Chumbawamba — Tubthumping

The strangest thing about "Tubthumping" is who made it. Chumbawamba formed in Burnley, Lancashire in 1982 as an anarchist collective — anarcho-communist politics, animal-rights and anti-fascist activism, roots in the same 1980s anarcho-punk underground as Crass — and spent roughly fifteen years as indie heroes before they ever troubled the mainstream charts. Then, in August 1997, the lead single from their album Tubthumper broke worldwide.

"Tubthumping" — a working-class resilience anthem, per guitarist Boff Whalley, dressed up as a rowdy drinking song — reached number two in the UK and number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and topped charts in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, and New Zealand. Its "I get knocked down" chant became ubiquitous in sports arenas and pubs, and the band gleefully weaponized their sudden fame: at the 1998 BRIT Awards, vocalist Danbert Nobacon poured a jug of water over UK Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, protesting the Labour government's stance on the Liverpool dockworkers' strike.

In America they are the textbook one-hit wonder — Rolling Stone ranked "Tubthumping" number eight on its list of the top one-hit wonders of all time — but that framing undersells a band that kept releasing politically charged records right up until it disbanded in 2012. The anthem, meanwhile, still gets up again every time it's knocked down, echoing across stadiums and picket lines alike.