MC Hammer and The Macarena Pop's Greatest Dance Crazes

Dancing is super fun. It's a form of expression and it's cool.

Oh, I know this song. Let's do the routine. It brings everyone together. It's great.

There's been so many great dance crazes,

and I've partaken in most of them.

It's fun, it's something that everyone can do.

Oh, it's camp as Christmas.

The moment any of these songs start, you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

Better to slap on a smile and get stuck in, I reckon.

Ooh! Hello, I'm TV's Robert Webb,

actor, writer and, as I'll constantly remind you

over the next half an hour, a highly accomplished dancer.

It's a combination of skills that makes me the perfectly...

adequate choice to host Pop's Greatest Dance Crazes.

A countdown of the 50 songs that have got you bopping like idiots

at office parties, wedding discos, or alone in your front room drunk.

# Don't blame it on the sunshine

# Don't blame it on the moonlight... #

At number 13, it's Blame It On The Boogie.

But it's not the Jacksons' version that most of us know and love,

because they didn't make up the dance. Incidentally, they didn't even write the song.

That was a fella called Mick Jackson from Sheffield, but there's no time

to dwell on that now because... Actually, there IS time to dwell on that, but I just don't want to.

Instead, let's learn about the dance.

# Blame it on the boogie... #

'People ask me, "Who are Big Fun?"'

And I say, "Sunshine, moonlight, good times."

"Oh, yeah, I remember now."

# Don't blame it on the sunshine

# Don't blame it on the moonlight... #

Yeah, we were the guys that did THAT dance routine!

# Don't blame it on the sunshine... #

We were the first all-dancing boy band, prior to Boyzone, Take That, we were on Top Of The Pops.

We were on front covers of magazines.

Everyone was just like, screaming and doing the routine.

We got the most amazing response everywhere we went.

Big Fun. What a great name, because they were literally having big fun,

as they shot to fame in the early '90s.

They were produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman, but the band had creative input. Oh, yes.

The boys made up their groovy little dance in the kitchen of their North London flat.

We came up with the idea of doing something simple.

With every main word for the chorus, we just tried to do something that would relate to it.

Don't blame it on the sunshine.

Moonlight, don't know where that came from.

Then there's the good times, a kind of sexual thing, that's a bit rude.

We'd have called it at school, a sort of sex-skiing kind of move.

As a kid, I didn't really approve of that.

# Don't blame it on the sunshine

# Don't blame it on the moonlight

# Don't blame it on the good times... # Blokes

loving this. Once you get a bit of a pelvic thrust in there, can't go wrong.

I hate all that sort of stuff, when the choreography

is speaking the words.

I mean, it's great for two or three year olds, but please, don't bring it into pop.

The other two guys, Jason and Mark, said, "No, we can't do that!"

I said, "Just trust me, I think it'll really work."

And it did. The response was incredible.

Everyone was doing the dance routine.

# ..Blame it on the boogie! #

'I don't think people boogie enough.'

They blame the boogie too much.

'They never specify what the crime is, do they?'

They just give you advice on who you should blame it on.

Accompanied by illustrative dance!

# ..I just can't, I just can't I just can't control my feet... #

# I just can't, I just can't... #

# I just can't control my feet... #

# ..I just can't, I just can't I just can't control my feet... #

Big Fun had it all, the looks, the bum bags and a few catchy songs,

but in 1995, their name stopped being literal and became ironic,

as they were dumped by their record label.

Big Fun mania was over as quick as you could say, Take That.

# ..Blame it on the boogie... #

# Body movin', body movin'

# Body movin'. We be body movin'! #

Now, there's something you guys should know.

Ever since I was an incredibly small boy, I've always been able to move my ass.

Put a tune on the ghetto-blaster and believe me, this baby can shift.

And it's just as well, because next on our run-down is the Queen of rump shaking herself, Beyonce Knowles.

And in her honour, I'd now like to perform for you what I have called the Bobby Webb botty jiggle.

Hit it.

# Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh Oh, no, no

# Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh Oh, no, no

# Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh Oh, no, no... #

She does it slightly better.

# Yes! So crazy right now

# Most incredibly Crazy right now... #

Crazy In Love was definitely a breakthrough video for Beyonce.

It was her first video coming into her solo career, outside of Destiny's Child.

# Ready? #

I remember watching the video and literally looking at the TV screen like this...

