Note: Okay, IÁ¢€â„¢m stretching it a bit on this one. When I conceived Á¢€Å“Depeche Clones WeekÁ¢€, I had three bands in particular in mind and set about writing all three articles before posting the first. Once I had finished the third, I discovered to my horror that the CD was actually released in 1990, thereby making it ineligible to be Á¢€Å“Lost in the 80sÁ¢€. I could have sworn it was released in 1989Á¢€¦argh. So, I was faced with a choice Á¢€” scrap the entire article and post or just throw it up with the assumption that even though the original release came out in 1990 (not the re-release on Zoo, which came out in 1992), the album must have been recorded in Á¢€” tah dah! Á¢€” 1989.

Guess which I chose?

Formed in Sacramento, the duo of Robert Rowe and Sean Rowley known as Cause & Effect started off on Nastymix Records, home to Sir Mix-a-Lot of all people (not entirely surprising Á¢€” MixÁ¢€â„¢s later collabs with the Presidents of the United States showed his love for alternative rock). Two years after its initial indie release, Cause & EffectÁ¢€â„¢s first album was re-released by major label Zoo, but not without some re-sequencing, remixing and renaming, the formerly self-titled debut now being called Á¢€Å“Another MinuteÁ¢€.

Before they got picked up by Zoo, Cause & Effect broke thru the dance charts with Á¢€Å“What Do You SeeÁ¢€ and my favorite, Á¢€Å“You Think You Know HerÁ¢€. Later, with major label muscle behind them, Á¢€Å“You ThinkÁ¢€¦Á¢€ actually became a Top 40 hit and Á¢€Å“Another MinuteÁ¢€ hit the Hot 100. IÁ¢€â„¢m sort of partial to the original indie versions myself, so thatÁ¢€â„¢s what IÁ¢€â„¢ve posted.

Things looked bright for Cause & Effect, until tragedy stuck during a 1992 tour. Just before a show, Rowley died from heart failure brought on by an asthma attack. After some time and retooling, Rowe, along with a couple new band mates carried on, releasing Á¢€Å“TripÁ¢€ in 1994 and scoring another Hot 100 hit with Á¢€Å“ItÁ¢€â„¢s Over Now.Á¢€ A couple of releases have trickled out since.

Á¢€¦and so ends Depeche Clones Week. I hope fans of the bands featured take it in the lighthearted nature it was intended. And if anyone doubts the Mode-like similarities of the bands featured, allow me to present this unaltered screen shot from Amazon taken earlier this week:

I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’ is all.

Á¢€You Think You Know HerÁ¢€ peaked at #38 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #8 on the Dance Club Play Charts.
Á¢€Å“Another MinuteÁ¢€ peaked at #75 on the Hot 100 and at #31 on the Dance Club Play Charts.

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Cause and Effect

About the Author

John C. Hughes

John C. Hughes began his Lost in the ’80s blog in 2005 and is now proud to be a member of the Popdose family, where he’s introduced LIT80s’s companions, the obviously named Lost in the ’70s and Lost in the ’90s, alongside the slightly more originally named Why You Should Like…

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