0:00:02 > 0:00:06Dancing is super fun. It's a form of expression and it's cool.
0:00:06 > 0:00:11Oh, I know this song. Let's do the routine to it. It brings everyone together. It's great.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14Having a dance craze gives us a chance to do something all together
0:00:14 > 0:00:16and all feel like we are one animal.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19There's been so many great dance crazes
0:00:19 > 0:00:21and I've partaken in most of them.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25It's fun, it's something that everyone can do.
0:00:25 > 0:00:26Oh, it's camp as Christmas.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29You can just do your thing. You know what I'm saying.
0:00:29 > 0:00:33Dance is a way to free the soul and ease the mind.
0:00:33 > 0:00:38The moment any of these songs start, you're damned if you do when you're damned if you don't.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Better to slap on a smile and get stuck in, I reckon.
0:00:45 > 0:00:50Hello, I'm TV's Robert Webb, actor, writer and, as I'm going to be
0:00:50 > 0:00:54reminding you over the next half an hour, a highly accomplished dancer.
0:00:54 > 0:00:57It's a combination of skills that makes me the perfect...
0:00:57 > 0:01:00..ly adequate choice to host pop's greatest dance crazes.
0:01:00 > 0:01:04A countdown of the songs that have got you bopping like idiots at
0:01:04 > 0:01:08office parties, wedding discos or alone in your front room drunk.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16Do be do be do noo. Whatever she said.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Dee de da la da da.
0:01:18 > 0:01:19Noo me noo me na na.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Dee dee na na na. Dee dee na na na.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26- I- never had rollers in on a Saturday night.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28Heated rollers went out in the '70s.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33# Saturday night, I feel the air is getting hot... #
0:01:33 > 0:01:39Saturday Night topped the charts for four weeks in 1994, and got a whole generation up and dancing.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42For me, it was the first dance craze
0:01:42 > 0:01:46that was of my generation, being in a pub, it coming on
0:01:46 > 0:01:47and it feeling important
0:01:47 > 0:01:51that you did know the moves, that you weren't being left out.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56# Da ba da dan dee dee dee da nee na na na
0:01:56 > 0:01:57# Be my baby... #
0:01:59 > 0:02:03It's just easy and it's fun, and it's drunk proof, isn't it?
0:02:03 > 0:02:06# Pretty baby... #
0:02:06 > 0:02:11The moves didn't originate in a dance studio, but on a Spanish beach.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14The aerobics instructor responsible has never stepped up to take credit,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17or maybe the blame, whichever way you look at it!
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Every time he'd do his classes on the beach, he'd play this track
0:02:24 > 0:02:26and do this dance to this song.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31Then people went to clubs at night and heard the song, and it just moved around.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35# Saturday night I feel the air is getting hot
0:02:36 > 0:02:38# Like you, baby... #
0:02:38 > 0:02:44The record labels around, they didn't believe in the song, they didn't like it very much.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48It was actually a song that was built up by the audience.
0:02:48 > 0:02:49By the public.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52# Viva Espana. #
0:02:52 > 0:02:59People just went on holiday in Spain and in Portugal and came back and requested the song.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02We go on holiday, two weeks out of the year,
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Costa Brava, Costa del Sol and we crave
0:03:05 > 0:03:08quite a rubbish song with a bit of a silly dance routine.
0:03:08 > 0:03:09What's that about?
0:03:12 > 0:03:14When you go there, it's contagious.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17You come back and you're like, "Guys..."
0:03:17 > 0:03:20I bet Whigfield loved doing that dance.
0:03:20 > 0:03:24I just saw people doing these moves, but it's not like, "Oh, I want to learn it too."
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Because it's not, "I'm going on stage, I've got to do the dance."
0:03:27 > 0:03:28I said, "I'll never do the dance,"
0:03:28 > 0:03:32- I don't want people to think it's something that we did, you know?- Oh.
0:03:32 > 0:03:37- Stop it, will you, hey?- He's just a bit, how do you say it in Danish?
0:03:37 > 0:03:39- Thick?- Yeah, thick, that's the word.
