Chumbawamba Will No Longer Be Singin’

It’s hard to believe that a band who has been writing, recording and touring for 30 years only has one song that anyone cares about. Chumbawamba are the gods who put drinking and singing together in a way no one previously had for their mega hit Tubthumping. Doesn’t ring a bell? Think I get knocked down, but I get up again You nay ever gonna keep me down.

I know, right? I only just learned they were still a band as well. However, given the steady stream of royalty cheques since the song became a party anthem and was rotated millions of times throughout the 90s, sync’d to films and even re-imagined on that one episode of The Simpsons, they haven’t needed to make a hit.

The song probably didn’t do wonders in the constant battle against alcoholism, but few people out there would struggle to associate the track with at least one drunken moment.

The band took to their official website to break the news, stating:

“We felt we’d got to a point where what we did as a band – and specifically the writing, recording, touring cycle – wasn’t doing justice to what Chumbawamba set out to do in the first place. We were always as much about ideas as music, and that meant doing more than writing, recording and touring songs. It meant trying to be relevant and active and up-to-date, while trying to avoid the dreaded rut of routine or repetition. Being up-to-date meant giving plenty of time and energy to the band, constantly, for those thirty years; a constancy we plainly couldn’t keep up with in the end.”

The band was straight up punk rock, and even though they were only popular for a fleeting moment, they managed to make a lasting impression, not only through their anarchist-esque ethos but also for pouring a jug of water all over the British Prime Minister at a music awards show, as well as encouraging fans who couldn’t afford their music to steal it from major outlets.

So folks, it’s time to pour a lager drink, a whisky drink, a vodka drink and a cider drink, and pour some out on the kerbside for the recently departed Chumbawambas.

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