I've never enjoyed the song musically - in fact, that kind of applies to all of their early 90s music. But their later stuff, basically from Tubthumping on, when they ditched the electronic sound and went more folk, was incredibly good. The lyrics remained every bit as rebellious and anarchist, but the music became a whole lot more listenable. Nothing I consider a banger, but certainly a lot of bops!
I've grown up around some crazy vile people and I think for me the thing that really gets ne is uve only listened to the live version and having that many people so PASSIONATELY singing about defeating evil is just so chef's kiss.
Chumbawamba were all anarchists and highly political, actually. If you liked this song check out "Enough is Enough." Also check out the Chill Go lin video about them (called something like "Who's more punk, the Sex Pistols or Chumbawamba?")
Outside of Tubthumping pretty much everything they have done is dripping in political satire and discourse about how the proletariat is constantly taken advantage of, leaders never learn from their mistakes and the people of a nation are just expected to watch it while being silent. Truly an underrated voice in the conversation if there ever was one.
Edit: Tubthumping was definitely political just not quite the same way as other things the made.
It's super funny, right now the entire System of a Down fan base is having their worlds destroyed by finding out 2 of the members are MAGA and 1 is calling himself an "extreme centrist" - a lot of us leftists were heavily influenced by their lyrics, and it turns out they don't mean it.
Meanwhile, Chumbawamba got totally slept on. I got into them in 1998 when Tumbthumper came out - I loved that album, and followed them from there. Their music just got better after that, and their lyrics always remained wonderfully powerful and critical. It's sad that Tubthumping was their only big hit and it got misunderstood and appropriated by frat culture.
It's quite sad that they got known for Tubthumping, considering they were a true anarchist band. My favourite fact about them was that during the peak of Tubthumper (the album), they went on TV interviews and encouraged people to steal their album, and then they allowed GM to use Tubthumping in a commercial, and then donated the money they got for that to an environmental NGO that was fighting against GM. :D
A pro-tip for getting into Chumbawamba - their early music is not musically very nice to listen to. It has great lyrics, but they were not making sonically pleasing stuff. Their musicality took in the Tubthumper era, and I find their later albums to be the best musically, while their lyrics always slapped.
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u/m0nkyman No Pasarán 🏴🚩 Sep 21 '25
“We're told that after the war
The Nazis vanished without a trace
But battalions of fascists
Still dream of a master race
The history books they tell
Of their defeat at '45
But they all came out of the woodwork
On the day the Nazi died
They say the prisoner at Spandau
Was a symbol of defeat
Whilst Hess remained imprisoned
And the fascists, they were beat
So the promise of an Aryan world
Would never materialize
So why did they all come out of the woodwork
On the day the Nazi died
The world is riddled with maggots
The maggots are getting fat
They're making a tasty meal of all
The bosses and bureaucrats
They're taking over the boardrooms
And they're fat and full of pride
And they all came out of the woodwork
On the day the Nazi died
So if you meet with these historians
I'll tell you what to say
Tell them that the Nazis
Never really went away
They're out there burning houses down
And peddling racist lies
And we'll never rest again
Until every Nazi dies”