She's walking, the hair's blowing and it's like, wow!

Like, you walk down the street like that?

# ..I look and stare so deep in your eyes

# I touch on you more and more every time... #

Beyonce is queen. She walks down and struts. She's dropped on the floor!

Why's she dropped on the floor? No, she hasn't.

She's booty popping...

-and dancing around.

-Everything Beyonce does, I love.

She just looks so hot in the red high heels,

the denim shorts, and they were short.

You know, hello!

# ..Got me lookin' so crazy right now. Your touch got me... #

She's just this woman who just wanted to dance

and it was just like, wow. Wow, wow, wow!

# ..Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh Oh, no, no... #

Crazy In Love, you cannot forget the, "Uh-oh".

And the moment the... # Uh-oh, uh-oh.... #

It's just hot!

The key move is the booty shake, and it does help if you've got some junk in your trunk as well.

Can I show you my booty shake? I've been practising,

and this is my Beyonce.

It turns out I have to start quite slow, like that.

And then you have to really get going like that.

# ..So crazy right now... #

# Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh Oh, no, no... #

Beyonce's all about the bum.

I can't keep it going, I can't sustain.

I'm quite knackered after that. How does she do it?

All of that, without a bra on?

# Young hov, y'all know when the flow is loco... #

Everyone was doing the Beyonce, even boys were doing it. Someone comes on

who wouldn't know the words, but he'd know how to do that, Uh-oh...

You had three year olds doing it. 52 year olds doing it.

-103 year olds doing it.

-# ..Got me looking

# So crazy, my baby... #

Where she kicked the fire extinguisher

and she just starts to go all in the water and her hair's all wet.

It's like, whoo! She means business.

# ..Your love's got the best of me

# And, baby, you're makin' a fool of me... #

Crazy In Love, for me, it's just hot.

It's the cheekiness of the walk and the nipple lick

where she's nipple licking. It's so cheeky and I absolutely love it.

Take your thumb and rub yourself and you've got yourself a Beyonce move.

It's less sexy when a man is doing it

and just slightly moistening a tiny bit of chest hair

that they've got. When Beyonce does it down her cleavage, it's somehow sexy.

She's also got a tiny bit of chest hair.

I knew that one where she was like that, that way, head, that way, that way, up, down, spin around.

I think people just love the fact that she's all woman.

You know, she had something to shake and she shook it.

I fully approved...

Sorry.

So, ooh, here we are, perched on the brink of the top 10,

and what can I say about the dance craze that's at Number 11?

Well, that's easy, really. I just say what's written on the autocue.

Ever since I learned how to read last year, it's not really been a problem.

Anyway, it says here that our Number 11 is none other than Can't Touch This, by MC Hammer.

Here he is.

# U can't touch this

# U can't touch this

# U can't touch this... #

It came to me, I was doing it and I just say, you can't touch this.

When it's time to do it, it's Hammertime.

# ..My music hits me, so hard

# Makes me say, oh, my Lord

# Thank you, for blessing me... #

When you think of MC Hammer, you think of dancing, having a good time, partying on the dance floor.

I don't know anybody who doesn't know the MC Hammer dance.

There's something about the way that geezer moves his feet.

I've just never seen anybody do that side-to-side, jerky crab movement quite like the Hammer.

# You got it like that and you know you want to dance... #

Dance craze, MC Hammer.

We want to show you how we get down. 5, 6, 7...

# ..Why are you standing there, man? You can't touch this... #

That's what I'm talking about.

MC Hammer in the place.

Everybody would remember

the running man from MC Hammer.

I used to do that move at weddings and stuff.

I'd be the first on the dance floor with my dad, in the middle, doing the running man.

The running man is like this...

You've just got to run on the spot, with a little bounce to it.

# ..Break it down... #

You get your knees up, put your arms down and then some people take that to the side and go this way.

Or this way... And then some people do some jumping

and MC Hammer took it a bit further, we had some of this.

-Running man.

-# ..Wave your hands in the air... #

Forget about the music.

It was all about the pants. I mean, the pants were amazing.

MC Hammer's pants were brilliant.

They've just been back in fashion, haven't they?

We call them pooh catchers.

# ..Look, man You can't touch this... #

We all like to dance and when you're dancing, the baggy pants

capture the wind, so all your movements are accentuated by having the nice loose-fitting pants.

