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The jerk is a dance in which performers make sudden movements by jerking their body back and forth. It rose to popularity in the 1960s, where it became a fad dance.[ citation needed ]
The jerk is similar to the monkey. The arms move and hands move as if conducting. The wrists cross in front of the chest and then sweep out in time, or at half time, with the music. The hands are up at face level. On count 1, the outward sweep, the hands are quickly pushed out, giving the jerky motion. For a little more style, the fingers may be snapped on the two outward movements—the first and third counts of the hand motion.
Released as a single in 1964 on the Money record label, "The Jerk" was a hit for the Los Angeles band the Larks.
In the same year, the Miracles wrote and recorded "Come on Do the Jerk".
Another Motown group, the Contours, released "Can You Jerk Like Me" in 1964.
Dobie Gray released "Monkey Jerk" as the B-side to his 1965 single "My Baby".
The Capitols performed a 1966 hit song called "Cool Jerk", written to capitalize on the dance's popularity. The song has been covered by several bands, including the Go-Go's.
Rocket from the Crypt recorded the song "When in Rome, Do the Jerk" in 1998 as a homage to the dance.
Bobby Fuller referenced this dance in his song, "Jenny Lee (Do the Jerk With Me)".
George Harrison made a reference in his song, "Dark Horse" from 1974.
Janet Jackson made reference to jerking in her 2004 single "All Nite (Don't Stop)".
Hip hop performers the Sugarhill Gang mention that Tonto performs the dance in their 1981 hit song "Apache". [lower-alpha 1]
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.
James Travis Reeves was an American country and popular music singer and songwriter. With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville Sound. Known as "Gentleman Jim", his songs continued to chart for years after his death in a plane crash. He is a member of both the Country Music and Texas Country Music Halls of Fame.
Dead or Alive were an English pop band that released seven studio albums from 1984 to 2000. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK top 40 and three albums on the UK top 30. At the peak of their success, the lineup consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass) and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career due to Percy and Lever exiting the group in 1989.
The Frug was a dance craze from the mid-1960s, which included vigorous dance to pop music. It evolved from another dance of the era, the Chicken. The Chicken, which featured lateral body movements, was used primarily as a change of pace step while doing the Twist. As young dancers grew more tired they would do less work, moving only their hips while standing in place. They then started making up arm movements for the dance, which prompted the birth of the Swim, the Monkey, the Dog, the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, and the Jerk. The Frug is sometimes referred to as the Surf, Big Bea, and the Thunderbird.
Roland Kent LaVoie, better known by his stage name Lobo, is an American singer-songwriter who was successful in the 1970s, scoring several U.S. Top 10 hits including "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo", "I'd Love You to Want Me", and "Don't Expect Me to Be Your Friend". These three songs, along with "Where Were You When I Was Falling in Love", gave Lobo four chart toppers on the Easy Listening/Hot Adult Contemporary chart.
The Flirtations are an all-female musical group who have recorded since the early 1960s.
Edward Thomas Rabbitt was an American country music singer and songwriter. His career began as a songwriter in the late 1960s, springboarding to a recording career after composing hits such as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974. Later in the 1970s, Rabbitt helped to develop the crossover-influenced sound of country music prevalent in the 1980s with such hits as "Suspicions", "I Love a Rainy Night", and "Every Which Way but Loose". His duets "Both to Each Other " with Juice Newton and "You and I" with Crystal Gayle later appeared on the soap operas Days of Our Lives and All My Children.
Wilson Anthony "Boozoo" Chavis was an American accordion player, singer, songwriter and bandleader. He was one of the pioneers of zydeco, the fusion of Cajun and blues music developed in southwest Louisiana.
The Capitols were an American, Detroit, Michigan-based soul trio, widely known in 1966 for their Billboard hit single "Cool Jerk".
The Freddie was a short-lived 1960s fad dance prompted by the release of the songs "I'm Telling You Now", and "Do the Freddie", both by the British band, Freddie and the Dreamers. "Do the Freddie" had been a number 18 hit in the United States in 1965, and American dance craze stalwart Chubby Checker had then made it to number 40 with the minor hit "Let's Do the Freddie" in that same year. Billboard said of Checker's version that there's a "new dance on the scene and Checker's got it! Exciting number done in his familiar style." Record World said that Checker "has a new terp idea that will also do big business."
