We’ve Been SINGING This 1983 Classic #1 For YEARS…TURNS OUT It’s a PROTEST SONG! | Professor of Rock

This catchy/happy singalong hit was actually written after Men Without Hats singer Ivan Doroschuk was kicked out of a club for moshing. He went home in defiance and wrote the Safety Dance... Little did he know it would became an 80s catchphrase and a #1 hit on the dance club chart and the Cashbox chart. It became the dance of the 80s and most don't realize it's actually a middle finger against conformity and authority. A protest song of the highest level. In this interview with Ivan Doroschuk the singer and creator of new wave band Men Without Hats tells the story and how the song has become a pop culture phenomenon.

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I want to invite you to travel back in time with me. Let’s set the circuits to the first week of October 1983, The world is a much different place. The home Computer games that are being played are Zork 1 lode runner and Frogger,

And at that moment every one was learning a brand dance. Spelled S A F E T Y: The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats spent it’s 3rd and final week at it’s peak position of #3 on the Billboard hot 100, bested by Billy Joel’s Tell Her About it at #2 and Total Eclipse of the Heart at #1. The Safety Dance actually hit the number one spot on the Cashbox charts, It also hit #1 on the dance charts here in the US as far as the rest of the world hitting #11 in their native Canada. it wentthe top 10 in Austria, Belgium, and the UK as well as the top 5 in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany as well as #1 in South Africa. To say this was global would be an understatement. I remember at 7 years old I listened intently for 3 weeks willing it to number one. hoping that Casey Kasem would announce it as the #1 song on the America top 40. but it didn’t happen. It was stuck at #3. I was pretty excited when Billy Joel hit #1. I remember watching the video on Friday night videos. We didn’t have MTV at that moment. The Safety Dance was one that I could do. I was pretty uncoordinated so I never did nail down the Moonwalk or the Roger Rabbit but The Safety Dance was one I could do pretty well. I’ve always loved this song. The way Ivan Dorushuck sings it. So determined and matter of fact, it was pretty much the first protest song for me at 7. I was like Ya I can dance if I want to and you won’t stop me. Ivan
was a friend of all of ours, because this song made us dance and it was a precursor to this whole dance movement, with footloose following then next year... and it’s generational. Now my kids listen to it and do their own version of the Safety Dance. It’s a touchstone for 80s kids, from it’s eternal play on MTV and with Weird AL parodying it as the brady bunch in 84 and it's still a through line in current pop culture. I was fortunate to talk with Men at Hat’s frontman Ivan Dorushuck who wrote it. Here he is with the story behind this undeniable pop smash. Before we go into this mini documentary on the song.

Видео We’ve Been SINGING This 1983 Classic #1 For YEARS…TURNS OUT It’s a PROTEST SONG! | Professor of Rock канала Professor of Rock