0:03:42 > 0:03:47You know, it's a rite of passage, is just one of those things when you get a bit older,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51it's on the list of things that are valid to look back and hate about yourself.
0:03:53 > 0:04:0117 years on, Whigfield is still making music, but a different kind of music - the kind you never hear.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03I used to be quite sick of this song.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08I think maybe after one, two, three years, I was fed up, I couldn't hear it.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11And now, it's part of me, you know?
0:04:11 > 0:04:13# Saturday night... #
0:04:13 > 0:04:15It's under my skin.
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Better get some ointment for that!
0:04:25 > 0:04:29It's 1978 and the world has gone disco crazy.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32Saturday Night Fever is in the cinemas and dance floors are
0:04:32 > 0:04:36full of hairy-chested men dancing like absolute idiots.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41Every man jack of them is trying to copy the sexy moves of Mr John Travolta.
0:04:41 > 0:04:47We just think of him now as a crazy Scientologist who makes often bad films, but in the 1970s,
0:04:47 > 0:04:51he was responsible for the dance craze that makes it to number five on our list.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55It's Night Fever, take it away, John.
0:05:03 > 0:05:05I think if you put Saturday Night Fever on, everyone
0:05:05 > 0:05:08starts to do the John Travolta, and you can't get away from that.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11# Night fever, night fever... #
0:05:11 > 0:05:16When you think about Saturday Night Fever, you think of the disco and the lights
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and the white suit and the moves, and people living for the weekend.
0:05:19 > 0:05:26Saturday Night Fever is a gritty portrayal of alcohol abuse and rape,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30but what people really remember is John Travolta doing this.
0:05:30 > 0:05:35It was the first time a normal person, who did a nine-to-five job,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37went to a disco
0:05:37 > 0:05:42on a Saturday night and became the star of that disco,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44the king of that disco.
0:05:44 > 0:05:46# Night fever, night fever... #
0:05:46 > 0:05:49Travolta really could bust some moves,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53but it took him five months' dance training to get ready for the role.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58It's kind of a squiggly move, and very weird, because you can roll the arms this way and this way.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02I met Travolta. Of course, John came walking in, strutting, you know.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05I said, "Can I see how you dance?" He goes, "I already know how to dance."
0:06:05 > 0:06:09I said, "Sit down," and I started doing the splits and all the points.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12He said, "That's it, that's what I want to learn."
0:06:13 > 0:06:17John particularly liked this step here, where he was stepping back.
0:06:17 > 0:06:18It was a step he could work with,
0:06:18 > 0:06:24and he'd do this, and turn like this, and he'd roll his hips and
0:06:24 > 0:06:26point out the women.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30Everybody knew that. It's like the roll...
0:06:30 > 0:06:34Down, up, down, up.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38Saturday Night Fever was a shock for the audience,
0:06:38 > 0:06:41when they saw guys giving it large. Amazing.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47The Bee Gees sold more than 15 million copies of their soundtrack,
0:06:47 > 0:06:52people lined up to learn the dance moves and DJs playing vinyl records replaced live bands.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55Disco, as we know it, was born.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58The whole nation in the '70s was doing Saturday Night Fever,
0:06:58 > 0:07:00everyone wanted to be John Travolta.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02A very popular one is called the roly-poly.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07Get your John Travolta thumb, roll the hands and mark the rhythm at the same time.
0:07:07 > 0:07:10And one, and two, one, and two.
0:07:10 > 0:07:16So many guys took dance lessons and all this stuff, just to be noticed.
0:07:16 > 0:07:22Dance clubs all over the world, and dance studios, were just jam-packed with people you'd never expect.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24People with two left feet, two right feet.
0:07:24 > 0:07:27Everyone wanted to dance. Like me at the family weddings...
0:07:27 > 0:07:30Before, I was just a solo boy on the floor.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34Soon as John Travolta started, that was it. Didn't have room for an elbow.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41It would start with one person, then someone else would join in,
0:07:41 > 0:07:46then someone else would join in, till the whole room is going mad, doing the same dance.
