Synth-pop outfit Cause & Effect never “made it big,” but they did provide top 40 radio with one slice of perfection in the form of 1992’s “You Think You Know Her.” My memory is a bit too fuzzy to determine exactly when this song came into my life, although an unusually confusing Wikipedia entry places its release in late 1991/early 1992, at which point I would have been a junior in high school.

Why did I like “You Think…” so much? Easy. It was a baldfaced Depeche Mode ripoff. At the time Cause & Effect (which consisted of vocalist Rob Rowe and synth player Sean Rowley) staked their claim to fame, DM had just reached their career zenith with Violator and its four hit singles. If you took two of those singles (“Enjoy The Silence” and “Policy Of Truth”) and filtered them through a musical strainer with a pinch of Information Society, you’d have “You Think You Know Her.” Rowe’s Dave Gahan impression is the icing on the cake. As derivative as “You Think…” is, though, it’s still a great pop song. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and yada yada yada…

I’m a little surprised that “You Think You Know Her” wasn’t a bigger hit. My research tells me it peaked at #38 on the Billboard Hot 100. I’d have pegged it as top 20 at least, but maybe that’s just a reflection of how often I played the cassingle.

(thanks, Google search, for reminding me that the “You Think You Know Her” cassette single was as generic-looking as they got. Not even a picture of the band on the front!)

Unfortunately, Cause & Effect were never able to expand on their sound or establish themselves as anything other than Depeche Mode imitators. At a soundcheck in 1992, Rowley suffered a fatal asthma attack. Rowe picked up the pieces and continued the band with additional members, but things never turned around. At least we’ll always have “You Think You Know Her.”