"Jump Around" is a song by American
hip hop group
House of Pain
House of Pain was an American hip-hop trio that released three albums in the 1990s. The group consisted of DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, and Everlast. The group's name is a reference to the H. G. Wells novel '' The Island of Dr. Moreau'', a refer ...
, produced by
DJ Muggs
Lawrence Muggerud (born January 28, 1968), professionally known by his stage name DJ Muggs, is an American DJ, audio engineer and record producer. He is a member of Cypress Hill, a member of the trip hop band Cross My Heart Hope To Die and the l ...
of the hip hop group
Cypress Hill, who has also covered the song. It became a hit in 1992, reaching number 3 in the United States. A 1993 re-release of the song in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, where the initial release had been a minor hit, peaked at number 8. "Jump Around" was featured at position 580 on ''
Q Magazine
''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series '' The Old Grey Whistle Test''. ...
''s ''1001 Best Songs Ever'', number 24 on
VH1's ''100 Greatest Songs of the 90s'', number 66 on VH1's ''100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop'', number 325 on ''
Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...
''s ''500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born'' and number 47 on ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
''s ''100 Best Songs Of The 1990s''. The song is popular among
dancehall DJs
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile ...
and is widely regarded in the United Kingdom as a club classic.
Development
DJ Muggs has stated that he originally produced the beat for Cypress Hill, but rapper B-Real did not want to record at that time. It was subsequently offered to
Ice Cube, who refused it, before finally being taken and used by House of Pain.
Samples
The song features a distinctive
horn
Horn most often refers to:
*Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound
** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
fanfare intro, sampled from
Bob & Earl's 1963 track "
Harlem Shuffle". The song also samples "Popeye the Hitchhiker" by
Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans; October 3, 1941) is an American rock and roll singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including The Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnight ...
, but it is best known for a high-pitched squealing sound that appears at the beginning of almost every bar—66 times in the course of the recording.
The origin of the squeal has been the subject of debate. American blogger
Anil Dash
Anil Dash (; born September 5, 1975) is an American technology executive, entrepreneur, Prince scholar and writer. He is the Head of Glitch and VP of Developer Experience at Fastly.
Career
In 1999, Dash launched his personal weblog, dashes.com ...
and musician
Questlove of hip-hop band
The Roots have insisted on
Prince's "
Gett Off
"Gett Off" is a song written and produced by American musician Prince for his thirteenth album, ''Diamonds and Pearls'' (1991). The album was his first with his backing band the New Power Generation. "Gett Off" was released as the lead single fro ...
" as the source. A ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...
'' reader performed a
spectrogram
A spectrogram is a visual representation of the spectrum of frequencies of a signal as it varies with time.
When applied to an audio signal, spectrograms are sometimes called sonographs, voiceprints, or voicegrams. When the data are represen ...
analysis, which revealed that the sample more closely matches
Junior Walker and the All Stars
Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr. (June 14, 1931 – November 23, 1995), known professionally as Junior Walker, was an American multi-instrumentalist (primarily saxophonist and vocalist) who recorded for Motown during the 1960s. He also performed as a ses ...
' "Shoot Your Shot", and House of Pain member
Everlast
Erik Francis Schrody (born August 18, 1969), known by his stage name Everlast, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter, who was the frontman for hip hop group House of Pain. He was also part of the hip hop supergroup La Coka ...
himself told Questlove that it is a horn making the squeal and not Prince; he later claimed the sample was from
Divine Styler
Mikal Safiyullah (born Mark Richardson; 1968), better known by his stage name Divine Styler, is an alternative hip hop artist from Brooklyn, New York.
History
He first emerged as part of Ice-T's Rhyme Syndicate. His first LP, '' Word Power' ...
's "Ain't Sayin' Nothin", which samples "Shoot Your Shot". However, Anil Dash claims the band has denied that the sample is Prince to avoid paying royalties to the singer. An identical squeal can also be heard throughout the track "Gotta be a Leader," released two years earlier by the group
Guy. For his part, DJ Muggs says the sample came from neither Prince nor Junior Walker.
Critical reception
About.com
Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...
's Bill Lamb said that "after one time of hearing this riveting blend of rap and rock, you will likely never forget the sampled saxophone squeal from
Jr. Walker and the All Stars that leads off every bar." He also wrote that "for a brief period of time in the 1990s, it seemed that the marriage of edgy rock and hip-hop could actually become a thing. 'Jump Around' is proof that the union could either be incredibly infectious or annoying, depending on one's tolerance for the incessant siren that accompanies the pounding beats."
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
editor Rob Theakston described the song as a "dynamite classic". He also added that the "anthem" that got the Irish boys rolling in the first place "still sounds as timeless and energetic nearly a decade along".
J.D. Considine
J. D. Considine (born 1957) is a music critic who has been writing about music professionally since 1977.
Background
J. D. Considine's work has been published in numerous newspapers and music magazines, and he has contributed to several books. ...
for
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
's ''
The Daily Gazette
''The Daily Gazette'' is an independent, family-owned daily newspaper published in Schenectady
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's popu ...
