M|A|R|R|S 'Pump Up The Volume'

Chart Peak: 1 (2 weeks)

YouTube

I'd never heard anything like it. The only thing was, I didn't know I'd never heard anything like it. Of course, now I recognise that this was a landmark record in pop history, a mainstream breakthrough for dance music and sampling and the only Number One single on the legendary 4ad label, a record that spawned countless imitators and parodies - who could possibly forget 'Pump Up The Bitter' by Star Turn On 45 (Pints)? When I was nine years old all that was beyond my ken, though, and it was just another hit.

When the time came to write this, I approached it with some trepidation. One reason is that it is such an important track that it's difficult to supply any fresh insights about it. The other thing is that, well, I love it; it's always easier to pick holes in a record than identify what's truly impressive about it. As anyone who reads the last half-dozen or so Now 44 post will probably guess, I wouldn't describe myself as a dance fan, but I'm not averse to it either. Records like this and 'Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel' can really impress me because I don't wholly understand them; sure, I couldn't have written 'My Generation', but I know how it was done. The inspiration to find samples that work well together is all the more remarkable to me. In this case I especially like the screeches that bounce over the stereo spectrum, the dubby echo sounds that are a bit like somebody using a bathroom on the other side of the house and the way they use the sound of the record stopping as a percussion effect. But none of that really gets to the heart of why I find this so compelling. Some of the credit really has to go to the simple keyboard riff that guides the listener through the track, almost as if you're following a path with the vocal samples on either side of it.

Ah, but the samples... Apparently, not all the samples we know and love are part of the first 12" mix, but they're really what caught people's attention, and not always to the good. Hence the video I've linked to is the original 7" version with the Stock Aitken Waterman sample that they were forced to remove in what many perceived as an attempt to prolong Rick Astley's spell at the top (does this make them the first people ever to be Rickrolled?), and even this may not match the version that appeared on Now 10 itself. That's presumably why it's so hard to track down as a legal download: when I wanted to get it onto my MP3 player the best I could do was a version from something called 90's Dance Hits - Retro Dance Party where it turns into 'Please Don't Go' by KWS after three and a half minutes. Still, I suppose the very album title is quite a compliment to a record released as early as 1987.

Oh, and I've never heard 'Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)' which as the listed flipside of this surely becomes one of the most obscure Number One singles of all time.

Available on: The Best Club Anthems - 80s Classics