This One-Hit Wonder From 1983 Was Inspired by a Need To Feel Safe

The beauty of a song is that it can be written about anything. From flowers to social media followers, no subject is off limits, no idea too taboo. In fact, sometimes weird or strange subject matter can make a pop song or rock track that much more memorable. That’s just what we wanted to explore below. We wanted to dive into the past and highlight the famous one-hit wonder from 1983, inspired by a need to feel safe.

Men Without Hats

Founded in Montreal, Quebec, the Canadian-born new wave band Men Without Hats saw immediate success in the early 1980s with the release of their debut 1982 studio album, Rhythm of Youth. The group, which was fronted by the deep-voiced singer Ivan Doroschuk, garnered a No. 3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with a single from that record, “The Safety Dance”.

What had started in the 1970s as a punk rock group had found its footing as a synth-driven pop band at the dawn of the next decade. More specifically, the outfit found success with a strange, ponderous track. Audiences tapped their toes to the single, but they also wondered where it had come from and what the point was.

The Song’s Inspiration: Disco Dying

Written by Doroschuk, the 1983 one-hit wonder “The Safety Dance” is, if you can believe it, a new wave protest song. In the early 1980s, as disco dancing and music were dying, there were new creative interests amongst clubgoers. Specifically, there was a dance that punks wanted to perform—pogoing.

But nightclub bouncers wouldn’t let people pogo. They thought it was dangerous for the disco dancers who were cutting their own rugs in pairs on the dance floor at the time. Indeed, there was a conflict—not unlike tennis players angered by pickleball players taking over their courts today.

Those who wanted to pogo were seen as a threat to the others. But Doroschuk wouldn’t stand (or dance) for that injustice. He had to write a song about being free. About being free to dance and express yourself as you want.

For example, he sings, “We can dance if we want to / We can leave your friends behind / ‘Cause your friends don’t dance and if they don’t dance / Well, they’re no friends of mine.”

The Legacy

Today, “The Safety Dance” just seems strange. The Renaissance Fair music video doesn’t help. But that’s okay. At the end of the day, the message is important. Indeed, who would have guessed “The Safety Dance” was a First Amendment issue?

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images