The 10 Best Songs From the "Jock Jams" Series

During the second-half of the 1990s, ESPN got the interesting idea of putting together a series of compilations called Jock Jams. The notion of music

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Complex Original

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During the second-half of the 1990s, ESPN got the interesting idea of putting together a series of compilations called Jock Jams. The notion of music that gets pumped into sports stadiums (either in between plays or stuff that cheerleader squads would do routines to) is a pretty novel one, but we're not sure if ESPN and Tommy Boy made a lot of the best decisions. Tracks from Tag Team and the 69 Boyz were thrown up against material from the Vengaboys. Over the five volumes of this series, you got a number of weak combinations, but it wasn't all bad. And they were damn popular. Why not dig into this hodgepodge series of house, rap, and other stadium staples and find the best tracks from the series? We salute you, ESPN and Tommy Boy, for without you, we wouldn't know what the hell a Jock Jams was.

M|A|R|R|S - "Pump Up the Volume"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 1

Fun fact: 4AD is an imprint that artists like Joker, Blood Diamonds, Grimes, and Zomby now call home, yet M|A|R|R|S' "Pump Up the Volume" was their first #1 hit in 1987, and their biggest single in the label's history. M|A|R|R|S was a one-off collaboration between Martyn Young, Alex and Rudi from A.R. Kane, Russell (who didn't have anything to do with the actual track other than being a homey of A.R. Kane's), and Steve Young from Colourbox (their odd name is taken from the first letter in their first names).

History has it that this single was cut to 500 anonymous white labels to give the tracks a chance without any preconceived notions, and this ended up getting a lot of love for dance DJs in an era when 4AD wasn't even putting out dance music. It was one of those cut-up classics that probably shouldn't (or wasn't expected to) have as much of an impact as it should have, and even though the tempo is slower, the pressure is felt in both the dance and hip-hop realms.

Technotronic - "Pump Up the Jam"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 1

Did the lyrics make much sense out side of pumping up said jam, then imploring listeners to get their booties on the dancefloor? Definitely not. This still knocks, though, even if the lyrics are just the same few bars repeated before a sung hook that has nothing to do with the track. Oh, to live in the days of hip-house again.

15 SONGS THAT GAVE DANCE MUSIC A GOOD NAME

Strafe - "Set It Off"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 2

You didn't think 1984 rocked this hard, did you? The drums in the beginning of this record should be very familiar if you've been listening to dance music and hip-hop for the last two decades. Word was that demand for this single was so high, Jus Born Records didn't bother with trying to put out some flashy cover art; they just cut the allotted number of vinyl records and stuck a yellow label in the middle. Your parents didn't need ill graphics when it was time to rock, though. You set it off to banana yellow labels and get on the floor, younging.

Black Box - "Everybody Everybody"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 2

This was one of the sadder moments in dance music making mainstream strides, as it played to the ridiculous notion of Martha Wash being relegated to a studio vocalist while a model, Katrin Quinol, would fake it 'til she made it. And with "Everybody Everybody," the Italian house group made it. Groove Groove Melody and Katrin formed Black Box and took 1990 by storm with this infectious house jam. When we think of people saying "diva house," this is one of the tracks that springs to mind immediately. This song hit the #1 spot in the US dance charts for three weeks in the summer of 1990, and was featured in Vanilla Ice's feature film Cold As Ice. We'd hate the fuck out of this song if it wasn't so good.

The Bucketheads - "The Bomb"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 2

Kenny Dope must have known he had a monster when this one was done. Taken from his Bucketheads project, this track shot up the UK charts in 1995, being featured everywhere, including an episode of Beavis & Butthead and as the ring entrance music for boxer Prince Naseem Hamed. If your team was ahead, you might stand at attention and shake a tail feather to the opposing team to this one.

The Goodmen - "Give It Up"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 2

Samba lives! The intro for this track is pretty damn epic. A chorus line of percussion, lead by a lone whistler, plays a call-and-response number for digging into the meat of this tune. This cut not only hit #1 on the US dance chart, but hit #71 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Not an ass should be in a seat when this one hits the loudspeaker.

Funky Green Dogs - "Fired Up"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 3

Could this track get you amped for your team to make a great play and come back from defeat? It definitely could. We imagine the Miami Heat could have rinsed this one to death to help charge up their offense. Or maybe the folks at NBA Jam should've bought the rights to this one. Do we have to do ALL of the thinking for you?

Faboy Slim - "Going Out of My Head"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 4

It's weird; the era of the Jock Jams discs went down around the same time America was going through its "electronica" phase, yet there were barely any "electronica" cuts licensed on these discs. Big beat maestro Fatboy Slim's "Going Out of My Head" is perfect stadium soundtrack music, with a fast-paced rhythm, mixture of hip-hop and rock flavors, and a hook that is easily sung/remembered.

Interesting fact; Fatboy Slim didn't go about clearing the samples on this one, which includes bits from Led Zepplin's "The Crunge" and Yvonne Elliman's cover of The Who's "I Can't Explain." It wasn't until the folks behind the film The Jackal wanted to use this song on the soundtrack that The Who's Pete Townshend heard the song. flipped his shit, and ultimately made Fatboy Slim give up the publishing on this track. It's still a banger.

Bizarre Inc. - "I'm Gonna Get You"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 5

It can be wild how these discs work. You'd think that the deeper into the catalog, the more up-to-date the selections would be. Who was expecting the fifth edition of Jock Jams to include "I'm Gonna Get You," which Bizarre Inc. put out in 1993, to be included? It didn't matter, as the piano-driven number (which hit #1 on the US dance charts for two weeks in 1993) was a perfect fit for this series. It might be a bit too vocal-drenched for some of you, but this was what growing up on dance music in the '90s was about (for a while, at least).

Cevin Fisher - "You Got Me (Burnin' Up)"

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Found On: Jock Jams, Volume 5

Those Loleatta Holloway vocals are priceless. You've heard "you've got me burnin' up!" and "sweet sensation" for years, and with the upbeat funky house vibe that Cevin put underneath these, it was primed for the pre-millenium house party that was imminent before the Y2K bug destroyed everything. Right? Again, another track for the Miami Heat to incorporate into their stadium's rotation.

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