Jock Jams, Volume 5: How does the Jock series hold up today?

Three years after it started going national with standalone networks in every major market, Fox Sports all but consummated its rise to challenge ESPN by taking over Jock Jams.

Then-Fox Sports Net anchor Van Earl Wright virtually emceed Jock Jams, Volume 5, the last installment of an eight-album series in the 1990s. Much like household names from SportsCenter on some prior installments, he kicked it off with one of his catchphrases, then returned for a midway interstitial and the closing track.

But after he said “Let’s hit the showers,” no one representing the Jock series would return to don the uniform again. That is unless you count 2001’s All Star Jock Jams, which was tantamount to an alumni scrimmage with its overload of repeat tracks.

Naturally, the Fox Sports brand has sustained stability and respectability in terms of sports coverage. Some of its regional affiliates have kept the FSN acronym, which has also inflated to a national network (FS1) covering Major League Baseball, college football and college basketball.

But in terms of athletic music compilations, the new brand on the block had the dubious honor of taking the table scraps. Together with the ’90s, the act of capitalizing on the canned-music crazed was fizzling.

Sure, the practice was permanent in professional, collegiate and some high-end amateur venues. But it was ceasing to be a commercial boon. Afterward, most songs heard at games could just as easily be found on mainstream CDs.

To that point, several of the selections for Jock Jams, Volume 5 stayed obscure even among sports-music junkies. Six of the 15 musical tracks were energized remixes of Billboard fodder, yet most of them still did not make the collective cut in athletic arenas.

Released three months and a week ahead of Y2K, JJV5 awkwardly ushered out an era, with only a few songs leaping into the new century. And even those have proved polarizing among unintended listeners. Others, including the first on the track listing, simply dropped and disappeared in an unprecedented crowd of rallying beats.

“Reach Up”

Lyrically speaking, there is not much to this song, which makes it a prototypical kind of Jock Jam. Other than the Perfecto All-Stars repeating the title and Wright cutting back in with “Can you feel it?” it cedes everything to a rhythm that flows naturally with a game-starting vibe.

 

Whether the song’s placement on the album clouded the public’s perception of its innate specialty is unclear. But besides introductions or opening plays, this also provided a quick in-game pick-me-up in many venues in the early 2000s.

 

And with the sparing, straightforward vocals, it nearly rivaled the chorus of Jennifer Lopez’s “Let’s Get Loud” during that era. Although the latter would come to overshadow it, as would Danzel’s “Put Your Hands Up in the Air!” mid-decade.

 

“We Like to Party”

“Six Flags! More flags, more fun!”

That mind-searing ad campaign came five years after JJV5. More than a decade later, the Colorado Rockies were keeping “We Like to Party” afloat as their run-scoring song. Meanwhile, the Tri-City American major-junior hockey team has used it as their goal song.

Elsewhere, the full song, complete with Vengaboys vocals, can still be heard after a victory or as a re-energizer prior to the next period, quarter, inning or half. But that practice is relatively sparse across the sports universe.

“Ray of Light”

Within the 18 months between this song’s release on an eponymous Madonna album and its inclusion on Jock Jams, the New Jersey Devils were playing it during stoppages of play. There is proof of that in the first five seconds of this highlight reel from the 1999 playoffs.

But overall, this did not have the same broad outreach or long-term adhesive as its preceding track.

“Miami”

The multi-talented Will Smith came back one volume after “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It” appeared on ESPN’s last Jock Jams album. But apart from fan-produced YouTube music videos on a given team with the Miami dateline, this is short on a sports-related legacy.

Perhaps that owes to Smith’s association with his hometown Philadelphia 76ers. He may declare the Florida metropolis “my second home” in the song, but no one has given much call for the homage at games.

“Turn It Up/Fire It Up”

The first remix on this compilation has surprisingly failed to gain playlist prominence at any point. One would think the call-and-response chorus would make it coveted crowd-participation fodder.

