The last few years/months have seen something of a renaissance for the archetypical one-hit-wonder Chumbawamba. Many people online have realized just how rad chumbawamba was. Their music was radical and political, their non-music antics just as brash as their lyrics. If you’ve only ever heard the one hit Tubthumping, this is the place for you. If you can chant along about getting knocked down and getting back up again, but have never heard Dance, Idiot, Dance you’ve come to the right place. If you know the weird creepy album art of a Baby Doll on a Bright Green background, but don't know about the album art that's a woman actively giving birth, then welcome. This post will break down a bit about Chumbawamba’s career, make suggestions about where to start with their music, as well as offer personal recommendations for songs I enjoy.
A brief Chumbawambography
For those who don’t know, Chumbawamba had one massive hit with “Tubthumping” in 1997 which reached #2 in the UK and #6 in the US charts. The album it was on, “Tubthumper,” sold over 3 Million copies.
Many people view Tubthumping as something of an anomaly of Chumbawamba’s career. It was their only majorly popular song, it wasn’t indicative of their musical style, and it was a deviation from the strong political messaging apparent in their other works. Though the viral popularity of Tubthumping was a deviation from the rest of their extensive discography, those other two sentiments don’t hold up when examined more closely.
Chumbawamba’s musical style was incredibly varied throughout their career. I generally group it into three broad styles. Those categories are Punk-Pop, Dance Pop, and Folk.
First, they started off with an experimental punk-pop style. This was exhibited in their first few albums: From their debut How to Get Your Band on Television, to their next 3 original albums Never Mind the Ballots, Shhh, and Slap!. The latter half of their album Swingin’ With Raymond also fits into this style, though it certainly sides more on the punk side of punk-pop.
The Punk-Pop morphed into Dance Pop with the group’s most popular albums: Anarchy and Tubthumping. As well as their next three original LPs, WYSIWYG, Readymades, and UN. The aforementioned Swingin’ With Raymond also features a couple of songs on the first half of the album that match the upbeat pop of this time. This era provides the most pushback to the idea that “Tubthumping” is a stylistic outlier in Chumbawamba's career. Hard hitting, upbeat songs that are easy to jam out to are abundant in this period.
The band’s final era was their folk era. The first folk-adjacent songs appeared in their collection of english rebel songs. Most of the first half of Swingin’ With Raymond also falls into this category. The band’s last handful of albums: Singsong and a Scrap, The Boy Bands Have Won, and ABCDEFG all fall into this category. These all feature melodic and incredibly catchy songwriting and performances.
Despite the stylistic variation of Chumbawamba’s vast discography, there are two main trends that run through the entirety of the band’s work. First being the heavy use of samples, often from bizarre origins, and the second being biting, heavily political, and brash lyrics. Tubthumping isn’t as biting or brash as some of their other works, but it does have political characteristics. The album liner notes for the song make it clear that it is a declaration of joy, of drunken bliss in spite of the bleak nature of the world. Joy is a political action when the established system feeds off of our alienation and is empowered by our apathism. Even if Tubthumping wasn’t particularly political, it would not be the only song by the anarchist band that didn’t live up to the highly political standard of their music. Songs like The Morning After, Be With You, and Home With Me, to name a few, are more romantic and heartfelt than they are political.
Where to Start if…
Not sure where to start your dive into the vast world of Chumbawamba’s Discography? This section will give some suggestions on where to start based on what you like or dislike about Tubthumping, musical genres, and the world as a whole. The suggestions are not exhaustive, I’m sure I’ve missed some perfect examples for each category. For that I will defer to the handful of people out there who are more well versed in Chumbawamba’s discography than I am. There are also many more categories that I deemed unfit for publishing, so if you want more suggestions and recommendations, feel free to DM me on Twitter @aaron_2718.
You LOVE Tubthumping.
If you really love the most popular Chumbawamba song ever, here’s where to start. First, if you haven’t already listened to the non-radio edit of the song, do that. The original adds a bit of flavor and feels more like a regular chumbawamba song. After that, give Tubthumper a full listen. If you don’t have time for that, listen to Amnesia, the second song on the album. Other songs with similar vibes include Jesus in Vegas (WYSIWYG), She’s Got All The Friends That Money Can Buy (WYSIWYG), We Don’t Want to Sing Along (UN), and Mouthful of Shit (Anarchy).
You think Tubthumping is too pop and want something more Punk
If you want something grittier that really kicks you in your chest, I’d start with The second half of Swingin’ with Raymond, starting with the song All Mixed Up, though you could maybe skip Waiting, Shouting. Further, Mary Mary (Tubthumper), More Whitewashing (How to Get Your Band on TV), and Bad Dog (Anarchy) are all more in the Punk vein. Also check out any of the albums mentioned in the paragraph on Chumbawamba’s Punk-pop era of music.
You think Tubthumping is too pop and want something more Folk
First, check out the paragraph on Chumbawamba’s Folk era. That will guide you to the albums Singsong and a Scrap, The Boy Bands Have Won, and ABCDEFG. All of which are primarily folk songs. Some specific songs from those albums: Underground (ABCDEFG), Laughter in a Time of War (Singsong and a Scrap), Buy Nothing Day (UN) and Word Bomber (The Boy Bands Have Won) are all good places to start. Songs not from those albums that might scratch that folksy itch include Rebel Code (UN),
You’re looking for good feminist music
Chumbawamba has written quite a few excellent feminist songs. They are about legitimate women’s liberation and not just wishy-washy bourgeois feminist girlboss anthems. The songs This Dress Kills, Not The Girl, and This Girl, off of Swingin’ With Raymond are all classics. Bad Dog (Anarchy) and Mary Mary (Tubthumper) Both cover the unrealistic expectations and pressures put on women. Compliments of Your Waitress (The Boy Bands Have Won) and Georgina (Anarchy) are both about women taking power back from abusive people in their lives.
