Jump Around

Todd plays the opening notes on his piano...

HOUSE OF PAIN - JUMP AROUND A one-hit wonder retrospective

and starts bouncing to...

Video for "Jump Around"

Todd (still bouncing): Welcome back to One Hit Wonderland, where we take a look at bands and artists known for only one song. (he stops bouncing) Can we stop the music? (music stops) Sorry, I can't talk and bounce at the same time. Now, as you may recall, a year ago, my car broke and, to pay for it, I (shows Patreon page) sold some requests, and, accidentally, I sold way too many, it's taken a while to get through them all, but, finally, a full 12 months later, I am finally finishing them. At last, I'm done, just in time for my (shows clip from The Blues Brothers where the Bluesmobile breaks down with the word "reenactment" displayed below) car to break again. Next time, y'all are gonna buy me a new car, and I'll just do nothing but requests for the rest of my life. (shows video for "Jump Around") But as we finally put a stop to this stretch of videos, there is only one song for which we can pack it up and pack it in.

Everlast: I came to get down, I came to get down So get out your seat and jump around

Todd (to the song): Jump up, jump up, and get down

House of Pain: Jump, jump, jump

Todd (VO): Yes, "Jump Around", the deathless jock jam that ruled the airwaves in 1992, and still gets the party jumping almost 30 years later, by DJ Lethal, Danny Boy, and Erik "Everlast" Schrody, collectively known as the House of Pain.

Everlast: Won't ever slack up, punk you better back up

Todd (VO): This is one of the most requested songs I get, and, in fact, I was saving this request for last specifically, because...

Todd: ...this song's requester had been a patron for the shortest amount of time.

Todd (VO): But there was another reason why I saved it for last and why I have never, ever reviewed it before today.

Todd: And that is that I love it way too much.

Everlast: So get out your seat and jump around

Todd (VO): This song is a part of me, and it has been for longer than I can even remember. Reviewing it is like reviewing my own hands.

Todd: If you took a microscope to my DNA, it would read, (talking fastly) "Pack it up, pack it in, let me begin. I came to win, battle me that's a sin. I won't ever slack up, punk you better back up. Try and play the role and yo the whole crew'll act up. Get up, stand up (c'mon!) see'mon throw your hands up. If you've got the feeling, jump across the ceiling. Muggs lifts a funk flow, someone's talking junk. Yo I bust him in the eye, and then I'll take the punk's hoe. Feelin', funkin', amps in the trunk and I got more rhymes than there's cops at a Dunkin' Donuts shop. Sho' nuff, I got props from the kids on the hill plus my mom and my pops". (exhales)

Todd (VO): And as one-hit wonders, House of Pain has a strange legacy. No one expects Jock Jam acts like them to have long careers. They felt like a novelty and no one knows a single other song by them. (Shows clip of live performance) And yet, they had legitimacy that other one-hit wonder rap acts just don't have. Partly because "Jump Around" is such an eternal jam and...

Todd: ...partly because a few years later,  (Video for What's It Like by...) Everlast started a successful solo career as a bluesy folk singer, of all goddamn things. (Back to Jump Around) But mostly, they're remembered for keeping white rap alive during what turned out to be a very dark time for Caucasian hip-hop.'''

Videos for Jesse Jaymes' "Shake It (Like A White Girl)"...

Jesse Jaymes: She was wiggling, giggling, shaking, giggling

Icy Blu's "Pump It (Nice 'n' Hard)"...

Icy Blu: Rollin' into town, I'm down, for an evenin' of dancin'

Todd (VO): Yeah, every white rapper that came after House of Pain owes them a huge debt of gratitude just for not being this. Ugh.
 * Note from the editor: Please fill in this gap

Todd: So, let's bust that shit. (rapping) We came to get down, we came to get down. So get out your seat and jump around!

Everlast: I got lyrics, but you ain't got none If you come to battle bring a shotgun But if you-

Before the hit

Todd: So, speaking of white rappers, (shot of article titled "House of Pain Look Back at 20 Years of 'Jump Around'") I was reading a recent interview with the House of Pain guys and (shot of Living Stereo magazine with the text "Vanilla Ice Is Back!") and Vanilla Ice came up, and Everlast was like, "Yeah, sucked to have his career, because...", quote, "There's a big part of me that could have easily been that dude. Had that first Warner Bros. record, with 'I Got the Knack' as the first single, blown up, I would've been that guy. (Everlast, SPIN Magazine, February 2012)" [Raises his finger to say something but changes his mind] What's this now?

Video for Everlast - "I Got The Knack"

Everlast: You got it

Get up everybody and listen to this rhyme My name is Everlast and yo, I'm always on time

Todd: Ohh...oh my.

Todd (VO): Nice suit, Mr. Schrody.

Everlast: Everlast lasts forever, that's why I'm number one I got the knack

Todd (VO): You were correct, Everlast. It is good that this did not take off.

Todd: Okay, so, backstory...

Video for Everlast - "Syndication"

Todd (VO): Everlast was originally part of a posse called Rhyme Syndicate.

Video for Rhyme Syndicate - "What Ya Wanna Do"

Ice-T: My name is MC Ice-T                                                                                                                              Everlast is in the house, come on, what you wanna do?