Founding members Alan Mackenzie and Peter Cunnah said they were dismayed to hear their number one hit play through a loudspeaker as Rishi Sunak announced he was calling an election.
The pop band behind New Labour’s 1997 anthem Things Can Only Get Better has banned Sir Keir Starmer from using the song in the election.
D:Ream’s founding members Alan Mackenzie and Peter Cunnah said they were dismayed to hear their number one hit play through a loudspeaker as Rishi Sunak announced he was calling a general election on 4 July.
The pair told LBC their first thought was: “Not again.”
“The fact that it’s been politicised again is disturbing. We wondered if we could go on with our lives and now it’s back again,” Kuna said from his recording studio in his County Donegal home.
“Do they think we’re some kind of protest song coming from a megaphone on the edge of town? It’s like a very strange gravity that you can’t escape.”
But Sir Keir dismissed the insult, telling LBC: The year is 2024.
“This country faces extremely difficult decisions. We have now been through 14 years of turmoil and division, and if the Conservatives are returned to power, this will only continue.
“We can close a chapter, we can set off again and rebuild our country with Labour.” And we’re going to have a song ready for this moment that we’re privileged to serve here.”
“We don’t think politics and music should be linked.”
The band also expressed regret that she had allowed Sir Tony Blair to make the remarks, saying he had used her songs during the 1997 election campaign and was accused of having “blood on his hands” after Britain entered the Iraq war.
“I remember clearly, there had been this wonderful change and the country felt that a change was needed.”
Speaking to LBC from her home in the Midlands, MacKenzie said: “Everyone really supported it and gave the Labour party a vote of confidence. But after the war I felt politically homeless.” I don’t think politics and music should be linked
“The same thing happens with a lot of bands in America and here, because the songs are somehow linked to something inseparable. That can have a really negative impact.”
“So I’m going to vote to get the Conservatives out but I don’t want this song to be associated with that,”
“Never again, our songs and our politics,” he said when asked. When asked what he would say if Sir Keir asked to use their song, MacKenzie said: “Hardly, never again, never again, our songs and our politics.” No, no, no,” Khanna agreed.
“It’s a changing of the guard. I don’t think it’s an option. It’s just a changing of the guard, someone passing the baton.”
D:Ream’s original line-up also included Professor Brian Cox, but the group disbanded shortly after the New Labour election in 1997.
Kuna and Mackenzie reunited in 2008 and are preparing to perform at Glastonbury this summer.