Thursday, January 12, 2012

Anatomy of a Classic: House of Pain "Jump Around"



“Jump Around” is a classic Hip-Hop record from House of Pain (released in 1992 on the groups first self-titled album through XL Recordings and Tommy Boy Records), produced by DJ Muggs of Cypress Hill. This song became a hit in 1992, reaching Number 3 in the USA. A 1993 re-release of the song in the UK, where the original had been a minor hit, peaked at Number 8. On VH1′s 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s, “Jump Around” was featured at position 24. It was number 66 on VH1′s 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. The album went mutli-platinum.



The famous horn riff that jumps it all off is from the record "Harlem Shuffle" by Bob & Earl (1963). The loop that runs throughout the entire song is a pitched way down sample from "Popeye The Hitchhiker" by Chubby Checker (1962). A sure sign that DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill produced the record is the sample of "Tramp" by Lowell Fulsom (1966) running throughout the song. If you listen to the original "Tramp" record you will also recognize the sample was used in Cypres Hill's classic "How I Could Just Kill a Man". There used to be a rumor floating around that the high pitched squeel at the beginning of each bar was a sample of Prince screaming in his song "Gett Off", but it's actually a saxophone stab taken from "Shoot Your Shot" by Jr. Walker & the All Stars (1965). It is widely known throughout the industry that securing a sample from Prince is somewhere between impossible and can't be done. The scratch that DJ Lethal is rubbing through the hooks is from the old "Military Cut - Scratch Mix" by DJ Grand Wizard Theodore and Kevie Kev Rockwell (1983).

I've read that the song also incorporates a sample from "Soul Girl" by Jeanne & the Darlings (1967), but I could only find that sample used on the Pete Rock remix of "Jump Around". The same is true of "Pot Belly" by Lou Donaldson (1970). I could only hear the sample used in Pete Rock's remix - not the original House of Pain record. The same is also true for the use of the sample from the Harvey Averne Dozen "You're No Good" (1968) record. According to Funkmaster Flex the song also samples Johnny Cash's "Daddy Sang Bass" (1969) but I haven't found any sample from that record in "Jump Around".

Some more interesting facts about the record from Wikipedia:

In television and film
The song has been featured in films Mrs. Doubtfire, The Rookie, Daredevil (film), Rush Hour, Happy Gilmore, Kiss of Death, and Black Hawk Down, as well as the television series My Name Is Earl, the TBS talk show Lopez Tonight and the BBC Radio Scotland series Off The Ball. It was also featured in a Pringles commercial in the late 1990s. It also features as darts player Gary Anderson's walk on music.

University of Wisconsin-Madison
At University of Wisconsin-Madison home football games, students "Jump Around" to the song between the third and fourth quarters. The tradition grew out of the Men's Varsity Swimteam members playing it over a discman and broadcasting via a smuggled in megaphone to sections O and P during the games to rile up those sections. This began in '93; well before the official start. The "official" start began on Saturday, October 10, 1998, at the Badgers' Homecoming game against the Purdue Boilermakers[3] After no offensive points were scored in the third quarter, and en route to their second 6-0 start of the modern football era, one of the Badgers' marketing agents, who was in charge of sound, piped the song through the loudspeakers.It stirred up fans and players and has become a tradition of the last decade. However, on September 6, 2003 (the Badgers' first home game of the season), with construction of skyboxes surrounding Camp Randall Stadium, UW officials decided to cancel the "Jump Around" due to worries about structural integrity. Stadium security and the local police department had been informed of this decision, but no notification had been given to the fans. When news surfaced on Monday, September 8, that this event was not a technical or human malfunction, but rather a decision by campus officials, the students launched a protest. Petitions circulated and students pushed back against administration. Structural engineers confirmed that the stadium would suffer no structural damage caused by the vibrations created by jumping. Two days later, Chancellor John D. Wiley announced that the "Jump Around" tradition would resume. The song's title is displayed on unofficial Wisconsin Badgers clothing and apparel and even on some of a Madison-based bank's credit cards.

University of North Carolina
In 2004, the North Carolina Tar Heels began using the song as it was a favorite tune among the team, Rashad McCants and others. The song has played at the beginning of every North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball home game at the Dean Smith Center since that year. Just as in Madison, during the song the entire student section jumps up and down. Occasionally, the players are seen dancing to the song as well. When the Tar Heels won their most recent national title in 2009, the song was played over the Smith Center loudspeakers after the final buzzer. When the Tar Heels moved a 2010 game against Texas to the Greensboro Coliseum, Jump Around was played before the opening tip of that game as well.

No comments:

Post a Comment