Tubthumper

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Tubthumper
Chumbawamba studio album

Publication
(s)

September 23, 1997

admission

August 1996 - February 1997

Label (s) EMI

Format (s)

CD , MC

Genre (s)

Alternative rock

Title (number)

12

running time

55:09

occupation
  • Singing: Alice Nutter
  • Singing: Danbert Nobacon

production

Chumbawamba, Neil Ferguson

Studio (s)

Woodlands Studio, Castleford

chronology
Swingin 'with Raymond
(1995) 		Tubthumper Uneasy Listening
(1998)
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Tubthumper
  DE 18th 10/06/1997 (10 weeks)
  CH 32 11/02/1997 (6 weeks)
  UK 19th 09/13/1997 (7 weeks)
  US 3 January 17, 1998 (43 weeks)

Tubthumper is the eighth studio album by the politically active British band Chumbawamba . Thanks to the worldwide success of the single Tubthumping , it became their best-selling album. Of over five million units sold, three million were in the United States.

History of origin

With Tony Blair's election as Prime Minister in 1997, there was an expectation that the social cold of the Thatcher era would give way. Many musicians expressed their disappointment over this unfulfilled hope at the time in their music and in interviews . For the Chumbawamba members on the far left it was obvious to address this.

Since the group had left their label One Little Indian Records , they put the title Tubthumping for a CD with artists without a contract. The German EMI Electrola - Managing Director Helmut festival was fond of the song and went into contract negotiations. Although Chumbawamba had earlier denounced when EMI had merged with the electronics and armaments company Thorn , whose involvement in the arms trade and collaboration with the South African apartheid regime , she signed there. The misunderstanding on the fans' side, which escalated to outrage, was countered by saying that every label, whether large or small, is aiming to maximize profits, so only one role that grants the greatest autonomy and at the same time acts most broadly. For EMI it was again important to compensate for the profit lost 20 years ago when the politically inconvenient Sex Pistols were thrown out. Therefore, Chumbawamba was allowed to go freely.

The recordings took place from August 1996 to February 1997 at the Woodlands Center in the county of West Yorkshire , very close to the band's home Leeds instead. According to band sources, production costs amounted to 40,000 US dollars . Announced by EMI under the headline "EMI welcomes Chumbawamba" in full-page advertisements for September 8, 1997, the album was finally released on September 23.

After an overwhelming success, Alice Nutter recommended that anyone who couldn't afford Tubthumper steal it from the big chain stores, prompting the Virgin Megastores , who had previously promoted the album passionately, banned it from their shelves.

Track list

Composition of all titles: Chumbawamba.

# title length Text meaning single
1 Tubthumping 4:38 Self-deprecating: Swinging to talk and then drinking. Socially critical: those who have become unemployed drown frustration in drunkenness. First single, pre-release originally planned for July 21, 1997, followed on August 11, 1997. # 1 in 22 countries. Belongs to the most played jukebox songs.
2 Amnesia 4:08 No change after the Labor Party came into power . The single is dedicated to the sacked Liverpool dock workers . Second single, released January 19, 1998; fell short of expectations.
3 Drip, drip, drip 5:08 Derelict dwellings for the poor. Planned third single, not released due to declining audience interest; only exists as a promo pressing.
4th The big issue 4:37 Devaluing others through “self-blame” mentality.
5 The Good Ship Lifestyle 5:13 Instead of reprimanding the powerful, some give their “own people” rules and guidelines. Assumption: It is directed against the supporters of "lifestyle anarchism" who attacked the band because of the EMI deal.
6th One by one 5:45 Corrupting well-paid positions within the union .
7th Outsider 4:08 The group of all “different people” taken together is not that small.
8th Creepy crawling 4:03 The elbow society typical of capitalism can also be found on the lowest social level.
9 Mary, Mary 4:58 Feminine (feminist) breaking out of religious moral codes.
10 Smalltown 3:13 It is difficult to come up against the suspicious public.
11 I want more 4:01 The affluent upper class is distinguished, but is actually brutally dismissive of the lower classes.
12 Scapegoat 5:15 The high number of blacks imprisoned in Great Britain reflects a racially motivated scapegoat search.
13 Top of the World (Olé, Olé, Olé) 3:49 (At least superficially) tribute to the sport of football that connects people. Single for the 1998 Football World Cup in France , recorded in January 1998, released on June 1st, added to the album in the same year. Reached # 21 in the UK.

