Pump Up the Volume (song)
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"Pump Up the Volume" (1987) was the only single released by British recording act M/A/R/R/S. It was a number-one hit in the United Kingdom and is generally regarded as a significant milestone in the development of British house music and music sampling.
The single was the product of an uneasy collaboration between Colourbox and A R Kane, two groups on the independent art-pop label 4AD. The link-up was suggested by label founder Ivo Watts-Russell after the two groups had independently sounded him out about the possibility of releasing a commercially oriented dance record, inspired by the American house music that was starting to make an impact on the British charts. When the M/A/R/R/S project was first released early in 1987, the style had already spawned two major hits—Farley "Jackmaster" Funk's "Love Can't Turn Around" in the autumn of 1986, and Steve "Silk" Hurley's "Jack Your Body," which reached number one in January 1987. But just as important to M/A/R/R/S in the long run was the underground dance scene which was beginning to emerge in the UK, particularly records such as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu's "All You Need Is Love" and Coldcut's "Say, Kids, What Time Is It?" These sample-heavy dance records were critically acclaimed, but were not mainstream hits. The single borrowed heavily from the older Stock Aitken Waterman remix of "My Love is Guaranteed" by R&B/dance singer Sybil.
The record
The collaboration did not go entirely to plan. Once in the studio, the groups' different working methods and personalities failed to gel. Producer John Fryer found himself in the middle and unable to resolve the conflict between the two camps. The result was that instead of working together, the two groups ended up recording a track each, then turning it over to the other for additional input. Colourbox came up with "Pump Up the Volume", a percussion-led near-instrumental (featuring an Eric B. & Rakim sample which gave it its title), while A R Kane created the more deliberately arty "Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)" in another studio. Colourbox then added a heavy drum-machine rhythm and effects to "Anitina" and A R Kane overdubbed some additional guitar to "Pump Up the Volume." The coup de grace, however, was the addition of scratch mix effects and samples by DJs Chris "C.J." Macintosh and Dave Dorrell.
The two tracks were released to UK dance clubs in July 1987, on an anonymous white label with no artist credit. "Pump Up the Volume" proved to be the more popular side and was the track more heavily promoted (in particular, it was the track for which an accompanying video was produced) when 4AD released the 12" single (as, officially, a double A-side) on 24 August. It entered the UK singles chart the following week at number 35, a strong initial showing for an unknown act, especially on 12" sales only. However, what gave "Pump Up the Volume" its commercial edge was the remix released a week later. This remix became the best-known version of the track, transforming it by the addition of numerous samples which provided the record with additional hooks besides its oft-repeated title chant— Public Enemy shouting "You're gonna get yours!" the title line from Criminal Element Orchestra's "Put The Needle to the Record" (a minor house hit from earlier the same year), samples from The Bar-Kays' "Holy Ghost", and most distinctively, a speeded-up sample of Israeli singer Ofra Haza's "Im Nin'Alu." It was this remix, rather than the original, that was edited down to create the 7-inch version of the track, which began picking up radio play.
As the record climbed the charts, the single ran into legal difficulties. With "Pump Up the Volume" standing at number two, an injunction was obtained against it by pop music producers Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), who objected to the use of a sample from their hit single "Roadblock". Distribution was held up for several days while negotiations took place, which resulted in an undertaking that overseas releases would not include the "Roadblock" sample. Dave Dorrell later stated that he believed SAW would never have noticed the highly distorted sample had he not rashly boasted about it in a radio interview. The offending article consisted of 7 seconds of an anonymous background voice moaning the single word "hey", involved no musical or melodic information, and could never be considered plagiarism in the literary sense. Pete Waterman wrote an open letter to the music press calling such things "wholesale theft". Some publications were quick to point out that Waterman was currently using the bassline from Colonel Abrams hit "Trapped" in his production of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," which was competing in close proximity to "Pump Up the Volume" in the pop charts. Many observers suggested that SAW's motives had just as much to do with extending the run of "Never Gonna Give You Up" at the top of the chart. SAW had access to almost limitless legal resources and M|A|R|R|S stood little if any chance of a successful defense. Despite all this, "Pump Up the Volume" went on to spend two weeks at number one in October 1987 and was a chart hit in many other countries, receiving considerable airplay on American, Australian and European airwaves. While it was stripped from the official American release, the version containing the offending "Roadblock" sample was the version that the Australian charts credited.