You’re looking for love songs
The Morning After and Love Can Knock off of Swingin’ With Raymond, Home With Me (Readymades) and Be With You (UN) are all fantastic songs to listen to when you’re yearning for that special someone. Following You (UN) and When Alexander Met Emma (Singsong and a Scrap) both tell beautiful stories of love blooming in radical movements.
You hate elections and electoral politics
Never Mind the Ballots is the perfect album for any election year. Additionally, songs like This Year’s Thing (Anarchy), Love Me (Anarchy), and Amnesia (Tubthumper) are all deeply critical of the expectation that bourgeois politics will change anything.
You really hate Margaret Thatcher
Chumbawamba wrote a whole EP about Thatcher dying, sold it on pre-order, and then once Thatcher finally kicked the bucket, sent it out to everyone who ordered it. The EP In Memoriam, Margaret Thatcher is available on youtube. The song So Long is an absolute must for anyone who hates the Iron Lady.
You hate cops and fascists
Oxymoron (Swingin’ With Raymond) and Don’t Pass Go (Readymades) both expertly point out the hypocrisy in policing. Enough is Enough (Anarchy) is all about shooting fascists, and Chumbawamba puts their own spin on classic anti-fascist anthem Bella Ciao (Singsong and a scrap).
You love sick guitar riffs
Not straying far from Tubthumping, the songs Mary Mary and Creepy Crawling (both on Tubthumper) have incredible guitar parts that are bound to get stuck in your head. Bad Dog (Anarchy) also has a very gritty riff undercutting it.
You are deeply disturbed by suburbia
You’re going to want to listen to the songs Ugh Your Ugly Houses (Swingin’ With Raymond), Smalltown (Tubthumper), and Celebration Florida (WYSIWYG).
Personal Recommendations
Now for my personal favorites of what Chumbwamba has produced, as well as chumbawmba-related media. These are purely suggestive opinions and I’m sure somehow, someway, this is going to piss off some chumbawamba superfan I’ve yet to have the pleasure to meet. Anyways here we go:
Albums
UN: My personal favorite of Chumbawamba’s albums. I think it accentuates the best parts of chumbawamba, the high energy and highly political songs. I think this is the most complete album from start to finish in Chumbawamba’s discography.
Readymades: This is probably one of Chumbawamba’s least popular albums, but everytime I listen to it I find something new to admire about it. This album also features one of my favorite songs that I’ll get to in just a moment.
Swingin’ With Raymond: Another often overlooked album in Chumbawamba’s Discography. The format of the album, broken into two halves with drastically different styles, “Love it” and “Hate it” (sometimes referred to as Love and Loathe), works for me. I like the sharp turn from folksy pop songs to hard-hitting punk.
Anarchy: The second-most popular chumbawamba album after Tubthumper, and deservedly so. Anarchy was one of my first introductions to the band beyond Tubthumping, and it’s no surprise the album got me hooked. There is no lack of great catchy songs on this album.
Songs
Jacob’s Ladder: Off the album Readymades, I generally consider this my favorite Chumbawamba song. It is just an incredibly beautiful song that always gets me bopping my head and swaying about wherever I am.
Hull or Hell: From The Boy Bands Have Won, this is another genuinely beautiful song. The lyrics never fail to strike home and put me in a wistful mood.
Pickle: Chumbawamba’s last studio album ABCDEFG has some absolute gems of songs. Pickle is one of these. A gentle piano melody in harmony with lyrics about the nature of music.
Mouthful of Shit: My favorite song off of Anarchy, this song just rocks. It’s loud, it’s brash, and it gives absolutely no fucks. There’s not much I can say other than go listen to the song!
When Fine Society Sits Down to Dine: In a similar vein as Mouthful of Shit, When Fine Society Sits Down to Dine is all about human waste going places. In the case of this song, the crown jewel of UN in my opinion, is all about pissing in the wine of high society. A classic Chumbawamba song with a classic Chumbawamba narrative.
I Want More: Probably my favorite song on Tubthumper after Tubthumping and Amnesia. This song is all about the obnoxious entitled nature of the upper class. Just another way of saying fuck you to our class overlords.
Learning to Love: One of the best songs from A Singsong and a Scrap, is a gentle melody all about taking action and not waiting for your lover to come back from the war. It is a subversive take on the emotional ballad sung by a young woman waiting for her lover to return from their military duty. It’s truly an incredible song.
Jesus in Vegas: From WYSIWYG, the follow-up album to Tubthumper is full of upbeat songs with catchy lyrics. Jesus in Vegas is a perfect example of that. Everytime this song comes up on a playlist I’m instantly energized. It’s hard not to belt out the chorus to this song.
Other Chumbawamba Stuff
Chumbology, a Chumbawamba Anthology Podcast: This deep dive tackles Chumbawamba’s entire discography. It’s hosts, as knowledgeable about chumbawamba as they are prone to tangents, have gone song by song, album by album through the entire chumbawamba discography from How to Get Your Band on Television up to the start of WYSIWYG. If you’re looking for thoughts on Chumbawamba’s music that aren’t your own, Chumbology is probably the best place to start. You can find the podcast at https://www.chumbology.rocks/.
One Hit Wonderland, Tubthumping by Chumbawamba: One Hit Wonderland is a series by the Youtuber “Todd in the Shadows” Where he takes a look at the entire career, from start to finish of a one hit wonder and offers his thoughts on their music and career. If you want a quick intro to Chumbawamba’s career (that isn’t this post), this is a great start. The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/WiZr87g6rNo
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