The political significance of D:Ream’s ‘Things Can Only Get Better’

On 22 May, it was not only Rishi Sunak’s announcement of the upcoming general election that could be heard from Downing Street; drowning out the Prime Minister’s words was the distant sound of ‘Things Can Only Get Better’, the tune which soundtracked Blair’s 1997 general election campaign.

An anti-Brexit campaigner, Steve Bray, brought a speaker to Downing Street in anticipation of the election announcement. Bray has been protesting outside Westminster for years and told the PA news agency that he thought this particular song “would be the best trolling tune” if Sunak announced the election.

Following its release in 1993, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ soon became a political song, much to the regret of D:Ream, the Northern Irish band by who it is sung. The band’s leads, Peter Cunnah and Al Mackenzie, sang this track with physicist Brian Cox as the keyboard player.

This idea which was put across in D:Ream’s song was taken by Tony Blair and the Labour Party and used across their 1997 election campaign

Throughout the 4-minute and 16-second-long song, the line ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ sounds like it is being sung by hundreds. This was an intentional move made by Tom Frederikse, the track’s producer, who wanted it to sound like there was a stadium full of people singing along. Due to the effort that went into perfecting the song, it took over a year to be made.

The message of the song is summarised in its title; things are so bad that there is no chance that they can get worse, they can only be improved on from here. This feeling was felt across Britain at the time of the 1997 general election – 38% of people had absolute low income after housing costs in 1995/1996 to 1996/1997.

This idea which was put across in D:Ream’s song was taken by Tony Blair and the Labour Party and used across their 1997 election campaign. Labour had been the opposition to the Conservatives for eighteen years and the song emphasised their belief that during these years things had become so poor that now they could only improve.

‘Things Can Only Get Better’ soon became the anthem of the Labour Party; it was sung live by the band at rallies and was used in the main video campaign which featured Blair leading voters to the polling booths. In 2009, a Financial Times article asked what could replace the song and become the new backing track of the left-wing party.

Labour’s adoption of D:Ream’s tune has displeased the members of the band; they told LBC that they regret letting Blair use the song and that in recent years they have been accused of “having blood on their hands” after the UK got involved with the war in Iraq.

D:Ream said that they would deny any request by Starmer to use it in his campaigns for the upcoming election

When the artists heard that the song was played during Sunak’s election announcement their first thought was “not again”, they wanted to “get on with” their lives and found it “disturbing” that the song has once again become a “political thing”.

Although, while these band members are displeased with the revival of this song’s relationship with British politics, members of the public have once again resonated with its message. In under 24 hours after it was played at Sunak’s election announcement, the song hit number five on the iTunes music chart.

When discussing this song on LBC, Keir Starmer, the current leader of the Labour Party, said: “We can turn the page, we can start anew, rebuild our country with Labour. And we will have a song for that moment if we’re privileged enough to come to serve”.

This conversation highlighted that the song is still relevant for the Labour Party today, however, D:Ream said that they would deny any request by Starmer to use it in his campaigns for the upcoming election.

In addition to expressing their reluctance to let Labour use their most iconic track again, Mackenzie told LBC that they “don’t think politics and music should be linked”. This is an ironic statement knowing that Mackenzie’s song became so popular across Britain due to its association with politics.

‘Things Can Only Get Better’ is a prime example of the complex relationship between music and politics. The track serves as a reminder of how a song’s message can evolve over time as it becomes associated with different movements or groups. In the case of this D:Ream single, whether they wanted it to be or not, it will now forever be linked to the Labour Party and one of the most iconic election campaigns in British history.