Songoftheday 11/2/15 - Rhythmic systemic world control, Magnetic genetic demands your soul...

"Pump Up The Volume" - M/A/R/R/S
from the album Bright Lights, Big City (Original Soundtrack) (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11

Today's Song of the Day was a collaboration of sorts between two British acts, A.R. Kane and Colourbox, who were both signed to the influential 4AD record label in the 80s. The latter, who had scored a trio of top-10 hits on the British indie rock chart, was the more known of the two acts, who didn't particularly get along, which caused their producer to work with each one separately, recording tracks the other would go ahead and remix. Using the first letters of the group members names to spell out "M/A/R/R/S", one of the two resulting songs, "Pump Up The Volume", originally conceived by the Colourbox's Martyn Young, ended up being a left-field pop and dance smash. Incorporating samples from rap, rock, dance, and even world music, the record was like nothing else that appeared on pop radio before in the states, and proved how patching a myriad of recordings together can result in just as coherent and complete a song as "Pump" was...

"Pump Up The Volume" climbed up to the American pop top-20 in February of 1988. The record also crossed over to #8 on Billboard's R&B chart, and spent two weeks a-top their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the record went to #1 in Britain, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and top-ten in Switzerland, Spain, Ireland, Australia, Germany, France, Belgium, and Austria.

It would be their sole release, as issues with lawsuits over sampling stifled any more desire to continue their rocky relationship.

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Here's the extended version that topped the dance chart...

...and the flip side of the record, "Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance)"...

...and finally, the MARRS act appearing on the music show The Roxy...

Up tomorrow: a vocal veteran makes a discovery.