0:07:46 > 0:07:50It was mad, I loved that time.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54Never, ever, did I think it would become mainstream.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56And now it's found its place in history.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59You can go into clubs now and see a lot of sampling done
0:07:59 > 0:08:03of disco music, and they'll play straight disco, they'll play retro.
0:08:03 > 0:08:06So it's found its place in history as great dance music.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09# My woman keeps me warm... #
0:08:09 > 0:08:12Madonna is such an icon of pop music,
0:08:12 > 0:08:17it's sometimes hard to believe that she's now 83 years of age.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21In 1990, when Vogue was released, she was a mere slip of a gal
0:08:21 > 0:08:25in her early 60s, long before her arthritis started giving her all that gip.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Back then, she was one heck of a dancer.
0:08:40 > 0:08:46When I first saw Madonna's Vogue, those moves were just amazing.
0:08:46 > 0:08:51Everybody was doing that dance in the clubs, including moi.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54Strike a pose.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57You can just do your thing, you know what I'm saying, you know?
0:08:59 > 0:09:02# Vogue... #
0:09:02 > 0:09:06When Vogue came out, that was enormous, darling.
0:09:06 > 0:09:12Everyone wanted to Vogue and it is, I have to say, one of the most technically difficult things to do.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14# Come on, Vogue
0:09:14 > 0:09:20# Let your body move to the music Hey, hey, hey... #
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Vogue comes from the actual magazine, Vogue,
0:09:23 > 0:09:28and portraying the images that you'd see in that magazine.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31# Come on, Vogue... #
0:09:31 > 0:09:34It's dance put into modelling shapes.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38You know, it'll be that, it'll be that, it'll be that.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41# All you need is your own imagination... #
0:09:41 > 0:09:44It's really about the attitude.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46Every movement should be photogenic.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49# It makes no difference if you're black or white
0:09:49 > 0:09:52# If you're a boy or a girl... #
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Then you do your poses, poses.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57# If the music's pumping It'll give you new life.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Have you ever tried to dance with someone who's Voguing?
0:10:00 > 0:10:04It's like a barrier. "Get away from me, I'm Voguing."
0:10:04 > 0:10:07It's so elitist, isn't it?
0:10:08 > 0:10:10"I'm not trying to dance.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13"I'm just going to do it." That's Vogue.
0:10:13 > 0:10:17Vogue was Madonna's seventh UK number one and if you've
0:10:17 > 0:10:20ever struck a pose a la Madge, you might be surprised to learn that
0:10:20 > 0:10:26she pinched the dance from the New York gay scene that was strutting its stuff around Harlem in the '80s.
0:10:26 > 0:10:30Everyone thinks Madonna invented it, and of course, she didn't.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33It was happening in underground clubs all around New York.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38I first saw Vogue in New York in the mid-'80s. I was amazed.
0:10:38 > 0:10:42It was such a visual impact, seeing all these confident,
0:10:42 > 0:10:47flamboyant children, working the disco dance floor threadbare.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51Ghetto queens wanted to run competitions,
0:10:51 > 0:10:58and what they would have are houses, and each week they would compete against different boroughs.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02When you're competing with somebody, it's like...
0:11:02 > 0:11:06"I'm so much better than you."
0:11:06 > 0:11:11It's possibly one of the gayest dances ever, in the world.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18Madonna's very good at picking up whatever's current or happening underground
0:11:18 > 0:11:20at that moment, and making it more mainstream.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24- She has the power to popularise it. - # Let your body... #
0:11:24 > 0:11:29Even though it was, at that time, considered a dance craze
0:11:29 > 0:11:33for the masses, to us, it's not a dance craze, it's a way of life.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36# Vogue, Vogue, Vogue, Vogue. #
0:11:37 > 0:11:39I love Single Ladies.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44I mean, the song, Single Ladies, not ladies who are single. I can't be doing with them.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49At number three on our list, it's Beyonce, who's most certainly not a single lady.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54I get that, now, Beyonce, I'm fine with it, and I'm sorry about the e-mails...
