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Novelty and fad dances are dances which are typically characterized by a short burst of popularity. Some of them, like the Twist, Y.M.C.A. and the Hokey Pokey, have shown much longer-lasting lives. They are also called dance fads or dance crazes.
As the pop music market exploded in the late 1950s, dance fads were commercialized and exploited. From the 1950s to the 1970s, new dance fads appeared almost every week. Many were popularized (or commercialized) versions of new styles or steps created by African-American dancers who frequented the clubs and discothèques in major U.S. cities like New York, Philadelphia and Detroit. Among these were the Madison, "The Swim", the "Mashed Potato", "The Twist", "The Frug" (pronounced /frʊɡ/ ), "The Watusi", "The Shake" and "The Hitch hike". Many 1950s and 1960s dance crazes had animal names, including "The Chicken" (not to be confused with the Chicken Dance), "The Pony" and "The Dog".
In 1965, Latin group Cannibal and the Headhunters had a hit with the 1962 Chris Kenner song Land of a Thousand Dances which included the names of such dances. One list of Fad Dances compiled in 1971 named over ninety dances. [1] Standardized versions of dance moves were published in dance and teen magazines, often choreographed to popular songs. Songs such as "The Loco-Motion" were specifically written with the intention of creating a new dance and many more pop hits, such as "Mashed Potato Time" by Dee Dee Sharp, were written to cash in recent successful novelties.
In the early 1970s, disco spawned a succession of dance fads including the Bump, the Hustle, and the Y.M.C.A. This continued in the 1980s with the popular song "Walk like an Egyptian" [2] ,[ clarification needed ] in the 1990s with the "Macarena", in the 2000s with "The Ketchup Song" and in the 2010s with "Gangnam Style". Contemporary sources for dance crazes include music videos and movies.
There are fad dances which are meant to be danced individually as solo, others are partner dances, and yet others are danced in groups. Some of them were of freestyle type, i.e., there were no particular step patterns and they were distinguished by the style of the dance movement (Twist, Shake, Swim, Pony, Hitch hike). Only some have remained to the modern day-era, sometimes only as the name of a step (Suzie Q, Shimmy) or of a style (Mashed Potato) in a recognized dance. Fad dances are in fashion at the time of their popularity. They come to be associated with a specific time period, and can evoke particular forms of nostalgia when revived. [3]
Year | Dance |
---|---|
1909 | The Grizzly Bear |
1926 | Charleston |
1930s | Duckwalk |
1933 | Carioca |
1936 | Suzie Q |
1937 | The Lambeth Walk |
1940 | Thunder Clap |
1941 | Conga |
mid-1940s | Hokey Pokey |
Year | Dance |
---|---|
1950s | Bomba |
1950s | The Chicken |
1952 | Bunny Hop |
1957 | Sock Hop |
1958 | Madison |
1958 | The Stroll |
1959 | Hully Gully |
Year | Dance |
---|---|
1960 | Shimmy |
1960 | Twist |
1961 | The Chicken Walk |
1961 | The Pony |
1962 | The Loco-Motion |
1962 | Martian Hop |
1962 | Mashed Potato |
1962 | The Monster Mash |
1962 | The Swim [4] |
1962 | Watusi |
1962 | Popeye Dance |
1963 | Chicken Dance |
1963 | Hitch Hike |
1963 | Monkey |
1963-1965 | Letkajenkka (aka Letkajenka, Letkiss, Letka-Enka) |
1964 | The Frug |
1964 | Jerk |
1965 | The Freddie |
1965 | The Mouse |
1965 | Limbo |
1966 | Batusi |
1966 | The Shake |
Year | Dance |
---|---|
1970s | Sprinkler |
1971 | Penguin |
1972 | Hustle |
1973 | Time Warp |
