Spotted a woman dancing in place at a bus-stop today. She looked to be in her early 30s. She was dressed office-casual, and had iPod ear-buds in her ears. As I walked past, I caught her eye, pointed at my own ear, and raised my eyebrows. She actually smiled, and said in a surprisingly loud voice (I think it was the ear-buds), “Moby!” She added that the track was “We Are All Stars,” and went back to bopping away.
Last night, I was at a preview screening of “Freedom Writers,” the earnest, based-on-a-true-story high-school drama starring Hilary Swank as a white-bread teacher who inspires a classroom full of sullen teenage gang-members to become good students. During one montage, the soundtrack was playing Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It,” and a row of kids in the theater – seven of ‘em - stood up, began clapping, danced at their seats until the needle-drop faded, then sat down.
Yep. There are songs that just drive us to dance. For me, the triggers include Chic’s “Good Times,” Funkadelic’s “One Nation Under a Groove,” any rap or hip-hop song that samples either of those numbers (“The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel,” for instance), “Damaged Goods” by the Gang of Four, “Second Line” by Stop, Inc., and “What Have I Done To Deserve This?” by the Pet Shop Boys.
I will NOT admit to undulating like a raver in a car commercial when I hear “Days Go By” by Dirty Vegas. (All right. All right. It’s my secret shame.)
Like it or not, what song(s) make you dance like a monkey on a string, a spinning top, a drunken Sufi, Isadora Duncan, or a “Soul Train” regular?
Good times, y'all!
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First, I think it is awesome that you spotted someone at the bus stop dancing unabashedly. That would have put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. For, me it'd be Sing a Song by EW&F.
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Love to groove to Earth, Wind & Fire, Chucky. Especially "September." And, yeah, her unselfconscious dancing really improved my mood, and when it turned out to be the Moby number, it was even better.
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dance motherfucker dance - Violent Femmes
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Wow. How weird. I heard EW&F's "September" into Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" at the supermarket this weekend. I was completely alone and shaking my shit down the frozen food aisle - and I got completely caught by a high-school employee hahaha. I even thought about posting the story but got tied up with New Years stuff!
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The Famous Polka by TMBG. Every time. I can't not move.
Lots of stuff, actually. James Brown, for sure. Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order. Prince. Stuff with grunts. :)
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Great moment you shared with the bus-stop princess! For me, at the moment (quite literally)...anything on Rhino's "Rockin' Bones: 1950s Punk and Rockabilly"
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oh - September. That's another very good one to boogie to.
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Glad to get the tale here, kat! Mo' bounce to the ounce - in the aisles, at the checkout stand, in the parking lot, wherever!
"Gone Daddy Gone," Pimp! Tha shizz!
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SIR DUKE!
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You guys are on it. Prince! ("The Black Album," in particular.) Anything by the mighty James Brown - and his production of "Think (About It)" by Lyn Collins; Johnny Burnette and the Rock 'N' Roll Trio's "Train Kept A-Rollin' "; "Kinky Afro" by Happy Mondays...
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Oh man...mo' bounce to the ounce is my favorite saying of the day. Also to add...ever since _Napoleon Dynamite_ that Jamiroquai song. And most of _Thriller_ still gets me movin'
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Tower of Power's "I Can't Stand to See the Slaughter" from their LP "Ain't Nothin' Stoppin Us Now" (1976)
The Meters' "Fire on the Bayou" (1975)
Marvin Gaye's "It Don't Take Much to Keep Me" or any other cut from his LP "M.P.G." (1969)
James Brown's "Licking Stick---Licking Stick" (1968)Stevie Wonder's "Every Time I See You I Go Wild" from his LP "I Was Made to Love Her" (1967)
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Oh how I love the Meters...I can't stop myself from dancing to almost all of their tunes
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How could I forget Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" (Parts 1 and 2)? Foolproof rump-rumbler.
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The last time I danced around my apartment was to "Easy Money" by Billy Joel. I don't care if it's cheesy, it was fun! But I never had a girls night where that song "No Diggity" by Blackstreet didn't eventually get played and everyone started dancing on all the furniture. Good times! I also like to get down with my bad self to the Black Crowes.
