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GREETINGS, HOLD TIGHT with a new jam, hold tight with the mic in the left hand. It’s me and I’m on the groove tip. Are you ready now move to the roof!
AT THE TURN of the millennium, Mark McCabe was a 20-year-old devoted music-maker and presenter on the pirate radio station Pulse FM.
He had no idea that a “badly produced and so badly recorded” single would change the course of his career, have him dodging mobs at record store signings, and leave him forever the ‘Maniac 2000′ guy.
Today, he’s director of music and sound at RTÉ 2fm, but on the 15th anniversary of Maniac 2000 charting at number one, McCabe gave TheJournal.ie the story behind the song – and living with its legacy.
The beginnings of Maniac 2000
On 4 March 15 years ago, Maniac 2000 landed at the top of the Irish charts. It stayed there for another 10 weeks, keeping huge names like Westlife and All Saints from the number one spot.
At the time, pirate station Pulse FM was riding the crest of a dance music wave in Dublin, and McCabe was one of the DJs along for the ride.
As part of his sets, he’d rap over a remix of the track Maniac. People were always requesting the song, which led to were suggestions of recording it.
When Pulse went off air for a while, McCabe was left contemplating his career.
Enter Billy Murray of Abbey Discs, who told him that people were coming in every day asking for the single.
Maniac 2000 as we know it was recorded in the Cricket Club in Clontarf (that’s the live crowd you can hear on the song). The attitude was very much “let’s see what happens” – and what happened was a number one single.
“At the end of it, it says ‘five years later now here we are’ - it was an underground thing between us and the Pulse listeners,” says Mark 15 years on. The song was a way to acknowledge the listeners’ support, and went on to be embraced by people around the country.
“But obviously it caught the imagination of a nation, without any viral support, no Twitter or Facebook.”
It was a time when the singles charts ruled, and after 10 weeks at number one, Maniac 2000 found itself a home in the record books as Ireland’s fifth biggest-selling single of all time.
A crazy, surreal time
The song’s success was “a crazy time” for McCabe, who remembers “doing signings in shops and being bundled into the back of a jeep to escape hordes of fans”.
“It was real rock n roll stuff,” he laughs, recalling raucous signings where he was asked to sign women’s breasts.
More surreal moments included winning the Meteor Award for best single in 2001, beating the likes of Ronan Keating.
“Jesus Christ – what the hell am I doing here?” Mark asked himself as he stood on the podium accepting his award.
“It’s everything a record shouldn’t be”
Whatever about its production values, the song was embraced by the music-buyers of Ireland, who couldn’t get enough of the high-energy track.
“It’s so badly produced and so badly recorded,” laughs McCabe today. “It’s everything a record shouldn’t be; but it just goes to show that people like to forget where they are for seven minutes on a Friday night when they are out.”
“I think it works because there is a killer hook,” says McCabe.
What it is about is having a good time, being with your mates, jumping up and down feeling stupid.
Where did the song come from?
The original song was released by 4Rhythm in the early 1990s, before being remixed by the Sound Crowd.
This remix was soon embraced by DJs like Wicked Willie, Mick Lynn, and Al Gibbs, who rapped over it, and McCabe followed suit.
His rapping contains memorable philosophical lines like “life, it has no meaning”, but McCabe laughs when asked what was he rapping about.
“There was no real thought into the lyrical content other than let’s just make [a song],” he says. The “oggy oggy oggy” chant came from his scouting days.
“It’s just literally made up on the night and it was just we happened to record it on the night. I have to live with that forever,” he says.
Making it rain
What’s remarkable about Maniac 2000 is how a song recorded at a disco caught the love of a nation.
“It was the total underdog, totally against the big labels, totally against the manufactured pop bands or rock bands,” says McCabe.
Did it make him much money? “It didn’t make me a millionaire. It did OK.” He made enough to buy studio gear, and went on to build his own studio.
“A lot of people don’t know I was signed with some credible labels,” he adds.
I was on Twisted Records in New York making tribal house. All these people thought I was this cheesy pop DJ, but then under different names I was putting out stuff under different labels in the States. I was producing for bands and recording for bands, all while laughing at the fact this record was doing what it was doing. It opened many doors for me.
In opening those doors, it also slammed shut the ones McCabe had assumed would always be propped open for him.
He’d been playing drums, piano and organ for years, was heavily into the theory and philosophy of music. The single “killed any credo I have”.
