CHUMBAWAMBA TUB-THUMPS AGAINST GREEDY ROCK STARS
You knock downloads, and they get uppity. British anarchist rockers Chumbawamba, who've apparently never met an antiauthoritarian cause they couldn't get behind, have released an Internet-only single, entitled "Pass It Along (MP3 Mix)," which bashes Napster-hating pop stars as greedy hypocrites. The single -- a remix of a track off the group's recent album What You See Is What You Get -- mixes sound bites from noted thinkers like Noam Chomsky, Jello Biafra, Lars Ulrich and the Beatles ("The best things in life are free") over large and identifiable samples of songs by artists who've publicly bashed Napster, including Madonna ("Justify My Love"), Dr. Dre ("Nothin' But a 'G' Thang"), Eminem ("The Real Slim Shady") and Metallica (whose indelible "Enter Sandman" riff provides the song's hook). Between the beats, Chumba vocalist Dunstan Bruce, in an apparent attempt to commit contributory copyright infringement, urges listeners to "Send this song to twenty people!"
"If Ulrich, Madonna and Eminem had never sold any records and were worried about entering a poverty-stricken old age," Dunstan said in a statement, "then their determination to stop their music being passed around would be understandable. But what we're seeing is some of the richest pop stars in the world making the biggest stink about not being able to screw every last penny from their adoring fans." The statement also thanks noted anti-copyright crusaders Negativland, "who were invaluable in helping to source samples." "Pass It Along" is currently available as a free download from Chumbawamba's Web site chumba.com, and -- needless to say -- as an extra-free download on Napster.