I used to try and wear the pants.

I didn't know where to get them from, so gym pants, they're similar,

like bodybuilder pants.

I had a pair of those, really awkward colours, like purples and turquoise.

I'm just grateful nobody's got photos of that stuff.

People always say, "Hammer, I had the pants, I had the pants!"

You know, from current adults to young kids, "When I was little, I had some Hammer pants."

# ..You can't touch this... #

MC Hammer, with that one dance, became a phenomenon.

I mean, that bloke made an absolute fortune

for being the biggest thing in the world for all of about six months.

And that dance was pretty much why.

# ..You can't touch this. #

We're in the top 10!

So, "What's the 10th best dance craze of all time?" I hear you ask.

'What's the 10th best dance craze of all time?'

Thank you!

The 10th best dance craze of all time is the Macarena.

This staggeringly repetitive tune by the evil geniuses of Los Del Rio

comes with a dance that's as simple as it is simple.

'The Macarena. Oh, Macarena!'

The Maca-flipping-rena!

'Those people should have been shot.'

Those men singing that song, they should have been put in a small room,

and they should have been played that record

for the rest of their natural lives.

It was dreadful.

'Budda-budda-budda-budda...'

You never really know the words.

You just know the bit that goes, # Hey, macarena! All right! #

'I love the Macarena.'

-The Macarena is just genius.

-You all move the same, then you all turn around and do the same movements.

It's just another form of line-dancing.

Whether you loathe it or just hate it, nobody knew what it was actually about, until right now.

In 1992, Spanish lounge singers Los Del Rio saw a Venezuelan dancer

who inspired them to write these poetic words.

-TRANSLATION:

-Give your body joy and good things.

Because your body is meant to be given joy and good things.

Their song about a flamenco-dancing floozie became a worldwide hit after a club remix was released in 1996.

Souped up with a funky new video that taught everyone that groovy little dance.

When you make up those kind of dances, you have to remember that

you are appealing to people that maybe have

no notions of dance. So it was like, let's do something easy.

If you want to learn how to do the Macarena, all you have to do is follow me.

You just go right arm out, left arm out. Then you turn your hand

towards the ceiling, right and then left.

Then you cross on your shoulder, right then left.

Put it behind your head, right then left.

Then you cross on your hip, right, then on your left.

Then you go back on your booty on your right and then on your left.

Then you go down, and you just rock it. To the right, to the left, to the right, to the left.

And then you pop and jump to the side.

Rock, you know, like a clock that's ticking.

And don't forget your smile!

It was like, let's do something that, if you make a mistake,

it doesn't really matter because maybe you will be hopping in front of someone else. It's funny.

-TRANSLATION:

-We wanted to show that the song is meant for the whole world.

And that's why there's an Indian girl and one from the Netherlands, and an African girl.

It was a beautiful thing and we loved it.

Oh, I see. World peace via the Macarena.

The Macarena got massive attention.

Everybody just got the virus of the Macarena.

It was a pandemic, and all across the globe, people began dancing like simpletons.

The single spent an astonishing 14 weeks at the top of the US charts.

A crowd of 50,000 people danced the Macarena together at the New York Yankees stadium.

And if you get 50,000 Americans to do anything, it must be straightforward.

-TRANSLATION:

-We never thought that they would be dancing to one of our songs in India, or in Chile,

or in Italy, or in Japan.

We knew it was out of hand when even US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright

was grooving with the Minister for Botswana at the United Nations.

Yes, you heard me correctly. That's the UN.

The minute the song would come on, people would actually freak.

They would be hypnotised and just drawn to start doing it.

I have done the Macarena, but only in the comfort of my own living room.

'I have danced it a few times in my life, I've got to say.'

I'm quite good at it, actually.

'Everybody could do it, and it was like, you needed to do it. And if you didn't participate,'

you look bad.

This dance is cool!

'Everyone does it. Even the boyfriends at a party or at a wedding'

that don't want to dance,

they go, "All right, we'll do this one.

"We know this one, boys, come on, let's do this one."

It's a song that's inviting everyone to have a laugh, have a dance.

We're not being serious, everyone's smiling and having a good time.

The dance is like a legend. It's a creature, and it goes on.

It's a monster, and it goes on, you know, with or without me.

