Friday, April 12, 2013

"Ding Dong the Witch is Dead"


As points out, Robert added a "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead" sticker to his guitar tonight, possibly joining the Anti-Thatcher campaign to get that song to #1 in the UK charts. Though it should be noted that he hasn't actually SAID he supports it.
(photo from @RollingStoneAr via @LOQUILLOPANAMA)

And earlier today, Roger posted this on Twitter: "Go to iTunes and buy this, if its the only song you legally download this year...If its our only voice use it..."

NME reports that the BBC will not play it, even if the campaign succeeds.  

Update: BBC reports that it enters the UK singles chart at two.

30 comments:

  1. I know I wasn't living in the UK during Thatcher's reign, and I know that she did a lot to affect a lot of people - but I find it sad that there is a campaign like this. Like her or loathe her, just let her RIP. :(

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    1. I agree. How petty and sad to gloat over someones death. I am really disappointed in them. :(

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  2. Ahh.. Robert, once a punk always a punk!

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  3. I was more surprised by Roger's tweet.. A but cheeky even for him!

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  4. I think it's pretty sad that robert smith participating in this campaign. I respect the person even if Mrs Thatcher took tough decisions.

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  5. Good on Robert and Roger.Thatcher made the lives of thousands of hard working families miserable in the eighties.

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  6. She had no respect for the Irish hunger strikers, the Falklands victims or anyone else that stood against her. She bathed in the glory of their deaths.

    It's no worse than the Americans celebrating Chavez's death last month.

    Good on Robert and the boys!

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    1. I disagree with celebrating anyone's death. Sure there are bad people in this world, and I can let there passing go without batting an eyelid, but I disagree with dancing on their graves.

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    2. Marc. Not all the Hunger Strikers were in prison for murder. Nor were they all IRA members.

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  7. Wow, what a load of crap. Wish I hadn't seen this. Sometimes the less you know about your favorite musicians, the better.

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    1. Stan, you certainly have that right. It reminds me of when I overheard a conversation some people who I know had about when they met the band backstage after the third LA 'Reflections' show, and for the record, I've seen a photo or two, so they were really there. Anyway, I'm not going to repeat here what was said, but it was disheartening, and made me think that sometimes it's really probably a good idea if you keep at least some of the illusions that you have about your favorite bands, actors, etc., because they probably won't live up to your expectations.

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    2. Damn .. that is way too intriguing, Shawn

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  8. Yes, very disapppointing.

    As one of my friends put it, "instead of buying songs, protest against Thatcher's legacy by paying 83% of your income to the state."

    83% was the top rate of income tax before Thatcher was elected.

    DK

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  9. From Billy Bragg, Calgary, AB, Canada, on the death of Margaret Thatcher:

    This is not a time for celebration. The death of Margaret Thatcher is nothing more than a salient reminder of how Britain got into the mess that we are in today. Of why ordinary working people are no longer able to earn enough from one job to support a family; of why there is a shortage of decent affordable housing; of why domestic growth is driven by credit, not by real incomes; of why tax-payers are forced to top up wages; of why a spiteful government seeks to penalise the poor for having an extra bedroom; of why Rupert Murdoch became so powerful; of why cynicism and greed became the hallmarks of our society.

    Raising a glass to the death of an infirm old lady changes none of this. The only real antidote to cynicism is activism. Don't celebrate - organise!

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  10. finally what is the saddest thing is to see robert smith take part in political matters. It is quite far from the image without compromise group of yesteryear. Especially these campaigns are mounted by the propaganda system. it eradicates the tears of people in a pathos system with the consent of stars of showbisness. When it's Bono who does that, we laugh... but when it's robert..What a pity! ... Their music is so transcendental to find a way in spirituality faith...and not in stupidty thing.. Thanks Robert for this music and last shows...

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  11. im celebrating full house btw .

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  12. Well the great thing about our country is that we do all have the right to say and believe what we want. We are free to choose whether or not to join the Ding Dong campaign, and if rs or ro want to, it's up to them. I just hope no one decides to buy the song just because somebody famous told them to! Why anyone is bothering with the campaign is beyond me. But then again, at least we haven't had a picture of her corpse on the front pages of the newspapers like we did with Saddam Hussain.

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  13. This campaign is the best thing since sliced bread! Thatcher completely ruined the working class areas in Britain. She stole from the poor and gave to the rich - she was basically the opposite of Robin Hood.

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    1. Yes, Emma, that's absolutely right.

      Thatcher enabled the working classes to buy their own houses, to own shares in public companies, ceased the public subsidy of worthless jobs, and lowered the taxes on the money that the poor earned.

      And, since you're Welsh, I'll also point out that she closed fewer coal mines than Wilson (a nice, Labour Prime Minister).

      Not everything that she did was right, but to say that she stole from the poor is just wrong.

      In 1979, the UK's GDP was £220 billion; by the time she left office, it was nearly £600 billion. The average wage had risen from £14,000 to £20,000.

      Oh, and you didn't have to wait 18 months to have a phone line installed.

      DK

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    2. "Thatcher enabled the working classes ... to own shares in public companies" - they already owned them through the taxes they paid. She sold people back what was already theirs. Muppet.

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  14. I love the music that The Cure have recorded over the years.

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  15. Friday I'm In Love was used on a pro-Thatcher documentary in the UK this evening...the soundtrack to a bit about yuppies...who approved that then?!!

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  16. So Robert appears in photographs with the representatives of Amnesty International a couple of days ago and you lot are silent? Ask Amnesty their opinion on Thatcher when she was treating Pinochet to tea in the UK - to my mind the 1,200 to 3,200 people he killed, the 80,000 he interned and the 30,000 tortured by his regime (including women and children) are more than worthy of a Ding-Dong sticker. Hypocrites.

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  17. On a lighter note, and a bit off-topic, has anyone already pointed out that another sticker on Robert's guitar is showing the LSD molecule?

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    1. Thank you for posting this. I was wondering what in the hell that was. Now I know. :)

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    2. You're welcome. Glad to have helped you there :)

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