Chumbawamba release celebratory EP marking Margaret Thatcher's death

Alt-pop anarchists, Chumbawamba are streaming an EP they recorded back in 2005 celebrating the death of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

The band, best known for their 90s hit ‘Tubthumping’, originally sold the record online a few years back – with the short-player only deliverable on the condition of the Baroness “popping her clogs” (as they put it in a 2011 interview).

But now, following the British politician’s death earlier this week, the EP is being sent to all those who purchased it over the years, as well as being streamed online.

You can listen to the release in full below, with the band releasing the following statement:

“She’s not been gone more than a few hours, and already the national media have cranked into gear and begun the blandly respectful eulogies – at their most critical they seem to be only able to say: ‘She polarised opinion … what’s certain is how much of an impact she made on Britain … etc etc’

Twitter set off at a pace with a thousand ‘Ding Dong the Witch is Dead’ messages only to be followed by a slew of bleeding heart liberals bemoaning the fact that people were daring to celebrate someone’s death.

Pah! Let’s make it clear: This is a cause to celebrate, to party, to stamp the dirt down. Tomorrow we can carry on shouting and writing and working and singing and striking against the successive governments that have so clearly followed Thatcher’s Slash & Burn policies, none more so than the present lot. But for now, we can have a drink and a dance and propose a toast to the demise of someone who blighted so many people’s lives for so long.

If we must show a little reverence and decorum at this time, then so be it. Our deepest sympathies go out to the families of all Margaret Thatcher’s victims.”

[via FACT]