The Safety Dance

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"The Safety Dance"
Single by Men Without Hats
from the album Rhythm of Youth
B-side "Security"
Released 1982 (U.S.)
1983 (UK)
Format 7", 12", CD single
Recorded 1982
Genre Synthpop
New Wave
Length 2:41
Label Virgin
Writer(s) Ivan Doroschuk
Men Without Hats singles chronology
"I Like"
(1982)		 "The Safety Dance"
(1982)		 "I Got the Message"
(1982)

"The Safety Dance" was the best-selling single by the 1980s synth pop group Men Without Hats, written by frontman Ivan Doroschuk. Released in the United States on March 16, 1982 and in the United Kingdom in September 1983, the song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on Cash Box, as well as number one on the Billboard Dance Chart. In the United Kingdom the song also proved successful, reaching number six. It was actually released three times before sparking an interest on radio play. The song is the only major international hit for the group. Their follow-up album, Folk of the 80's (Part III), reached no higher than #127 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart.

The music video for the song is notable for its medieval imagery. It was filmed in the village of West Kington, near Bath, in south-west England. Ivan Doroschuk is the only member of the band to actually perform in the video; the other band members can be seen standing in the entry to one of the buildings in the town square. The dwarf in the video has been identified as actor Mike Edmonds. The identity of blonde girl in the video remains a mystery. The Morris Dance side performing in the video was Chippenham Town Morris from Wiltshire.

Contents

[edit] Track listing

[edit] 12" maxi version

  1. "The Safety Dance" (Extended Version)
  2. "I Got the Message"
  3. "Antarctica"

[edit] 7" single version

  1. "The Safety Dance"
  2. "Security"

[edit] 12" promotional version

  1. "The Safety Dance" (Extended Club Mix)
  2. "Antarctica"

[edit] Meaning of song

There has been a lot of speculation over what the song is supposed to mean. Many have thought the song was a metaphor for safe sex, and others thought it was anti-nuclear proliferation because of the nuclear images at the end of the music video. But Ivan Doroschuk has explained[1] it was actually about being able to dance in clubs, because bouncers didn't like some of the types of dancing (like moshing and pogo) that was happening and would tell him to stop it or be kicked out of the club.

[edit] In popular culture

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The song and its accompanying dance have been referenced or featured in numerous movies and television shows, including America's Funniest Home Videos, Bio-Dome, The Rick Mercer Report, Streethawk, The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Scrubs, "Feed the Need" (a 2007 skateboarding video by Osiris Shoes), Aqua teen hunger force, That '70s Show, Futurama, and The Mexican.

The song also shows up as a lounge music cover on the Jaymz Bee and the Royal Jelly Orchestra album Cocktail: Shakin' and Stirred. In the song "88," The Cool Kids reference the Safety Dance, rapping the opening lines of the song. In 1996, English rock band Status Quo covered the song. It can be found on disk three of their Now And Then album.

The Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation named one of its graphic novels after this song. It is the first song danced at the jPod prom in the episode "Senseless Prom Death." An achievement in World of Warcraft is named "The Safety Dance", obtained by having all raid members survive the fight with Heigan the Unclean, in which you have to dance all around the room to avoid death, doing the 'Safety Dance'.

The song was featured in Etobicoke School of the Arts's recent rendition of George F. Walker's Escape from Happiness.

[edit] Parodies

  • "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song as "The Brady Bunch" on the album Weird Al Yankovic in 3-D.
  • Kidd Chris parodied the song as "Sulu Dance" for the Howard Stern Show.
  • Shrek the Third parodied the song as "Donkey Dance".
  • In the 1990s, Chuck-E-Cheese turned it into his own version called "Safety Pin" in which the gang was dancing around with big safety pins.
  • The Beastie Boys have parodied in their song "The Brouhaha" from their album "To The Five Boroughs".
  • Family Guy Quagmire and Peter do the Safety Dance in order to distract people in a party so they can proceed with an Ocean's Eleven style robbery.
  • Late Night with Conan O'Brien had a popular sketch called "The Men without Hats Conversation Channel", where a man (played by writer Brian Stack) sings "The Safety Dance" in response to a conversation. For example, when his wife asks if he wants toast, he sings "you can toast if you want to, you can leave your friends behind...", then when she says she wants a divorce, he sings "Well, get divorced if you want to..."[2]
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force parodied the song as "The Safety Fart" in the episode "Time Machine".
  • Scrubs parodies the song when Carla asks Turk if their supposed son wants to dance and not play football with his friends, then Turk does the Safety Dance.
  • World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King added an achievement titled "The Safety Dance" which players raiding Naxxramas could earn by defeating the boss "Hegian the Unclean" without any members of the raid being killed by the floor.
  • Futurama references the song in the episode Future Stock when That Guy recalls a tune from the song with Fry.
  • The Simpsons Homer sings the chorus of the song with the incorrect lyric "everybody look at your pants."

[edit] Cover versions

[edit] References

  1. ^ "True Spin interview". http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/music_alternative/watch/v16725574hRwbx5sZ. 
  2. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy3dX2KDhog

[edit] External links

Preceded by
"Flashdance... What a Feeling" by Irene Cara		 Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single
July 2, 1983		 Succeeded by
"(Keep Feeling) Fascination" by The Human League
Preceded by
"Puttin' on the Ritz" by Taco		 Cash Box Top 100 singles
October 1, 1983		 Succeeded by
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Safety_Dance"
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