Pump up the Jam

What
“Pump Up the Jam” was a popular dance song in 1989 by the group Technotronic. The lyrics to the song’s hook “Pump up the jam” literally mean “turn up the music” and are sung as if the the singer were currently in a nightclub addressing a Disc Jockey. The remainder of the lyrics, such as “I want a place to stay. Get your bootie on the floor tonight. Make my day…” are sung as if the singer were addressing a potential male dance partner. The video features graphics, fashion, and imagery that were typical of the late 80s and early 90s.

Why
References to the song often appear in television and movies whenever hip-hop/dance culture of the early 90s or late 80s are featured. To reference the song, is to reference a period of music and fashion that has long-since been outmoded. People who were alive during the late 80s and Early 90s find it humorous to reflect on the trends that were once so popular but now perceived to be garish. 

Nuprin. Little. Yellow. Different.

What
Nuprin is a brand of Ibuprofen. In the 1980s the brand had a series of black and white commercials that featured different kinds of people describing how Nuprin helped relieve their pain. The commercials concluded with the tagline “Nuprin: Little. Yellow. Different. Better.”. In the extremely popular 1992 comedic movie “Wayne’s World” they two protagonists reenact a Nuprin commercial. 

Why
The Nuprin commercials played in heavy rotation and the tagline was very catchy and became something that was often quoted whenever anyone mentioned being in pain or needing pain medication. When the movie “Wayne’s World” made fun of the then nostalgic commercial it transformed into a national joke, because it made it obvious that most people found the Nuprin commercials to be oddly humorous and mildly annoying when they aired in the mid to late 80s. Now when the phrase “Little. Yellow. Different. Better.” is spoken it is usually in a voice that imitates the secondary protagonist “Garth” from Wayne’s world as opposed to the more masculine voice of the original Nuprin commercial’s narrator.  

thebusyallbee:

seanblr:

art kills.

(via 60gritbeard)

frogNY Build-It’s next hack in progess: Arabicamatic 1000. We hope that we can get our office coffee pot to tweet to us when it is full, brewing, low, and empty.