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They have a dance about once every 3 months here in NYC called the Rhythm Revue at Roseland Ballroom. I'm 42 and usually one if the youngest of the 2-3000 in attendance..although I'm a fan of many of the tunes listed above and many of the R and B ones were played at the rhythm revue, I danced the hardest to the orignal '68 version of I Wanna Testify by Parliament. I have always loved the tune, but I've never danced to it in a club setting at club volume. Who needs pills and thangs that tune was bangin. Sloppy swivels ensued
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Pretty much the only time I dance in public (it's an act of mercy, believe me) is at one of my wife's family get-togethers: weddings, birthdays, New Years Eve, Memorial Day, all the same to these folks. (This has been a very good thing for our marriage.) I avoid line dancing as if it were an infectious disease, but when it gets to a certain point in the evening, when we've all reached the desired level of refreshment, somebody puts on "Brick House" or something by the Gap Band and all the oldies flood the dancefloor, as the teenage nieces and nephews lurk in the corners, horrified. Getting that reaction is even more fun than the dancing.
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If I ever hear an Eagles of Death Metal song in public, it's going to be on. Same goes for BT's "Never Gonna Come Back Down" or Lo-Fidelity All Star's "Battleflag". And the Parliament song that always gets the job done for me is "Atomic Dog" :)
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Bow-wow-wow-yippie-yo-yippie-yay! Another slam-dunk, Viva.
Confession of my own, echoes: I can't stand Madonna, but I can't stop myself from twitching and grooving to "Ray of Light." (Thank you, William Orbit.)
Gettin' down with yo' bad self is your inalienable right, jana!
Early Parliament, Cody. Like treasure!
And ivy, "Brick House" is another of those insta-funk tracks: Add "liquid" and serve.
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X-ecutioners' "Like This" makes me get down every time. And Britt, you know I'm down for some BT.
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Dale- In the event BT plays Coachella, you're officially going to be my dance partner for that song.
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Whoo hoo!
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Perfect video for this thread - and beyond, mutterimieli. Thanks...
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"Dancin in the Moonlight", too. :)
Oh, and I forgot to ask - was the title of this from a P-Funk song or was it the Sparks song? :)
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I was just dancing at the grocery store today! Metric happened to be the soundtrack.
But really, I dance to just about anything. Let's see....Radiohead get me going, Beastie Boys, Pixies, Breeders, Macy Gray, James Brown, The Temptations, Tribe....Reggae, Ska....so on and so forth!
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Right now, I would have to say what I have been listening to all day. Stubborn All Stars.
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Rudie Can't Fail, The Clash.... Never fails! When they played it in Grosse Pointe Blank I was groovin'... ! Excellent post!
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All Le tigre ish, most of the stuff off of "De-loused in the Comatorium", Most P-funk stuff, James Brown ish, any fast michael jackson or jackson 5 track unless its off of invincible (ugh), etc.
I'm way into Hip Hop so I will dance to pretty much any hip hop (yes, even mainstream) and sometimes at shows if I'm done spinning, I'll go and break with all the B-boys! Good Shit!
Dancing is fun. . .
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Definitely a Soul Train regular here - "Get Low" by Lil Jon or Ying Yang Twins or pretty much any crunk dance song gets my booty shakin', which is funny because I'm mostly a doom metal/shoegaze kind of gal.
On the topic of nobody dancing anymore - I work with a bunch of semi-self conscious high schoolers, and I've noticed that if I start to cut a rug they'll join in.
I'm bringing dancing back by having a dance party next week under the premise of a "fake rave" - tons of electro and eurodance crap will be played! The aforementioned high schoolers are pretty excited about it, which is cool because they've been kinda unsure about it in the past.
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I'm not much of a dancer most of the time ... but I'm dancing in my seat listening to Rawk's All Stars video! For me, it's The Specials ... Blur's "Park Life." The Flaming Lips get me going ... and Josh Roush's "James" gets me every time.
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Sparks, Sam. Good call.
kristiana, "Monkey's Gone to Heaven," "Cannonball," "Triple Trouble," "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and anything by Toots & the Maytals would all do the trick.
"Rock the Casbah," dharmachris. And thanks for the props.
"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," djaplus757 - although M.J. creeps me out more than ever. And "Hey, You! The Rock Steady Crew" makes me wanna break-dance despite the possibility of skeletal damage.
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I will dance to anything. Seriously. I am notorious for random bouts of whimsical twirling in at least 3 states.
