"This song is one of the few hit singles in the key of M"

August 18, 2024 7:28 PM

35 years ago, Belgian techno anthem “Pump Up the Jam” was released.

So, the next bit - and I'd guess, the entire thread - won't make much sense unless you've seen the absurdist mockumentary "Cunk on Earth".

So, uh, spoilers. Yes, for comedic bits.


A recurring bit: "when are we, relative to Pump Up the Jam", and "facts" about the song. It's dumb, hilarious, and it builds. There's a compilation. And from writer Joel Morris: dozens of bonus facts!

posted by Pronoiac (43 comments total)

'Cunk on Earth' helpfully observes that "Pump Up the Jam" is an anagram for "Jam Up the Pump".
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 7:39 PM on August 18 [30 favorites]

'Cunk on Earth' helpfully observes that Technotronic got their name by combining the word 'techno', meaning a sort of dance music, and 'tronic' meaning 'tronic'
posted by massless at 7:41 PM on August 18 [23 favorites]

Cunk it up
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 7:50 PM on August 18 [9 favorites]

35 years ago, Belgian techno anthem “Pump Up the Jam” was released.

No. This song has always existed.
posted by senor biggles at 7:51 PM on August 18 [17 favorites]

35 years ago.

MFW
posted by lalochezia at 8:03 PM on August 18 [4 favorites]

One of the best meme themes I've come across in some time is "Lord of the Rings but it's narrated by Philomena Cunk", and people have absolutely stepped up!

example 1
example 2
example 3
example 4
example 5
and finally, to tie it back to the topic of this post
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:12 PM on August 18 [15 favorites]

I've tried writing a few songs in the key of M, but my band mates always give me the side-eye like, "Really? You think you're gonna do the next 'Pump Up the Jam'?"
posted by straight at 8:16 PM on August 18 [11 favorites]

tilt: Producer Jo Bogaert, when asked what the song was about, said “jam.”
posted by HearHere at 9:20 PM on August 18 [6 favorites]

Recently heard this spun at a goth night, of all places, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. And the goths were into it!
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 9:29 PM on August 18 [9 favorites]

"platonic is short for plate tectonic which is short for play pump up the jam by technotronic"
--@FredTaming, twitter
posted by rifflesby at 9:35 PM on August 18 [18 favorites]

Needs more Felly.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:43 PM on August 18 [2 favorites]

Do they pump the jam on the planet of the bass?
posted by praemunire at 10:24 PM on August 18 [3 favorites]

My favorite thing with Pump up the Jam was FNM's Live at the Brixton accademy ending to Epic.

I hated them at first, then grew to love them, and then had a heartbreak and the lyrics
"I was the one for you, you were the one for me..."
and then getting yelled at for not helping in the garden while I was pining for my girlfriend, my soul tended by this song.

This album, FNM's Real Thing, and Master of Puppets was peak this era of my life.

One of my favorite lines in the album.
"And Eric, got lyric for ya..."

Oh finally - I even asked metafilter about the sax sample on Take it Slow (and Beastie's "Posse in Effect").

Thanks to "whosampled", I found out it's from Juice "Catch a Groove" (alas, nobody had the answer when I asked, which actually led me to wanting to create a "whosampled" type site before it existed (and was posted to projects LOL). Crazy synchronicity/connection making the full circle, but yeah.

I miss some things about those days.
posted by symbioid at 12:31 AM on August 19 [4 favorites]

Let's not forget that fellow Belgian musician Stromae holds a soft spot for Technotronic:

If you could have dinner with anyone famous dead or alive, who would it be?

Ibrahim Ferrer, the singer of Buena Vista Social Club [Ibrahim was a popular Afro-Cuban singer and musician in Cuba]. I'm just discovering the groove of Brazil, but I know salsa music for a long time.

What superhero power would you most want to have?

Flying.

What is your go-to song at karaoke?