0:11:55 > 0:11:58# All the single ladies All the single ladies
0:11:58 > 0:12:01# All the single ladies All the single ladies
0:12:01 > 0:12:03# All the single ladies All the single ladies
0:12:03 > 0:12:05# All the single ladies, Now put your hands up... #
0:12:05 > 0:12:09The Single Ladies message is saying to a man who isn't prepared
0:12:09 > 0:12:13to ask you to marry him, that you'll just go out and find someone else.
0:12:13 > 0:12:15Which...
0:12:15 > 0:12:17is a little bit 19th century.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20# He up on me Don't pay him any attention... #
0:12:20 > 0:12:24Single Ladies is basically that girl song for the clubs,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26to talk junk to the guys.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29It says, "Hey, you know, too late, you know, he looking at it now,
0:12:29 > 0:12:30"you can't get me."
0:12:30 > 0:12:32# Don't be mad once you seen That he want it... #
0:12:32 > 0:12:36The first time I watched Single Ladies, I said to myself,
0:12:36 > 0:12:39"Self, you need to learn this dance, because it's going to be big."
0:12:39 > 0:12:42# Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh... #
0:12:42 > 0:12:47You had to know it from the beginning to the end, everything. All this bit, all this bit.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50# If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it... #
0:12:50 > 0:12:56Single Ladies is such an intricate routine but it still has a sense of being approachable.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00You can take it and you can make it your own.
0:13:00 > 0:13:05Beyonce's Single Ladies video, I really like, because she's all woman in that video.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07# If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it... #
0:13:07 > 0:13:12The iconic look of Single Ladies is definitely the ring dance,
0:13:12 > 0:13:18and people played with it. # Uh oh oh uh... # ta ta, click, hey.
0:13:19 > 0:13:25You're at a party and they put on Single Ladies, the first thing people start doing is the hand.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27# If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it... #
0:13:27 > 0:13:31I think my favourite was... I call it the choo-choo train.
0:13:33 > 0:13:36You can go around with it...
0:13:36 > 0:13:37a tee tee ta.
0:13:39 > 0:13:44It still had Beyonce's style and flavour and bounce and it was really quite original.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49Beyonce's video may look fresh but nothing is 100% original,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52and the Single Ladies dance routine is no exception.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57It was influenced by the moves of legendary Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse.
0:13:57 > 0:14:02Single Ladies was inspired by Bob Fosse and I don't think a lot of people know that.
0:14:02 > 0:14:09Fosse himself was a master of minimal movement, and making minimal movement extraordinary.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12And that's exactly what they did.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16They made it small, they contained it and they made it iconic.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21Going into Single Ladies, we knew Beyonce had this Bob Fosse reference
0:14:21 > 0:14:29and we knew that she wanted to create something iconic and fun and just funky.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33I think that's why people can relate to it so easily.
0:14:33 > 0:14:37# Like a ghost, I'll be gone All the single ladies... #
0:14:37 > 0:14:40Beyonce's look was simple but striking, in her asymmetrical
0:14:40 > 0:14:44leotard, metallic glove, and of course, her high heels.
0:14:44 > 0:14:51The beautiful thing about that video was actually to get girls back in heels, dancing.
0:14:51 > 0:14:56Beyonce doesn't have little heels, she has heels.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00No pain, no gain, that's what I say.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03But it's worth it if you end up looking like Ms Knowles.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07Hers was a dance craze that inspired thousands of imitations,
0:15:07 > 0:15:10including Katy Brand in Let's Dance For Sport Relief.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14The Single Ladies dance is really difficult.
0:15:14 > 0:15:19The steps don't follow a regular pattern of beats. I only refer to them as the punchy bit,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22the fally down bit, the hurty bit. I don't think...
0:15:22 > 0:15:26I'm not sure Beyonce referred to things like the hurty bit, or the groin strain bit.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28# ..then you should have put a ring on it... #
0:15:28 > 0:15:31People do copy moves from Single Ladies, and
0:15:31 > 0:15:36I've been at the concert and I watch them do the entire routine.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38I'm like...
0:15:38 > 0:15:41"Are you really going to do that full routine?
0:15:41 > 0:15:44"It's a long one and it's hard."
