My memories of the early days of Shampoo are somewhat hazy as they are of everything else from that period, but hopefully I am not too unreliable a narrator…

When I first met Carrie and Jacqui they were basically a band waiting to happen, even if they didn’t know it; They had the look, the attitude and a love of all things punk and pop but no songs yet.

The stars must have been aligned or something as my Saint Etienne bandmate Bob Stanley and Denim’s Lawrence had been talking of writing for a girl group, something different to the typical tame and slick mainstream fare

And hey presto 2 singles are released on our Icerink label, setting the ball rolling. The stars realign again as Manic’s manager Martin Hall takes the helm and songwriter Con gets on board and now they are the fully fledged hit making, stadium rocking behemoth that you know and love

After several hit albums and many transglobal jaunts Carrie and Jacqui land back on earth and Bob and I have a chance to work with them again – this time with our longtime collaborator Ian Catt. The sessions result in the album Absolute Shampoo which for whatever reason gets a very limited release (I blame the millennium bug), so I’m very pleased that these recordings are finally getting an airing thanks to this lovingly put together compilation. As I recall someone once saying “ Viva La Megababes”.

Pete Wiggs 2024
@saintetienneofficial