Page 29 - the NOISE APril 2013

It seems like the driest, most uncreative way to produce art (not that any of these people had such pretensions; they were churning out product, pure and simple), but somehow their innate love of the mu- sic shone through. Almost by accident, they birthed some of the most beautiful, eloquent and satisfying sounds to ever grace the hu- man ear. Having folks like Carole King and Smokey Robinson on staff didn’t hurt, either.
In the years since, this “factory” method of creating hits was taken to shameless ex- tremes (which shall not be detailed here) with varying levels of success, both financial and artistic. But every so often one of these manufactured connect-the-dots tunes will hit all the right notes. The recipe will be per- fectly balanced and the artists involved will make it seem effortless, with nary a whiff of greed or phoniness.
The song and band described above (if you haven’t guessed) is “Tubthumping” by Chumbawamba who, ulterior motives aside, created a hit the same way those pros in the 60s did: pulled the right strings at the right time and mixed the correct amount of each ingredient together to make something ev- erybody liked. And bought.
The group then had to face the curse of oversaturation (“Oh, I LOVE this song!/Oh God, this piece of crap AGAIN?”), which we Americans seem to have a knack for. They also cheesed off a lot of the wrong folks, peo- ple who could have helped further their ca- reer, but that was probably intentional. The band’s outspoken leftist politics doomed them in this country.
Their name is mud in the US, has been for years. The backlash is still in place. Over here, Chumbawamba is the punchline to a bad joke. Americans don’t just mildly dislike them, we actively HATE them. Meanwhile, we proudly induct fluffy non-rock tripe like ABBA and Madonna into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame with a straight face, while trailblaz- ers like Roky Erickson remain unknown to the general public.
Thanks to the success of “Tubthumping”, the accompanying album sold over 3 million copies in the US. Where are all these people? You never hear anybody say, “Hey, that’s a cool song!” Everyone thought it was “good”
Chumbawamba
until the media told us it was “bad” and now we all hate it and pretend we never liked it. Why? Because most Americans are deathly afraid of being caught enjoying something that is uncool. We can’t trust our own judg- ments because we desperately need to go in the same direction the herd is traveling. Are there really 3 million people out there too embarrassed to admit that 15 years ago, they dug “Tubthumping” enough to spend money on the CD (or steal it from Wal-Mart)?
There’s thousands of songs WAY more an- noying than “Tubthumping” too. Like ABBA’s entire catalogue. Chumbawamba sucked but Fastball and Marcy Playground were OK?
The American music industry could not let Chumbawamba become too popular in the states. There HAD to be a backlash. Picture your average late ‘90s teen:
“Yeah, I like Chumbawamba. They’re right, Wal-Mart ARE corporate bastards. The guy on MTV said the band were ‘anarchists’. I looked up this ‘anarchy’ thing and it’s pretty interesting. Ever heard of Karl Hess?”
Forget it. No way in hell.
After 30 years as a band, Chumbawamba called it quits in July 2012. Upon hearing the news, many Americans were shocked they still existed after 1997. Out of their 20+ al- bums, only two were released in the US.
Chumbawamba accomplished what they set out to do, and probably have no qualms with the way it all turned out. They wrote a classic pop song and took one crazy ride. They made a lot of money and gave most of it away. The rest they used for projects that did not meet with government approval.
They told people to steal from Wal-Mart on national television, when’s the last time you heard THAT from a pop star? They have great stories for the kiddies, and it looks like the band is happy with who they are (and I bet they’re glad they aren’t ABBA). Maybe one day history will vindicate them.
“I get knocked down
But I get up again
You’re never going to keep me down ...”
— Tony BallZ | music@thenoise.us
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• APRIL 2013 • 29