All it would take is to play Busta Rhymes’ request, “Let me hear you say fire it up!” then let the audience oblige. If necessary, one could flash the three-word phrase on the videoboard. For a half-minute stoppage of play, a subsequent loop of Rhymes commanding, “Say fire it up!” followed by a pause for the crowd would match quantity with quality.

If at least one or two relatively high-profile teams had taken that up, it could have established itself as one of their everlasting in-game customs. It could have been another “Jump Around.” But for whatever reason, it is not.

“I’m Gonna Get You”

Of its 10 selections for the best Jock Jams songs, Complex chose two samples from Volume 5. The publication described the 1992 title track from a Bizarre Inc. album as “a perfect fit for this series.”

The same publication’s assessment, however, concedes that the tune “might be a bit too vocal-drenched for some of you.” It is hard to say whether that kept it from seeing as much sound-system action as the best-played of its peers. The opening portion was at least groovy and instrumental enough to fill short breaks in the action.

“Nice and Slow”

This remix of an Usher song hardly lives up to its title. That is good for sporting-event purposes, but it would not make the rapper a can’t-miss presence on the PA system. For that milestone, he would have to wait another five years, when “Yeah!” was an instant all-round hit.

“Woof Woof”

When breaking down every Jock Jams track, Aaron Gordon of Vice Sports had an interesting take. “This is either a poor man’s ‘Whoomp! There It Is’ or a rich man’s ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’” he wrote.

As it happened, “Woof Woof” marked a belated return by 69 Boyz, who previously sent “Tootsee Roll” to Volume 1. That came two slots after “Whoomp! There It Is” on the compilation’s track order.

Meanwhile, the comparison to the Baha Men’s breakout tune surely stems from the dog references and sounds. Perhaps the fact that JJV5 came one year before “Who Let the Dogs Out” dooms “Woof Woof”’s hopes of becoming a sound-system staple. It was overshadowed by a polarizing mainstream pop hit that spent much of 2000-01 in prominence before crashing the All Star Jock Jams.

“Nobody’s Supposed to be Here”

Deborah Cox leads off Side 2 of this compilation’s cassette with the revamped mix of her September 1998 single. But beyond that inclusion and her later live performance of “O Canada” at the 2008 NBA All-Star Game, the Toronto native has not been quite synonymous with sports.

 

“Feel It”

In advertising and short-order canned-music play alike, the bell-ringing hook is the crux of this dance jam. As such, it is no surprise that sportsannouncing.com endorses it for general rally or pump-up songs.

In other momentary flares, this Tamperer/Maya tune rang its familiar bell after a few goals at the 2001 NHL All-Star Game. Other than that, it has not been at the forefront of any stadium playlists, but the collaborating artists still felt compelled to reunite and redo it in 2009.

“Too Close”

Even as a remix, this version of “Too Close” was too slow to sound right in a sports setting. Much like with “Set It Off” or “No Diggity” on some of the ESPN Jock Jams albums, coming across this track while playing this album makes an in-game music junkie want to shout “Next!” but not as an enthusiastic acknowledgment of the group behind the tune.

“Suavemente”

At least one college baseball player has used one of the many versions of this song as his walk-up theme. That is especially appropriate considering artist Elvis Crespo once harbored high-end hardball aspirations himself.

Elsewhere, Crespo’s music has made its way into Hispanophone soccer culture. But despite the energetic opening riff to the remix on Jock Jams, “Suavemente” did not catch on among major North American arena DJs.

It could have been a gimme at major- and minor-league ballparks alike, and would have even sounded right during a random stoppage of play at a hockey game. Unfortunately, that potential has not materialized.

“Burnin’ Up”

How do untrained ears listen to this and not immediately think of Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch? Just like “Good Vibration” earlier in the decade, this song samples the “Sweet sensations!” cry by the late Loleatta Holloway.

Somehow or other, “Good Vibration” never made the Jock series, even though it would have been a perfect fit. Nonetheless, much like “Woof Woof” soon had with “Who Let the Dogs Out,” “Burnin’ Up” was implicitly overshadowed by a similar sounding mainstream tune.

