July 20, 1993: Whoomp! There It Was

July 20, 1993: The rap duo Tag Team release their album Whoomp! (There It Is). As you might guess, it contains the title track, which becomes the song of the Summer, although it got stuck at Number 2 on the chart, behind UB40's cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love."

The song sampled a synthesizer line from the 1980 Italo disco hit "I'm Ready" by Kano. Cecil Glenn, a disc jockey at an Atlantic music club, calling himself DC The Brain Supreme, recorded it with his friend Steve Gibson, a.k.a. Steve Rolin. He played the track in the club on the same day it was mixed, and received a positive reaction from the audience. In the following months, people requested the song so often that it became clear it had the potential to become a hit.

The single was shopped to and rejected by multiple record labels, because executives were unfamiliar with "Southern bass," and were unsure if the sound would sell well around the country. Glenn instead borrowed $2,500 from his parents to press 800 copies. The singles quickly sold out in Atlanta on word of mouth alone.

A representative from Mercury Records suggested that the best person to promote music from the Southern bass genre was one-time Stax Records mogul Al Bell, now running Bellmark Records. Bell agreed to sign Tag Team without even hearing the song, telling Glenn, "I don't need to hear the record. I hear it in your spirit."

The video, shot at an Atlanta fairgrounds -- possibly the same one where the opening and closing scenes of the film Smokey and the Bandit were filmed -- certainly helped. Bell was right: The record sold 4 million copies, and was in the Top 10 for 24 weeks, almost half a year. Apparently, nobody thought the constant repeating of the line "Whoomp! There it is!" was monotonous.

And what, precisely, was "it"? As both the lyrics and the video make clear, "it" was a woman's rear end: "That B-double-O-T-Y, oh my!"

The song was used in several movies, some long after 1993. In December 2020, the GEICO insurance company used a parody of "Whoomp! (There It Is)" and the members of Tag Team as the punchline to a joke in a commercial. It featured Glenn and Gibson replacing the lyrics of the song with lyrics about ice cream, turning the lyric to "Scoop! (There It Is)". While the song had been used in advertisements previously, this was the first time the members themselves appeared in one.

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July 20, 1993 was a Tuesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners, 9-5 at Yankee Stadium. Ken Griffey Jr. went 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs. Don Mattingly went 1-for-4 with an RBI. Mike Stanley hit a home run.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Diego Padres, 4-1 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Eddie Murray went 0-for-4 for the Mets.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the California Angels, 2-1 at Fenway Park in Boston. Scott Fletcher grounded into a fielder's choice in the bottom of the 9th to get the winning run home.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-0 at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Ben McDonald pitched a 1-hit shutout, allowing only a single to Gary Gaetti in the 4th inning. Cal Ripken went 0-for-4. So did George Brett, in his final season.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-5 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Florida Marlins, 6-3 at Joe Robbie Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros, 2-1 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Oakland Athletics, 9-5 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Rickey Henderson went 3-for-5.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-3 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Robin Yount, in his final season, 0-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Montreal Expos, 8-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Barry Bonds went 2-for-4.