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Tubthumper is the eighth studio album and the major label debut by English Rock music band Chumbawamba, released on 1 September 1997 by EMI. The album was written and produced by Chumbawamba, with additional production from Neil Ferguson. A musical departure from the group's anarcho-punk roots, the album incorporates elements of pop rock, dance-pop, and alternative rock. Thematically, the album acts as a social commentary on a variety of political issues, particularly that of class conflict. Tubthumper was promoted with three singles: "Tubthumping", "Amnesia", and "Drip, Drip, Drip". "Top of the World (Olé, Olé, Olé)", a standalone single previously featured on the for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, was included on a European reissue of Tubthumper.
Tubthumper received generally positive reviews from music critics, who noted it as a sonically distinctive record, in addition to praising its subtle social commentary. Following the international commercial success of lead single "Tubthumping", the album peaked at number three in the United States and within the top ten in several other countries. The album's release was met with several controversies, including controversial comments in interviews by group vocalist Alice Nutter and allegations of the band selling out after signing to a major label. Tubthumper remains as Chumbawamba's most successful album, having sold over 3.2 million units in the United States alone.
The album catapulted the group into the mainstream, released by EMI in the UK and in the US by Universal Records, and was noted for its departure from the group's typical style of outspoken punk rock in favor of a more mainstream sound.
The album's title refers to "Someone who stands on a soapbox on the street corner and shouts what's wrong with the world". The cover for the album was designed by Michael Calleia at Industrial Strength Design in New York City. The cover was loosely based on the album cover for the group's 1994 album Anarchy, with the group commenting "the anarchy baby was just being born on Anarchy, and we thought it should be eight months to a year old with a bit of attitude on Tubthumper."
The song "One by One" has been described as an "elegiac tale of treachery" committed by politicians. "The Good Ship Lifestyle" criticizes "lifestylism", which the group defined as the "practice of wrapping yourself in a blinkered, self-perfecting, ideologically-sound cocoon", telling other people how to live their lives but not abiding those rules oneself.
Tubthumper incorporates a number of musical styles, including synth-pop, hip hop, jungle, and . The album was noted for its presence of trumpet solos. Music critic Greg Kot likened the album's catchiness to that of the Spice Girls. An album review by Rolling Stone compared the musical style of "Smalltown" to that of British alternative group Everything But the Girl, while deeming the album's overall genre "radio-friendly dance pop". The Los Angeles Times concurred that the album was dance-pop.
Some critics were more lukewarm in their assessments of the album, however: Rolling Stone's Elisabeth Vincentelli awarded the album 3 stars and opined that the album's lyrics "have traded the brusque directness of yore for oblique pathos", though she did go on to praise "Smalltown" as being "coolly collected" and "Tubthumping" as having "a fist-in-the-air quality that would work equally well at a union rally and in an arena." She concluded that the album "may not enlighten the masses, but it'll make them dance". Music critic Robert Christgau awarded the album a 3-star honourable mention rating and cited "Tubthumping" and "Amnesia" as highlights, with the note "Tub as platform, tub as cornucopia, tub as slop bucket".
The song Tubthumping was added to the videogame Fortnite Festival.
The album became a commercial success. In the United States, it hit number 3 on the Billboard 200 and sold more than 3,200,000 copies, thanks in large part to the success of "Tubthumping;" Canada, where the album reached number 2; and the UK, where the album reached number 19. The album also placed at number 17 on the American tally of top-selling albums of 1997. Tubthumper remains the group's highest-charting album in all three territories; its sales in the US stand at 3,200,000.
The band defended their decision on their official FAQ page, issuing a statement that read, in part: "We signed to EMI/Universal not because we'd been co-opted into the 'If you can't beat capitalism ... join it' school of thought, but because experience had taught us that in a capitalist environment almost every record company operates on capitalist principles. Our previous record label One Little Indian didn't have the evil symbolic significance of EMI BUT they were completely motivated by profit. Our Chumbawamba's position was that whoever we signed with would want us not for our ideas but for the potential profit, so we'd battle for a contract where we still had autonomy."
Chumbawamba's decision to sign with a major record label prompted the release of the extended play, Bare Faced Hypocrisy Sells Records – The Anti-Chumbawamba EP, by several of their contemporaries in 1998. The release included contributions from The Chineapple Punks, Riot/Clone, Anxiety Society, Love, Chips & Peace, Oi Polloi, Bus Station Loonies, and Wat Tyler. Its title was inspired by Chumbawamba's debut album Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records.
Nutter maintained that her comments had been taken out of context, and that they were "tongue-in-cheek" and not to be taken seriously. She told MTV in a January 1998 interview that "They wanted to talk about people stealing our record, which is irrelevant in the scheme of things. What I wanted to talk about was why people shoplift and why in some cases it's absolutely valid. Some people have two houses and two cars and luxuries for far more than themselves, and other people struggle to survive day by day."
The ensuing controversy also served to stoke the public's interest in the album.
Chumbawamba
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| US Billboard 200 | 150 |
| US Billboard 200 | 17 |
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