"Pump Up The Jam" by Technotronic. That's the only hook I know in English, actually.

posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:37 AM on August 19 [3 favorites]

There is a version of Pump Up the Jam sung by the puppet pigs Pinky and Perky (think Alvin and the Chipmunks but British/Czech, originated in the 1950s), but it does not appear to exist on the internet. It's actually quite good.
posted by Hogshead at 2:51 AM on August 19

I'm pretty sure that one is "Pump Up the Ham"
posted by I-Write-Essays at 5:04 AM on August 19 [3 favorites]

That's more of an Albany thing, actually.
posted by briank at 5:05 AM on August 19 [8 favorites]

I worked in a record store when this came out in 1989 and somehow never heard it until ten years later at Stanley Kubrick's funeral.
posted by dobbs at 5:08 AM on August 19 [6 favorites]

That's more of an Albany thing, actually.
posted by briank at 8:05 AM on August 19

I’m from Utica, and I’ve never heard it.
posted by UltraMorgnus at 5:19 AM on August 19 [2 favorites]

Whenever I hear the name "Pump up the Jam" I hear Pump up the Volume by M/A/A/R/S, which predates Pump up the Jam by 2 years.

Ah yeah.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:19 AM on August 19 [12 favorites]

(I'm done linking to Youtube for music. I'm sick of the ads.)
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:20 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]

The song is timeless; the video -- not so much.
posted by Slothrup at 5:40 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]

If you don't start moving your body to the first few bars of this legit banger, I don't know what to tell you except maybe get looked at by your doctor to see if rhythm is right for you.
posted by Kitteh at 5:48 AM on August 19 [10 favorites]

My favorite version of Pump Up The Jam is by The Lost Fingers.
posted by hoodrich at 7:56 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]

Part of my brain is tying itself in knots, because I had somehow overlaid Joel Morris (of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe) and Chris Morris (of Brass Eye) together. They have to be related, surely?
posted by foxtongue at 7:59 AM on August 19

Hi Tek 3 f Ya Kid K - Spin that Wheel
posted by box at 8:21 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]

What does "in the key of M" mean?
posted by hypnogogue at 9:02 AM on August 19

Just past the key of life, halfway between the key of A and the key of Z.
posted by box at 9:12 AM on August 19 [2 favorites]

It’s against the Geneva convention to play Pump Up the Jam to prisoners because non English speakers don’t understand what it means; and English speakers do.

Technotronic is credited with the sudden popularity of “Fanny packs”; mostly because it’s rebellious to say it in the U.K.

It took seventeen months for the dancers to learn how to dance at an angle.
posted by varion at 9:17 AM on August 19 [5 favorites]

This made my day.
posted by bluesky43 at 10:19 AM on August 19 [3 favorites]

Philomena Cunk implies in the compilation Pronoiac posted that Pump Up the Jam led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's a shame that David Hasselhoff gets all the credit.
posted by lukemeister at 10:32 AM on August 19

Okay, but also don't say that in front of The Scorpions.
posted by box at 11:00 AM on August 19 [1 favorite]

So "the jam" has been kicked out, pumped up, cut in, on it, and who knows what else? That's entertainment for you.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:30 PM on August 19 [2 favorites]

huh, it's Belgian? I always thought the lyrics sounded a little off. Or, i guess the enunciation. Is Cunk still a Charlie Brooker thing?
posted by lkc at 3:00 PM on August 19

this cover is probably my favorite
posted by bombastic lowercase pronouncements at 3:15 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]

A subtle lowercase pronouncement!
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:46 PM on August 19

What does "in the key of M" mean?

The key of a song describes where it's connected to the notes on a keyboard or other instrument (or how it's written in music notation). If you start singing a song higher or lower than usual, you're singing it in a different key. The keys follow the names of notes which are labeled from A to G. There is no key of M, so the joke is either Cunk being dumb while sounding smart, or that the song is so transcendent it, like Chuck Norris, achieves nonsensical feats of greatness.
posted by straight at 4:11 PM on August 19 [1 favorite]

Pump up the dreams
posted by rifflesby at 4:48 PM on August 19

@box I first came across Spin That Wheel from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack.. rediscovered it in the past year or so. Classic.
posted by chmmr at 5:30 PM on August 19

Metafilter: I worked in a record store when this came out in 1989 and somehow never heard it until ten years later at Stanley Kubrick's funeral.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:47 PM on August 19 [3 favorites]

This is my very favorite mefi thread, ever.
posted by JLovebomb at 8:21 PM on August 19 [4 favorites]

But how many years since the premiere of the TV series "Brush Strokes"?
posted by stevil at 1:02 PM on August 21

The jam sandwich is a lunch bag classic; add peanut butter to pump it up!
posted by otherchaz at 7:31 AM on August 22