0:15:46 > 0:15:51If anyone's got about 47 consecutive hours that they can donate directly
0:15:51 > 0:15:56to learning to dance, then anyone can do the Single Ladies dance.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00# If you liked it, then you should have put a ring on it Uh oh oh. #
0:16:08 > 0:16:12In second place, it's the Village People and Y-M-C-A.
0:16:12 > 0:16:18In this good natured and uplifting anthem, well built and highly sexed gay men sing...
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Hang on, who says they're highly sexed?
0:16:20 > 0:16:23And how do we know they're gay?
0:16:23 > 0:16:25They might be gay.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Which is brilliant, I wish I was gay. Sometimes...
0:16:28 > 0:16:30Mainly when I watch this!
0:16:30 > 0:16:32Being gay looks amazing!
0:16:39 > 0:16:41# Young man... #
0:16:41 > 0:16:42Y-M-C-A
0:16:42 > 0:16:47is about spelling the letters of the alphabet, Y, M, C and A.
0:16:47 > 0:16:53# Y-M-C-A! It's fun to stay at the Y-M-C-A... #
0:16:53 > 0:16:57It's Y, M, C...
0:16:57 > 0:17:02It's Y, M, C, A?
0:17:02 > 0:17:07The routine was created to encourage audience participation when the Village People performed
0:17:07 > 0:17:11on Dick Clark's American Bandstand in January 1979.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15Dick Clark surprised us by announcing
0:17:15 > 0:17:17that the dances on the show
0:17:17 > 0:17:20were going to show us a new dance step.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23# Y-M-C-A! #
0:17:23 > 0:17:25They introduced the arm movements.
0:17:25 > 0:17:27So, we liked it,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29we took it.
0:17:29 > 0:17:31Right?
0:17:32 > 0:17:34# Y-M-C-A... #
0:17:34 > 0:17:35Y, M, C, A.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38HE MOUTHS
0:17:41 > 0:17:43Y-M-C-A was really cool.
0:17:43 > 0:17:46I don't think it's cool now but it was cool at the time.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48It really brought people together.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51It was quite sensational, actually.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53#Y-M-C-A
0:17:53 > 0:17:56The band was the brainchild of a French disco producer
0:17:56 > 0:17:59who brought to public attention some of the colourful characters
0:17:59 > 0:18:02that lived in New York's Greenwich Village.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06This is Greenwich Village, centred in and around Christopher Street,
0:18:06 > 0:18:10on the west side of this traditionally bohemian district of Manhattan,
0:18:10 > 0:18:11is a vast community of gay men.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14We presented to America
0:18:14 > 0:18:17six young guys, good-looking,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21each one of them was one of the stereotype
0:18:21 > 0:18:23of the American male.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27It was like a comic strip or a bunch of superheroes to me.
0:18:27 > 0:18:34You have your policeman, your leather man, your cowboy and your construction worker.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Everyone loves a bit of dress-up, don't they?
0:18:37 > 0:18:39# It's fun to stay at the... #
0:18:39 > 0:18:45I think the macho stereotypes are all the people that gay guys want to get off with, to be honest.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49You know, it's all the gay, iconic, porno stars, I suppose.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54I do remember thinking, "Oh, I quite like that."
0:18:54 > 0:18:59You know, I'd wear that. I knew that my dad wouldn't really wear something like that.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02I did think, "Maybe they're a bit more like me."
0:19:02 > 0:19:05# Together, we will go our way.. #
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Their unique look caught the public's imagination
0:19:08 > 0:19:12and back in the late '70s, when the gay community was still fighting to be out and proud,
0:19:12 > 0:19:17the Village People danced straight to the top of the charts and into the mainstream.
0:19:17 > 0:19:22If it was perceived as one of the first gay bands, good, I'm happy about it.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24# Tell our friends goodbye... #
0:19:24 > 0:19:29There was a huge moment, I think, in liberation, wasn't it, really.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32It did wave a sort of rainbow flag.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35# Go west! Life is peaceful there... #
0:19:35 > 0:19:40It got the message out there that it's all right to be out and proud.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45It was a gay anthem and the family audience loved it, too.