As such, it could not catch on at the arena. It did, however, land on the aforementioned Complex’s top 10 in 2013. Although the site supposes the song also suffered one of the same detriments as numerous later Jock Jams contemporaries, reflecting, “it was primed for the pre-millenium house party that was imminent before the Y2K bug destroyed everything.”

“All I Have To Give”

Granted, the last of the Jock Jams remixes did lend a little oomph into this Backstreet Boys song. By all accounts, however, that was not nearly enough.

Through its inclusion, the boy band was the last of the repeat artists in the series. And as is common among that group, their later contributions garnered less traction in the stadium DJs’ cues.

“Got to Be Real”

At 21 years of age when it hit this compilation, this was Volume 5’s only non-’90s song. To this day, it injects Cheryl Lynn’s voice into the occasional sampling track, movie or TV episode.

But the return to token disco-era tunes in the Jock Jams series did not prompt much PA-system play. This author recalls exactly one instance of “Got to Be Real” at a sporting event — between innings at an MLB game late in the 2001 season.

Jock Rock 2000: How does the Jock series hold up today?

Jock Rock 2000 was Jock Rock in name only. Its track listing hardly resembled those of its predecessors from five and four years prior.

It also was not quite Jock Jams. If anything, it furthered the ESPN Jock series’ transition into more mainstream pop content. Instead of manufacturing the bulk of its songs’ popularity, it would relax and run household-name tunes that, in the ears of the powers-that-be, suited a sports setting.

To that point, by the time it hit the shelves in June 1999, two of Jock Rock 2000’s tracks had already appeared on the first installment of Now That’s What I Call Music! the previous fall. Six months later, a third one appeared on Now 3. The not-so-niche Barenaked Ladies and Puff Daddy and the seemingly ageless Elvis Costello are there as well.

With that said, in terms of lasting resonance in the public-address pipeline, Jock Rock 2000 is hit-and-miss. Some of its 15 songs have fostered a legacy of obscurity from the start. But five of them are on a list of 100-plus in-game staples collected by Game Ops Commander based on input from “industry professionals from the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and major colleges all across North America.”

Two of those Game Ops selections bookend the compilation’s lineup of full-length musical tracks, which we now review as follows.

“Firestarter”

Prodigy, whose lead singer Keith Flint died far too soon in March, firmly wedged its work into the sporting conscience with this turn-of-the-century tune-up tune. Together with the album’s “Let’s Get It On” directive by boxing referee Mills Lane, it is like a latter-day Michael Buffer/2 Unlimited collaboration. Not a bad touch for ESPN to open its fifth and final modern-heavy Jock album.

For what it’s worth, sportsannouncing.com also recommends this, along with one other Jock Rock 2000 tune, for the start of a power play or for when a rally is in order.

Peak of the pregame or otherwise, “Firestarter” still logs respectable action across the continent’s playlists. In many cases, though, it is strictly an instrumental edit.

“It’s All About the Benjamins”

The title expression comes up in sports-business chat, but the song itself has never been widespread at the games. One’s best bet of hearing Puff Daddy and the late Notorious B.I.G. over a PA system is via Jock Jams, Volume 4’s “Mo Money Mo Problems.”

“Flagpole Sitta”

Harvey Danger famously had misgivings about letting its work appear on a prominent compilation. The Ringer touched on this as it related to Now That’s What I Call Music last fall during the album’s 20th anniversary.

“Flagpole Sitta” found its way there anyway, and whether the group had the same qualms about Jock Rock 2000, it got there too. Today it resonates as a well-liked ’90s song in general, but not so much in sports settings. It comes up now and then, like at Chicago Blackhawks or Los Angeles Kings games, but only sporadically.

 

“Semi-Charmed Life”

A full decade and more after Third-Eye Blind peaked with this song, it was still playing in its entirety during intermissions at amateur hockey games. So there’s that.

“One Week”

The Barenaked Ladies in general have established themselves as contributors to athletic playlists. With its last of hesitation to dive into the fast-paced lyrics, “One Week” has proved especially hard to shake off. It can and will still hit without warning at abrupt, random stoppages of play.

