What is the Safety Dance?

"The Safety Dance" was a popular single in the 1980s by Canadian New Wave band, Men Without Hats. Written by Ivan Doroschuk after he had been kicked out of a club, it was released in the United States in 1982 and in the United Kingdom in 1983. It peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, number one on the U.S. Billboard Dance Chart and number six on the United Kingdom charts.

New Wave was a burgeoning musical style from the late 1970s to early 1980s. Disco was dying, and with the new music came new styles of dancing. The writer and lead vocalist of Men Without Hats, Ivan Doroschuk, explained that the song "The Safety Dance" is a protest song against bouncers who would stop dancers from doing the pogo in the clubs to the New Wave music.

Because of the new and unique rhythms and beats, New Wave music and dancing was very different from Disco, especially the pogo. It is done individually, and could look quite dangerous and invasive to the uninitiated, who might get the impression that the dancers are attacking one another. This is unlike Disco, which was centered on two people moving together in fluid motion. The pogo involves dancers keeping their torsos rigid as they bounce or "pogo" up and down in any direction. With this they may hold their arms stiffly at their sides or flail them, keep their legs together or kick about wild and randomly and possibly spin themselves about in the process. As expected, dancers occasionally collide and some are knocked down. Pogoers who fall are helped to their feet to prevent getting trampled. The emergence of hardcore punk and thrash metal saw the pogo evolve into slam dancing and moshing, respectively.

Thinking pogo dancers were intentionally attempting to harass and injure other dancers, club bouncers would tell pogoers to stop or kick them out. It was this that prompted Doroschuk to write the song, as a protest against the oppression toward the New Wavers and a statement for freedom of self-expression.

The lyrics of "The Safety Dance" make reference to the fact that bouncers were hostile and thought the pogoers looked ridiculous. "And you can act real rude and totally removed/And I can act like an imbecile." "And we can act like we come from out of this world/Leave the real one far behind."

It was the only major international hit for the group. Its other big success was the 1987 hit, "Pop Goes the World," which reached the top 20 in Canada and the United States. Doroschuk debunks two common misinterpretations or myths about "The Safety Dance". Unlike the Frankie Goes to Hollywood song "Relax," it is not a call for safe sex and despite the nuclear imagery at the end of the video; it is not a nuclear protest.