But Motown of the 50's and 60's is a sure bet for spontaneous public displays of whimsy. (excellent question, Mike)
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Thanks, Smooth. We will all twirl at will.
And you are correct, goodmusiconly. Rawk's Stubborn All Stars vid fed my ska jones. The Specials' "Concrete Jungle" always gets me going, as does "One Step Beyond" by Madness.
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My mother loves telling me about when Blackboard Jungle was released in cinemas in the UK. It features Rock Around The Clock on the soundtrack and for a lot of Brits its was the first time they had heard American Rock n Roll . . . There were 'riots' in a lot of cinemas with people ripping up the seats to make room to dance to it and my mother went to see a screening with a bunch of her girlfriends and ended up dancing with a stranger in the aisle of this cinema. They never said a word, never exchanged names just danced and then went and sat back down and watched the rest of the film.
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funky meters
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Any James Brown will do it for me, and the Arctic Monkeys also make me want to move. Add to that any band I've seen live, particularly Franz Ferdinand, Gogol Bordello or The Strokes
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Good call with One Step Beyond, might as well throw in Party at Ground Zero by Fishbone.
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I was dancing around my apartment to "The Way She Moves" by OutKast a couple of nights ago. Just love that song...
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my roommates and i are famous for our spontaneous dance parties most of which occur sometime past midnight on weekdays, usually involves the spice girls, justin timberlake or ghetto rap, and usually results in some kind of choreographed dance that gets performed the next time we're drunk...i love it. I wish i had the confidence to just bust out dancing when ever my ipod makes me feel like it!
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Days Go By makes you dance? Hm, it makes me feel sad.
I dance to everything that can be danced (rock, pop, rnb, rap, younameit), and to some that can't (Iwon'tnamethem). :)
Hell, I'm even dancing right now! :D
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UtahSpike: What a wonderful anecdote! (I can sorta relate after my "Freedom Writers" experience, except for the trash-the-theater part.)
The Strokes, Joxley! Yes! And the 'Bone, Rawk! That's what I'm sayin'.
That IS my favorite OutKast song (other than "The Whiole World"), Linda.
George Clinton: "Free yo' mind and yo' ass will follow." Words to live by, ChiaraSera.
And, last but not least, keep on dancin', Anna! (Especially if you're feeling sad. It's one of the great cures, albeit temporary.)
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I would have to say Belle and Sebastian - Legal Man. Something about choirs of melodic madness makes my booty pop.
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"Jive Talkin'" by the Beee Gees gets my ass shaking whether I want it to or not. Also, any song by the Dials compels me to dance.
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Night Fever - Bee Gees Rock With You - MJ Beauty - The Tubes
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Super Freak seems to do the trick for me...
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Sadly my moves aren't quite like Olive's from Little Miss Sunshine but, er, I'm working on it. ;)
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Groove Is In The Heart - Deee-Lite
"Sing it baby!"
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B. & S. make me happy, supertopsecret, but the only dancing they inspire in me is the Horizontal Mambo.
“Jive Talkin’” is the fonkiest BeeGees song of all, Donia – with “Night Fever” a close second, rock.
Geez, lemontwist, like anyone could stop themselves from booty-banging to “Super Freak.”
And k8girl, “Groove…” is in my heart, as is “What is Love?”
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Got to agree with Joxley's Franz Ferdinand here.
I always tend to do stuff like this as well. Especially when working at the university at a computer, then I put on the headset, and start bobbing my head at the very least. Once a girl opposite of me looked at me when I was doing it, and five minutes later she was doing to same thing. :)
I always like it when people dance or whistle without being in a club, good to see people not caring what other people think (because, lets face it, you do look like a fool in the eyes of many) and just get carried away.
I once saw a young man riding his bike and acting out the drum solo of whatever his mp3 player was playing. Put a smile on my face the rest of the day. :)
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surprisingly, Bjork's "It's Not Up To You" makes me whirl like a dervish.
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I get the urge from "Big Time Sensuality," Jess. But who doesn't?
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true that. especially when watching the video.
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Oh. Wow. And me without my glow stick...
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Your Kisses are Wasted on Me by the Pipettes makes me dance no matter where I am. Walking to work, sitting on Bart, sitting at work, messing with my lappy at home, getting ready to go out...
so catchy!
I LOVE seeing people bobbing their head and dancing around town with their music player of choice. Makes me smile to know other people do it too!