This song is made up of about 250 samples. The line, "Pump Up The Volume" came from "I Know You Got Soul" by Eric B. & Rakim, which was released earlier in 1987. Other samples include Coldcut's 1987 song "Say, Kids What Time Is This" and James Brown's "Funky Drummer." It also contains three seconds of Stock Aitken & Waterman's song "Roadblock," but the group didn't get official clearance and Peter Waterman placed an injunction for five days while the copyright issues were worked out.
This was the first ever #1 UK hit on an independent record label: 4AD. It also reached #1 in Holland and New Zealand.
The song was so popular it was re-issued over 10 times internationally. In Europe, it was released at a slower tempo than the popular Chicago house sound so it would appeal to the London club crowd who were currently into soul sounds.
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