0:19:47 > 0:19:52But they had no idea it was about cruising for male company at a youth hostel.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Everyone knew Y-M-C-A, didn't they? Your dad and your uncle and the whole football team.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58# Y-M-C-A... #
0:19:58 > 0:20:01The melody and the dance just made it very
0:20:01 > 0:20:05family friendly and you didn't really listen to the words.
0:20:05 > 0:20:11You didn't really look at it as being gay because it was so overt.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13So you thought, "No, it can't be."
0:20:13 > 0:20:15It confused me in the '70s.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18I thought, "Hold on, my uncle was a Y-M-C-A-er"
0:20:18 > 0:20:22and then my dad started and then I was like, "Whoa! This is all wrong."
0:20:22 > 0:20:26I don't think about the double entendre that there is in the lyrics.
0:20:26 > 0:20:32I think only of the fact that someone is getting fun in doing the Y-M-C-A, that's all.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37The original line-up may have changed a little but the Village People is still packing them in
0:20:37 > 0:20:43on the gay nostalgia circuit and three decades on, hapless punters are still getting the moves wrong.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45You've got to do a Y,
0:20:45 > 0:20:47a great big Y. It's easy enough
0:20:47 > 0:20:50but apparently it gets harder when we get to M, which is M -
0:20:50 > 0:20:52not the monkey thing.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56Is it possible to get Y, M, C, A wrong.
0:20:56 > 0:20:57Not the Joan Crawford thing.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02- Y, M, C, A.- Then we say C and they all do it the wrong way.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06- Is it that way, or that way. - Did I just get it different. Like, maybe.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08What do I do?
0:21:08 > 0:21:09Then the A.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12But you look out there...
0:21:12 > 0:21:14And you see all kinds of variety.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19So if you've been made to look an idiot when attempting the Y-M-C-A, you know who to blame.
0:21:19 > 0:21:20Sorry, y'all.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23A bit late for apologies.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27# Body moving, body moving, body moving
0:21:27 > 0:21:30# We be body moving Body moving, body moving... #
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Well, we've almost reached our dance craze destination.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35We've danced ourselves dizzy
0:21:35 > 0:21:38and now it's time to find out what is pop's greatest dance craze.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41So, it's over to me again.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45# Body moving, keep your body moving
0:21:45 > 0:21:47# Body moving, we be body moving... #
0:21:49 > 0:21:53And so we arrive at the top of the list.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57And the dance craze that is the craziest craze of all the crazes.
0:21:57 > 0:21:59Which could it be?
0:21:59 > 0:22:01It's Thriller by Michael Jackson.
0:22:01 > 0:22:07A man who sums up the twin themes of dance and crazy more than any popstar who ever lived.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10In this video he plays a zombie with eerie accuracy.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Clearly, his odyssey into the depths of plastic surgery gave him
0:22:13 > 0:22:18a better understanding than most of how a zombie feels facially.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22The results, as you are about to see, are quite spectacular.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25I have something I want to tell you.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Yes, Michael?
0:22:28 > 0:22:30I'm not like other guys.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33Of course not, that's why I love you.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35No, I mean, I'm different.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39In the beginning Michael's telling me that I'm not
0:22:39 > 0:22:42like everyone else and I'm like, I know you're not.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45He's like, no, I'm really not like anybody else.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Michael called me and basically
0:22:50 > 0:22:52he'd seen American Werewolf In London
0:22:52 > 0:22:54and wanted to turn into a monster.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Are you all right?
0:22:57 > 0:22:58Go away.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Aaargh!
0:23:02 > 0:23:04It is quite an amazing transformation he does.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09The thing I used to really flinch at is when the claws come through the ends of his fingers.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11There's that noise, isn't there? Krrr.
0:23:14 > 0:23:19Released on December 2nd 1983 Thriller was a horror movie in a 13-minute music video.
0:23:19 > 0:23:23An epic with the biggest and best dance number we'd ever seen.
