Ivan Doroschuk, along with his brothers Stefan and Colin, formed _Men Without Hats_ in Montreal, Quebec around 1980. After the release of their first LP, 1982's "Rythm of Youth", they would widely become known for the albums and subsequently the bands only "hit" single "Safety Dance".
Men Without Hats' second album, 1984's "Folk of the '80s (part III)" failed to find an audience or another hit. They were soon dropped by MCA but would later resurface on Mercury records for their third album which gave them a minor hit in 1987 with the title track "Pop Goes The World". The theme behind this album is that of childish naivete discovering the big bad world and the loss of innocence from doing so.
This album is considered by many fans as the bands most coherent and accomplished recordings. They would go on to release three more albums during their career but would never find the commercial sucess they had with "Safety Dance" or the artistic sucess found on "Pop Goes The World".
I hesitate to include the video for "Pop Goes The World" because I just really don't like it. Very '80s, high in the cheese content. Placed back in context with the album as a whole the song works very nicely. But never the less it is representative of it's time, so here it is:
Pop Goes The World
There is an extra song in comments.
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Okay, you've sold me. I'm going to seek these out and give them a listen. And it wasn't really a dis. Well, not a big one anyway. :) Forgive me?
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Seriously, how could anything top the cheesiness of the vid for "Safety Dance"? This vid doesn't even come close. Sure it has a snowman costumed person in it & an Elvis impersonator but that's nothing compared to the other vid, lol. It's really an awful song though because of the whisper singing. I do like the other two.
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HEY HEY HEY AUGUST...
Safety Dance is a favorite of mine video-wise... call me nostalgic - but it's hysterical & can't help but make me wanna do the dance right here in my cube...
I too am not a fan of whispering in general - the ssss hit my ear & annoy the crap outta me - sweet nothings - that's another story... but whispering by in large - Blecch.
Thanks dachmo !!!! & garrick - glad to see we got you the light of our dark side
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Here, here - nice post Dachmo. Always have loved "Pop Goes The World" but never heard any of the recording that spawned it. Think I'll have to dig that one up pal! One of my oddest moments was singing "Safety Dance" at a 50's karaoke just to be annoying, but it was well recieved. Can't keep a good song down.
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Hey hey. Speaking of cheesy vids. I liked that one ok. It was goofy. I actually remember that song. Never heard "O Sole Mio" though. Both are good. Thanks for posting. My wife always sings "We can dance, we can dance, everyone take off your pants". I can never not hear that now when I hear "Safety Dance".
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I actually like their track "Antarctica" Really underrated for their pop sensibilities, I think they were a much better rep for Canada than say, Bryan Adams. Merci!