| "Whoomp! (There It Is)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Tag Team | ||||
| from the album Whoomp! (There It Is): The Album | ||||
| Released | May 7, 1993 | |||
| Format | 12-inch single | |||
| Recorded | 1993 | |||
| Genre | Miami bass | |||
| Length | 3:56 | |||
| Label | Life Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Stephen Gibson and Cecil Glenn (Tag Team) | |||
| Producer | David Michery, Tag Team | |||
| Certification | 4× platinum | |||
| Tag Team singles chronology | ||||
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"Whoomp! (There It Is)" is a number two Billboard Hot 100 single by the Miami bass group Tag Team.[1] The song sampled a beginning synthesizer line from the 1980 Italo-disco hit "I'm Ready" by Kano. The chorus is almost the same as the song "Whoot, There It Is" released by 95 South a month earlier, however the verse lyrics are much different. Both songs charted on the Billboard chart at the same time, but "Whoot, There It Is" peaked at #11 and "Whoomp! (There It Is) peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The hit song spent one week at #1 on the US R&B chart in 1993. It spent seven weeks at #2 in September through October, 1993[2] on the Billboard Hot 100, but was kept out of the top slot by UB40's "Can't Help Falling in Love" and Mariah Carey's "Dreamlover". The single is certified 4× Platinum in the US for sales of over 4,000,000 copies and, despite never reaching number one on the pop chart, was the second top song of 1993, behind Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You".
"Whoomp! (There It Is)" was commonly used at sporting events, particularly basketball. It was the theme song for the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies season and was featured prominently during the 1993 World Series. Between innings at one game, Tag Team performed the song on the field, with special lyrics related to the Phillies. A young Rob Capellupo appears in the video with black teeth. When Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings goal beat the St. Louis Blues in the 1996 Western Conference Semifinals, the song was played with fans yelling out the "WHOOMP!" part. The song would later be included on 1995's Jock Jams, Volume 1.
"Whoomp! (There It Is)" was rated #97 in VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders. The song listed at #58 on "Billboard's Greatest Songs of all time".[3] On September 11, 2010 Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio ranked the song at #65 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating from their "1993 journal": "It's clear this is just the start for Tag Team. Also, handheld computing is here!"[4]
Contents |
| End of year chart (1993) | Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[5] | 2 |
| End of year chart (1994) | Position |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[6] | 42 |
| Chart (1990–1999) | Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[7] | 44 |
The video for the song features a large outdoor party. It was filmed at an Atlanta fairground. Extras were recruited by word-of-mouth and also by an announcement on a local radio station. More than a thousand extras showed up for the shoot.[8]
In 2010, the song became the subject of media scrutiny when Gawker posted an item asking whether President Barack Obama appears as an extra in the song's video.[9] A similarity was noted between Obama, who was 31 and working as an attorney in Chicago at the time the video was shot, and an Atlanta-hired extra who appears at the 1:01 mark in the clip.[10] However, no one involved in the making of the video was able to remember the extra's name.[8] The Gawker writer came to the conclusion that it was not Obama. Likewise, Politifact rated the claim that Obama was in the video as "Pants on Fire".[8]
The song has been features in many facets of popular culture since its release. A commercial for chocolate potato chip brand Swoops ran commercials parodying the song, changing the lyric to "Swoops! There it is". A 2011 commercial for Luvs diapers features animated infants dancing to "Poop! There it is".[12] Additionally, a 2011 AT&T commercial for the iPhone 4 features two men on a phone call debating the year of the song's release; this article's infobox is shown on the phone's screen toward the end of the commercial.[13] And it was also referenced on the NBC show, Parks And Recreation as the song Ben played at his swearing in when he was elected mayor when he was 18. Stoke City F.C. also sing the song "Huth, There it is!" in reference to their player Robert Huth.