Between 1987 and 1991, they released two albums, which may have made little impact on the charts but served notice of their growing importance within the exploding acid house scene.
Four years later centred on the core duo of Angus and Will Sinnott, 'Jesus Loves America' and 'In Gorbachev We Trust' caused controversy while making a name for themselves. In 1990, the band's third album 'En-Tact' saw the arrival of rapper Richard West, a.k.a. Mr. C., but also marked by the tragic departure of Will, who drowned while filming the video to 'Move Any Mountain' in Tenerife. The band decided to continue without him and the single became The Shamen's biggest hit.
The band were on the cusp of big success and so it proved with the 1992 release of the 'Boss Drum' and controversial 'Ebeneezer Goode'. The track quickly came under fire for its glorification of club culture and the drug Ecstasy, not helped by their Top Of The Pops performance, which concluded with Mr. C asking: 'Has anyone got any underlay'?
'Boss Drum' went 2x Platinum and spawned 'L.S.I. (Love Sex Intelligence), 'Phorever People'. But there were already suggestions that their sound was becoming diluted. Two more albums explored less commercial, instrumental territories, but as relations with their record label crumbled and their musical mission accomplished, they called it a day.
The Shamen - ProGen'91 (Move Any Mountain) (1991)
UK#4, CH#4, NL#23, US#38
The Shamen - L.S.I. Love Sex Intelligence (1992)
US(Dance Charts)#1, SWE#4, UK#6, IRL#15, CH#19, NL#20, DE#27, FR#30
The Shamen - Ebeneezer Goode (1992)
UK#1, IRL#1, NOR#2, AT#11, SWE#11, AUS#14, CH#17, NL#19, DE#23, NZ#23, FR#43
The Shamen - Phorever People (1992)
US(Dance Charts)#1, UK#5, IRL#7, FR#12, SWE#14, AT#17, DE#31, NL#47
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