'' noted it as "springy" in his review, and Scott Sterling from ''
The Michigan Daily
''The Michigan Daily'' is the weekly student newspaper of the University of Michigan. Its first edition was published on September 29, 1890. The newspaper is financially and editorially independent of the University's administration and other stu ...
'' called it the "most happening track" on the ''
House of Pain
House of Pain was an American hip-hop trio that released three albums in the 1990s. The group consisted of DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, and Everlast. The group's name is a reference to the H. G. Wells novel '' The Island of Dr. Moreau'', a refer ...
'' album. Bill Wyman from ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cu ...
'' said, "It’s a charging dance number based on a sampled snatch of bagpipe." Another editor, Leah Greenblatt wrote that "the first and only members of hip-hop's Irish-American Thug Life Hall of Fame earned their spot in that (imaginary) pantheon with this killer blast of
rapid-fire rap bravado." Brian A. Samson from the ''
Gavin Report'' commented that "this uptempo single provides listeners with what H.O.P. calls "fine malt lyrics." Laced with squeaky buzzes that sounds like of a clarinet played by a novice, the beats should provide for some head-noddin' action."
Across the Atlantic,
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...
-based ''
Evening Herald
''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Even ...
'' called it a "compelling single." The ''
Irish Independent'' said that with it, the group "made a fairly groovy record." ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
s ''RM'' Dance Update stated that it is an "excellent debut", adding, "built on a chugging Caribbean rhythm, 'Jump Around' features a strong
Heavy D
Dwight Arrington MyersCuda, Heidi Sigmund Keeping it reel. '' Vibe'' ("born Dwight Arrington Myers")Samuels, Anita M. (January 12' 1996)Heavy D, the C.E.O. ''New York Times'' (May 24, 1967 – November 8, 2011), known professionally as Hea ...
-like rap and its popularity is ensured by a chanted chorus with the buzz word 'Jump'. With a sleeve festooned with shamrock leaves and an Irish flag, it seems
Tommy Boy
''Tommy Boy'' is a 1995 American buddy adventure comedy film directed by Peter Segal, written by Bonnie and Terry Turner, produced by Lorne Michaels, and starring former ''Saturday Night Live'' castmates and close friends Chris Farley and Davi ...
may have beaten
Talkin' Loud
Talkin' Loud was a record label, originally founded by Gilles Peterson in 1990 after he left Acid Jazz Records. The label name is based on Peterson's Dingwalls club night "Talkin' Loud And Sayin' Something", itself a reference to James Brown and ...
in the race to give us Irish rap." Editor Andy Beevers called it "an infectious bouncy track", adding that lyrically, "their invitation to jump is as aggressive as
Kris Kross
Kris Kross was an American hip hop duo that consisted of Chris "Mac Daddy" Kelly and Chris "Daddy Mac" Smith.
Kris Kross was the youngest hip-hop duo to gain success, with gold and platinum albums at 12 and 13 years old. The duo was discover ...
's was cute." ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' described the song as "irresistible, the ultimate easy floorfiller, and floor-destroyer." Rupert Howe from ''
Select'' magazine described it as a "Kris-Kross-with testosterone smash" and added that it is "an impossibly simple
freestyle skank that stormed the US
billboard big-time."
Chart performance
In the United States, "Jump Around" peaked at number 3 on the ''
Billboard''
Hot 100, while reaching number 5 on the ''Billboard''
Hot Rap Songs
Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...
and number 17 on the ''Billboard''
Billboard Dance Club Songs. In Canada, the single hit number 7 on the ''
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
'' Dance/Urban Chart and number 45 on the ''RPM'' Singles Chart. In Europe, it managed to climb into the Top 10 in Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In the latter, "Jump Around" peaked at number 8 in its second run on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
, on May 23, 1993. Additionally, it was a Top 30 hit in Belgium and Sweden, as well as on the
Eurochart Hot 100, where it hit number 30 in June 1993. In Oceania, the single peaked at number 15 in Australia and number 31 in New Zealand. It earned a
gold record
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
in Australia and the UK, with a sale of 35,000 and 400,000 singles. In the US, it earned a
platinum record, when 1 million units were sold there.
Music video
The
music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...
for "Jump Around" was filmed during the 1992
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...
parade. Portions were shot on the parade route as well as in
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
and
Old Town Bar and Restaurant.
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...
super fan and
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...
regular
Freddy Schuman
Freddy Schuman (May 23, 1925 – October 17, 2010), better known as Freddy Sez or Freddy "Sez", was a New Yorker and supporter of the New York Yankees, known for his activities in promoting the team and encouraging fan participation.
Biography ...
can be seen in the parade crowd, ringing his signature
shamrock pan near the end of the video. The video ends with a dedication to the memory of Matt Champy, a friend of the band who died in 1992.
