"Ooops Up" is a song by German

Eurodance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

group

Snap! Snap! is a German Eurodance group formed in 1989 by Record producer, producers Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti. The act has been through a number of line-up changes over the years, including American singers, songwriters and rappers Thea A ...

. It was released in June 1990 as the second single from their debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''

World Power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...

'' (1990). The song is a re-working of " I Don't Believe You Want to Get Up and Dance (Ooops!)"; a 1980 hit by

The Gap Band The Gap Band was an American R&B and funk band that rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s. The band consisted of three brothers: Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, along with other members; it was named after streets (Greenwood, Archer, an ...

, with which band member

Penny Ford Penny Ford (also known as Pennye Ford, born June 11, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, she rose to fame in the 1980s after signing a recording contract with T ...

was a former backing singer. The single was a world-wide hit and reached number-one in Greece. Lyrically the song is about Murphy's Law. The narrator talks about it and everything that went wrong during his day.

Critical reception

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 databas ...

editor Andrew Hamilton noted that the song is a "remake/takeoff" of the

Gap Band The Gap Band was an American R&B and funk band that rose to fame during the 1970s and 1980s. The band consisted of three brothers: Charlie, Ronnie, and Robert Wilson, along with other members; it was named after streets (Greenwood, Archer, a ...

's nonsensical

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

riff " Oops Upside Your Head". Bill Coleman from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' commented, "Sizzling hip-hop jam should help act maintain " the power" over club and radio jocks." Dave Sholin from the ''

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'' wrote that "reaching into The Gap Band songbook, this powerhouse outfit comes up with the perfect remake, giving it a glowing nineties treatment." David Giles from ''

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 ...

'' stated that the song has "a shuffling rhythm distinctive enough to earn them another big success." Gene Sandbloom from ''The Network Forty'' described it as a "powerful bass busting track combining

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and song. Already one of the most danced to songs in the country." A reviewer from ''

Newcastle Evening Chronicle The ''Evening Chronicle'', now referred to as ''The Comical'', is a daily newspaper produced in Newcastle upon Tyne covering North regional news, but primarily focused on Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding area. The ''Comical'' is published by ...

'' picked "Ooops Up" as one of the best songs of the ''

'' album. Tom Doyle from ''

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'' said it's "one of the best attempts" in matching the brilliance of their debut, " The Power". He called it "a sort of cover of the Gap Band's "Ooops Upside Your Head" mixed with a dodgy reinterpretation of " Little Miss Muffet"." The closing lines about Little Miss Muffet were actually an ad-lib by singer Penny Ford when recording the song. Ford was unhappy with her vocal performance in the previous part of the track so began messing around so that recording wouldn’t be used. However, the producers loved it and kept Ford’s ad-lib in the track. The Little Miss Muffet lines are loosely based on lyrics from the George Clinton track ''Let’s Take it to the Stage''.

Chart performance

The single was very successful on the charts on several continents, peaking at number-one in Greece. And it reached number two in Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and West Germany. It charted in the top 10 also in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the UK. In the latter, the single peaked at number five in its third week 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 June 24, 1990. It stayed at that position for two weeks. Outside Europe, "Ooops Up" reached number-one 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 in Canada, number four in Australia, number five in Zimbabwe, number eight in New Zealand and number 35 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US. But on the ''Billboard''

Dance/Club Play Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart, it hit number four. The song was awarded with 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 meta ...

in Australia, Austria, Sweden and the US, and a

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in the United Kingdom.

Music video

The accompanying

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 promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Ooops Up" was directed by Liam Kan and is in both black-and-white and colours. He would also direct the video for the group's next song, "Cult of Snap".

Track listings

* 12-inch maxi # "Ooops Up" (Vocal) – 6:17 # "Ooops Up" (Other Mix) – 6:40 # "Ooops Up" (Instrumental) – 5:33 * 7-inch single # "Ooops Up" (Vocal Edit) – 3:57 # "Ooops Up" (Instrumental Edit) – 3:57 * CD single # "Ooops Up" (Edit) – 3:59 # "Ooops Up" (Vocal Version) – 6:17 # "Ooops Up" (Other Mix) – 6:40 * CD maxi version # "Ooops Up" (Vocal Edit) – 3:57 # "Ooops Up" (Vocal 12" Mix) – 6:17 # "Ooops Up" (Other Mix) – 6:40 * 2003 version (Snap feat. NG3) # "Ooops Up!" (Radio Edit) – 3:20 # "Ooops Up!" (Extended Club Mix) – 4:03 # "Ooops Up!" (Oops Up 90) – 4:00

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Original version

"Ooops Up 2003"

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1990 singles 1990 songs Electro songs English-language German songs Music videos directed by Liam Kan Number-one singles in Greece Snap! songs Songs written by Charlie Wilson (singer) Songs written by Lonnie Simmons Songs written by Rudy Taylor