This may have been the first real hit to have been created out of nothing but samples.  It's also not the song I remember (or have in my collection), but it turns out there's a reason for that.  For example, at 2:14, the lyrics in the video above go "Automatic pushbutton remote control / synthetic genetic command your soul".  The version I remember from my youth, and have on 45rpm single, is "Automatic systematic remote control...".  There's also no samples from Wolfman Jack or James Brown on it.  Turns out the video above is actually the original version of the tune, which was released in the UK.  The version I'm remembering is the US version, which pulled the samples for legal reasons.  Huh, who knew?  Pump Up The Volume was nominated for a Grammy award in 1989 in the Best Pop Instrumental Performance category, and was M/A/R/R/S' only release. 

Bonus 2): Politics of Dancing, Re-Flex
I often feel like I'm the only person in the world who remembers this band and their only (legitimately) released album.  It's too bad, really, for Re-Flex should have been a lot bigger than they were.  This 1983 album (of the same name as the single) is chock full of great beats, blistering hooks, clever lyrics, everything you'd want from an '80s New Wave group.  It peaked at #53 here in the US, #23 in the UK, and the rumored second album never appeared.

Until 2002, that is, when the keyboardist for the band, Paul Fishman, unofficially released Humanication, and announced that a 6-CD boxset, called Re-Fuse, was going to be coming out sometime in 2010.  I'm hoping it's true.

1 Good luck tomorrow!

2 Ouch. Good luck with the operation. Pulling teeth from a duck is an awfully difficult operation...even moreso for the duck.