History Music / Chumbawamba

The band gained initial fame in the anarcho-punk movement of [[The80s the 1980s]], being a dedicated part of the cassette culture scene. They frequently made appearances on numerous benefit albums for a wide variety of causes, such as animal rights and anti-war. This led to their first real chart success, the ''Revolution" EP in 1985 (which reached #4 on the UK Indie Chart), and the release of their first LP, ''Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records'', a year later. The album was a scathing criticism of Bob Geldof's UsefulNotes/LiveAid effort, which the band derided as a "cosmetic spectacle designed to draw attention away from the real political causes of world hunger", and featured the sound of bandmate Danbert Nobacon vomiting into a toilet.

Chumbawamba were a British "anarchist rock" band formed in 1982 formation in Burnley[[note]]although the band called Leeds its home[[/note]] and disbanded in 2012. They're best remembered as the band that penned the hit "Tubthumping" (from their eighth album, 1997's ''Tubthumper''), whose "I get knocked down..." chorus has become ubiquitous as an anthem for perseverance, even though that's [[MisaimedFandom not even close to what the song is about]].

Chumbawamba were a British "anarchist rock" band whose career spanned over 30 years, having formed in 1982 in Burnley, although the band called Leeds its home. Today, they're best remembered as the band that penned the hit "Tubthumping" (from 1997's ''Tubthumper''), whose "I get knocked down..." chorus has become ubiquitous as an anthem for perseverance, even though that's [[MisaimedFandom not even close to what the song is about]].

The band gained initial fame in anarcho-punk movement in the 1980s, being a dedicated part of the cassette culture scene. They frequently made appearances on numerous benefit albums for a wide variety of causes, such as animal rights and anti-war. This led to their first real chart success, "Revolution" (1985, UK Indie #4), eventually leading to their first LP, ''Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records'', a year later. It was a scathing criticism of Bob Geldof's UsefulNotes/LiveAid effort, which the band derided as a "cosmetic spectacle designed to draw attention away from the real political causes of world hunger" and featured the sound of bandmate Danbert Nobacon vomiting into a toilet.

By 1990, the band started to develop their pop sound with "Slap!" (1990) and the sample-heavy "Shh" (1992), with the band having their first tour of the United States in 1990. In 1992, the band gained some notoriety after handing out T-Shirts that read "Jason Donovan – Queer As F***" T-shirts packaged with their single "Behave", done in response to Music/JasonDonovan suing ''Magazine/TheFace'' magazine for claiming Donovan was a liar for denying his homosexuality. 1994 would see the release of "Anarchy", which gave the band their first singles that reached the bottom part of the UK Top 40, their best showing at that date.

Then came...their song. A staple of late night drunks, sports games, and anything else that called for a dose of "keep your head up, kid!", "Tubthumping" became one of the most played songs of 1997, hitting #6 in the U.S. and #2 in the UK. The song's success- and its fuelling by the band's signing with Creator/{{EMI}}- were a lightning rod with fans, with some accusing the band of selling out. The band responded to this criticism by explaining that no matter what record label they were signed to, big or small, they would use the band for profit, so the distributor of their music didn't matter. It was hardly the first controversy their time in the spotlight would produce. In early 1998, bandmate Alice Nutter said in an interview that fans who couldn't afford the album should steal it from the record store shelves, causing Virgin Megastores to sell the album from behind the counter. At around the same time, at the 1998 BRIT Awards, the band sung the song with altered lyrics showing support for the Liverpool Dockers' Strike, punctuating the point when Nobacon poured a bucket of cold water on the head of then Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who was in the audience.

They would follow up their smash with "Amnesia", which was a modest hit, before fading back into obscurity, where they were more comfortable. 2000 saw the release of ''WYSIWYG'', followed by the band's parting with EMI in 2001. A year later came the autobiographical documentary ''Well Done, Now Sod Off'' to celebrate twenty years together. 2003 saw ''Readymades'', folk songs redone electronically, and a year later came ''Un'', featuring "The Wizard of Menlo Park" which sampled UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison's first recording, "Mary Had A Little Lamb".

By 2006, the band was winding down, trimming its membership (they had as many as ten members before going down to four in 2005). Chumbawamba played Glastonbury in 2007, promising a new album that turned into 2008's ''The Boy Bands Have Won...''. 2010 saw the release of their final album, ''ABCDEFG'', before the band announced in 2012, that they were breaking up after thirty years, though they did leave the door open for a reunion.

[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/220px-Tubthumper_3789.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:220:Amazingly, this isn't the most off-the-wall thing they've done.]]

--> ''Now, look what we brought for you, James''
--> ''Your favorite disc''
--> ''It's Chumbawamba''
--> ''Their greatest hits [[OneHitWonder (there's only one)]]''
--> ''Turned up the volume''
--> ''You should have heard him sing (oh, how he sings)''
--> ''He cried like a baby''
--> ''And told us everything''

--> ''Now it's a Theatre of Dreams™''

* MultipleChoicePast: The origin of the name Chumbawamba.

