Shampoo were a British all-girl band in the 1990s, formed by Jacqui Blake and Carrie Askew.

History

Jacqui Blake and Carrie Askew met as teenagers at high school in Plumstead called Plumstead Manor (United Kingdom), where they became best friends and partners in crime. In the early nineties they started writing 'Last Exit', the first fanzine for the Manic Street Preachers, and later appeared in the video for 'Little Baby Nothing'. The track featured vocals from porn star Traci Lords, although she was unavailable to appear in the video. They also wrote a fanzine for Fabulous.

While still in their teens they formed Shampoo. (According to their self-propelled urban legend, the name derived from the schoolyard nickname 'the shampoo girls', due to their repeated retort that they were 'washing their hair' whenever the boys in school would ask them out.) Their first single 'Blisters and Bruises' with the b-sides 'Paydirt' and 'I love Little Pussy' was released by Icerink records (a shortlived label created by Saint Etienne 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 were largely ignored by the general public.

Whilst their first two singles were all-out girl-punk racket, the following year saw the release of their most famous song, 'Trouble' and the album 'We Are Shampoo' which displayed a much more radio friendly sound. "We Are Shampoo" included several songs with very unusual themes. "Dirty Old Love Song" panned Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston (Houston had released one of the most famous love songs of all time in 1993- the Christmas No.1, "I Will Always Love You"). "Shiny Black Taxi Cab" was about the nasty consequences of a night on the town, and ended with a spoken section by a taxi driver, who was complaining to a passenger about two drunken girls who had thrown up all over his cab the previous week. 'Trouble' crashed up the charts to No. 11 and landed the girls on Top Of The Pops and the cover of Smash Hits. For the remainder of 1994 the Shampoo flag flew high, as their infectious pop-with-attitude found fans in both the mainstream and alternative music scenes. The band famously became very successful in Japan - possibly due to sharing a love of all things Hello Kitty. "Trouble" became famous for its inclusion in the soundtrack to the film, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie.

However, by the time they released their next album 'Girl Power' in 1995, they were already virtually forgotten in Britain. The phrase comes from a 1993 Helen Love record, and was later made very famous by the Spice Girls.

Whilst their homelands were ignoring them, Shampoo were still doing well in Asia and made it into 1995's 'richest women in Britain' list. The third Shampoo album 'Absolute Shampoo' was released solely on the internet in 2000, and the duo disbanded shortly afterwards.

Shampoo combined a poppy girlishness and a love of all things plastic, kitsch, and pink (the album artwork for 'We Are Shampoo' featured a collage of Barbie dolls and sweet wrappers) with a punk sensibility. They 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. They approached interviews with a studied insolence and tended to finish each other's sentences, claiming that they always thought exactly the same thing. Playing on an image that was part Johnny Rotten, part stubborn lolita infantilism, part lipstick lesbian and part razor-sharp wit, Askew and Blake tended to confuse both journalists and record-buyers as to who exactly was their target audience. Whilst this may have prevented longlasting mainstream success, it was also arguably their greatest strength in an industry increasingly dominated by easily-digested, two-dimensional artists.

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

Discography

Singles

Title	UK Chart Position
"Blisters and Bruises"	N/A
"Bouffant Headbutt"	N/A
"Trouble"	11
"Viva La Megababes"	27
"Delicious"	21
"Trouble" (re-release)	36
"Girl Power"	25
"I Know What Boys Like"	42
"War Paint"	Japan Only
"Yea Yea Yea (Tell Me Baby)"	Japan Only

Albums

Title	Additional Info
We Are Shampoo (1994)	UK Chart Position 45
Delicious (1994)	Japanese Only: B-Sides/Rare Tracks
Shampoo Or Nothing (1995)	Japanese Release of 'Girl Power'
Girl Power (1996)	UK Release of 'Shampoo Or Nothing'
The Greatest (1998)	Japan Only 'Greatest Hits'
Absolute Shampoo (2000)	Internet Only
We Are Shampoo (2007)	Re-Issued album + 6 B-Sides

List of songs

We Are Shampoo

1. Trouble
2. Delicious
3. Viva La Megababes
4. Dirty Old Love Song
5. Skinny White Thing
6. Glimmer Globe
7. Shiny Black Taxi Cab
8. Me Hostage
9. Game Boy
10. House of Love
11. Shampoo You
12. Saddo

Girl Power/Shampoo Or Nothing

1. Girl Power
2. News Flash
3. I Know What Boys Like
4. Bare Knuckle Girl
5. Zap Pow
6. War Paint
7. You Love It
8. Boys Are Us
9. We Play Dumb
10. I'm Gonna Scream
11. Don't Call Me Babe
12. Girl Power (Extended Version) (Bonus Track On 'Shampoo Or Nothing')
13. War Paint (Extended Version) (Bonus Track On 'Shampoo Or Nothing')
14. I know What Boys Like (Extended Version) (Bonus Track On 'Shampoo Or Nothing')

Absolute Shampoo

1. Shampoo's Cupboard
2. Inspector Gadget
3. Sod The Neighbours
4. Take A Break
5. Dont Remember
6. Terrorist TV
7. First Class
8. Star Of The Show
9. Jet Lag
10. Love Hate Baby
11. Sid

Singles/B-Sides

• Blisters & Bruises
• Paydirt
• I Love Little Pussy
• Bouffant Headbutt
• Excellent
• Monster
• We Don't Care
• School Is Boring
• Girls 'Round Here
• Kinky Ken
• Cars
• Top Of The Pops
• Yea Yea Yea (Tell Me Baby)

Mixes/Live/Etc

• Trouble - Now Ex Mix
• Trouble - Detention Mix
• Trouble - Karaoke Version
• Viva La Megababes - Extended Mix aka 'US Extended Mix'
• Viva La Megababes - Karaoke Version
• Delicious - Karaoke Version
• Excellent - Live, Recorded at The Grand April 95
• Girl Power - Extended Version
• I Know What Boys Like - Extended Version
• I Know What Boys Like - Hed Boys Seka Mix
• I Know What Boys Like - Hed Boys Party Dub Mix
• War Paint - Extended Version
• War Paint - Karaoke
• Yea Yea Yea (Tell Me Baby) - Karaoke Mix

Trivia

• 1995: Released their song Trouble with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie soundtrack.
• 1995: Released a Japanese video collection entitled 'We Are Shampoo', containing videos for "Trouble", "Viva La Megababes", "Delicious" & "Bouffant Headbutt".
• 1995: Released a Japanese book entitled 'Delicious'.
• 1995: Recorded a cover version of the Beastie Boys "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" for the Warchild charity album Help. The recording was not released as the girls had made it too "disco". Although the track remains unreleased, Shampoo performed the song live on their 1995 Tour of Japan.
• 2000: Provided voices for the Playstation puzzle game 'Spin Jam'.
• 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.
• "Trouble" was covered by Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine. It can be found as a B-side on their "The Young Offenders Mum" single.
• "Trouble" was covered in the 2007 film St Trinian's and featured on the soundtrack.

Cover versions

• "House of Love", originally by East 17
• "Cars", originally by Gary Numan
• "Top Of The Pops", originally by The Rezillos
• "I Know What Boys Like", originally by The Waitresses
• "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)", originally by The Beastie Boys
• "I Love Little Pussy", originally by Little Marcy

External links

• Trouble
• Wash & Go-Go
• Girl Power
• Shampoo Discography