Chumbawamba

Chumbawamba (/ˌtʃʌmbəˈwɒmbə/) were a British band who 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 Brit Awards 1998. Other singles include "Amnesia", "Enough Is Enough" (with Credit to the Nation), "Timebomb", "Top of the World (Olé, Olé, Olé)", and "Add Me". 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, and anti-fascism.

For most of their career, the band had a 7–8 piece lineup and drew from a wide range of musical styles, including punk rock, pop, and folk. While their first two albums were largely punk and pop-influenced, their third was an entirely a capella album of traditional songs. In 2004, several long-term members left the band, which continued with a 4-piece (later 5-piece) acoustic lineup, with more folk-influenced output.

In July 2012, Chumbawamba announced they were splitting up after 30 years. The band was joined by former members and collaborators for three final shows between 31 October and 3 November 2012, one of which was filmed and released as a live DVD.

The band's members have provided multiple mutually-exclusive explanations for the origin of the name "Chumbawamba". Jacobin suggested that "it was a running joke with band members who competed to see who could tell the most ridiculous story about where it came from", with examples including Boff Whalley's claim that it is a modification of the phrase "Chum, chum-ba, wailah!", which he heard chanted by an African drum band in Paris, and Danbert Nobacon's claim that it is inspired by a dream he had in which public toilets were not labeled "male" and "female", but "chumba" and "wamba".

Early interviews suggest that the band was initially called "Chumbawailing", and that they intended at one point to change the name for every gig.

A section on the band's former website asserted that the name was deliberately meaningless, as a reaction to the "obvious" names common among bands at the time they formed, and because it did not pin them to any particular associations and would not date.

Chumbawamba formed in Burnley in 1982 with an initial line-up of Allan "Boff" Whalley, Danbert Nobacon (born Nigel Hunter), and Midge, all three previously members of the band Chimp Eats Banana, shortly afterwards joined by Lou Watts. The band made their live debut in January 1982. Their first vinyl release was a track ("Three Years Later") on the Crass Records compilation album Bullshit Detector 2. They were initially inspired musically by bands as diverse as the Fall, PiL, Wire, and Adam and the Ants and politically by the anarchist stance of Crass. Another of the band's early releases was under the name "Skin Disease", parodying the Oi! bands of the time so successfully that they were included on Back On The Streets, an Oi! compilation EP put together by Sounds magazine journalist Garry Bushell.

In the early period of the band, all members lived together in a communal house, Southview House, in Armley, Leeds and kept all money in common.