The Jock Jams albums were one of ESPN’s first forays into merchandise and licensed goods. In addition to those CDs, there was also the book The Big Show: Inside ESPN’s SportsCenter co-written by Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann. The latter is now available at just about every Goodwill store in America.
Jock Jams dropped in 1995 and was kind of a gamechanger. It was a collection of stadium anthems most people knew but didn’t know. Yes, that sounds confusing but we’re talking about the pre-internet era here. Everyone could sing along with the Da Na NaNa NaNa…Hey! song at a sporting event. However, hardly anyone could tell you the name of it was “Rock and Roll Part 2 (Hey Song)” by Gary Glitter.
It wasn’t the only one. Jock Jams finally put all those catchy tunes you heard in arenas across America into a single, 20-track album. It was awesome. You could listen to Twilight Zone by 2 UNLIMITED any time you wanted.
Of course, not all the songs were true stadium anthems. Tracks like Come Baby Come by K7 were out of place. However, no CD was perfect.
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Being the 1990s, compilation albums needed to be released yearly, if not more frequently. You can thank Now That’s What I Call Music! for this trend. Anyway, Jock Jams Volume 2 and 3 dropped in the following years. These were okay but nothing could match the original. There are only a finite number of stadium anthems after all.
This would become apparent with the release of Jock Jams Volume 4 in 1998. The songs that permeated arenas were replaced with random tracks that didn’t make much sense. Backstreet Boys, Will Smith and Chumbawamba were there. Raise the Roof by Luke also made the cut seemingly only due to the fact Stuart Scott had a cameo in the music video.
As disappointing as Volume 4 was, the fifth installment managed to be worse. It was a few songs from artists getting heavy play in America and a bunch of Euro dance music. The album isn’t objectively bad. In fact, many of the songs are fantastic on their own. But as a collection of stadium anthems, you’re left confused. I mean this is exceptional, but it has never been played at a sporting event:
Jock Jams Volume 4 and 5 kill the series
Jock Jams Volume 4 and 5 would be the end of the series for the most part. There would be a compilation album, The All-Star Jock Jams, released in 2001 without the same backing of previous versions. In fact, it may have been given away as a bonus if you subscribed to ESPN The Magazine. Either way, there didn’t seem to be much of a market for a compilation album of five compilation albums.
The main issue with Jock Jams Volume 4 and 5 was the fact it didn’t really contain any stadium anthems. If anything, it was an introduction of Euro dance music to an American audience. No doubt a noble cause, but one totally unrelated to ESPN or sports.
It’s not all bad for Jock Jams. The first CD went platinum, and the series has sold more than four million albums in total. That being said, Jock Jams Volume 4 and 5 were the absolute worst.
