The Labour Party banned from using D:Ream song ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ during election campaign
Back in the 1990s, the sound of New Labour was D:Ream’s 1993 single ‘Things Can Only Get Better’. Now, though, the Northern Irish dance-pop outfit have banned the Labour Party from using the track during their campaign for the upcoming general election.
Recently, the song found a resurgence in popularity after it was played loudly by protestor Steve Bray while Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a surprise General Election for July 4th. Videos of Sunak getting soaked by the rain while ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ played in the background quickly went viral on social media, and D:Ream’s track shot into the top ten in the iTunes charts.
Despite the song’s previous political affiliations, or perhaps because of them, the band’s singer, Peter Cunnah, has forbidden the Labour Party from using his track. “My first reaction was ‘not again, please let me move on’,” he revealed to NME. While he did note that using the track as a protest song was not at odds with its original meaning, he fears that Keir Starmer’s use of the song will draw unwanted comparisons to Tony Blair’s campaign back in the 1990s.
“We all wanted that change in ’97,” he explained, “that sense of positivity. After doing the Good Friday Agreement, [Blair] looked like he was the great, great saviour. And then he sexed up the document and went to war in Iraq, and we were standing going ‘not in our name,’” adding, “Then you get accused of having blood on your hands”.
Cunnah’s comments seem to have been echoed by the rest of the band, who were recently announced as playing this year’s Glastonbury Festival. In a recent appearance on LBC, Al MacKenzie clarified, “I’ll be voting to get the Tories out, but I don’t really want the song to be linked to that”. Explaining the refusal to let Labour use the song, he said, “There’s no way – our songs and politics, never again”.
It seems as though, understandably, the era of New Labour and the various controversies that occurred during the Blair years have left their mark on D:Ream. After all, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ was the definitive anthem of that election campaign, so it now draws connotations with many of Blair’s regressive policies, particularly his decision to enter the war in Iraq.
Although the image of Rishi Sunak looking dejected as D:Ream’s track played will undoubtedly become an iconic image of this election, the involvement of the Northern Irish pop outfit will reportedly stop there.
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