* ''The Boy Bands Have Won...'' [[note]]Full title is ''[[LongTitle The Boy Bands Have Won, and All the Copyists and the Tribute Bands and the TV Talent Show Producers Have Won, If We Allow Our Culture to Be Shaped by Mimicry, Whether from Lack of Ideas or From Exaggerated Respect. You Should Never Try to Freeze Culture. What You Can Do Is Recycle That Culture. Take Your Older Brother's Hand-Me-Down Jacket and Re-Style It, Re-Fashion It to the Point Where It Becomes Your Own. But Don't Just Regurgitate Creative History, or Hold Art and Music and Literature as Fixed, Untouchable and Kept Under Glass. The People Who Try To "Guard" Any Particular Form of Music Are, Like the Copyists and Manufactured Bands, Doing It the Worst Disservice, Because the Only Thing That You Can Do to Music That Will Damage It Is Not Change It, Not Make It Your Own. Because Then It Dies, Then It's Over, Then It's Done, and the Boy Bands Have Won.]]''[[/note]] (2008)

* LongTitle:
** Their first album had the full title ''Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records: Starvation, Charity and Rock & Roll Lies & Traditions''.
** They later topped it with ''The Boy Bands Have Won, and All the Copyists and the Tribute Bands and the TV Talent Show Producers Have Won, If We Allow Our Culture to Be Shaped by Mimicry, Whether from Lack of Ideas or From Exaggerated Respect. You Should Never Try to Freeze Culture. What You Can Do Is Recycle That Culture. Take Your Older Brother's Hand-Me-Down Jacket and Re-Style It, Re-Fashion It to the Point Where It Becomes Your Own. But Don't Just Regurgitate Creative History, or Hold Art and Music and Literature as Fixed, Untouchable and Kept Under Glass. The People Who Try To "Guard" Any Particular Form of Music Are, Like the Copyists and Manufactured Bands, Doing It the Worst Disservice, Because the Only Thing That You Can Do to Music That Will Damage It Is Not Change It, Not Make It Your Own. Because Then It Dies, Then It's Over, Then It's Done, and the Boy Bands Have Won''.
*** Which is reputed to be the world record-holder for longest album title, beating Music/FionaApple's ''When the Pawn...''

** ''WYSIWYG'': "The Health & Happiness Show", "Moses With a Gun", "[[LongTitle The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Jerry Springer]]", "Knickers".

** Special mention should go to "Slag Aid," a song they've rerecorded for every single subsequent Live Aid, which always ends with them declaring their plan to charitably crucify a very prominent performer from the event.

** Many of their work samples, quotes and refers to a wide variety of other works, and their songs are often about specific incidents and acts that require a bit of research (for example, the song "I did it for Alfie" from "Un" is about the decapitation of a statue of Margaret Thatcher with a cricket bat in Guildhall in 2003).

* BackForTheFinale: Every member, past and present, returns for ""Big Society!''.

Chumbawamba were a British "anarchist rock" band whose career spanned over 30 years, having formed in 1982 in Burnley, although the band called Leeds its home. Today, they're best remembered as the band that penned the hit "Tubthumping" (from 1997's ''Tubthumper''), whose "I get knocked down..." chorus has become ubiquitous as an anthem for perseverance, even though that's not even close to what the song is about.

The band gained initial fame in anarcho-punk movement in the 1980s, being a dedicated part of the cassette culture scene. They frequently made appearances on numerous benefit albums for a wide variety of causes, such as animal rights and anti-war. This led to their first real chart success, "Revolution" (1985, UK Indie #4), eventually leading to their first LP, ''Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records'' a year later. It was a scathing criticism of Bob Geldoff's "Live-Aid" effort, which the band derided as a "cosmetic spectacle designed to draw attention away from the real political causes of world hunger" and featured the sound of bandmate Danbert Nobacon vomiting into a toilet.

By 1990, the band started to develop their pop sound, with "Slap!" (1990) and the sample-heavy "Shh" (1992), with the band having their first tour of the United States in 1990. In 1992, the band gained some notoriety after handing out T-Shirts that read "Jason Donovan – Queer As F***" T-shirts packaged with their single "Behave", done in response to Music/JasonDonovan suing ''Magazine/TheFace'' magazine for claiming Donovan was a liar for denying his homosexuality. 1994 would see the release of "Anarchy", which gave the band their first singles that reached the bottom part of the UK Top 40, their best showing at that date.

** In ''WYSIWYG'', only 5 songs don't have spoken word out of 22 songs (On the original release)

** In ''WYSIWYG'', only 5 songs don't have spoken word out of 22 songs

** In ''WYSIWYG'', only five songs don't have spoken word out of 22 songs

** All songs in the original release of "''Tubthumper'' have spoken word.

** "Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records": "...and in a Nutshell".
** "Shhh": "Popstar Kidnap".
** "Anarchy": "On Being Pushed", "Doh!", "Blackpool Rock".
** "WYSIWYG": "The Health & Happiness Show", "Moses With a Gun", "[[LongTitle The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Jerry Springer]]", "Knickers".
** "The Boy Bands Have Won": "When An Old Man Dies", "Fine Line", "A Fine Career", "The Ogre".

** In "WYSIWYG", only five songs don't have spoken word out of 22 songs
** All songs in the original release of "Tubthumper" have spoken word.

* SpokenWordInMusic: A lot of spoken word in Chumbwamba's songs are [[{{sampling}} sampled from movies and broadcasts]].

* SpokenWordInMusic: A lot of spoken word in Chumbwamba's songs are [[{{sampling}}]] sampled from movies and broadcasts.

* Call-Back: In WYSIWYG, the track "She's Got All The Friends That Money Can Buy" ends with a part of the chorus of "Pass It Along". Also in WYSIWYG, "Dumbing Down" ends with an orchestral snippet of "I'm In Trouble Again"

* Call-Back:
** In WYSIWYG, the track ''She's Got All The Friends That Money Can Buy'' ends with a part of the chorus of ''Pass It Along''. Also in WYSIWYG, ''Dumbing Down'' ends with an orchestral snippet of ''I'm In Trouble Again''