These days, he laughs at the contrast: the serious guy getting to number one with a cheesy dance song. But up until five years ago, he took it hard.
“I struggled with it for a long time because I couldn’t get away from it,” he acknowledges.
His legacy
He made an album under the name Music from the Fourth Space with Universal Records, but still he couldn’t escape being ‘Maniac Mark’.
“It was just dance monkey, dance,” he says wryly.
But then, five years ago, McCabe “went and slapped myself in the face”.
He realised:
So many people took this song and took it to their heart. You did that for them and you have to appreciate that.
He realised that “there are people who wrote records and they poured their heart and soul into it and they never see the light of day”.
These days, he meets “serious” musicians who speak of their love for the song; he shows transition year students (who were infants when it was released) around 2FM and gets asked “are you THE Mark McCabe”?
He realises the impact one small single had.
“It’s so Irish - it’s almost like a rite of passage,” he says proudly.
Would he ever bring out a newer version of Maniac 2000?
McCabe thinks of the fans first when it comes to tackling the song again.
“If I was to get it wrong I think people would be really annoyed and it would ruin the song. The other side of me says why not introduce it to a new generation? It was so unique and so of its time that I think it was best left alone. I could be proved wrong.”
It sounds like, after some time wrestling with its impact, he’s now – thanks in large part to how beloved Maniac 2000 is – happy to own his success.
I did it. In terms of playing the music industry and putting a tune out there and releasing it and trying to get to number one, I did it. Regardless of what the song or genre sounded like. It worked way beyond what we could have expected.
Do you have any Maniac 2000 memories? Share them in the comments below. Side to side like you just don’t care.
I have worked in retail for over 15 years. I loved dealing with people,helping customers with their queries and feeling like I made a difference. Then,you know what happened? People happened. Grumpy SOB’s that come into the shop at 7.30 in the morning,throwing coins at me for a paper without so much as a hello, people complaining that the coffee machine is on a cleaning cycle and walking off in a huff or when you don’t activate petrol pumps within 2 seconds,you get an earful.. People completely ruined my love for retail so….rant over
What’s the difference between people now and 15 years ago?
Experience and 15 years full of taking cr@p from people. Most retail staff can be unprofessional as well,I understand that but I’ve put up with and seen a fair amount of abuse from people over the years and it’s made me want to just get out of it altogether. A nice office somewhere away from people
But you just said in your first comment you loved dealing with people and then you contradicted yourself that you hate dealing with people?
You get ass###es in all walks of life and in every job. It’s just the way the world is. I have learnt over the years to take these people in my stride and realise it’s not my fault they’re unpleasant. If you stand up to them they usually back down quite quickly. They usually pray on the weak.
I realise giving lip to unpleasant people isn’t easy when your in customer services but you can make life more difficult for them. Get some pleasure from that.
Your mistake was staying in retail for 15 years.
I used to like people before I worked in retail, four years of idiocy and snide remarks when you’re trying to do your utmost best for them takes its toll..
Yes I LOVED dealing with people when I first started out but people’s attitude changed my opinion on the job. I don’t hate dealing with people at work but they don’t make the job any easier. Most customers are lovely but you will ALWAYS get at least 3 in any shift that will cause a problem when there is none there. Asking a customer if they have any fuel outside can be a nightmare. IT IS MY JOB TO ASK THIS!! Yet when I ask some people,it’s like I’ve committed the worst atrocity towards them
They’re 15 years older
How do people get offended when asked ‘did you get fuel’ is beyond me?. There is a few people round here like that. The whole community think they’re ass###es so be safe in the knowledge that most people think the same.
One of the bullet points says, “Only 27% of shoppers found their main supermarket to be fun and exciting.”
Whenever I have roller-skated through the Tesco aisles, expertly lobbing everything I need into a basket as I go and usually without dropping anything, I was always stopped by security and abruptly asked to leave :/
Shopping isn’t exciting for me anymore, I am one of the disgruntled 27%. Sort it out Tesco!
In retail, the public think they have a right to walk in and completely ruin anything you have, whether it be a display, cleanliness or dignity. They will shout and ball at you for the littlest things imaginable. Families with kids are the worst horror of all, spoiling peoples day with their disregard of other people, so they don’t have to look after the kids. The elderly are split into 2 groups, really nice and pleasant or real S.O.B.’s
I still get amazed how people walk into penny’s and destroy the stores on a daily basis.