Not a bad way for a 20-year-old former Billboard chart-topper to keep a measure of mojo after all this time.

“Ready to Go (Rock Version)”

The main instruments, the rhythm and the omission of the second bridge are the two chief distinctions between this spin on the Republica song and the original from Jock Jams, Volume 3.

Either one fulfills its purpose as one of the pre-game show’s finishing touches. That was true in the last quarter of the ’90s, and it is still the case today.

“Machinehead”

Evergreen and versatile are the two operative terms here. When Billboard featured this among its top 100 sports songs in 2017, it got Minnesota Twins and Timberwolves vice president of marketing and events Tim Miller to vouch for it.

Miller told the magazine, “If we only have 30 seconds to play something, we put LEDs on the board and then I play 'Machinehead' by Bush. It’s a driving song that says ‘Everybody make some noise,’ and everybody freaks out for 15 seconds, and then the batter walks into the box. We try to time it out where we can get enough people engaged, so a song like that is a classic.”

It certainly works for those brief stoppages. As Billboard’s own staff assesses, it is also common “Before the puck drops on the third period.” But in many places, it has also run in its entirety during pre-game warmups deep into this decade.

 

“The Rockafeller Skank”

Perhaps its presence on Now! 3 contributed to this song’s feel of a set-in-time 1998-99 hit. It had bountiful steam for those years and the first few that followed, only to seem dated afterward.

But while it may not be fodder for sports video-game soundtracks like it once was, it still surfaces at real games. It is also one of Jock Rock 2000’s five songs on the aforementioned Game Ops Commander list, even if it does not match the present-day force of the others.

“Oh Yeah, All Right”

Local H had already been together for a decade when it came out with this hit. Fresh off their 1998 studio album, Pack Up the Cats, it jumped to the Jock series, but did not make many ripples.

It is neither the most popular Local H song nor a well-remembered, let alone still well-played track on the public-address circuit. One exception is the Pittsburgh Pirates, who list it among their 28 run-scoring songs.

Then again, that means there are 27 other songs reserved for that situation. Do the math.

“Peppyrock”

The New York Rangers, whose home arena was the epicenter of the Jock series, still occasionally crank out this otherwise obscure BTK tune. Other than that, your best bet to hear it is likely through a re-screening of 1998’s Never Been Kissed.

 

“Block Rockin Beats”

The L.A. Kings cued up this Chemical Brothers tune on January 10 and March 7 of last season. Meanwhile, sportsannouncing.com expressly suggests it for punctuating a block in a volleyball game.

“Zoot Suit Riot”

Like Harvey Danger, the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies earned a spot on the first U.S. Now album with this song. Yet that mainstream boost, combined with its Jock Rock 2000 invitation, could not give it a prominent position on playlists at professional games.

“Walk This Way”

The original version of this Aerosmith song was a contemporary of Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” and Low Rider’s “War,” two of Jock Rock, Volume 2’s “younger” tracks. Somehow or other, Aerosmith missed out on the series’ classic-rock/oldies-heavy phase.

But more than a decade after the original, the band enlisted Run-D.M.C. to collaborate on a cover. Another 13 years passed, and the new “Walk This Way” found its way to the contemporized Jock Rock.

And yet, to induce deeper head-scratching, the original Aerosmith-only cut of this song seems to have garnered more sound-system action. From elite scholastics to the higher-end pros, it typically pipes out while fans are still filing in and players have yet to emerge for warm-ups.

“Can’t Wait One Minute More”

It is the penultimate track of the entire Jock series, and a loop of its chorus would be perfect for the final minute of action. Specifically, when the home team is harboring a lead and play stops after the PA announcer makes the customary courtesy call.

Whether the lead is substantial or small, logically safe or brittle, the home crowd is at a point where they cannot wait to celebrate. Why this CIV song has never gained traction, let alone through this perfect designation, is impossible to justify.

