You may not remember the name of the song or the name of the band, but you might. The band’s name is Chumbawamba and the song is called ‘Tubthumping.’ If you had ears from August 1997 for the next year, you’ve heard this song.
I was never a huge fan of the song, but it’s hard to not admit that’s catchy.
Regardless of your personal opinion about the song, it turns out that the band is more than just a one-hit wonder teen pop band. That’s what I have always assumed.
The band actually formed in 1982, a full fifteen and a half years before the release of their international hit ‘Tubthumping.’ They were a genuine punk rock band that got a taste for political activism during the coal miner’s strike in Britain in the early 1980s. So they dedicated themselves to writing music to get across their political opinions. Their aim never changed, but their music did. They toyed with their musical style endlessly to try to reach a broader population.
Apparently, ‘Tubthumping’ was just that. The song comes across as just a happy, life-is-fun kind of song. In reality, it’s about how so many people work jobs that are meaningless to them, yet day after day get back up and make their own meaning.
I learned all of this from, like so much of what I learn, a podcast called Totally Awesome. You just never know what you are going to learn. Today I learned that Chumbawamba wasn’t at all the band I thought they were. The things you learn…
Both ‘Tubthumping,’ the 1997 super smash hit, and the band Chumbawamba are not at all what I thought they were.