THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

75-House of Pain-Jump Around.

1992-Number 32 single. When it was re-issued in 1993 it reached Number 8.

Best Bit-At 1.05. Just one of the many things that captures the imagination in ‘Jump Around,’ is the high pitched squealing sound that appears at the beginning of almost every bar, 66 times in total (so I have read.) The origin of the sampled squeal has always been subject to debate. Some think it is sampled from the tenor saxophone on the Junior Walker (1931-1995) song ‘Shoot Your Shot,’ while it has also been suggested it is ‘Prince’ (1958-2016) (see also best songs 884-487-269-85 and 54) squealing on his 1991 song ‘Gett Off.’ House of Pain group members have categorically said that it is definitely not Prince, but as it has been pointed out that admitting to a Prince sample would have dire financial consequences.

‘House of Pain’ were formed in Los Angeles, California, United States, in 1991, by Erik Schrody, (Everlast) Daniel O’Connor, (Danny Boy) and Leor Dimant, (DJ Lethal) (see also best songs 583) they remained active until 1996, but have since worked together again between 2010-2011, and then again in 2017. The groups name is a reference to the 1896 science fiction novel ‘The Island of Dr. Moreau’ by H.G.Wells. The discography of the ‘House of Pain’ includes three studio Albums released between 1992-1996, and eight singles issued between 1992-1998. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart,’Jump Around’ remains their only charting top 40 song, which reached Number 3, while in the UK they have charted in the top 40 on five occasions.

‘Jump Around’ was the first of two singles released from the ‘House of Pain’s’ self titled debut studio Album, which is also sub-titled ‘Fine Malt Lyrics,’ the song was co-written by Laurence Muggerud, (DJ Muggs) (see also best songs 963) with the lyrics being provided by Everlast. DJ Muggs has stated that he originally produced the beat for his own group Cypress Hill, but ‘B-Real’ also of Cyprus Hill did not want to record it at that time. It was subsequently offered to the rapper Ice Cube, (see also best songs 681-664 and 128) who refused it, before finally being taken and used by House of Pain.

‘Jump Around’ can boast many samples. The track opens with a distinctive horn fanfare, this is sampled from the 1963 ‘Bob & Earl’ song ‘Harlem Shuffle’ (see also best songs 696.) Another sample, but less distinctive to my ears is the 1962 Billboard Number 10 hit ‘Popeye the Hitchhiker,’ from Chubby Checker, (see also best songs 749) but as I mentioned earlier the song is best known for it’s high pitched squealing sound. Everlast who wrote the songs lyrics has said that the ‘sample’ was actually taken from the American Hip-Hop artist ‘Divine Styler’s’ 1988 song ‘Ain’t Sayin’ Nothin,’ which in turn samples the Junior Walker track ‘Shoot Your Shot.’ Everlast has also said that he was surprised that the song crossed over so well to a ‘Pop’ audience considering the tracks aggressive lyrics, such as ‘I bust him in the eye, and then I’ll take the punk’s ho,’ but this can probably be explained to a point with comedy lines such as ‘I got more rhymes than there’s cops at a Dunkin’ Donuts shop,’ which makes it sound a lot less threatening.

‘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.’