Chumbawamba - Slap (1990)

Formed in a squat in Leeds, England, in 1984, the anarchist pop group Chumbawamba were a most unlikely mainstream success story. After more than a decade in relative obscurity, much of it spent attacking the very notion of stardom, the band signed to a major label in 1997 and quickly scored a major international hit with the riotous single "Tubthumping." The single would prove to the band's commercial peak, even though Chumbawamba continued issuing politically aware albums (many of them featuring an increased emphasis on folk music) during the 2000s.

Their anarcho-communist political leanings led them to have an irreverent attitude toward authority, and to espouse a variety of political and social causes including animal rights and pacifism (early in their career) and later regarding class struggle, Marxism, feminism, gay liberation, pop culture, and anti-fascism.

Unabashedly political, Slap! refers to the Bader-Meinhof Gang, Bernadette Devlin and the Irish troubles, Tiananmen Square and the 1956 Hungarian uprising (which receives the studiously ironic "That's How Grateful We Are," about the destruction of a statue of Stalin). The politics are salted into an entertaining mix of beats and hooks that make the whole album easy to digest. Entertaining music designed to make the listener think -- not a bad deal.

Tracklist:

Ulrike
Tiananmen Square
Cartrouble
Chase PC's Flee Attack By Own Dog
Rubens Has Been Shot!
Rappoport's Testament: I Never Gave Up
Slap!
That's How Grateful We Are
Meinhof

Chumbawamba - Slap (1990)

(192 kbps, cover art included)