Retail workers are usually on minimum wage and deserve a medal for what they have to put up with!
You sir, I salute you. Do you work or have you worked in retail? Because you know what you’re on about. If you haven’t, I’m amazed at your consideration – something that the majority of the non retail experienced public seem to lack.
He’s dead right, parents that don’t keep control of their kids while enquiring about a product and the children wreck the shop then you spend an hour fixing for it only for it to happen again and again and again…
Once this little brat walked around the whole perimeter of the store, held his arm out to his level and knocked over EVERYTHING at arms level. Needless to say i was fit to kill the mother…
He’s dead right, parents that don’t keep control of their kids while enquiring about a product and the children wreck the shop then you spend an hour fixing for it only for it to happen again and again and again…
Once this little brat walked around the whole perimeter of the store, held his arm out to his level and knocked over EVERYTHING at arms level. Needless to say i was fit to kill the mother…
Sell blue moulded chocolate eclairs,that’s how Tescos got me to go back to them yesterday
I can’t understand then, how lidl and aldi have taken the Irish and British markets by storm, since their interiors look like a warehouse. Does not compute….
Both Aldi and Lidl are bright and airy – Aldi more so, in my opinion. Walk in the door, you can see from one side of the shop to the other. No clutter. Flow around nicely with your trolley. It’s always clean. Get to the checkout and be dealt with quicker than in any of the other supermarkets. They pay their staff a considerable amount more than any other chain and it pays off.
And you can walk into any Aldi in Ireland and find exactly what you went in for in 10 seconds unlike the big names where your a half an hour trying to find a bag of sugar.Aldi may not be fancy but they are functional and cheap.
That’s bollox about the queues. You often spend 20 minutes queuing in the German shops.
I’m always amazed at the speed of the person on check out in Lidl /Aldi. It’s so fast. They also say hi to you maybe have a very brief chat. Then I go to Tesco. About 99% of the times I’ve been in there there’s always a grumpy sod on checkout that sighs before beginning to checkout your goods. Never smiles at you but if one of their colleagues comes over it’s all shits and giggles. The 1% is usually a new person or a needle in a haystack.
That’s because they’re terrified they’ll lose their jobs if they fail to smile the requisite 4.5 inches and scan one item every 2.7 micro-seconds. At least Tesco lets them have an off-day.
Has anyone found that you’re almost taken aback when you get a friendly checkout operator in these stores? And that when you do come across one they are almost always foreign?? Its almost funny how downright rude some of the miserable Irish biddies (they are ALWAYS girls/women) are, say hello and they point blank ignore you, through change at you like you have leporasy and ignored again when you say “thank you”. Or leave you standing there while they b*tch & moan to a colleague for 5 mins. Dunnes Stores staff are the worst!!
Not exactly retail but I went into burgerking on Grafton street yesterday and encountered two surly slow Irish people employed there. Long queue. Gave up went next door to the much busier but queueless McDonald’s and got served instantly with a smile by a charming Polish person.
Can’t beat a shop with a clear, attractive layout. I honestly think this is a huge part of where Tesco fell down in recent years; shops with little order, dirty and unkept shelves etc. Good visual displays, friendly staff and organisation across the shop floor…that’s what retailers need to focus on.
I recently came across a small clothes shop in Charleville, Co. Cork. Contrary to popular belief that these shops are dying out, the shop was doing roaring trade. Why? The lady that owned the shop was passionate about clothes and buys a very wide range of styles that are appealing to young and old. She also used vintage couches and chairs to add to the boutique vibe she wanted to create. And she utilised social media very well, using case studies of ladies who came to her looking for a dress for a wedding or special occasion, along with competitions etc (she has over 27k FB fans…not bad going).
If small retailers want to survive, they have to interact as much as they can with the customer and not underestimate the importance of visual impact and genuine enthusiasm for their products.
What is the name of the shop?
Cherish, on the Cork side as you’re coming into town…well worth a look.
The rudeness of staff in most shops here in the town where I live is a disgrace.And in a restaurant you cannot complain if there is an issue with your food.Oh no.People accept every shyte .The customer is not king in Ireland.
The customer should be king.In shops.In pubs.In restaurants.Just like in America. Unfortunately the customer is far from being king here.The shopkeeper rules the waves.And since nobody complains..
Never ever go to the male checkout staff, slow as snails. Proof that women are multi-taskers and we men are not!
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