By Michael Butler
Publication Date: 2026-03-31 15:11:00
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
According to Keith Allen, lead singer of Fat Les, legendary bassist Guy Pratt made more money just by producing “Vindaloo”, England’s unofficial World Cup song for the 1998 tournament, than he did with Pink Floyd.
Although some high-profile pundits attempted to elevate Vindaloo to a lofty commentary on English identity, perhaps because Blur’s Alex James and artist Damien Hirst were also in the band, the song and its accompanying video (a bizarre parody of The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony) made little sense but didn’t matter. Perhaps there was a lack of rhyme or reason: Allen later revealed that the entire concept of Vindaloo only came about because it was the only thing he – who, tipsy and hungry after a night at The Star Pub on Portabello Road, co-wrote the song in Pratt’s basement – could think of to rhyme with Waterloo, the train station from which Londoners then took the Eurostar to France and the tournament…