# Hey, Macarena! #

At number nine, it's his Royal Highness, Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.

That's pop as in pop music, not pop as in fizzy drinks.

Although, I'm told he did enjoy the feeling of Bubbles.

Oh, please!

Michael Jackson has to be one of the most influential dancers in history.

# She was more like a beauty queen from a movie scene... #

When it comes to dancing, Michael is funky and he dances inside the music.

He wasn't a trained dancer.

You know, it's not like he went to ballet classes or jazz.

He did all this... He had his own unique style.

And never more so than at the 25 Years Of Motown concert, when he first performed his signature move,

the moonwalk, in a routine that shook the world.

SCREAMING

I remember feeling like I was right there,

feeling like I was in the audience, watching it on TV.

Because everybody went completely mad.

I was so excited and right away tried to do it on the carpet.

# Get ready tonight... #

But Michael Jackson did not actually invent the moonwalk.

Body popper Jeffrey Daniel, from Shalamar, had performed

his version of Top Of the Pops in 1982.

And it was Jeffrey who taught Michael how to do the iconic step.

We started showing Michael

the backslide in 1980. It wasn't called the moonwalk yet.

It wasn't just a backslide, it's a series of dances.

You're working on popping, working on dances that are in the clubs.

Michael Jackson would take something,

repolish it and do it even better. Look at the moonwalk,

which originally was a backslide that Jeffrey Daniel did.

And then Michael Jackson took it, and gave it that kind of magic, made it his own,

brought it to the world, and hey presto, it's a Michael Jackson move.

I spent a long time trying to do the moonwalk.

And I think I might have just done it once.

It's weird. You suddenly think, I'm doing it!

It's like riding a bike for the first time.

The moment you realise you're doing it, you've stopped.

I was lucky enough to meet Michael Jackson, I had dinner with him. He took me through

the theory of the moonwalk, and it's actually opposite to

what people think in their heads.

If you want me to show you. You start with your forefoot on the floor.

And then you keep it on the floor as long as you possibly can,

and drag it all the way back until you have to start lifting your heel.

You transfer your weight and repeat with the other foot.

So it's actually heel-toe,

and not toe-heel, as a lot of people think.

Anyone can do it. Simply purchase your very own rhinestone glove -

maybe go halves on a pair with your friend.

Resign from your job, practise just 10 hours a day for 200 days,

and you too can impress your mates with a moonwalk like mine.

There is not a single person that can do the moonwalk

and not think of Michael Jackson or have somebody say, "Michael Jackson, yeah!"

He's... One and the same, synonymous with him. The moonwalk.

Michael Jackson, the legend lives on.

Bill Medley might sound like the best bits from an ITV police drama, but it's also the name of a man.

And together with Jennifer Warnes, that man gave the world the song you're about to hear.

Brackets - I've had - close brackets - The Time Of My Life.

OK, guys. Let's do the lift! We're doing the lift!

Yeah? Just like the film?!

It's a bit like the film, yeah?!

# With my body and soul

# I want you more than you'll ever know... #

'The plot of Dirty Dancing is really about'

the sexual awakening of a teenage girl.

And also Patrick Swayze with his top off, yes!

'I think every woman's dream is to be taught how to dance'

by someone like Patrick Swayze!

Patrick Swayze was the alpha male of dance for a long time.

He is the most sexiest dancer

I think I've ever seen.

Apart from when I've caught myself in the mirror.

In the final, climactic scene of the film,

Baby and Johnny perform a dance routine that reveals their secret love.

When she's dancing her last dance with Johnny,

just the lifting the arm up and the tickle down there,

that is just brilliant.

Basic move.

# I've had the time of my life

# No, I've never felt this way before

# Yes, I swear... #

The final dance, that's what the movie has been about.

It's all about, is she going to do this lift?

That lift is hard to do. It involves strength,

a lot of balance and a lot of technique.

And, done badly, could be quite catastrophic.

It takes a bit of practice. You need a strong man.

And, I guess, it is all about the timing.

That's a lift you attempt when you're drunk,

probably the worst time to try it.

If that Dirty Dancing song comes on and I have had enough to drink,

I...usually try to jump.

And hope someone catches you!

So iconic has the lift become, that the routine is now a popular

first dance for Swayze-loving brides around the world.

Ready, steady...catch the bride!