Guest musician

Production assistant Neil Ferguson played keyboard and electric guitar at various points . Michael Cohen (on the single: Mikey Cohen) contributed the background vocals for Amnesia . I Want More shows cello credits for Ray Cooper aka “Chopper”. The brass section in Scapegoat is the largely unknown Abbott Sauce Works Band. For the outro of The Big Issue , the English version of the German hymn Thank you for this good morning , whose children's voice comes from Kye Coles. The voice of the studio technician Geoff Clout can also be heard in one of the snippets.

Artwork

The front cover is kept in the same style as most of the other Chumbawamba covers in the Slap phase ! up to readymades too, because it shows a large motif against a plain background. Here it is a baby head with a grinning adult mouth retouched against a bright green background. “Baader-Meinhof” is given as the author, which is a pseudonym for the musicians' collective , but does not correspond to the facts. It was designed by Michael Calleia, owner of Industrial Strength Design in New York . In the editions distributed outside of Europe , the baby head is smaller and moved to the lower right corner. The Chumbawamba lettering placed above is in black capitals in both versions , but is highlighted in red in the European version, while in the other version it is highlighted in white. The album title does not appear there. On the back cover, in the upper left corner, there is a sketch of “tubthumping”, an aggressive public speech: A man is standing on a block and is puffing fire out of his mouth. In the booklet each song is dedicated to one side. In addition to the text - also a trademark of Chumbawamba - there are extensive liner notes , consisting of a table of contents plus additional quotes and text excerpts from external sources. Some “foreign sources” are, on closer inspection, a self-citation because, for example, “Sally Skull” is a pseudonym (“Pen name”) of Alice Nutter, which is itself an artist name (alleged witch at the beginning of the 17th century).

Chart trends

In Germany, the single Tubthumping entered the charts at # 88 on August 18, 1997 and rose week after week to # 11 on October 20. Shortly before this peak, the album was released and reached the top position 18 in the first week. After another seven weeks in the top 50 and two weeks in the lower ranks, the album fell off the charts, while the single was in for another three weeks Midfield of the Top 100 was listed.

In Great Britain, the single started on August 25, 1997 with a jump to number 2. It stayed in the Top 10 for eleven weeks and was in the charts longer than in Germany. The album hit # 19 on September 15 and, after # 28 and # 41 in the following weeks, went into the bottom half of the top 100 for four more weeks.

In the USA, both the single and the album started slowly. The former was at # 79 on September 13th and took seven weeks with an upward trend averaging ten places to make it into the top 10, which it only left on February 14th, 1998. The latter was listed at # 60 after the first week of sales on October 11, 1997, in the following weeks at # 48, # 31, # 21, # 15 and finally at # 8. From then on it fluctuated between # 3 and # 8 within the top 10. With a total of 43 weeks on the Billboard charts, Tubthumper had the longest stay in the USA.

reception

The industry magazine MusikWoche pushed the album under the heading “Innovations. Recommended "and praised:" Two years after [...] the cumbersome last album [...] the eight musicians surprise with twelve humorous songs between pop, rock and a pinch of dance. [...] the pieces [sound] much more punchy and catchy. With biting lyrics, Chumbawamba fights against agony and adaptation in tracks like One by One - packed in first-class melodies and good arrangements. "

The Darmstädter Echo summarized: “The twelve songs on the album are full of unexpected changes in style. Time and again, chorals and folk sounds mix with reggae, techno and rap rhythms, a wealth of samples create a bombastic soundness. [...] the [...] album is full of pointed allusions. "

Peter Lau similarly noted in Rolling Stone : "The octet presents itself with its tried and tested dance-pop-folk-rock, [...] pepped up with funny left-wing radical slogans." Overall, this was "easily digestible hitpop" for him.

Visions reviewer Falk Albrecht saw a necessity in commercialization: “After Chumbawamba musically distanced themselves further and further from their punk roots in the last few years in order to package their political messages in catchy pop melodies, this development finds its climax in the new album [...]. [...] while 'preaching to the converts' reaches its limits relatively quickly, Chumbawamba can also use their method to reach listeners who would hardly ever listen to a hardcore band. "

In the October 1997 intro edition, Achim Borchers characterized what was presented as "modern pop / dance music [...] with special attention to gorgeous melodies and harmony chants." Later in the text he added: "Chumbawamba hid the disturbing particles between the songs: weird sound snippets, samples, breakbeats, grooves."

