Song · M/A/R/R/S
“Pump Up the Volume” by M/A/R/R/S
From the album Best of 4th and Broadway Volume Two: Pump Up the Volume (1988)
“Pump Up the Volume” by M/A/R/R/S appears on 6 radio countdowns from 6 stations between 1987 and 2023. It was first released in 1988 on the album Best of 4th and Broadway Volume Two: Pump Up the Volume. Its best result is #46 on the John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1987. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #136 alternative song of 1987 and #6,296 alternative song of all time.
Watch
Video from YouTube (4AD). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"Pump Up the Volume" hit the racks on 4AD on 3 August 1987, the one and only single M/A/R/R/S ever released, and it's a dance-floor collage that sounds like somebody looted a record shop and glued the spoils to a house beat. The name on the sleeve covered an uneasy truce: 4AD boss Ivo Watts-Russell paired electronic outfit Colourbox with dream-pop dreamers A.R. Kane after both had separately floated the idea of a club record in the mould of the American house tracks muscling into the UK chart.
Colourbox's Martyn and Steve Young wrote the A-side, and Martyn produced it with John Fryer, while A.R. Kane's main contribution went on the flip, "Anitina". The title was snatched from a sample of Eric B. & Rakim's "I Know You Got Soul". It went to number one in several countries and stands as a landmark for British house and for sampling itself.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 89 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1987 | 91 |
| 1987 | 53 | WLIR / WDRE Long Island, NY | WLIR Top 100 Songs of 1987 | 99 |
| 1987 | 46 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1987 | 50 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 754 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
| 2021 | 486 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
| 2023 | 526 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
Also listed as: Pump up the Volume; Pump Up The Volume.
Comments
Log in or create a free account to join the conversation about "Pump Up the Volume" by M/A/R/R/S.
No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.