Jock Jams, Volume 2: How does the Jock series hold up today?

Was Jock Jams, Volume 2 doomed to brook the common curse that clouds the quality of sequels?

For what it’s worth, Aaron Gordon of Vice Sports made the top echelon of his comprehensive Jock Jams song ranking Volume 1-heavy. The first compilation produced his picks for each of the top three, four of the top five and six of the top 10.

The first of four follow-ups on the contemporized side of ESPN’s Jock series, JJV2 has come to bear the look of a B-team roster. It is as if the most popular candidates got priority for 1995’s Volume 1, forcing the runners-up to wait their turn another year.

By that point, the first volume and its tracks had capitalized on a sprinting head start, revolutionizing the game-day experience. Subsequent introductions to arena playlists would need time to cement themselves, and most could not stick.

In general, fresher content’s best bet proved to be the turn of the century. That was only because Volume 1 and the Jock series’ act in general had finally grown too tiresome to leave it in the driver’s seat.

The credited return of three artists from the first volume amplifies this notion. Sports fans who were not organic fans of the artists could not help sizing up what was new with what was established to their ears.

Even the first-time presence of the age’s popular musicians and fever-striking fad dances had mixed results. Some caught on in the sports-culture conscience while others were all but relegated to the sidelines.

ESPN personalities Dan Patrick and Chris Berman did their part to give JJV2 a jumpstart. Then again, they had already filled interstitials on the second Jock Rock album, and look where that sub-brand went.

Perhaps Patrick and Berman did come up short when they said “Welcome to the big show” and “He could go all the way!” to kick off this compilation. Still, Jock Jams fared well enough after Volume 2 to keep coming back for the rest of the decade.

As far as every song’s immediate and long-term resonance at sporting events goes, the show was overblown and fell a few yards short. Here is the track-by-track breakdown.

“No Limit”

Unlike 2 Unlimited’s two appearances on the first Jock Jams, this track is heavy on vocals. Although, since full songs are rarely played at sporting events, the instrumental intro is usually all fans have gotten.

In hockey-crazed circles, “No Limit” enjoys impressive traction. In 1994, it appeared on the first installment of the Canadian compilation Contact!. A decade later, ahead of the second World Cup of Hockey, it was on a Finnish-produced album. It was also featured in Don Cherry’s Rock’Em Sock’Em Hockey video series. A game-goer in Canada or a U.S.-based CHL arena still stands a decent chance of hearing it over the loudspeakers.

But back in America, compared to “Get Ready for This” or “Twilight Zone” from Volume 1 or even “Tribal Dance” from Volume 3, “No Limit” has had limited prominence. With that said, it would have been a fresher option to culminate a pre-game build-up during the band and series’ peak years.

In this country and century, Mentos commercials aside, it is a dark horse for priority on a hypothetical ’90s Night. There is only so much time and space for 2 Unlimited tracks these days.

 

“Everybody Everybody”

In recent years, Buzzfeed has twice heaped high praise on this Black Box track. It ranks even higher than “Strike It Up” among the site’s picks for the top dance songs of the ’90s. In Buzzfeed’s ranking of the top 20 Jock Jams series tracks, it is the Black Box’s only shift. The same holds true for Complex’s top-10 Jock Jams list.

Despite what anyone thinks of the song as a whole, however, “Everybody Everybody” has never matched the sporting connotations of “Strike It Up.” The former will still pop up in places like Madison Square Garden, where Jock series mastermind Ray Castoldi works. But the latter has a greater sustained presence thanks to its innately more energetic tempo. It also came to the Jock series when the series had more novelty.

“1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)”

It’s not “Gangsta’s Paradise,” but it is the first Jock Jams track by a bona fide mainstream success.

It also did not get nearly as much game-day play as most other ESPN selections. But its broader legacy was strong enough for it to join fellow Coolio song “Too Hot” and fellow Jock Jam “Come Baby Come” (from Volume 1, via K7) on the 2005 three-disc compilation All That “Hip Hop”.

“We Got a Love Thang”

When it was released in 1992, “We Got a Love Thang” found brief regal positioning on American and Canadian dance charts. For crossover sports and music buffs across the continent, that made it a winner in the canned cue.

As with Coolio, this was not the signature song for its artist, CeCe Peniston, in the ears of most listeners. That distinction goes to “Finally,” the title track of the first album featuring “We Got a Love Thang.” But it had its non-allergenic time and places, including athletic places, for the balance of its birth decade.

“This Is Your Night”

Impressively, this Amber single was but three months old when it appeared in the Jock Jams anthology. Two years later, it appeared prominently in A Night at the Roxbury, joining a mixed soundtrack of half-contemporary, half-yesterday dance songs.

Granted, that movie did not measure up with the great Saturday Night Live screenplays. In that sense, it more or less mirrors the way Jock Jams, Volume 2 could not collectively gain the same traction as the original.