“Pump It Up”

If you regularly watched Hockey Night In Canada in the wake of this compilation, you likely heard it in the background during telecasts from Toronto. The Air Canada Centre made it a staple in its rotation of random stoppage-of-play songs through at least the final year before the 2004-05 NHL lockout.

That should come as little surprise considering “Pump It Up”’ was on the 1997 Canadian compilation Contact 3! The Third Period. What is more impressive, though, is how the song was nearly two decades old by then, is more than twice as old now and still going strong compared to most of its Jock peers.

Unlike the Run D.M.C. partial cover of “Walk This Way,” “Pump It Up” is a genuine token throwback tune on Jock Rock 2000. Yet for those who did not know better, it was as timeless as the career of its artist, Elvis Costello.

More importantly, it had (and still has) the right rhythm and oomph for the canned-music pipeline. And it still makes it way to the occasional NHL playlist.

The last track overall after this song has Lane telling an imaginary prizefight loser, “Son, there’ll be other days.” Sounds like there have been plenty of those for “Pump It Up” on the PA system.

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.

Jock Jams, Volume 1: How does the Jock series hold up today?

To most, if not all, millennial sports-music junkies, the triple-ding of a boxing bell was not automatically synonymous with boxing. Ditto the voice and catchphrase of inimitable ring emcee Michael Buffer.

Together, those sound effects constituted, in this author’s father’s words, “proper music” for a drive en route to one’s AYSO soccer debut in late April 1998. That was true of everything we could get out of the car’s cassette player before arriving at the pitch. The 15-minute drive allowed for four full-length tracks of pump-up fodder.

That same school year, the same intro to Jock Jams, Volume 1 was used to kickstart a farewell ceremony for our greener-pastures-seeking, sports-loving principal. The gym hosting the gathering made ample use of the ESPN compilation at high-school athletic contests as well.

That was the best way to emulate a professional atmosphere at the time. Following up on Jock Rock, Volume 1 (revisited in this space here), the first Jock Jams appealed to younger, burgeoning sports fans with more up-to-speed (in multiple senses of the word) content than its sister anthology. Of particular note, it featured two singles that spent at least one week atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1991.

In so doing, it spawned a greater selection for stadium and arena DJs. And while it would inspire fast-growing company soon after its release on July 25, 1995, it enjoyed first-come, first-served familiarity. Comparatively speaking, its tracks sustained more frequent and prominent play while the Jock series was hot.

JJV1 was, as Buffer might say, “the main event” of the eight-part series. And intentionally or not, from Buffer’s overlap with another unmistakable refrain containing the word “ready” onward, it set an example of ideal beginning, middle, late-stage and ending tracks for a sporting event.

Minus the short cheerleader chants and Ray Castoldi organ taps, here is a look back at that very track order.

 

 

“Get Ready for This”

No later than a given sport’s first full season after Jock Jams hit the shelves did the Buffer/2 Unlimited mashup become a go-to tune at opening faceoffs, first pitches, kickoffs or tip-offs. Other facilities used it for starting lineup introductions, allowing for longer play, sometimes even the full song. Some teams from the scholastic to the major professional ranks sustained this practice through the mid-2000s.

A few NHL teams notably misused this as a goal song. Somehow it sounded out of place in that context. But even when the Toronto Maple Leafs scrapped “Get Ready for This” in favor of “Kernkraft 400,” they reassigned the former as part of their last TV timeout. Anyone who watched Hockey Night in Canada from 2000-01 to the 2004-05 lockout will remember that commercial break starting with the opening riff of “The Hockey Song” then coming back in the middle of 2 Unlimited’s breakout single.

Perhaps the twice-shouted “Y’all ready for this?” (which is actually a sample) single-handedly made this otherwise instrumental tune sound best as pregame fodder. Come what may, it quickly became an energizing attention-grabber for sports audiences. Before long, its power spilled over to cinema, as it played over trailers and promos for various movies.

