WHEN New Zealand’s Populist Deputy Prime Minister, Winston Peters, stood to deliver a political speech in the city of Palmerston North in March, British punk band Chumbawamba’s iconic song “Tubthumping (I Get Knocked Down)” blared through the speakers.
While not the first time Peters has used or referenced the ’90s hit, his choice of song has now drawn vocal dissatisfaction from the band itself.
During the State of the Nation address, Peters, leader of the nationalist New Zealand First party, criticized the former Labor government’s policy of co-management (joint decision-making with Maori people), and pointed to the emergence of an unspecified “race-based theory” which he compared to the philosophy of “seen… in Nazi Germany.” Peters then went on to call for educational reform, including the removal of “gender, sexuality and relationships-based educational guidance” from schools.
The controversial remarks were met with pushback from other members of New Zealand’s coalition government, which mostly consists of the mainstream National and ACT parties. But the news was quickly swept away by Chumbawamba publicly condemning the use of Peters’ song.
“Everything that Peters represents goes against the Chumbawamba worldview,” the band’s founding member and former vocalist, Dunstan Bruce, told CNN.
“And with that song in particular, a song that was written as a hymn to the weak, the marginalized, the working class — it just felt so wrong that Peters thought it was appropriate for himself.”
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As a self-appointed “anarchist collective,” Chumbawamba found its voice in the ’80s era of punk music, building a brand of activism through support and funding for progressive causes — especially after achieving global commercial success with 1997’s “Tubthumping.” sold his song “Pass It Along” to automaker General Motors for US$70,000 only to donate the money to activists waging an environmental campaign against the company.
Chumbawamba, which disbanded in 2012, has asked its former record company, Sony Music Publishing, to issue a cease and desist letter to New Zealand First. The label did not respond to CNN’s request for comment about potential legal action.
Rights management organization APRA AMCOS NZ, which is responsible for licensing public musical performances in New Zealand, told CNN that the owner of the convention hall where the song was played had obtained a license to play music at the venue. But there are caveats: For one thing, the license doesn’t cover uses of the music that could “reasonably be seen as suggesting approval, affiliation, or endorsement by an artist, songwriter, publisher, or record label.”
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“Anyone familiar with the band and their views will quickly realize that such use in such a context would never be approved,” added an APRA AMCOS spokesperson. The convention hall owner did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
“It’s very difficult to control, and in looking for ways to stop Peters, we realized that these things are vague laws and take time to enforce,” Bruce said. “If people like Peters want to abuse our music… we must be in a position to respond appropriately.”
Legal considerations
If the matter ever ends up in court, Chumbawamba may need to show how Peters or New Zealand First has benefited from the alleged infringement, according to Peter Dungate Thrush, partner and intellectual property rights specialist at New Zealand-based law firm McCabes and Company.
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“One of the issues is that it is very difficult to demonstrate much of the financial damage suffered (by Chumbawamba),” Thrush said, predicting that any money gained from the legal battle would likely be very small.
But, he added, the potential benefits for the band may not just be financial: “It would also… show that they are serious about copyright issues, and that other people should not use (the song).”
For Bruce, it was simple: “We didn’t want our name associated with someone like Peters.”
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This is not the first time a political party in New Zealand has made news for its musical choices. In a 2017 high court decision, US rapper Eminem was awarded 600,000 Zealand dollars (then about US$415,000) for copyright infringement by the New Zealand National Party, which had used a song called “Eminem Esque” in a political advertising campaign several years earlier. The court ruled that the song “substantially plagiarized” the rapper’s Academy Award-winning 2002 hit “Lose Yourself.”
More recently, Eminem took aim at former US Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who reportedly issued a cease and desist letter to stop him from using “Lose Yourself” in last year’s election campaign. Former US president Donald Trump, meanwhile, has faced a number of complaints from famous musicians who accused him of using their songs without their permission, including The Rolling Stones, Rihanna, Pharrell Williams and Bruce Springsteen.
Chumbawamba is no stranger to politicians using his music. The far-right British Independence Party (UKIP) attracted the band’s ire in 2011 when then leader Nigel Farage walked out with the song “Tubthumping” at a conference.
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UKIP appeared to respect the band’s request to stop using the song. Peters, however, made a point, using social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to say: “Nothing should stop or stop.”
Peters went on to claim that the song “worked like a charm” at the convention. Responding to CNN’s request for comment, New Zealand First Party President Julian Paul said the party had nothing further to add.
A message of resilience
Whether music can significantly influence the perception of a political campaign or speech is a matter of debate. According to Emmanuel Heisbourg, a former researcher at the University of Montreal who has studied the influence of music in political advertising on people’s views of politicians, removing or changing songs may have a “very, very small impact” on how competent or compassionate a candidate appears, for example. But it remains an under-researched area of research, Heisbourg told CNN.
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In addition to the energetic composition possibly sparking passion in a crowd, the “tubthumping” lyrics (British slang for a violent political protest) have clearly struck a chord with those promoting a message of resilience. Peters has referenced the song’s iconic refrain — “I get knocked down, but I get back up again. You’re never gonna keep me down” — before.
Last summer, a few months before the aforementioned State of the Union address Peters directly mentioned the band by name.
“When we get up, the shit will start all over again,” he said during a party convention in July, according to a transcript published by New Zealand First.
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“In fact, as you know, it’s already started. That’s the barometer. That’s the real poll, that’s the sign that our opponents are very worried. Expect it and ignore it. Just repeat Chumbawamba’s words: ‘I fell but I got up again. You won’t be able to take me down’.”
For Chumbawamba, the mass appeal and evocative message of their hits is “a blessing and a curse,” Bruce said.
“We didn’t realize how much that message would resonate around the world and how it would apply in almost every situation,” he said. “We want the song to always be a force for good. And reflect what we believe in and support. That’s why there are times when we have to make noise when things don’t go smoothly.” (CNN/Z-3)
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