“This Is Your Night” ended up one of the casualties of the compilation’s comparative obscurity. That is rather unfortunate, as even today it can still be useful on special occasions. The opening riff and dive right into the chorus makes a good intro for when a home team is looking to clinch a playoff spot, series or title. Similarly, the chorus’ concluding line “everything is gonna be all right” can lighten a tense mood when the hosts are trying to avert elimination.

“This Is How We Do It”
Back in this author’s days as a Sports Illustrated for Kids subscriber, an NBA players’ survey listed this among the songs they wanted scrapped from all sound systems. (Bad news for them, Jordan himself has performed it live at games well into this century.) That alone speaks to the tune’s prominence in at least sport, if not multiple sports, when it was hot.

Even after Montell Jordan’s breakout single cooled from the mainstream, it continues to peek out. TV shows, movies and advertisements keep finding amusing contexts for it. And the mention of “Friday night” in the song’s first bridge must tempt a few arena DJs feeling a Flashback Friday fever.

“Set It Off”

Give Strafe credit for producing something people wanted to sample as late as the mid-2000s, two decades after the original mix. But as part of Jock Jams, it sounds out of place. It is too hushed and slow to spark a game-going crowd. Even the point when the gates open an hour-plus before first pitch, faceoff, kickoff or tip-off is not compatible.

 

“Macarena”

With one change in track, JJV2 goes from snoozing to swaying. The abrupt change in tempo comes from one of the songs that completes any ’90s retrospective.

Los Del Mar’s 1995 cover is not significantly different from Los Del Rio’s original “Macarena” from 1993. The chief distinction lies in the bridges, but the chorus was the crux of its catchiness.

Whichever version you went with, it was inescapable in any setting that warranted good, fun dancing. Sports enthusiasts could not avoid it in the mid-to-late ’90s any more than they could dodge “Who Let the Dogs Out” circa 2000-01 or “Gangnam Style” circa 2012-13.

“I Like to Move It”

This author’s other job is in communications at an independent school, and this song is a staple at the school’s annual intramural sports festival. No parents or faculty even bat an eye at the brief allusion to “sweet and sexy” dancing.

Perhaps that is the effect of the titular refrain by Reel 2 Real. Most of what follows is hard to distinguish, and in most sports settings, only the hit-the-ground-running opening will be played. More privileged DJs can even remix it to run “I like to move it, move it” on a loop for a half-minute, give or take. Many of them have done that, even after the turn of the century.

“Party”

Somehow or other, Dis-n-Dat and an uncredited 69 Boyz could not push this song into the echelon of in-game regulars. The hook would make a sound alternative to the scoring-play standards at any time. Moreover, the Miami-based group and the Jock series both came into prominence when the Panthers and Marlins were each making a near-instantaneous splash.

“Get Down Tonight”

Jock Jams, Volume 1 served one retro hit with “YMCA.” Starting with KC and the Sunshine Band, Volume 2 dishes up a double dose of disco.

At the time of this series, this was implicitly a go-to option for a nostalgia minute or ’70s Night. Now more time has elapsed since JJV2 than between the compilation and this 1975 hit. It is always a surprise if and when this still gets a go-round at a collegiate or professional sporting event.

 

“Give It Up”

Before they were Chocolate Puma, the Dutch house DJ tandem the Goodmen broke out with this 1992 composition. While fairly basic and not nearly as pulsating or in-your-face as most Jock Jams tracks, “Give It Up” found its way into the arena.

Perhaps most notably, it could be heard during the player introductions at the 2003 NHL All-Star Game. With that said, unless one is going for relatively soft background noise to PA announcements, “Give It Up” has never had much to offer at a game.

“The Bomb”

In its near first quarter-century of existence, “The Bomb” has sustained approval from dance-music critics. In the shorter run, the instrumental hook and vocal refrain “These sounds fall into my mind” would make the cut for the first Jock Jams megamix (more on that in a future column).

This despite being comparatively eclipsed by most of its Volume 2 cohabitants as well as peers on preceding and subsequent compilations.

“Boom Boom Boom”

Former college baseball pitcher Kevin Berry was four when this song was released, and six when it appeared on Jock Jams. Yet he used it as his walk-up music during the 2013 Louisiana State season (and teammate Chris Sciambra used “This Is How We Do It”).

That is one testament to the staying power of the Outhere Brothers’ contribution to athletic atmospheres. Not surprisingly, it does not enjoy the prominence it once did. But other ballplayers audibly used it as a personal intro and big-league DJs in various sports used it for stoppages of play as late as the early 2000s.

 

“What’s Up”

All within 1993, DJ Miko took the 4 Non Blondes’ original straw and spun it into sporting fodder. The masterminds behind Jock Jams were convinced in time to place the cover version here three years later.

For at least a decade thereafter, select stadium DJs gave it ample play, particularly in unfavorable situations for the home team. The website sportsannouncing.com even lists it among many suggestions for when a penalty call goes against a host hockey player. That is more than most of the series’ non-Volume 1 songs can say.

“Macho Man”

As far as Village People songs go, this is no “YMCA.” Then and now, the implicit attitude of most stadium DJs is that there is only room for one of the flamboyant disco group’s singles.