Songoftheday 11/19/18 - Tag Team back again check it to wreck it let's begin, party on party people let me hear some noise, DC's in the house, jump, jump, rejoice...
from the album Whoomp! (There It Is) - The Album (1993)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (seven weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 41
Today's song of the day comes from Tag Team, a rap duo that came together in the early 1990s. Cecil Glenn and Steve Gibson met in Denver, then after moving to Atlanta, where Glenn was a DJ at a strip club, got the act together. Going under the monikers "DC the Brain Supreme" and "Steve Rollin" respectively, the pair released their first and by far their biggest success in the spring of 1993. "Whoomp! (There It Is)" laid rhymes over a sample of early electro-pop classic "I'm Ready" by Kano, which went to #8 on Billboard magazine's Dance/Disco chart in 1980. However, the concept was quite dubious, as at the same time (well, a couple months before), another bass rap act, 95 South from Florida, had released a local single called "Whoot, There It Is", with very similar production albeit with a different sample (George Clinton's "Looking For The Perfect Beat") and different lyrics. There's no unlaughable way to just explain this off. Nevertheless, 95 South's "Whoot" would soon be on the charts as well (it's coming up in another SOTD in a few days), but with Tag Team getting the initial buzz, they had an advantage, and soon enough, they were at the runner-up spot on the American pop chart for almost two months, while 95 South had to settle with their own platinum record. When all was said and done, "Whoomp! (There It Is)" ended up becoming a phenomenon, outranking and outlasting its competition in all fields becoming one of the biggest singles of all time...
"Whoomp! (There It Is)" became Tag Team's first and only top-40 pop hit July of 1993. The song topped Billboard's R&B chart for one week as well. Because of its longevity, spending over 11 months on the pop chart, it ended up at #2 on Billboard's year-end chart for 1993 (in Fred Bronson's book Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits, which adjusted by calendar year, the track actually ended up at #1 for the year and #30 for the rock era). Internationally the single reached the top ten in the Netherlands (#6) and New Zealand (#10), while making the top 40 in Germany (#15), Australia (#19), Sweden (#27), Austria (#28), the UK (#34), and Switzerland (#40). Most notable about its American success is that it was released on small indie label Bellmark, who had a couple hits including one from a between-label Prince.
By the time it came to promote any other single from the album the aura of "Whoomp!" overshadowed anything. In 1994, the duo released a one-off single, "Here It Is, Bam!", which slipped on to Billboard's R&B chart at #75. Despite trying to tie in with such mainstream co-ops as the Addams Family, this record would be pretty much their legacy, granting them one of the biggest "one-hit wonders" that ever was.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's the pair bringing "Whoomp!" out to Arsenio Hall...
In 1995, British Eurodance act Clock reworked the song into "Whoomph!", which raved its way to #4 on the British singles chart, as well as #5 in Ireland and #36 in Sweden...
They tried to recapture the magic for the franchise sequel film Addams Family Values, with even the stars making a cameo in the video, but alas it tanked embarrassingly in 1994, making it to #84 on the U.S. pop chart...
That apparently didn't stop them from trying yet again with Disney in tow. That version slipped on to the American pop Hot 100 chart for a week at #97...
And finally, after a short intro, I've got DC and Steve Rollin at the Chicago Bulls stadium in 2015...
Up tomorrow: Hardcore rap act is waaaaay underground.
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