I never should have liked Chapterhouse anyway. I blame Dave Kendall and that dang MTV 120 Minutes.
A history lesson for those of you too young to remember how discovering music could be difficult pre-internet days. When MTV still aired videos they had a show called 120 Minutes on Sunday nights hosted by a Brit named Dave Kendall. It wasn't uncommon at that time to tape the show on the VCR and watch it during the week, as the videos played would often not air in regular programming. Bands such as Oasis, Blur, or Weezer got exposure on 120 Minutes. Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' had its world premiere on the show before blowing up and becoming a massive worldwide hit. 120 Minutes aired the bands you craved to discover but could never hear on the radio outside of big cities or college towns with good radio stations.
It was during one such episode in the summer of 1991 the video for 'Pearl' from Chapterhouse's debut album Whirlpool aired. Though everything was wrong with the band, I still remember watching it with the same rapt attention that Straitjacket Fits received for the vaguely similar 'Down in Splendour.' The music was mushy (for lack of a better word) and the vocals buried in the mix. I was transfixed. My Bloody Valentine's epic Loveless would be released later in the year and I had yet to discover Slowdive. The swirl of sound drew me in and wouldn't let go. I had been introduced to the shoegazing bands.
In Augusta, Georgia there was only one place in 1991 that would stock imports and left-of-center releases. I went that week and found one copy of the CD with its "Made in Germany" sticker affixed. Despite the import price I walked out of the shop with my prize. To this day, 'Pearl' is probably one of the top five songs I've played most often. The vocals ended up being something I loved. When Rachel Goswell of Slowdive (and later Mojave 3) kicked in with her contributions late in the song I swooned.
'Pearl' ended up being part of the soundtrack of my life in the summer of 1991.
Trivia about the song. At about the 1:45 mark of the video there is a breakdown to the bridge. Some may recognize the distinct similarity to 'Kiss Them for Me' by Siouxsie and the Banshees from the Superstition album. It's interesting to note that Superstition was released on June 11, 1991 while Whirlpool hit stores on June 25, 1991, exactly two weeks later. The somewhat curious similarity came up a few years later when I was interviewing a British band, probably in 1995/1996. (I am fairly sure it was Jim Shaw of the Cranes as we hit it off during an interview but may have been someone else.) In any case, apparently an engineer working on Whirlpool was dating someone in Siouxie's band or management. They thought the loop was cool and took it to Siouxsie who then used it in 'Kiss Them for Me' as the main loop. Ironically, Superstition was released first and everyone then thought Chapterhouse had robbed Siouxsie and the Banshees. Go figure.
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I know this is an old post, but this track came up recently on LastFM. I'm new to Chapterhouse but I instantly picked up on the sample similarity. A little poking around on the net led me to a you tube post that suggested both the banshees and chapterhouse lifted it from Schooly D's "P.S.K. What does it mean?". After listening to Schooly's track on YouTube I'm likened to support that credit.
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