“Whoomp! (There It Is)”

Leading up to this compilation, Tag Team’s magnum opus was already synonymous with sporting success. It was one of the rally tunes of the Philadelphia Phillies 1993 pennant run and the Houston Rockets 1994 NBA championship. In between, hockey fans got to know it from the schoolyard-puck scene in D2: The Mighty Ducks.

With or without athletic assistance, “Whoomp! (There It Is)” hit the summit of genre-specific and overall charts alike. Castoldi and his counterparts across the continent could not help making it a stadium staple for the rest of the decade. As a testament to its stature in those settings, it was among the recycled selections for 2001’s All Star Jock Jams.

“Strike It Up”

Another rhythm fit to precede a big block of game action, this sensibly comes in as the third full-length Jock Jams track. This author’s defining experience with the Black Box song came when the Providence Bruins used it as their skate-out music for the start of every period at every game. The Providence Civic Center was never ready for puck-drop until Martha Walsh told everyone she was waiting on her feelings.

In The Show, and at Castoldi’s workplace, “Strike It Up” remains synonymous with the Rangers. It was the second track on 1997’s New York Rangers Greatest Hits and still accompanies the live “Dancing Larry” videos. (For that piece of multimedia entertainment, it also gives way to a later Jock Jams track. Stay tuned for more on that.)

 

 

“Tootsee Roll”

In the years after the first Jock Jams came out, this author attended at least 350 professional, collegiate or junior sporting events. Yet in contrast to numerous instances of the album’s other tunes, I only remember hearing “Tootsee Roll” in public twice. One of those times was at a junior hockey game in 1998, the other at a school dance in 2002.

Less utilized in the mainstream and less popular than most of its compilation teammates, “Tootsee Roll” was released a mere 14 months before Jock Jams, Volume 1. It had attained top-10 Billboard rankings the year it was released, but perhaps its comparative youth was a disadvantage on the sports compilation.

Everything else on JJV1 had been around for at least two years. As such, they all had more time to cement themselves as tried and true in the overlapping sports-culture conscience.

“Come Baby Come”

Borrowing from their own album’s title, K7 includes the directive, “swing batta, batta, batta, swing!” in one of this song’s bridges. Odds are that helped it land in a TV promo for Mr. 3000 roughly a decade later.

Granted, that baseball metaphor comes fairly late in the track. Some advanced maneuvering would be required to play that part over a PA system in most scenarios. But the opening refrain of “Da ding de ding de ding de de de ding ding” has always been distinctive and catchy enough to fill a 30-second break in the action on its own.

“It Takes Two”

After sampling some of their influences, Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock had their creation sampled and covered many times in turn. Everyone from Jason Nevins to Ciara to the Black Eyed Peas to Carly Rae Jepsen craved a solo or collaborative take.

Whether it is fitting or ironic, the joint sampled parts of the original “It Takes Two” are most memorable in a sporting context. “Yeah! Woo!” can randomly run on a loop to fill the time between plays or specialize in signifying a pair. Maybe a freshly hit double, double play or back-to-back home runs in baseball or an upcoming two-player advantage in hockey.

 

“Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”

Just like its Jock Rock counterpart, the first cassette of Jock Jams issued a straightforward directive via side one’s penultimate track. On the album, Walsh’s voice reappears and overlaps with the “Gridiron Groove” interstitial before the music kicks in.

Even among non-sports enthusiasts who remember ’90s culture, that riff ought to be familiar. It plays twice in a peak-year Simpsons episode, and was parodied in a Pringles ad.

In popular media, some critics have come to malign C+C Music Factory’s old hit as “redundant.” In the eyes of AllMusic’s James Christopher Monger, it was trite by its 2007 usage in Evan Almighty.

But back at the arena or stadium, this is obligatory any time a team has a nostalgia-themed promotion. At its overall peak, “Gonna Make You Sweat” was one of the definitive tracks between plays or innings.

“Hip Hop Hooray”

In this decade, you can still find at dance studios what you saw at arenas in the second half of the ’90s. One can hardly separate the alternating “Hey! Ho!” hook from back-and-forth left-to-right arm-swaying. That is unless you are a Seattle Mariners fan, in which case you associate it, first and foremost, with Ken Griffey Jr.

