Get Ready For This

Album: Get Ready (1991)
Charted: 2 38
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Songfacts®:

  • 2 Unlimited was a dance-pop act put together by two Belgian producers who used Dutch vocalists. They found popularity in the '90s with the hits "No Limit" and "Get Ready For This." The latter song is a jock jam that became an anthem at sporting venues all over the world to help pump up the crowd and the teams.
  • This appears on several compilations, including Radio Disney: Kid Jams, New York Yankees Greatest Hits Vol. 2, Chicago Bulls Greatest Hits Vol. 1, Party Time Vol. 3, and Move This (a collection of pop rock hits).
  • The techno duo, consisting of rapper Ray Slijngaard and vocalist Anita Doth, was formed by Belgian producers Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde. Kind of. Having already worked with Ray on an unreleased Bizz Nizz single called "Money Money," they enlisted him to write lyrics for an instrumental club track initially titled "Orchestral Mix."

    Ray was working as a cook in an airport restaurant when he got the gig. When he listened to the demo, he told Melody Maker, he "felt a chorus coming on" and thought, "girl singer!" He contacted his friend Anita, a member of the all-girl group The Trouble Sisters, who was working as a traffic warden for the Amsterdam police to make ends meet. The producers were shocked when the updated demo, to be released as "Get Ready For This," featured a female vocal. According to De Coster, it was Ray who suggested they form a duo to front the project.

    The success of the debut single paved the way for the 1992 album Get Ready, which sold 3 million copies worldwide.
  • This was used on Friends when the gang plays touch football on Thanksgiving in the 1996 episode "The One With The Football." It was also used on these TV shows:

    Brooklyn Nine-Nine ("Honeymoon" - 2019)
    The Last Man On Earth ("Name 20 Picnics... Now!" - 2017)
    Superstore ("Rebranding" - 2017)
    The Big Bang Theory ("The Scavenger Vortex" - 2013)
    Family Guy ("Episode VI: It's A Trap" - 2011)
    The Office ("Dwight's Speech" - 2006)
    South Park ("Douche and Turd" - 2004)

    And these movies:

    Thunderstruck (2012)
    Tooth Fairy (2010)
    Bride Wars (2009)
    How To Eat Fried Worms (2006)
    Man Of The House (2005)
    Raising Helen (2004)
    Bring It On (2000)
    Flubber (1997)
    Space Jam (1996)
    Eddie (1996)
  • This shows up on several episodes of The Simpsons:

    "Monty Burns' Fleeing Circus" (2016)
    "To Surveil, With Love" (2010)
    "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass" (2005)
    "Fat Man and Little Boy" (2004)
    "I'm Spelling As Fast As I Can" (2003)
    "Jaw Wired Shut" (2002)
  • The opening line, "Y'all ready for this?," was sampled from "It's Funky Enough," the debut single from American rapper The D.O.C.
  • The UK single was an edit of the original instrumental, almost entirely without vocals except for the line, "Y'all ready for this?" - a fact that rankled Ray. "Everywhere else in the world the records have my raps on them," he told New Musical Express in 1993. "It's just that here our first record was an instrumental version of 'Get Ready For This,' and because it was a hit, they think we should bring out the versions of all the songs without the raps on them. Everywhere else in the world gets the raps!"
  • Jimmy Fallon's house band The Roots play this in a 2020 Super Bowl commercial for Michelob Ultra. In the spot, Fallon gets dejected while working out with John Cena. His spirits lift when The Roots come along playing the song, and he goes on an adventure that takes him across the paths of Usain Bolt, Brooke Sweat and Brooks Koepka.

Comments: 7

  • Gw from Spain2 Unlimited was not really Dutch. It was a Belgian project (producers/songwriters/music-mixers/publishers/distribution), launched in Belgium, and was fronted by Dutch performers (vocals/faces/dance).
    Technically it's not a duo but a quartet : 1 Dutch duo on stage (giving the public something to look at) and 1 Belgian duo behind the scenes (actually writing and mixing the songs). Because the general public saw only the Dutch performers, they soon assumed that the band was Dutch and that quickly became widespread misinformation.
    Calling 2 Unlimited a Belgian/Dutch dance act would be mutch better (and correct).
  • J Lee from UsaI've been surprised to read this article say that the instrumental version was played only in the UK. I lived in Los Angeles when this was popular, and I only heard the instrumental version on the radio. It wasn't until I bought the record that I learned there was a vocal version. I never liked the vocal version, so I just played the instrumental one.
  • Jorges from Oaxaca, MexicoThis was considered a great song of the Industrial music Genre. I agree, even it was considered "dance music" it means: so good and versatil song!!
  • Dave from Cardiff, WalesThis was the first hit for 2 Unlimited in the UK. It made #3 at Christmas 1991, and was the first of three big UK hits for the duo. In February 1993, their long-awaited follow-up "No Limit" hit #1 in the UK where it stayed for three weeks, dethroning Whitney Houston's cover of "I Will Always Love You", which had sat pretty at the top of the charts for 12 weeks. In 1994, they hit #10 in the UK with "The Real Thing", but the duo then split up in 1996
  • Dave from Cardiff, WalesIn 1992, a one-off act named Doctor Spin had a Top 5 hit in the UK with "Tetris". The music was mainly borrowed from the video game of the same name, but the single drew comment from UK critics of the era for the fact that parts of "Tetris" sounded virtually identical to "Get Ready For This"
  • Sean from Toronto, CanadaThis song was played in the movie "Bring It On" with Kirsten Dunst, Clare Kramer and Eliza Dushku.
  • Jack Lee from Nottingham, EnglandThis was covered by the Jock Jams, they added the infamous commentry quote at the beginning....."Lets get ready to rumble.........."
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