“Pumping On Your Stereo” – Supergrass
(Words/music: Rob Coombes and Supergrass, available on Supergrass, Capitol 1999) 

“Pumping on Your Stereo” comes out of the gates at full steam.  It had a terrific video directed by Hammer and Tongs (in collaboration with the Jim Henson Creature Shop).  It has an odd sort of shuffle to it that makes it boogie as much as anything that didn’t feature Flea or Fatboy Slim in 1999.  It also has a great chorus, complete with the word “humping” replacing the word “pumping” (or rather, clarifying the meaning of “pumping” in the title at least).  Even the pre-chorus works well, bridging the verse and the hook with the right mix of flair and embellishment.  Simply put, it has a lot of different parts that I enjoy.

Still, every time I hear the song, I think about how much Gaz Coombes sounds like Mick Jagger on this track.  I try my best to stay away from “this sounds like that” type of statements (remind me another time and I’ll get into it then), but Coombes seems to emulate so many different parts of Jagger’s vocal delivery that it almost seems intentional.  Coombes elongates syllables and holds onto notes just a little longer than normal.  Meanwhile, he sounds like Jagger pouting during the verses.  Perhaps it’s residual effect from watching Coombes’ Muppet body warble around the screen the way Jagger runs around a stage, or maybe it’s some strong Stones-inspired riffs throughout the song (especially at the end), but “Pumping On Your Stereo” makes me think of the Rolling Stones.  At this point (1999), I probably wrote off the Stones as a boring classic rock band (even if I loved “Sympathy for the Devil” for its polyrhythms), so maybe, in an odd way, it was my subconscious calling out to give the Rolling Stones another try.  Regardless, I’ll take a back-to-back helping of “Pumping On Your Stereo” and “Rocks Off” any day of the week.

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