Video

Getting Up Again

Kickstarter backers pay $65,000 for a movie that explains why Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” happened.

Earworm-y and optimistic, Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” was impossible to avoid in the fall of 1997, enjoying a six-month-long presence on the Billboard Hot 100. If that wasn’t enough, the music video, uploaded to YouTube in 2009, has been watched more than 14 million times.

Now the band is back, in a sense. Former lead singer Dunstan Bruce took to Kickstarter for funds to tell the group’s 30-year story—and more than 1,000 people have heeded his call. With just more than two days to go, the campaign has raised $65,463 from former victims of the band’s infectious anthem, who ponied up to learn how a novelty group of “anarcho-punks living in a squat in Leeds” produced an international hit. I may have contributed (sorry).

Watch the video above for Bruce’s charming pitch, and marvel at the shock of gray hair that now adorns the formerly bleach-blonde singer.