M|A|R|R|S - Pump Up The Volume (12" Remix)

MARRS - Pump Up The Volume (Remix) / 12 Inch Extended Remix (HQ Audio)

After finishing a set at London's Raw nightclub (later the home of Shoom), DJ Dave Dorrell was approached by a representative of the soon-to-be-launched MTV Europe, who wanted Dorrell to help compose idents for the channel.

Dorrell was deeply involved with the evolving dance scene of the time but had little production experience, so he reached out to his friend Martyn Young of Colourbox, a British indie band on the 4AD label known for their sample-heavy sound.

The collaboration was successful, and the fruits of their studio sessions became MTV Europe's first sonic identity.

Meanwhile, 4AD co-founder Ivo Watts-Russell had suggested that Colourbox and another of his label's acts, A.R. Kane, should collaborate, in part because their combined audiences might be enough to give them both their first chart success.

The collaboration was to be called M|A|R|R|S, using the initials of the first names of the three members of Colourbox and two members of A.R. Kane.

In fact, the collaboration didn't quite work, with the two bands getting along fine, but not quite gelling musically. So instead, they created a new track each before guesting on each other's to finish them off.

The A.R. Kane-led track, Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance), is actually the double A-side here, but obviously, it was the Colourbox-led track, Pump Up The Volume, that monopolized the airplay and made the record a worldwide hit.

During the making of the track, Colourbox first developed the groove, which they immediately felt had something special about it. At that point, Dave Dorrell's phone rang, and this time Martyn was asking him to head down to the studio: "I've got this idea for a groove with my brother. Can we do what we did for MTV and work together on it?"

Dave headed down with a bag of new records he'd just picked up, including Eric B. & Rakim's latest release I Know You Got Soul, featuring the phrase "pump up the volume," which they sampled and added to the groove.

The finished record features many samples, of course - 29 across the various UK and US mixes - and, as was often the case back then, many of them were not cleared.

The double A-sided record was released in September 1987 and spent two weeks at number two behind Rick Astley's Never Gonna Give You Up before replacing him at number one for a fortnight, keeping Michael Jackson's latest single Bad off top spot.

The impact of Pump Up The Volume was huge. It was the first sample-heavy electronic dance record to reach the top of the charts, signaling to labels that dance acts should be invested in. S'Express, Bomb The Bass, Coldcut, and The Beatmasters had been developing their sample-based sounds and quickly made their way towards the top of the charts afterwards.

Although acid house followed and sample-heavy dance tracks became a genre of their own, Pump Up The Volume was different from anything heard before 1987. Aesthetically, it has some links back to the likes of Grandmaster Flash, Steve "Silk" Hurley, and Double Dee and Steinski, and forward to the more organic sound of acid house. Perhaps Pump Up The Volume is 1987’s bridge between the two: a portal that transports us from the old world of discos to the new world of raves.

The new sound caught the attention of the industry in other ways too.

Among the samples featured is a clip of Stock Aitken Waterman's Roadblock, for which PWL Records successfully sued M|A|R|R|S. Later pressings, therefore, don’t feature the sample (the version here does, at 3:30). Dorrell wonders if PWL would have sued had Pump Up The Volume not knocked their priority artist off the top spot!

An alternative U.S. mix also exists, featuring different samples, to further navigate legal risks.

As well as reaching number one in the UK, Pump Up The Volume went to top spot in six other countries and made the top 10 in a further twelve. It sold over a million copies in the U.S. and was named one of Rolling Stone magazine's 100 most influential records ever.

M|A|R|R|S never came close to recording together again, but the stars aligned here to give Colourbox, A.R. Kane, Dave Dorrell, and CJ Mackintosh - who contributes scratching to the outro of the record - a truly worldwide smash hit, and credits on a track that helped to shape the sound of dance music, and the charts, in the years that followed.

Year: 1987 Label: 4AD Cat no: BAD707R