Released 27 September 1989 Length 5:20 Producer(s) Thomas De Quincey | Genre Hip house
Eurodance Label Swanyard
SBK
EMI (US) | |
Writer(s) Manuela Kamosi
Thomas de Quincey | ||
"Pump Up the Jam" is the opening track on Belgian act Technotronic's album Pump Up the Jam: The Album. Released as a single, it was a worldwide hit, reaching number two in the United Kingdom in 1989 and in the American Billboard Hot 100 in early 1990. The song was later certified triple platinum. Vocalist Ya Kid K was initially overshadowed by Congolese model Felly Kilingi, who appears lip-syncing in the music video and was featured on the first album cover as a marketing tactic. Ya Kid K was ultimately recognized upon a U.S. tour and a repackaged album cover that featured her instead of Felly. In 2005, it was remixed by DJ-producer D.O.N.S. and reached number one on the British Dance Chart. The Guardian featured the song on their A history of modern music: Dance in 2011.
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In popular culture
On an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Will Smith sang the chorus out of tune and danced to a drum cover of the song as comedy. The song was the background music of a Saturday Night Live skit that featured Nancy Kerrigan figure skating with Chris Farley and in a scene in the 1996 movie Space Jam, in which the Looney Tunes and Michael Jordan were getting ready to play basketball. It featured in the karaoke video game SingStar 90s, in a scene in the 2008 film You Don't Mess with the Zohan. The song was the basis for Soni De Nakhre, a Bollywood song featured in the movie Partner, which was itself loosely based on the movie Hitch. It was used in a 2008 cellphone commercial in Argentina, which explained "why translated songs aren't as good". The song was translated as "Infla la mermelada" (word by word, though not correctly, "Pump the jam").
The song was also featured in the games Just Dance for Nintendo Wii, and Dance Central for the Xbox 360 Kinect. It was also used during the sketches between Victoria Silvstedt and Enrico Papi in the Italian TV show La Ruota Della Fortuna. It also appears in the Mystery Skateboards video: "10 Tricks With Jimmy Carlin". "Pump Up the Jam" also appears in the season 14 premiere of Family Guy, "Pilling Them Softly" which aired 27 September 2015 as well as a current Revlon commercial spot with singer Katy Perry.
Track listings
Multiple versions and re-releases were produced for the "Pump Up the Jam" singles.
Accolades
In 2004, Stylus Magazine writer Nick Southall named the song "Belgium's finest club banger".
(*) indicates the list is unordered.
M.C. Sar & the Real McCoy versions
German Eurodance group M.C. Sar & the Real McCoy have released "Pump Up The Jam" twice. In 1989, they released a cover version of the Technotronic song and it become a hit, reaching number 16 in Germany and number 100 on the Dutch Single Top 100.
It was their debut single from their debut album "On the Move!" released in 1990 through the Galaxis label.
In 1998, M.C Sar re-released "Pump Up The Jam" with DJ Dee, under the title of "Pump Up The Jam - Rap '98", although this version did not chart.
Other cover versions
In 1990, it was parodied with virtually identical music as the German-language Pump ab das Bier ("Pump away the beer!" urging a fellow patron to drink up) by Werner Wichtig, stage name for Raimund Thielcke, who actually had brewer training. Kids Incorporated sang this song on the show's 7th season. In 1992, "Weird Al" Yankovic made a short polka version, which appeared in his medley "Polka Your Eyes Out." The vocal was sampled in the song "Da Pump" by da Tekno Warriors in 1998. It was remixed by Crazy Frog on the 2005 album Crazy Frog Presents Crazy Hits. Dutch techno-trance DJ Sander van Doorn remixed this track in 2006. Quebec acoustic cover band The Lost Fingers recorded a cover of the song on its 2008 album Lost In The 80s. Icelandic band FM Belfast made a slow electronica cover of "Pump Up the Jam." In 2009 the song was interpolated by rapper Pitbull in the song "B-Day Suit". Colombian group Bomba Estéreo released a bilingual cover of the song in 2011, re-titled "Ponte Bomb." The song was covered in 2013 by DJ team Bodybangers.