1975 | Bump |
1975 | Tragedy |
mid-1970s | Grinding |
1976 | Car Wash |
1976 | Electric Slide |
1976 | Robot |
1977 | The Running Man |
1978 | Y.M.C.A. |
Year | Dance |
---|---|
1980s | Moonwalk |
1980 | Cotton-Eyed Joe |
1981 | Harlem Shake |
1981 | Agadoo (aka Agadou) |
1981 | Superman (aka Gioca Jouer) |
1982 | The Safety |
1983 | Thriller |
1986 | The Hunch |
1986 | Wig Wam Bam |
1987 | Cabbage Patch |
1988 | Da Butt |
1989 | Lambada |
Years | Dance |
---|---|
1990s | Carlton dance (Alfonso Riberio) |
1990 | Hammertime (MC Hammer) |
1990 | The Humpty Dance (Digital Underground) |
1990 | Vogue (Madonna) |
1991 | The Stonk (Hale & Pace) |
1991 | The Urkel (Jaleel White) |
1992 | Achy Breaky (Line dance) |
1993 (1995 in US markets) | Macarena (Los del Rio) |
1994 | Saturday Night |
1996 | Tic, Tic Tac |
1998 | La Bomba (not to be confused with Bomba) |
1998 | The Roger Rabbit |
Year | Dance |
---|---|
2000 | Cha Cha Slide |
2002 | Algorithm March |
2002 | The Ketchup Song (Las Ketchup) |
2003 | Dutty Wine |
2005 | Caramelldansen |
2006 | Chicken Noodle Soup (Webstar) |
2006 | Daggering |
2006 | Laffy Taffy |
2006 | Lean wit It, Rock wit It (aka Snap dance) |
2006 | Shoulder Lean |
2007 | Crank That (Soulja Boy) |
2007 | Cupid Shuffle |
2008 | Single Ladies (Beyoncé) |
2009 | Jerkin' (brought to mainstream by New Boyz and Audio Push) |
2009 | Stanky Legg |
2009 | Hoedown Throwdown (Miley Cyrus) |
Year | Dance |
---|---|
2010 | Dougie |
2011 | The Creep (The Lonely Island) |
2011 | Wobble (VIC) |
2012 | Gangnam Style (PSY) |
2012 | The Smurf |
2013 | Twerking |
2014 | Nae Nae |
2015 | Hit Dem Folks |
2015 | Dab |
2015 | Hit the Quan |
2015 | Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae) (Silentó) |
2017 | Shoot |
2018 | The Floss |
2018 | Skibidi (Little Big) |
2019 | Lottery/Renegade Dance (TikTok) |
Year | Dance |
---|---|
2021 | Griddy |
2023 | Hot to Go! (Chappell Roan) |
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and with musical parody, especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs.
The twist is a dance that was inspired by rock and roll music. From 1959 to the early sixties it became a worldwide dance craze, enjoying immense popularity while drawing controversies from critics who felt it was too provocative. It inspired dances such as the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, the Monkey, and the Funky Chicken, but none were as popular.
The "Chicken Dance", also known and recorded as Der Ententanz,Tchip Tchip,Vogerltanz, the Bird Song, the Chicken Song, the Birdie Song, the Bird Dance,Danse des Canards, the Duck Dance,El Baile de los Pajaritos, O Baile dos Passarinhos, Il Ballo del Qua Qua,Check Out the Chicken, or Dance Little Bird, is an oom-pah song; its associated fad dance has become familiar throughout the Western world. The song was composed by accordion player Werner Thomas from Davos, Switzerland, in the 1950s.
The Mashed Potato is a dance move which was a popular dance craze of 1962. The dance move and mashed potato song were first made famous by James Brown in 1959 and used in his concerts regularly. It was also a dance done to songs such as Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time". The move vaguely resembles that of the twist, by Sharp's fellow Philadelphian Chubby Checker. The dance was first popularized internationally after being named in the lyrics of Motown's first mega-hit in the song "Do You Love Me" written by Berry Gordy Jr. and performed by The Contours in 1962.
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