jastrub

When I first came across Chumbawamba, it was, of course, their frustratingly pervasive frat-pop single "Tubthumping". I didn't think much of it at the time. My first impressions were probably "catchy, but annoying". Then, about 3 years later when I started to read literature from the liberterian left, I ran into the name Chumbawamba again. Low and behold, I looked into the band a bit more and discovered that their original intentions were to produce unique punk rock with a political message stressing freedom of mind and body and anti-authoritarian ethics. Their first two albums, Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records and Nevermind the Ballots, were musically fascinating and lyrically enlightening. I would even dare to say they helped me gain more interest in anti-authoritarian philosophy. I really enjoyed their part-punk, part-cabaret, part-a capella, part-dance hall songwriting style. However, as I looked into the band's more recent past, I discovered a load of corporate pop garbage. The kind of songs used in commercials and played at football games. Their middle albums, especially Anarchy and Tubthumper, seemed to ditch the meat of their anarchist ideals for the "image" of anarchism. Instead of actually discussing the real issues in their songs, which they had up until their 4th album, they merely skirted around them and talked about blowing up buildings (Give the Anarchist a Cigarette) and getting wasted (the whole first side of Tubthumper). Now, they're making heavily-produced folk albums with some choral pieces thrown in. I much like their current musical stage than their middle era, but it's still not the old Chumby. At least their lyrics are political again, although now they seem more resigned and tired and not so angry and hopeful. So, with all this in mind, can we still respect Chumbawamba for being a politically-minded group who wanted to make a difference after all they did counter to their own anti-corporate, anti-mass-culture ideals? Can we forgive them for being sellouts if one of the best aspects of pre-corporate Chumbawamba was that they were independent and unsigned? And finally, should we look forward to future Chumbawamba albums or should we merely give up on them and stick with their older stuff?

The 7th Has Drowned Thee

I don't think they're sellouts. As they themselves said IIRC, this is a capitalist system, and if you want to get anywhere you have to work within that. Besides, they're currently signed to No Masters, which is a pretty small-time, mainly Northern trad folk label, alongside similarly political bands like Coope, Boyes and Simpson. So at least in folk terms, they're authentic, if not in punk terms.

I've always held that they never made "pop garbage", although I generally find that Chumbawamba fans disagree with me. Nevertheless, lyrically I think it's fair to say that Anarchy is very much a political album, and only one song on Tubthumper concerns getting wasted (and even then, it's called "Tubthumping". It's not an entirely apolitical song). "Homophobia" is one of the greatest political songs ever written, to my mind.

Anyway, so no, as far as I'm concerned they don't deserve to have lost any credibility, although I suppose since I'm more concerned with folk than punk it's possible the fanbase would disagree. As far as I can tell, Readymades onward seem to be pretty well respected. It's just a shame that their reputation has never fully recovered from "Tubthumping".

jastrub

I agree with your point on Homophobia, but Amnesia and Drip, Drip, Drip aren't exactly political anthems. And sure, Anarchy was a political album, but it wasn't as well thought out as their first three albums, which not only were political but had a powerful and cohesive theme to them (Respectively world hunger and capitalism, the failure of democracy and the roll of mass media in our everyday lives). Anarchy (at least to me) was an amalgamation of all their previous themes into one mish-mash, which, for better or for worse, came off much less powerful than their previous albums (except for a few standout tracks, of course, like the aforementioned Homophobia as well as tracks like Timebomb).

I don't know if you follow their folk career, but I felt as if their earlier folk albums were much better than their most recent ones. Compare, for instance, A Singsong and a Scrap to ABCDEFG. Singsong is probably my favorite post-1995 Chumbawamba album, and it is full of both intriguing politics as well as surprisingly complex musical arrangements. Such songs as "Laughter in a Time of War", "By and By", "Land of Do What You're Told" and their cover of The Clash's "Bank Robber" are some of my favorites from Chumby. However, with their later folk albums, they seem to have fallen apart a little. The Boy Bands Have Won is very fragmented and is often confusing in its mangled themes and 1-minute-long songs.

Also, do you know what happened to that distinctive male vocalist from their first few albums? I could never find his name anywhere. He had a very nasily voice and would often do spoken word segments in their earlier works. He was the "announcer" on Slag Aid and was the left-leaning politician character on "Never Mind the Ballots". Just curious, seeing as his role has completely diminished over the years. I'm not usually one for yelling and screaming, but his voice, in my opinion, gave the early albums character.

Dirty

To be honest, I thought after Tubthumping they fell off the face of the Earth. Never heard another thing from them after that one big hit.

mr dave

well... just about everything else from the 90s has seen fit to rear its head back at us. might as well give the anarchist idealists a turn too.

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Hook

Wow, I only heard one song by them and didn't think they were remotely considered a serious political group. Might have to check em out a little.

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jastrub

If you like RAGE, you'd probably like Chumby's first 2 albums, "Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records" and "Nevermind the Ballots". They're both very political, and frankly they're a lot better thought out than most rage I've heard.