Collection

by

Men Without Hats

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Ivan and the crew burst onto the music scene from Canada with the Safety Dance. In the UK we heard the 3 minute version, while the US heard the 12" version as the norm. The former is definitely the more fun and bouncy (and shorter) version although the latter is very good as well. Both are gathered here on this collection of songs from the group. While in the US MWH had sporadic hits, the UK missed out with only Safety Dance hitting the charts. The problem in the UK seemed to be the release of the english/french speaking I Got The Message, which in one music mag was slated by Heaven 17 (ironically MWH were previously called this until the UK group got to keep the name). There were better songs on the first album to follow up with, but alas hindsight is a wonderful gift...

The 11 songs collected here (plus 3 12" versions) are gathered from the Folk Of The 80's EP, and the albums Rhythm Of Youth, Folk Of The 80's Pt III, Pop Goes The World and Adventures Of Men And Women In The 21st Century. The only letdown on this collection is the dreary Hey Men which is a very PC song about being in touch with your feminine side. All the rest have the bouncy keyboard and guitar sound that Men Without Hats were well-known for at their peak.

Particular favs of mine are Where Do The Boys Go?, Moonbeam and a particularly snazzy version of Roxy Musics Editions of You (Ivan gives a pretty good imitation of Bryan Ferry on this track too...). Anyone who wants to know what good 80's electronic music sounds like should add this to his or her hitlist. I Got The Message, do you want to hear it?

Personally,

Even back around '83 when it came out I thought the tape sucked. But 'the safety dance' as a song and watching it's hillarity in the club scene at the time made it quite memorable. I mean common! Don't you remember?! I'm surprised VH1 hasn't done a show on it yet. No song to this day has even come close (not even watching Aunt Thelma do the Macarena) to making me laugh so hard at other people.

Pop Goes The World was ok and at least I can say I remember it. Recently I had an arguement with a friend who tried to convince me that those "you can dance if you want to guys" was a one hit wonder. Too bad he still denys the existance of their second album and claims he doesn't remember Pop Goes The World, so in his mind he's the winner of that arguement. ANYWAY.

What I'm here to ask... does anybody know WHERE CAN I FIND THE VIDEO to "The Safety Dance." I rate it 5 STARS. Even a cheap copy will do! Nearly 20 years before the novelty of midgets became popular to the likes of Adam Sandler or the Man Show, I was a fan of midget sports. And this video, if memory serves correctly, is full of them; doing cartwheels, and cheeta flips, and mischiefly running around, and other great midget stunts. I will bet anybody, it is the first music video to feature midgets. I know it was one of the first videos on MTV. I think the Smithsonian requires a copy of it for all time's sake. It remains at the top of my favorite video list of all time; and I am on a quest to find it! That would be the bomb. Please reply if you have any information regarding of a copy of this groundbreaking video.