Following ‘Stop Brexit Man’ Steve Bray’s blaring of Labour’s 1997 campaign anthem during Rishi’s election announcement, D:Ream’s popular song ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ soars up the iTunes chart to number 6.
Following the Labour hymn being blared over Rishi’s election announcement by anti-Brexit activist Steve Bray, D:Ream’s hit song “Things Can Only Get Better” peaked at number six on the iTunes list.
After drowning out the prime minister in Downing Street yesterday, the song—which Tony Blair adopted during the 1997 landslide campaign—has shot to the top of the hit list.
The song played in the backdrop from outside Whitehall’s gates as Rishi finished his address in the pouring rain and declared the date of the snap vote.
Since last night, the song has been progressively rising the rankings. Shortly after the announcement of the snap election, it debuted at number nine.
It was superior to Post Malone’s most recent venture into country music and Sabrina Carpenter’s “song of the summer,” Espresso.
The antics of anti-Brexit activist Steve Bray did not derail Mr. Sunak.
In the most recent election, Mr. Bray ran as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Cynon Valley, South Wales.
The PM’s remarks was audibly overshadowed by the ruckus during news broadcasts. It didn’t cut out, but the speakers were damaged by the rain, not because the cops moved in.
“We had a good run at Downing Street but both amplifiers got soaked and blown,” Mr. Bray, also known as Stop Brexit Man, posted on social media following the incident. They endured for the crucial instant.
As demonstrators sang along, a massive speaker blasting music down Downing Street was shielded from the rain by a campaigner holding up a large blue umbrella with an EU theme.
“Police just served me an order and banned me from every street around Whitehall and Parliament,” Mr. Bray later stated. It seems that two individuals voiced their complaints. Most likely Rishi Sunak and his spouse.
The demonstrator declared it was his right to demonstrate outside Downing Street and compared the UK to North Korea as police attempted to remove him from the area. He eventually left with his speakers.
He referred to the Met Police as “Tory puppets” in an X post and got into a fight with officers who were attempting to transfer him to a new location so he could carry on his campaign. Mr. Bray has already used music as a political tool to oppose the Conservatives.
Despite running afoul of MPs and the police, he has been playing music in Westminster at volumes as high as 90 decibels for a number of years. In 2022, he attempted to obstruct Boris Johnson’s goodbye address outside No. 10 by playing the Benny Hill theme loudly.
Mr. Sunak said in his address that he was “stopping the boats” and that inflation was “back to normal” in spite of Mr. Bray’s protestations.
“Britain must decide its future now. The question is how and who do you trust to turn that foundation into a secure future,” he declared.
Peter Cunnah, Al Mackenzie, Professor Brian Cox on keyboards, and other members of a Northern Irish pop and dance group sang the original version of the song, which attempted to overpower the prime minister’s declaration.
The group first debuted their hit in 1993 after forming in 1992.Things Can Only Get Better was re-released and peaked at number one before the Labour Party claimed it, following its tour support of Take That.
Because the band donated their income to the Blair campaign, it became so popular that the Tories attempted to have Radio 1 stop playing it.
Cunnah, the lead singer, sang the song live at multiple rallies.
Additionally, he starred in a political program in which voters were seen on a sunny day making their way to the polls, guided by an enigmatic figure wearing a pale blue shirt—who, it turns out, was none other than Blair.
The group won a Brit Award in 1995 for Best Single, and their two albums from the 1990s peaked in the UK’s top five. However, in spite of their success, the band broke up in 1997.
Then, following a fortuitous meeting more than ten years later, Cunnah and McKenzie got back together, recorded a new studio album in 2021, and this year they’re scheduled to play on the Glade stage at Glastonbury Festival.
Despite the song’s association with New Labour’s 1997 triumph, pop artist and physicist Cox has since disclosed that he doubts he would ever license any of the band’s songs to a political campaign.
The success of New Labour’s campaign anthem on the charts is hardly the first instance of the mashup of politics and music.
‘Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead’ shot to the top of the charts in 2013 after former prime minister Margaret Thatcher passed away, but it was unable to stay there.
The 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz provided the soundtrack, which debuted at number two on the charts. Politicians have shown to benefit from music when running for office.
Few anticipated what would happen when Theresa May took the stage at the Tory party conference in October 2018.
Life imitated art when the Prime Minister walked into the Birmingham conference hall to the tune of ABBA’s classic song Dancing Queen.
With her arms extended and a broad smile on her face, the leader of the Conservative Party performed a dance to the song. Her antics caused the audience in the auditorium to erupt in amusement, and she was soon called the “Maybot.”
Because of the ‘wash up’ of legislation, the scheduled half-term recess for next week will have to be canceled due to the July 4 date.
This July election will mark the first since 1945, when Winston Churchill’s Tories were ousted by Clement Attlee’s Labour Party.
