Monday Mix: Doing the What?

Dance Crazes That Never Caught On

A good dance craze, ideally, has an eponymous song to go with it. But only a few have stood the test of time and have been retained in the hearts and, well, soles of the American public. A good dance-craze party (e.g. wedding) should include a few fab hits like the Twist, the Locomotion, The Walk Like an Egyptian, and, yes, probably the Chicken Dance. Avoid the Macarena unless your party is full of nerds who would be totally into that sort of thing. But, after you've twisted, ponyed, boogalooed and watusied, play a few of these not-so-popular dance crazes:

The Tammys- Egyptian Shumba Buy It
Holy Shit. Have you ever heard girls freak out like this before? Goes best with uncontrollable convulsions.

Chubby Checker- The Mess Around Buy It
I know Chubby says this is a dance, but I'm not so sure. The originator of the Twist sounds like he's ready to skip the dancing and get down to business.

Kilima Hawaiians- Hula Samba Buy It
Dutch+Hawaiian+Hula+Samba. A marvelous mash-up. (Thanks, Y)

The Goodies- Sophisticated Boom-Boom Buy It
It would be awesome if every time you got stood up for a date, a group of enthusiastic teens were there to teach you a new dance so you could heal your bruised ego.

Marsha Gee- Peanut Duck Buy It
Nice try, Marsha. It's hard for a nation to be swept by a song about duck that sounds like it's choking on a peanut. But hey–it's fun, wacky, and worth trying out.

The Dirtbombs- The Thing Buy It
It's a little vague for a dance, don't you think? I highly recommend The Dirtbombs' Ultraglide In Black, a fabulous mix of infectious soul and funk covers. If I wake up to this record, I will dance myself out of bed.

The Frenchmen- Shake the Baby (A Dance)
Never attempt with a real baby. For real. Like how when you lasso-dance, you're not actually using a lasso on your partner.

Roxy Music- Do The Strand Buy It
How?? Tell me how!!

Got any awesomely unpopular dance crazes that should be added to this tiny sampling? Let me know below.