D:Ream ban Labour from using ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ in election campaign

nme.com:

D:Ream have banned Keir Starmer from using their 1993 New Labour anthem ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ in his election campaign.The song enjoyed a resurgence in popularity after it was played through a loudspeaker by protester Steve Bray, with the aim of drowning out Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as he called a surprise General Election for July 4.

Within 24 hours, the song had gone viral on social media and entered the iTunes Top 10.The Northern Irish band have previously said that they never enjoyed ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ having a political association.“My first reaction was ‘not again, please let me move on’,” singer Peter Cunnah told NME. “We all wanted that change in ’97, 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’.

Then you get accused of having blood on your hands.”In an interview with LBC, his bandmate Al Mackenzie reiterated that sentiment. “I don’t think politics and music should be linked,” he said [via SkyNews].“It’s happened to a lot of other bands as well in America and here because songs get sort of intrinsically linked to something, it can really affect it in a negative way.“I mean, I’ll be voting to get the Tories out, but I don’t really want the song to be linked to that.”When asked what they’d say if Starmer requested to use one of their songs, Mackenzie said: “There’s no way – our songs and politics, never again.”“I’ve learned the hard way.