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?