| "Tony Blair" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Chumbawamba | ||||
| Released | December 1999 | |||
| Recorded | 1999 Woodlands Studio, Castleford, United Kingdom | |||
| Genre | Doo-wop | |||
| Length | 3:05 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Chumbawamba | |||
| Producer(s) | Chumbawamba & Neil Ferguson | |||
| Chumbawamba singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Tony Blair" is a single by Chumbawamba which was made available exclusively to the United Kingdom mailing list as a Christmas present in December 1999. [1]
Chumbawamba had long been critical of the administration of British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his New Labour Party, with Blair's "alleged perfidy" among the topics of their 1997 breakout album, Tubthumper . [2] [3] At the 1998 Brit Awards, band member Danbert Nobacon leaned into the face of the Prime Minister's wife, Cherie Blair, to sing the line "New Labour have sold out the dockers", and later at the show threw water in the face of deputy Prime Minister John Prescott as revenge for his resisting calls to recognize the Liverpool dock workers' strike. [2] Group vocalist Alice Nutter later revealed that the band had hoped that Blair himself would be present at the awards show, telling the Mirror that "We hate the Labour Party […] because they've sold out. They're rubbish. We hoped Tony Blair would be [at the awards show] so we could all go up and spit in his bubbly." [4]
The Guardian described the song as a "retro tale of puppy love with a double-crossing dreamboat". [5] Its lyrics include "Tony, now you date/All the girls that you used to hate/So I don't believe a single word you say." [5]
The cover art pays tribute to the iconic artwork of Elvis Presley's debut album, which was also referenced by The Clash's London Calling album cover.
Rupert Perry, the head of EMI Records UK at the time, was reportedly very displeased with the band for issuing the single, and sent them a letter which included the statement "I actually think Tony is really fab". [6] All copies of the CD in EMI offices were later confiscated. [7] The song can be downloaded in mp3 format from the band's website. [7]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tony Blair" | 3:05 |
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Chumbawamba was an English rock band formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the 1998 Brit Awards. Other singles include "Amnesia", "Enough Is Enough", "Timebomb", "Top of the World ", and "Add Me". The band drew on genres such as punk rock, pop, and folk. 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 and later regarding class struggle, Marxism, feminism, gay liberation, pop culture, and anti-fascism.
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Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He served as Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, and had various shadow cabinet posts from 1987 to 1994. Blair was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007. He is the second longest serving prime minister in modern history after Margaret Thatcher, and is the longest serving Labour politician to have held the office.
"Tubthumping" is a song released by British rock band Chumbawamba from their eighth studio album, Tubthumper (1997). It is the band's most successful single, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart. It topped the charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and hit number six on the US Billboard Hot 100. At the 1998 Brit Awards, "Tubthumping" was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Single. It sold 880,000 copies in the UK.
"Tony's Cronies" was a term in British politics and media given to people who were viewed as being given positions of power because of their personal friendships with Prime Minister Tony Blair, during his premiership between 1997 and 2007. These included those granted life peerages and public positions based on their friendship with Blair rather than their individual merits. The phrase was created by the Conservative Party after the 1997 United Kingdom general election and was continually used in the media throughout Blair's premiership.
Tubthumper is the eighth studio album and the major label debut by English rock 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 ", a standalone single previously featured on the official music compilation album for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, was included on a European reissue of Tubthumper.
WYSIWYG is the ninth studio album by English rock band Chumbawamba, released on 4 April 2000 by EMI. The album was written and produced by Chumbawamba, with additional production by Neil Ferguson. Originally a continuation of the sound of predecessor Tubthumper (1997), the group scrapped the material from the album's initial recording sessions and sought to explore new sounds with WYSIWYG. The album incorporates elements of pop, dance-pop, alternative rock, and experimental music. Thematically, the album explores various aspects of pop culture that the group had been exposed to due to the success of their 1997 single "Tubthumping". WYSIWYG was promoted with one single: "She's Got All the Friends That Money Can Buy".
"Amnesia" is the second single from English rock band Chumbawamba's eighth studio album, Tubthumper (1997). The song's lyrics address the sense of betrayal that English leftists felt during the rise of New Labour. Released on 19 January 1998, the song was met with favorable reception from critics, who regarded the song as a highlight from Tubthumper.
"She's Got All the Friends That Money Can Buy" is the first single released from Chumbawamba's album WYSIWYG. The song's lyrics describe a wealthy socialite who's benefited from her parents' wealth. Upon its release, the song received mixed reviews from critics and was generally unsuccessful, failing to enter the UK Singles Chart or the Billboard Hot 100 and receiving very little airplay. The song's B-side, "Passenger List for Doomed Flight #1721", was subject to controversy upon its release, due to its lyrics' criticism of a number of prominent social figures.
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The Tony Blair Institute (TBI), commonly known by its trade name the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, is a non-profit organisation set up by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to provide advice to governments and "to help political leaders build open, inclusive and prosperous societies in an increasingly interconnected world". It claims to help countries, their people and their governments address some of the most difficult challenges in the world today. Bringing together the various organisations Blair set up after leaving office – The Tony Blair Governance Initiative and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation – as well as his work on the Middle East peace process, establishing a new area of work: Renewing the Centre. Blair’s intention was to expand the activity of these organisations, re-orientating the mission to reflect the overlap between extremism, governance, the Middle East and the policies needed to fight populism in the West.