I've seen a few of the wedding routines on the internet.

I think it's hilarious the way it's turned into a craze

and they've really reinvented the first dance.

It's gone from being something where people are a bit embarrassed and maybe they just have a little smooch

on the dance floor to actually, this is our wedding,

this is our first dance, and it's something for everyone to remember.

And this couple, Julia and James, danced their way to

becoming an internet phenomenon, with 8 million people watching their first dance on YouTube.

It wasn't his idea! It was my idea.

Let's be honest, every woman has the fantasy of doing that.

-It was my day, and...

-YOUR day?

Sorry, OUR day! OUR day.

The first thing that popped into my head when Julia said,

"Let's do that dance from Dirty Dancing as our first dance," was the lift.

We didn't go to a lake to practise, we went to my friend's back garden.

So if we fell, we actually fell into his flowerbeds.

There were 120 people there.

And if I really screwed up badly, what they would remember was me dropping my bride on her face.

We've had millions of people contacting us telling us that that dance made them cry.

It just made them feel all warm and fantastic.

-(SOBBING)

-It's so beautiful!

At number seven, it's the Time Warp from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

A musical all about... Actually, it doesn't matter.

But why is the Time Warp so popular?

Perhaps because the song contains instructions in the lyrics

that explain how to do the dance as you go along.

It's basically the hokey-cokey for transvestites.

LAUGHTER

It's astounding.

-Time is fleeting.

-'What is the Time Warp about?'

It's not about anything. Should it be about anything?

Most dances are just about getting people to move on the dance floor,

encourage them to actually make fools of themselves,

most of the time.

# Let's do the time warp again... #

This isn't a dance for intellectuals.

This is a dance for people...

You can have an IQ in single figures.

# ..It's just a jump to the left And then a step to the right... #

It's just a jump to the left.

You see? Easy. And then a step to the right, two, three, four, one.

With your hands on your hips.

We all know where they are, don't we? There they are, yes, that's it.

You bring your knees in tight.

Got it? # Then it's the pelvic thrust... #

That's the sexy bit.

# Really drives you insa-a-a-ane

# Let's do the time warp again

# Let's do the time warp again. #

It's so simple.

-# It's just a jump to the left. #

-The Time Warp is the signature song from the Rocky Horror Show,

the transgender-bending musical that brilliantly parodies science fiction and B-movie horror films.

You've seen all kinds of movies, but you've never seen anything like the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

# Let's do the Time Warp again... #

Bafflingly, the film is said to be

the longest-running cinema release in history, and is still being shown in some cinemas 35 years later.

-They're probably foreigners with ways different than our own.

-It's fabulously freaky.

It's a perfect opportunity for men to don a basque,

seemingly for the sake of

Rocky Horror, but actually, just to satisfy a strange fetish they have.

I think the British men have got an awful lot, deep down inside of them, that's dying to get out

and any excuse that makes it look OK, Rocky Horror Show is there to supply that OK-ness.

# Transvestite! #

The Rocky Horror Show comes to town and you'll see your neighbour,

Gerald and Sandra, dressed up in their S&M outfits.

You're like, "Where are you off?" "Off to see the Rocky Horror Show."

You're like, "Oh, this is awkward."

Sandra's got Gerald on a lead.

They never went that far in the Rocky Horror, but...

Got him on a lead!

# Let's do the Time Warp again... #

The Time Warp encapsulates the freak-show party atmosphere of Rocky Horror, and the dance that

actually started out as a parody of Simon Says routines has become the very thing it was poking fun at.

-# It's just a jump to the left. #

-We've got a song where the instructions come in the lyrics.

It was getting them up there to join in and do something collectively.

It did, strangely, become accepted as a dance, and a big hit.

Let's do the Time Warp again.

I'm a massive Rocky Horror fan and I don't like the Time Warp, it cheapens it.

The Time Warp is now owned by drunkards just thrusting

at you in night clubs, whereas the theatre and the film experience is actually way more than that.

It's a little bit annoying, actually.

# Let's do the Time Warp again. #

Do-do-do-do. Wasn't that easy?

Piece of cake. I'm not going to do it again. No, I'm not, I'm sorry.

So! That's your lot. If, like me, you spent the whole show

dancing along to each and every song, then, like me, you probably stink.

Take a shower. Seriously, have a shower. Now.

Goodbye!