Shampoo (duo)

Shampoo were a British English female pop musical duo in the 1990s, formed by Jacqueline "Jacqui" Blake (born 23 November 1974 in Woolwich) and Caroline "Carrie" Askew (born 4 May 1977 in Plumstead). Their 1994 song "Trouble" reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart and was featured in 1995's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

Not to be confused with Shampoo (parody band).
Shampoo
Shampoo on the cover of their 1994 one hit wonder song "Trouble"
Background information
OriginPlumstead, London, England, United Kingdom
GenresPop rock
Pop-punk
Bubblegum pop
Power pop
Punk rock
Britpop
Pop music
Rock music
Years active1993–2000
LabelsIcerink
Food Records
Parlophone
EMI Records[1]
Past membersJacqui Blake
Carrie Askew

History

Jacqui Blake and Carrie Askew were best friends at Plumstead Manor School, a secondary school for girls in Plumstead, London. In the early nineties they started writing Last Exit, a fanzine for the Manic Street Preachers, and later appeared in the video for "Little Baby Nothing". They also wrote a fanzine for Fabulous.

During this time they formed Shampoo, the name deriving from their schoolyard nickname of 'the shampoo girls', for claiming to be 'washing their hair' when turning down date requests.

Their first single "Blisters and Bruises" (co-written by Lawrence of the bands Felt and Denim) with the b-sides "Paydirt" and "I Love Little Pussy" was released by Icerink records (a short-lived label created by Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs) on 7" pink vinyl in 1993. This and their following single,"Bouffant Headbutt", received favourable reviews in the music press, such as the NME and Melody Maker, but sold few copies.

Whilst their first two singles were typical of the Riot Grrl bands coming to notice, the following year saw the release of "Trouble" and the album We Are Shampoo which displayed a more radio friendly sound, but still with much of their previous abrasiveness: "Dirty Old Love Song" panned Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston (whose "I Will Always Love You" had been the previous year's biggest-selling single in the UK). "Shiny Black Taxi Cab" about a night on the town gone wrong (ending with a spoken section by the 'taxi driver' complaining to a new passenger about two drunken girls who had thrown up all over his cab the previous week). We Are Shampoo sold over a million copies, with the majority of sales in Japan and the rest of Asia.[2]

"Trouble" reached No. 11 on the UK charts,[3] landing the group on Top of the Pops and the cover of Smash Hits magazine. For the remainder of 1994 Shampoo did well, finding fans in both the mainstream and alternative music scenes – boosted in part by their links to Manic Street Preachers fanscene. The band became moderately successful in Japan. "Trouble" was included in the 1995 film Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie and also appeared on the film's soundtrack. It also appeared in the 1996 film Foxfire and the 1997 film Trojan War. The song "Don't Call Me Babe" was included in the soundtrack of the 1996 film Barb Wire. "Delicious" is played in the 1997 film Casper: A Spirited Beginning.

However, by the time they released their next album Girl Power in 1995, their sales were in decline, and the third Shampoo album Absolute Shampoo was released solely on the internet in 2000, due to an inability to acquire a recording contract. The duo disbanded shortly afterwards.

Shampoo often cited their main influences as being the Sex Pistols, Gary Numan and the Beastie Boys, whilst also claiming to be huge fans of East 17 and Take That. Shampoo covered Numan's song "Cars" on the b-side of their "Girl Power" single, while a cover of East 17's "House of Love" was included on their debut album.

In May 2007 the album We Are Shampoo was re-issued in the UK with bonus tracks of the B-Sides.[4]

Discography
Shampoo discography
Studio albums4
Compilation albums2
Video albums1
Music videos2
Singles10

The discography of Shampoo consists of four studio albums, two compilation albums and ten singles.

Studio albums
Year Album Chart positions
UK
[3][5]		 AUS
[6]		 JP
1994 We Are Shampoo 45 137 8
1995 Shampoo Or Nothing
  • Labels: Toshiba EMI Ltd
  • Notes: Japanese Release of Girl Power
 – – –
1996 Girl Power
  • Labels: Food Records, Parlophone
  • Notes: UK Release of Shampoo Or Nothing
 – 192 –
2000 Absolute Shampoo
  • Labels: Shampoo Records
  • Notes: Internet only
 – – –

Compilation albums
Year Album Chart positions
UK
[3]		 JP
1995 Delicious
  • Labels: Toshiba EMI Ltd
  • Notes: Japan only: B-sides/Rare tracks
 – 6
1998 The Greatest
  • Labels: Toshiba EMI Ltd
  • Notes: Japan only
 – –

Singles
Year Single Chart positions
UK
[3]		 AUS
[6]		 BEL
(FLA)
[7]		 IRE
[8]		 JP NED
[9]
1993 "Blisters and Bruises" – – – – – –
"Bouffant Headbutt" – – – – – –
1994 "Trouble" 11 17 17 23 81 16
"Viva La Megababes" 27 97 50 – – –
1995 "Delicious" 21 223 – – 76 –
"Trouble" (re-release) 36 – – – – –
"War Paint" (Japan only) – – – – – –
1996 "Girl Power" 25 120 – – 22 –
"I Know What Boys Like" 42 131 – – – –
"Yea Yea Yea (Tell Me Baby)" (Japan only) – – – – 95 –
  • All Japanese figures are from the Oricon Singles Chart.

Video
  • We Are Shampoo (1995) – Japanese video collection containing videos for "Trouble", "Viva La Megababes", "Delicious" & "Bouffant Headbutt".
  • There are two different videos for "Trouble". The original features the girls trying to get home from central London after a night out. The re-make features new footage of the girls singing to the camera, intercut with film footage from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

Books
  • Delicious (1995, Japanese book)

Use of audio in other media

Covers by other bands

"Trouble" was covered by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, and can be found as a B-side on their "The Young Offenders Mum" single.[13] It was also sung by the cast of the 2007 film St Trinian's and featured on the film's soundtrack.[14] In 2009, Japanese rock band Vamps included a cover of the song as a B-side to their single "I Gotta Kick Start Now". That same year, Zebrahead also included a version on their cover album, Panty Raid.

References
  1. "Sky Songs | Download We Are Shampoo by Shampoo". Songs.sky.com. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  2. Pride, Dominic (20 September 1997). "EMI Still Hungry for Food". Billboard: 44. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  3. "Official Charts > Shampoo". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  4. "Shampoo Biography – Page 2". Absolute Radio. 13 March 2009. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
  5. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 493. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  6. Australian (ARIA) peaks:
  7. "Ultratop > Shampoo [UK] in Ultratop Vlaanderen" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  8. "The Irish Charts – All there is to know > Search results for 'Shampoo' (from irishcharts.ie)". Imgur.com (original source published by Fireball Media). Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  9. "dutchcharts.nl > Shampoo [UK] in Dutch Charts" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  10. "Pop/Punk Princesses". Billboard: 18. 5 August 1995. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  11. Stone, Doug. "Jawbreaker [Original Soundtrack]". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  12. Blackrock (Motion picture). 1996. Event occurs at 14:13. Note: Song's use is confirmed in the credits at 1:25:09
  13. Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 662
  14. Long, Chris (2007). "Various Artists St Trinian's: The Soundtrack Review". BBC. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
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