"Pass It Along"

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

salon.com

General Motors gets tub-thumped
British pop rockers Chumbawamba take the car company's money and run
straight to the anti-globalization movement.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Iain Aitch

Jan. 30, 2002 | LONDON -- Pass it on. General Motors is providing $100,000
of backing for two fiercely anti-corporate activist groups, IndyMedia and
CorpWatch, with a little help from the British pop band Chumbawamba. But
before you call your local GM dealer to see if their latest models come
with a "nuclear power, no thanks" bumper sticker fitted as standard, you
should know that the world's largest automaker's status as benefactor to
the anti-globalization movement actually came as a rather unpleasant
surprise to the company.

GM's embarrassing problem began when marketing executives at the company
decided a catchy piece of music titled "Pass it Along" would be ideal as a
hip soundtrack to their "Pass it on" ad campaign for Pontiac cars.
Unfortunately for GM, the song in question happened to be the work of
outspoken pop pranksters Chumbawamba, best remembered for their anthemic
1997 hit, "Tubthumping."

 Before the deal was even signed, Chumbawamba's members were busily
e-mailing activist groups to garner opinion about what to do with the
"dirty" money. The band eventually decided to split their corporate
windfall between the independent news collective IndyMedia and the business
monitoring service CorpWatch. The groups were naturally initially wary
about taking money from a corporation diametrically opposed to their aims,
but eventually decided in favor of what such large sums could do to aid
their campaigning work. The opportunity to drum up some publicity, quite
literally at GM's expense, must have been attractive too.

full: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2002/01/30/chumbawamba/index.html

---

Lyrics to "Pass it Along" (mp3 mix):

Pass It Along (MP3 Mix)

In a democracy the ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, the general
population, has to be kept from interfering. They can be spectators, but
not participants
No matter how much legal action you put behind this, people are going to do
what they want to do
Spectators, but not participants
It's time to talk about censorship
Send this song to twenty people
And isn't it stealing?
Add your name, don't break the cycle
>From people to people
Pass it along, pass it along
People like .MP3s
Pass it along, pass it along
How about trying this future on for size?
Well it's a one for the money
Spectators, but not participants
Well it's a one for the money
Spectators, but not participants
You can't legislate people's behavior
This is what we want to do, you know, if they consider that selling out,
then, uh, whatever
Whatever
Whatever
The people who run Napster should be in prison
It's time to talk about censorship
Send this song to twenty people
And isn't it stealing?
Add your name, don't break the cycle
>From people to people
Pass it along, pass it along
People like .MP3s
Pass it along, pass it along
The best things in life are free
The best things in life are free
And isn't it stealing?
The best things in life are free
And isn't it stealing?
The best things in life are free
Why does a consumer want to download music for free?
No matter how much legal action you put behind this, people are going to do
what they want to do
People are going to do what they want to do
How about trying this future on for size?
Well it's a one for the money
Spectators, but not participants
Well it's a one for the money
Spectators, but not participants
You can't legislate people's behavior
Pass it along, pass it along
We don't mind when our fans pay money to wear our promotional T-shirts, and
it's fine when they pay forty dollars to come to one of our concerts, but
when our fans think they can listen to our music for free, they just
crossed the line

(This song and others are downloadable for free from Chumbawamba's website
at: www.chumba.com)

Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org


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