Track listings
# "Jump Around" (Master mix) – 3:37
# "Jump Around" (DJ Bizznizz remix) – 4:06
# "Jump Around" (Pete Rock remix) – 3:56
# "House of Pain Anthem" (Master mix) – 2:35
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
Cover versions
In 2013,
Everlast
Erik Francis Schrody (born August 18, 1969), known by his stage name Everlast, is an American musician, singer, rapper, and songwriter, who was the frontman for hip hop group House of Pain. He was also part of the hip hop supergroup La Coka ...
released a cover of the song, as "Jump Around?". It was released on the EP ''
The Life Acoustic.''
On September 16, 2016, British YouTuber and rapper
KSI
Olajide Olayinka Williams "JJ" Olatunji (born 19 June 1993), known professionally as KSI, is an English YouTuber and rapper. He is a co-founder and member of the British YouTube group known as the Sidemen. He is the CEO of Misfits Boxing and ...
released his
own version of "Jump Around", featuring American rapper
Waka Flocka Flame
Juaquin James Malphurs (born May 31, 1986), known professionally as Waka Flocka Flame, is an American rapper. Signing to 1017 Brick Squad and Warner Bros. Records in 2009, he became a mainstream artist with the release of his singles "O Let's ...
.
In 2019, American
nu metal band Coming for Blood released a cover version of "Jump Around", featuring former House of Pain and current
Limp Bizkit member
DJ Lethal
Leor Dimant ( lv, Leors Dimants, russian: Леор Григорьевич Димант, ; born December 18, 1972), better known as DJ Lethal, is a Latvian-American turntablist and producer and is best known as a member of the groups House of Pai ...
on turntables.
Use in sports
At home
football games at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
, students "Jump Around" to the song between the third and fourth quarters. The tradition grew out of the men's varsity swim team members, in 1992, playing it over a portable CD player and broadcasting via a smuggled-in megaphone to sections O and P during the games to rile up those sections. In March 1997, at a Fraternity party at
Delta Tau Delta
Delta Tau Delta () is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapter ...
at midnight the song was played with the football team and members of the future stadium employees and it became the midnight anthem for every party until the end of that year. The "unofficial" start was on Saturday, October 10, 1998, at the Badgers Homecoming game against the
Purdue Boilermakers
The Purdue Boilermakers are the official intercollegiate athletics teams representing Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. As is common with athletic nicknames, the Boilermakers nickname is also used as colloquial designation ...
.
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 eventually became a tradition.
However, on September 6, 2003 (the Badgers' first home game of the season), with construction of skyboxes surrounding
Camp Randall Stadium
Camp Randall Stadium is an outdoor stadium in Madison, Wisconsin, located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin. It has been the home of the Wisconsin Badgers football team in rudimentary form since 1895, and as a fully functioning stadiu ...
, 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 John Duncan Wiley (born March 23, 1942 in Evansville, Indiana) is a faculty member and former chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Wiley was named the 28th Chancellor of the University on November 10, 2000, and assumed office on Janu ...
announced that the "Jump Around" tradition would resume.
The song's title is displayed on unofficial
Wisconsin Badgers
The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...
clothing and apparel, along with the credit/debit cards of the university's
employee/student/alumni credit union.
Professional wrestlers
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...
J. C. Ice
James Dundee (born James Cruickshanks) (born July 5, 1971) is an Australian-born American professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the United States Wrestling Association (USWA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Extre ...
and
Wolfie D
Kelly Warren Wolfe (born December 7, 1973) is an American professional wrestler. Wolfe is perhaps best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) under the ring name Wolfie D (as o ...
, collectively known as
PG-13
The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion pictures ...
, used a censored version of the song as their entrance to the rings.
The
Detroit Tigers use this song when they hit a home run.
Brian Wilson also used it as his entrance song in 2010 while he was relief pitcher for the San Francisco Giants.
Whenever the
Rally Monkey
The Rally Monkey is the unofficial mascot for the Los Angeles Angels Major League Baseball team.
Introduction
The character debuted on June 6, 2000, when the Angels were trailing the San Francisco Giants 5–4 in the bottom of the ninth inn ...
, the unofficial mascot of the
Los Angeles Angels
The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...
makes an appearance on the
Angel Stadium
Angel Stadium of Anaheim is a baseball stadium located in Anaheim, California. Since its opening in 1966, it has served as the home ballpark of the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB), and was also the home stadium to the Los An ...
videoboard, she would be seen holding a sign saying that it's 'RALLY TIME!" while the song plays.
The
Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights are a professional ice hockey team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference. Founded in 2017 as an expa ...
use this song as the teams return to the ice for the 3rd period.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
House of Pain songs
1992 debut singles
1992 songs
Music Week number-one dance singles
Song recordings produced by DJ Muggs
Tommy Boy Records singles
Wisconsin Badgers football
XL Recordings singles