1982 Men Without Hats released their debut album Rhythm of Youth. The album featured "The Saftey Dance" which made #3 Hot 100 and #1 Dance Club.
The writer/lead singer, Ivan Doroschuk, has explained that "The Safety Dance" is a protest against bouncers prohibiting dancers from pogoing to 1980s new wave music in clubs when disco was declining and new wave was coming in. Unlike disco dancing, which is done with partners, new wave dancing is done individually and involves holding the torso rigid while thrashing about; pogoing involves jumping up and down (the more deliberately violent evolution of pogoing is slamdancing). Clubgoers doing the newer pogo dance were perceived as posing a danger to disco dancers on the dance floor, and so club bouncers would tell pogoers to stop or be kicked out of the club. Thus, the song is a protest and a call for freedom of expression, and yes, Ivan was kicked out of a club for dancing.
In 1984, "Weird Al" Yankovic released a parody of "The Safety Dance" entitled "The Brady Bunch" on his album In 3-D. This is a pretty well done video too.
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