The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey is an album by The Miracles, released in 1963 by Tamla Records. It includes the group's Top 10 smash single "Mickey's Monkey", written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland, which was later recorded by several other artists. "Mickey's Monkey" popularized "The Monkey" as a novelty dance. Also included is another H-D-H dance-oriented single, "I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying", a Billboard Top 40 hit. The album peaked at No. 113 on the Billboard 200.
"Land of a Thousand Dances" is a song written and first recorded by American rhythm and blues singer Chris Kenner in 1962. It later became a bigger hit in versions by Cannibal & the Headhunters and Wilson Pickett. A version by Thee Midniters reached number 27 in Canada on March 22, 1965.
"Love and Happiness" is a song by Al Green from his album I'm Still in Love with You. Green co-wrote the song with Teenie Hodges. It was released as a single in the United Kingdom on London Records in 1973 and in the United States on Hi Records in 1977. It has been covered by Etta James, Al Jarreau, and many other performers.
"Bang Bang Lulu" is a traditional American song with many variations. It derives from older songs most commonly known as "Bang Bang Rosie" in Ireland, "Bang Away Lulu" in Appalachia, and "My Lula Gal" in the West. The form "Bang Bang Lulu" became widespread in the United States from its use as a cadence during the World Wars. The song uses the tune of "Goodnight, Ladies". The modern version was produced by Marty Munsch in late 1995 and was penned by The Traumaschool Dropouts a punk rock outfit from Albany NY who gained international acclaim for its release.
"I Like It Like That" was a 1964 hit song by Motown group The Miracles on its Tamla label subsidiary. This is not the Chris Kenner hit song of the same name but a Miracles original, written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Marv Tarplin, and is included on the group's first greatest hits album, Greatest Hits from the Beginning. It was also the title song from their deleted 1964 album of the same name.
New Boyz was a hip-hop duo that consisted of rappers Earl "Ben J" Benjamin and Dominic "Legacy" Thomas. They debuted in the spring of 2009 with their viral hit "You're a Jerk" taken from their 2009 debut studio album Skinny Jeanz and a Mic. The song peaked in the top thirty of the Billboard Hot 100, and it was the first song to bring the jerkin' style to the national forefront. A second single, "Tie Me Down" featuring Ray J, was also successful and peaked in the top thirty in Early 2010. In May 2011, their second and final studio album, Too Cool to Care, was released. It includes the top 40 hits "Backseat", featuring The Cataracs and Dev, and "Better with the Lights Off" featuring Chris Brown. The New Boyz have also been featured on Hot Chelle Rae's song "I Like It Like That", which peaked at No. 28 on the Hot 100.
"Come On Do the Jerk" was a 1964 song recorded by R&B group the Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label subsidiary. The song was co-written by Miracles members Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Smokey Robinson, and Ronnie White. A single-only release, it did not appear on any original Miracles studio album, and was the group's last single release of 1964. Robinson and fellow Miracle Bobby Rogers were the song's producers. The song's flip side, "Baby Don't You Go", was also a popular regional hit but was not released on CD until The 35th Anniversary Collection in 1994. Both sides of this single received new stereo mixes for the 2002 compilation Ooo Baby Baby: The Anthology.
"Can You Jerk Like Me" is a 1964 R&B song by Motown Records group The Contours, issued on its Gordy Records subsidiary. It charted on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching #47, and a Top 20 hit on its R&B chart, reaching #15. A single-only release, it did not appear on any original Contours studio album, as the group only had one album release during their five years on the label, 1962's "Do You Love Me ".
Michael Jeffrey Lloyd is an American record producer, arranger, songwriter and musician. After working with Mike Curb, Kim Fowley and others in the mid-to-late 1960s on musical projects including the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, and Steven Spielberg's first short film, Amblin', he became a producer of such teen idol pop stars as the Osmonds, Shaun Cassidy and Leif Garrett in the 1970s.
