Favorite New Model Army Songs #6 - "51st State"

Tweet

I took a day off, but we now return to our regularly scheduled program, already in progress. We are at #6 in my countdown of favorite songs by one of my all-time favorite bands, New Model Army: "51st State." "51st State" is the only song in this series not written or co-written by vocalist/guitarist Justin Sullivan (as far as I know, it's the only tune in the New Model Army catalog,) written by Ashley Cartwright of the band The Shakes. From their 1986 album, The Ghost of Cain, "51st State" is one of the band's best protest songs (and they've made a lot of them") "51st State" might come across as an anti-American tune, but in actuality, it's an anti-Thatcher number, based upon the viewpoint that the British Prime Minister was little more than a Reagan puppet. It was, according to Wikipedia, offensive to the American State Department to the point that they were forbidden to tour over here. The story I've always heard is that the ban was due to filming the video in front of the American Embassy in London. Either way, I had to wait 15 years to see them a second time. Released as a single, the song stalled at #71 in the UK. As I've always said, however, not all hits are great songs, and not all great songs are hits. "51st State" might not have been a big hit, but what a great song! (Info verified by Wikipedia)