Elsewhere in baseball, the Naughty by Nature tune lives on as a New York Yankees home-run song. Its legacy also got a strong 21st-century start when it joined “Whoomp! There It Is” and “Get Ready for This” on the All Star Jock Jams.

“Pump Up the Volume”

The leadoff to side two on the cassette, this M/A/R/R/S single was well-suited for halftime for an intermission. It is not as pulsating as most of its fellow Jock Jams, Volume 1 tracks, but it is not too languid either. It therefore flows nicely with a restful recharge before everyone returns to their seats and the competitors re-emerge.

Back in the song and series’ heyday, this was exactly how the Providence Civic Center was known to use it. Unfortunately for the sake of M/A/R/R/S’ legacy, that was before the Jumbotron age hit every venue with a five-figure seating capacity. These days, the song’s old time to shine is filled by TV commercials on the big board.

 

“The Power”

Whenever someone gets tired of “Bad Boys” (and who doesn’t eventually?), this remains a solid selection when a home hockey team goes on the power play. Through that and other popular arena usage, SNAP! saw its song come back for ESPN’s Stadium Anthems in 2003.

“Unbelievable”

The hook to this EMF gem cements its designation for punctuating highlight-reel plays. With the subsequent “Oh!” giving way to the riff, it is a pulsating gift that keeps on giving.

And if you set it up to start with the hook’s second rendition, you usually buy yourself enough time to hear James Atkin follow up with “You’re so unbelievable!”

This was also another song that could catch the attention of novice spectators, especially young Generation Xers of the time. Besides Jock Jams, a then-five-year-old “Unbelievable” had aged well enough to appear on Livin’ in the 90’s in 1995. There it joined “Strike it Up,” “The Power” and one other JJV1 teammate yet to be named here.

“YMCA”

The second-oldest Jock Jams, Volume 1 track dates back nearly a decade before the third-oldest (“Pump Up the Volume” from 1987). Yet it somehow fits better here than it would on the oldies-oriented Jock Rock.

No matter what place of assembly is playing it, “YMCA” is a self-explanatory participatory dance number. Like almost all of its Jock series brethren, it does not have the same decisive regal position it enjoyed in the latter half of the ’90s. But its long-established reputation makes it an easy choice when sound crews decide to go old school for a minute.

 

“Pump Up the Jam”

From Technotronic, you get yet another unmistakable opening riff. Within a year of its inclusion on Jock Jams, this 1989 house tune was sampled sans vocals for the pregame locker-room scene in Space Jam. (That scene transitions to player introductions, which culminate in a brief “Gonna Make You Sweat” riff for Michael Jordan.)

Even before the movie and the album, “Pump Up the Jam” got the commentators’ acknowledgment when Nancy Kerrigan and the late Chris Farley skated to it on Saturday Night Live. That usage alone all but made it a crime against logic to leave it off game-day playlists going forward.

And to further its association with its first full calendar decade of existence, it too made Livin’ in the 90’s.

“Twilight Zone”

While Walsh appears as a vocalist for both Black Box and C&C Music Factory, only 2 Unlimited gets double credit on any single Jock Jams track list.

How much the album’s lineup influenced common DJ practices or vice versa is tough to gauge. What is clear is that “Get Ready for This” became the logical game-starter while “Twilight Zone” suited the late phases of regulation when everyone could use a booster.

Like the band’s other contribution to the first Jock Jams, this is a less vocal version of the song. Sometimes a different mix still sees action in high-profile settings.

 

Nonetheless, its distinctive instrumental pattern has the same seat-clearing, hand-raising, rally rag-waving effect. And it is still fresh enough in the ears of Castoldi to join “Strike It Up” on the aforementioned “Dancing Larry” routine.

“Rock and Roll Part 2”

This one-time go-to scoring-play or victory tune was a rerun from the preceding Jock Rock album. See our review of that album for an assessment of this song’s legacy.