THE UPS AND DOWNS OF CHUMBAWAMBA.

Byline: Fred Shuster Daily News Music Writer

``I get knocked down/But I get up again/You're never going to keep me down''

It was clear before ``Tubthumping'' entered the top 10 that the infectious hit single from Britain's agit-pop collective Chumbawamba was some kind of anthem for the late '90s.

To cement the matter, the uplifting tune with its optimistic mantra is beginning to surface at sports arenas in Los Angeles and New York as an energizing sing-along. Who would have predicted an eight-piece anarchist boy 'n' girl dance-pop ensemble from the north of England would come up with today's answer to ``We Are the Champions?''

Certainly the members of Chumbawamba, which includes five males and three females, couldn't have guessed.

``We almost didn't even put `Tubthumping' in the set,'' explained singer-percussionist Alice Nutter. ``We thought it was just a good album track. Then, people started telling us it was a great single. We hadn't figured it ourselves. The song didn't jump out at us. That's when we realized we didn't know everything.''

Chumbawamba came together in the Thatcherite '80s as one of the few dissenting voices to Britain's evolving ``me'' generation. Influenced by punk's do-it-yourself ethos, as well as dance culture, the collective churned out a mixture of nonconformist politics, pop culture and loud noise.

The band even started its own label, Agit-Prop, to release the aptly titled ``Revolution'' single, which went to the top of the indie charts. In 1986, the Live-Aid spectacle prompted the band to cut its first album, ``Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records.''

Pop and politics

The general election of '87 was the backdrop to Chumbawamba's second disc, ``Never Mind the Ballots!'' a concept album in which the Leeds anarchists declared that a choice between two evils was no choice at all.

``There's a battle against youth culture in Britain,'' Nutter said. ``It's still going on. The people in control won't allow free parties or open air raves, and all gatherings are strictly controlled. All the festivals charge admission, and everything ends at a certain time. It has something to do with the breweries, because alcohol revenues have gone down in Britain.''

The logic is a little hard to follow, especially when you realize how much money Britain rakes in from exporting its youth culture. Prime Minister Tony Blair recently even invited Oasis' Noel Gallagher to tea.

But, putting its, er, foot where its mouth is, the band's Web site (www.chumba.com) urges followers to steal the group's albums.

As the wry British weekly New Musical Express put it recently, the members of Chumbawamba like to promote hitting policemen as long as they're not the ones doing the hitting.

Is the world really ready for Chumbawamba?

Apparently, the world is ready for the band's instantly likable music. ``Tubthumping'' is No. 10 on this week's singles chart and No. 1 on the modern-rock airplay list. The album, ``Tubthumper'' (Republic/Universal), is rising rapidly in the Billboard 200.

The band appears Nov. 4 at the Palace in Hollywood.

As Nutter tells it, Chumbawamba - the odd name comes from one of the musician's dreams - didn't have a label deal when the new album was completed.

``The plan was to do a little tour to try out the songs to see which ones would work,'' she said. ``That's when we began to get this amazing response.''

As the story goes, a British music industry tip sheet - strangely called Tip Sheet - included ``Tupthumping'' on the compilation CD it sends to subscribers. A VH1 music programmer latched onto the song and alerted a promotion executive at Universal Records. By this time, the word on the unsigned Chumbawamba's new album was out, and a bidding war had begun.

In the end, Chumbawamba inked with EMI in Europe and, in a joint venture, with Republic and Universal in the United States.

Top-requested song

``Tupthumping'' quickly became the top-requested song at rock radio across the country. Chumbawamba's overnight success was 15 years in the making.

``The live thing is a completely different environment,'' Nutter said. ``We want to put on a show. The visual aspect has to be really exciting and exhilarating.''

Nutter said Chumbawamba, which earlier this week performed a free show on a Washington, D.C., rooftop before police shut it down, will continue to act on its members' political beliefs no matter how popular the octet becomes.

``I mean, we don't just turn up on somebody's doorstep to play a benefit for them,'' she said. ``We ask if they'd like to work with us. Like with the striking Liverpool dockers, we won't just do a big concert. We'll ask them to come along, do a stall or speak. We try to get people involved.''

Nutter said ``Tubthumper,'' which refers to a soapbox rant, was able to reflect such elements as spoken word, sound effects and today's dance rhythms because of a new piece of sound equipment the band purchased prior to recording.

``This album has taken a leap forward because we bought a sampler, which is essential for dance music,'' she explained. ``We couldn't have afforded to go into the studio and make this album unless we worked at home first with the sampler. For years, we never owned one.''

As for the tuneful lyrics to ``Tubthumping'' (``He drinks a whiskey drink/He drinks a vodka drink/He drinks a lager drink/He drinks a cider drink/He sings the songs that remind him/Of the good times''), Nutter insists the hit song is about more than simply tying one on.

``It's a celebration of those of us who are powerless,'' she said. ``It's about being able to bounce back, about keeping your dignity against all odds. Yeah, it's a party song, but it's a party song with a social conscience.''

THE FACTS

Who: Chumbawamba with Closer.

Where: Palace, 1735 N. Vine St., Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Nov. 4.

Tickets: $11.

Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: ``The plan was to do a little tour to try out the songs to see which ones would work. That's when we began to get this amazing response,'' says Chumbawamba's Alice Nutter.