0:23:23 > 0:23:30Critics called it the greatest music video ever made and now we crown it Pop's Greatest Dance Craze.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35# Cos this is thriller, thriller night... #
0:23:35 > 0:23:40It was groundbreaking, you know, the video was incredible. The routine was brilliant.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43- Everybody knows a bit of Thriller. - # Thriller night... #
0:23:43 > 0:23:48It was amazing, absolutely amazing. When you say Thriller now, my shoulders are going.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51They're like zombies but they can dance.
0:23:51 > 0:23:54I've never seen zombies that can dance.
0:23:54 > 0:23:56They were cool dancing zombies.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02That took my breath away because it was so intricate and so unique
0:24:02 > 0:24:06and just these dancers the way they executed it was just amazing.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Michael Jackson was a hot zombie.
0:24:12 > 0:24:16You wouldn't care if his arm fell off. You would just, "Ooh, take me now."
0:24:19 > 0:24:24It was cool because there were all kinds of moves in that scene You know, the iconic stuff.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27There's no moves that you've ever seen that have been done again.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32You have this move that goes chung, chung.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34It's like everyone can do that.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37Just lift your arms up, grab an apple and there you have it.
0:24:41 > 0:24:46You've also got the one where he goes... The zombie.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58I said I demand that the dancers have two weeks' rehearsal.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Rehearsal in a rock video is unheard of.
0:25:01 > 0:25:02You know, they learn it the day before.
0:25:02 > 0:25:07I said it's not quick cut, I want to do it like a dance number. Michael is a brilliant performer.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09# Cos this is Thriller! #
0:25:09 > 0:25:14The video cost £800,000, an amount unheard of for a pop promo at the time.
0:25:14 > 0:25:19The production had the kind of costumes and make-up that you'd expect in a Hollywood feature film.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23Each individual dancer was in the make-up chair,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26for, I would say, three to four hours apiece.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30By the time you were finished, you looked in the mirror and it was really frightening.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35You had this hideous premonition of possibly what you'll look like
0:25:35 > 0:25:39after you've been in the ground for a period of time.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41I'm going to show you my Thriller teeth, OK?
0:25:41 > 0:25:43This is the bottom set.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46This is the top set.
0:25:46 > 0:25:53As you can see, just that alone, all of a sudden makes you somebody that you're not.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04In 2007, Philippine prisoners became synonymous with the Thriller dance
0:26:04 > 0:26:10after a video of 1,500 inmates went viral with 46 million recorded hit.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12Thriller worked absolutely everywhere.
0:26:12 > 0:26:18Look at the inmates in the Filipino jail. How fantastic is that?
0:26:18 > 0:26:22You can take our freedom but you'll never take the dance away from us.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27The theories of Michael Jackson are rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse
0:26:27 > 0:26:29and if you're doing 25 in jail, you've got time to
0:26:29 > 0:26:32rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Ever since the '80s Michael's fan have wanted to be part
0:26:35 > 0:26:39of the Thriller experience by learning the routine.
0:26:39 > 0:26:45I bought a magazine and on each page had a perforated thing of a foot.
0:26:45 > 0:26:53Once you'd cut out these feet it had various diagrams where you could lay them out
0:26:53 > 0:26:57to show you how to do Michael Jackson's most iconic dances.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02That is like an Amish version of a dance mat, isn't it?
0:27:04 > 0:27:08The late king of pop may be infamous for many reasons but tonight we pay homage and remember him
0:27:08 > 0:27:14for his unparalleled ability to light up a dance floor and get us up and busting some moves.
0:27:14 > 0:27:19- Thanks, Jacko. - The whole world watched the dance.
0:27:19 > 0:27:24I remember watching it with my parents and to think everybody sat there and watched that
0:27:24 > 0:27:27and then the next day everyone's trying to get the dance.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32Everyone had done Thriller at some point.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37To be part of the Thriller dance was the greatest highlight of my career.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39EVIL LAUGHTER
0:27:45 > 0:27:49So! That's your lot. If, like me, you spent the whole show
0:27:49 > 0:27:53dancing along to each and every song, then, like me, you probably stink.
0:27:53 > 0:27:56Take a shower. Seriously, have a shower. Now.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Goodbye!
0:28:16 > 0:28:19Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:19 > 0:28:22E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk