"Amnesia" is the second single from English rock band

Chumbawamba Chumbawamba () was a British anarcho-punk band who formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the Brit Awards 1998. Other singles include "Amnes ...

's eighth studio album, ''

Tubthumper ''Tubthumper'' is the eighth studio album and the major label debut by English rock band Chumbawamba, released on 1 September 1997 by EMI. The album was written and produced by Chumbawamba, with additional production from Neil Ferguson. A music ...

'' (1997). The song's lyrics address the sense of betrayal that English leftists felt during the rise of

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

. Released on 19 January 1998 by

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

, the song was met with favorable reception from critics, who regarded the song as a highlight from ''Tubthumper''. The song was a top-10 hit in Canada and the United Kingdom, giving the group their final top-20 entries in both countries. The song also reached number one on the ''

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Bubbling Under Hot 100 Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

, becoming the group's final US chart entry. An accompanying music video was also released.

Background and writing

"Amnesia" lyrically explores the dishonesty of politicians and the ignorance of voters who continue to vote them into office. Chumbawamba's Alice Nutter told MTV that the group "wrote "Amnesia' before the general election in England, and we basically wrote it about Blair's new labor ic" adding that the song has a universal message, noting that "people forget that what Bill Clinton says before he gets elected is not what Bill Clinton will do when he's in office, and that's not about Bill Clinton, that's about all politicians." At the end of the album version of the song, there is an interlude that samples a UK

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Release

The song was released as a

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

in the UK. A 12-inch single of the song was later released in the US, featuring "Tubthumping" as its

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

. A full-page ad featured in ''Spin'' magazine, for the song's parent album mentioned the inclusion of "Amnesia" on the album, was accompanied by partial lyrics.

Reception

Critical

The song was well-received by music critics, many of whom felt the song was one of the better tracks on ''Tubthumper''. Both music critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

and

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

noted "Amnesia", as well as "Tubthumping", as a highlight of ''Tubthumper''.

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

'' wrote, "Can this group pull off a second hit? It may be a bit tricky duplicating the sales and radio heat of "Thubthumper", but Chumbawamba makes a respectable effort with this booming follow-up. The song lacks some of the magical immediacy of its predecessor, but it wears extremely well with repeated spins. In fact, by the second go round, you'll be bobbin' your head to the track's feel-good

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

-fortified beat and chanting along with the song's oddly catchy "''Do you suffer from long-term memory loss?''" Ultimately, this is quirky good fun that deserves a fair shake." A reviewer from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave the single three out of five, adding, "The long-awaited follow-up to "Tubthumping" is marked by a flat verse which is made up for by a catchy radio-friendly singalong chorus."

Commercial

The song was a successful follow-up to "Tubthumping", reaching the top 10 in the United Kingdom and Canada. In Canada, "Amnesia" debuted on the ''

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'' Top Singles chart on the issue dated 2 February 1998. It reached its number-seven peak on the chart dated 27 April. The song spent a total of 27 weeks in the Canadian Top 100. In the UK, the song was similarly successful, debuting and peaking at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart dated 31 January 1998. In the United states, the song was somewhat successful, although it was far less so than "Tubthumping". Though the song failed to enter the ''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

, it reached number one on the

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles (also known as Bubbling Under the Hot 100) is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The chart lists the top songs that have not yet charted on the main ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Chart ...

chart (the equivalent of number 101 on the Hot 100), spending two weeks overall on the chart. It also peaked at number 19 on the

Mainstream Top 40 Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/contemporary hit radio, CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played o ...

and number 38 on the

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

. The song was released to modern rock radio stations, on which "Tubthumping" had received much play; however, "Amnesia" was unsuccessful on that format.

Music video

A music video for the song, featuring the members of the group performing in a theatre, with the audience dancing. As the video progresses, the audience members leave until a janitor is the only one still watching. The video was put into rotation on

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV as 24-hour music video and entertainment pay television network officially launched on 1 August 1987 as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initia ...

and

MuchMusic Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...

Track listings

* European single # "Amnesia" (single mix) (2:55) (minus other single mixes' lounge intro) # "Amnesia" (album version) (3:45 according to notes, 4:08 on disc) ("album version" includes album interstitial material but fades out at end) # "Amnesia" (acoustic version) (3:02) # "Amnesia" (Done Lying Down version) (3:40) (performed by Done Lying Down) # "Amnesia" (Jimmy Echo version) (2:45) (vocals by Jimmy Echo) * UK CD1 single # "Amnesia" (single mix) (3:14) # "Amnesia" (Done Lying Down version) (3:40) (performed by Done Lying Down) # "Amnesia" (Jimmy Echo version) (2:45) (vocals by Jimmy Echo) # "Amnesia" (Zion Train 359 Amhurst Road mix) (7:42) (remix by

Zion Train Zion Train are a British Dub music, dub ensemble that formed in Oxford, 1988. They have consistently released music and toured from 1992 to present day. Their mix of reggae and dance music was a notable innovation in the early 1990s. History ...

) # "Amnesia" (Decontrol remix) (5:52) (remix by Decontrol) * UK CD2 single # "Amnesia" (single mix) (3:14) # "

Tubthumping "Tubthumping" is a song by British rock band Chumbawamba, released in August 1997 by EMI, Universal Records (1995), Universal and Republic Records as the first single from their eighth studio album, ''Tubthumper'' (1997). It is the band's most ...

" (single mix) (3:34) # "Tubthumping" (Escape from New York mix) (6:24) # "Tubthumping" (Tin Tin Out mix) (4:53) * US 12-inch single :A1. "Amnesia" (radio remix) (3:10) :A2. "Amnesia" (Zion Train 359 Amhurst Road mix) (7:42) (remix by Zion Train) :B1. "Amnesia" (Decontrol remix) (5:52) (remix by Decontrol) :B2. "Tubthumping" (Escape from New York's Full English Breakfast mix) (6:23) * Japanese mini-album # "Amnesia" (single mix) (3:14) # "Tubthumping" (country & western version) (3:38) # "Mouthful of Shit" (country & western version) (2:56) # "One By One" (acoustic version) (3:12) # "Drip, Drip, Drip" (country & western version) (3:53) # "The Big Issue" (acoustic version) (3:39) # "Stitch That" (country & western version) (2:41) # "Amnesia" (acoustic version) (3:01) # "Amnesia" (Done Lying Down version) (performed by Done Lying Down) (3:39) # "Amnesia" (Jimmy Echo version) (vocals by Jimmy Echo) (2:45)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

Media usage

The radio edit of the song was included on the original TV soundtrack for ''

Sabrina the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appeared ...

''.

References

External links

Music video
{{Authority control 1997 songs 1998 singles Chumbawamba songs EMI Records singles Republic Records singles