It’s strange how songs can take you right back to a specific place or time.
Whenever I hear “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats, I am taken back to Grade 8 and riding the school bus.
Blame it on the radio
The school bus was always an interesting place growing up. We passed a lot of time by talking to each other, if we had guys our age. Sometimes we did homework, especially if it was something due first period. Otherwise, we wiled away the time by listening to the radio.
The school bus was always an interesting place growing up. We passed a lot of time by talking to each other, if we had guys our age. Sometimes we did homework, especially if it was something due first period. Otherwise, we wiled away the time by listening to the radio.
Initially, the bus driver only tuned in to the country music station. Eventually, through some friendly persuasion by the older kids, he tuned into 1090 CHEC, the top 40 station.
One of the guys who got the dial turned to pop and rock music was a guy from the public school named Danny Still. He was a couple years older than me, and his brother was my age.
Every time I hear “Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats, I think about riding the bus, and the man who made it possible.
The song
“Safety Dance” holds a special place in my heart, because it was one of the first top 40 songs I heard on the radio by a band from Quebec. Men Without Hats was from Montreal, and had achieved quite a bit of success in la Belle Provence.
“Safety Dance” holds a special place in my heart, because it was one of the first top 40 songs I heard on the radio by a band from Quebec. Men Without Hats was from Montreal, and had achieved quite a bit of success in la Belle Provence.
I first heard “Safety Dance” on the radio, but I also heard it on Solid Gold on Saturday night. That was where I first realized they had success south of the border.
According to Wikipedia, the song was released in 1982, entered the top 50 in Canada in February of 1983, and peaked at number 11 in May.
Unlike many Canadian artists and their songs, which are better known in Canada than the United States, “Safety Dance” was the opposite, It was released in the States on March 16, 1983 but, initially, did not enter the U.S. charts for a few months. When it finally did, it went all the way to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 staying there for four weeks in September and October. It stayed a total of 24 weeks in the Hot 100, and hit number one on the Billboard Dance chart. It has since been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Unlike many Canadian artists and their songs, which are better known in Canada than the United States, “Safety Dance” was the opposite, It was released in the States on March 16, 1983 but, initially, did not enter the U.S. charts for a few months. When it finally did, it went all the way to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 staying there for four weeks in September and October. It stayed a total of 24 weeks in the Hot 100, and hit number one on the Billboard Dance chart. It has since been inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
They would receive Juno nominations in 1984 for Most Promising Group and single of the year for “Safety Dance”. They were also nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist.
Interestingly, Ivan Doroschuk wrote the song as a protest after getting kicked out of a night club for pogo dancing.
Parting thoughts
So, one day, we were on the bus talking. The driver always dropped off the students at the high school first then went to our school then the public school. That day, about two blocks from Kate Andrews High School, “Safety Dance” came on the radio.
So, one day, we were on the bus talking. The driver always dropped off the students at the high school first then went to our school then the public school. That day, about two blocks from Kate Andrews High School, “Safety Dance” came on the radio.
Danny was sitting behind me and he started mouthing the words, then singing them. The bus pulled up to the school and he kept singing louder and louder, as he ran his hand over the top of every seat as he made his way to te front of the bus. Then, in a high school ‘80s crescendo, he jumped off the bus.
I, and all the other junior high kids, just laughed and laughed as the bus pulled away and we could see him mouthing the words all the way into the school.
We can dance if we want to, we can sing!
So could Danny.
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