Shampoo (duo)


Shampoo were an English female duo in the 1990s, formed by Jacqueline "Jacqui" Blake and Caroline "Carrie" Askew. Their song "Trouble" reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart.

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" with the b-sides "Paydirt" and "I Love Little Pussy" was released by Icerink records 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. "Shiny Black Taxi Cab" about a night on the town gone wrong. We Are Shampoo sold over a million copies, with the majority of sales in Japan and the rest of Asia.
"Trouble" reached No. 11 on the UK charts, 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 ' 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 '.
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.

Discography

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

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

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