousand times now Tubthumping After the neoliberal beast was born and took hold of the UK Chumbawamba as a whole took a bit of a hit to the old mental health Before the group wrote it, Dunstan, one of the vocalists said the band were in a tight spot “A mess” in their own words “We’d become directionless and disparate” They needed something, anything, to lighten them up And to bring them back together Then along came Tubthumping The meaning behind the song is pretty straightforward “I get knocked down But I get up again You’re never going to keep me down” Whilst not solely linked to anarchism and anarchist policies It’s definitely a huge part of it The need for a release To have fun and as the kids say Get loose But also to shout a big [ __ ] off to the power creep Of those that wish the worst for you And..

10:11 - The song did pretty well apparently Of course it did An upbeat party-song specifically about the resilience of working people Is bound to do well in an era where the worker has been mistreated more and more every moment The band seems to view Tubthumping as a middling song for them But one they hold to their heart One of them saying “It’s not our most political or best song, but it brought us back together” “The song is about us, as a class, and as a band” “The beauty of it is we had no idea how big it would be” And honestly I think that captures the spirit of Chumbawamba perfectly On the 8th of July 2012 Chumbawamba announced their breakup on their website: chumba.com At the end of the year the band would cease to be The passing words opened with “That’s it then, it’s the end” “With neither a whimper, a bang, or a reunion” I think it’s really important to note the image from their farewell page It’s really important, it really makes you think Also While it is a shame that they broke up Thinking about their final message, maybe it was just their time Nothing lasts forever And from the sounds of it, maybe it was a long time coming It’s great that they ended amicably And now they’re free to do something else other than perform Which is probably getting to them a bit, judging by some of the lyrics Again please do check out all their songs I’m just glad that we’re still able to.. Experience? That sounds right Experience their music Hear the messages And use this to further the cause I struggled a lot with what to include in this video and what to exclude As there’s so much I could reasonably talk about But then I remind myself I have to edit all of this into something interesting or coherent The stuff I took out could be whole videos in of themselves Some cool stuff that it would be worth all you looking up is as follows Chumbawamba’s album of workers folk songs It’s a really good album Please check it out The specifics of a lot of activism they get up to A deep analysis of the songs as they stand by themselves Because there is so much there A look into the lives of the individual band members Etcetera Please, if you want to know more, do some digging because there is so much digging to be done for this band I guess there’s been a question on a lot of your minds And that is Henry You’re a software developer Why are you talking about this? Politics? Music? Football? What gives? This gives me a good chuckle But in all seriousness Looking at the world right now It can be difficult, just in general Chumbawamba were introduced to me just before the lockdown kicked in And just before the slow collapse of society was made evident to the masses But they have been a light at the end of the tunnel for me And remind me what it’s all about They remind me of struggle, of camaraderie, of those close to me Of what it is we can do to fight tyranny, and hatred And all.. That.. But also, because of the time in my life when I first heard that real good song I’ve associated them with simpler times Where I didn’t really have much responsibility The songs are a brief escape from whatever hell is going on out there And a reminder of what matters And what can be done to help the world That is probably the cheesiest thing I am ever gonna say on this channel For sure I was gonna add a poem I found here about standing together But I think I’ve kind of made my point Also I lost the poem and every time I do look for it I’m bombarded by Nickelback lyrics Maybe that’s something for another video? But if you’re gonna take anything away from this video Let it be this There is nothing that anyone can do to us when we all stand together As such remember to join a union, support local mutual aid efforts, become involved in your local politics If only to scream directly in the face of your favorite MP Socially distanced of course And do whatever you can to protect your friends, your family Found or otherwise And your community As I said before I’ve linked a ton of resources in the description So please do check them out Otherwise Thank you loads for watching This video sure was different huh? Big special thanks to those of you who have supported me with that filthy filthy cash Either on twitch or patreon Those of you include Daz, Wren, Al.exe, Errol, MDC-05, Zane, Rosie, Emi, Dia, jamiedoesthings, jessimicax, And Boop As usual, like and subscribe If you enjoyed this let me know what you think in the comments Or just tell me a really cool story Whatever floats your boat Feel free to join my discord server Again links are in the description Otherwise that’s pretty much it Thanks again And I’ll see you next time .