On the other hand, the eight musicians questioned actually went “hard to court” with Tubthumper in the category “records in court”. Only the former head of The Chameleons, Mark Burgess, declared his love for the band and concluded with the sentence: “They sound better than ever before.” Otherwise harsh words were used about the song quality and the EMI partnership.

Marcel Anders raved in the Musikexpress : “Your songs are so poppy, charming and happy that they even get through to the charts. [...] Tubthumper fits into common formats and makes every effort to meet commercial requirements. But that's just the facade of a much more subversive plan: Chumbawamba want to disintegrate the system from within. They ingratiate themselves to destroy. It's not just cheeky, it's simply brilliant. "

The Internet platform Allmusic awarded 4.5 stars out of 5 for the “unmistakable” album.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d sources Chart placements: MusikWoche , 34/1997 - 23/1998 (August 18, 1997 - June 1, 1998), compared and supplemented by various Billboard editions, [1] , [2] .
  2. ↑ Thomas Winkler: Our favorite pop guerilla . In: the daily newspaper , September 12, 2002. Also on: taz print archive , accessed on November 23, 2013.
  3. ^ A b c d Anonymous: Riot in the aerobics center. A British musician collective has been fighting for the anarchist world revolution for 14 years - now Chumbawamba have achieved their first world hit. In: Der Spiegel , 48/1997, p. 271.
  4. ↑ Alice Nutter on FAQ YOU! ( Memento of December 2, 1998 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 23, 2013.
  5. ^ A b Peter Lau: Coctails à la Molotow. The long march through the dance club: Chumbawamba make pop & agitprop . In: Rolling Stone , 10/1997.
  6. ↑ A Chumbawamba FAQ, s. under 1997 , accessed November 23, 2013.
  7. ↑ MusikWoche , 28/1997 (from July 7, 1997), p. 4.
  8. ^ Rockonthenet.com , accessed November 23, 2013.
  9. ^ Nigel Williamson: Chumbawama Looks Further Afield . In: Billboard , April 3, 2004, p. 57.
  10. ^ Billboard , March 16, 2002, p. 112.
  11. ^ A b Andy Gill: Andy Gill on Albums. Chumbawamba. Tubthumper. In: independent.co.uk. August 29, 1997, accessed May 17, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Kevin Carter, Janine Coversey, Sean Ross: Radio, Labels Debate 'Ownership'. Consolidation May Affect Battles Over Artists . In: Billboard , April 18, 1998, p. 71.
  13. ↑ punknews.org , accessed November 23, 2013.
  14. ^ Douglas Wolk: Dialectical Immaterialism. Have Chumbawamba Sold out or Bought in? In: weekywire.com. December 8, 1997, accessed May 17, 2015 .
  15. ↑ calleia.com , accessed November 23, 2013.
  16. ↑ Wissen.de , accessed on November 23, 2013.
  17. ↑ Pia Ambrosch, Josefine Hintze: Chumbawamba. British anarcho rock band. In: Munzinger-Archiv , Pop-Archiv International , 05/2013 (from May 14, 2013).
  18. ↑ Anonymous: Chumbawamba. Tubthumper . In: MusikWoche , 39/1997 (from September 22, 1997), p. 32.
  19. ↑ (dpg): Freedom of speech for robots. 'Chumbawamba': standing up between folk and rap . In: Darmstädter Echo , September 13, 1997.
  20. ↑ Falk Albrecht: [untitled]. In: Visions , 9/1997, p. 46.
  21. ↑ Achim Borchers: No Depression . In: Intro , No. 48 (October 1997), p. 12.
  22. ↑ Diverse: records in court . In: Intro , No. 48 (October 1997), pp. 48-49.
  23. ↑ Musikexpress 10/1997 , accessed on November 23, 2013.
  24. ↑ Tubthumper at Allmusic (English)

Remarks

  1. ↑ All text meanings emerge from the original texts and their explanations in the booklet. Additional sources are indicated where applicable. In addition, the translation intended for the German printing (but ultimately not attached) is helpful, which can be read at: http://www.kipuka.net/chumba/lyrics/tub_ger.html