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The People's Songs

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Stuart Maconie tells the story of modern Britain via the songs that provided a soundtrack.

Featuring memories contributed by Radio 2 listeners, Stuart Maconie narrates the story of post-war Britain via 50 records that soundtracked this dramatic and kaleidoscopic period.

The People's Songs: Tubthumping - Environmentalism and Anti-Globalism

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Factual: History

Tubthumping - Environmentalism and Anti-Globalism

10/07/2013

BBC Radio 2 - The People's Songs, Tubthumping - Environmentalism and Anti-Globalism

Stuart looks at environmentalism and anti-globalism in music, focusing on Chumbawamba.

Stuart Maconie on the history of modern Britain in 50 records, exploring the paradoxes of political hits. Chumbawamba proved that radical dissent was still possible in the charts.

Chumbawamba's single is definitely one of those tracks that's become known as an earworm; once inside your head, it's very hard to dislodge. It's also an unusual commercial hit in that it came from a resolutely anti-commercial bunch of anarchic folk-punkers. It even reached number six in the USA, though one can assume that buyers were unaware of the band's socialist leanings. It's also obviously the song's infectiousness (as well as the lyrical refrain of getting back up having been knocked down) that led Nike to offer the band $1.5 million for use of the song. The band said they considered the offer for all of 30 seconds before saying "no". But they still enraged hard-core fans by signing with the major label EMI: seemingly going against their anti-corporate stance. EMI would later drop the band for their political activism.

Tubthumping is lyrically ambiguous, yet the band have adjusted the lyrics in the live setting to offer support to death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamil and to criticise Tony Blair's stance over his refusal to support the Liverpool docker's strikes. The band has also campaigned for the miners, for animal rights and against homophobia. They've questioned Bob Geldof's motives for organising Live Aid and raised money for the Zeebrugge Ferry disaster. They were nothing if not polemical, impassioned and interesting. The band seemed to stand for that classic British trait of fair play and decency.

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