Dance Hall Days
Encyclopedia
"Dance Hall Days" is one of Wang Chung
's most popular and best known hit singles. It was released in 1984 on the album Points on the Curve
. This was their only song to make the Top 75 charts in the UK
, narrowly missing the Top 20. In the U.S. it peaked at #16 on the Hot 100
, reached #8 on the Mainstream Rock
radio chart, and went all the way to #1 on the Dance/Disco chart, their highest showing on the latter two charts.
were made. The first version of the video, directed by Derek Jarman
, is a collection of home movies with the majority of the archive footage consisting of a stage show with swimmers and fountains, and other World War II
-era material. Apparently, the footage is courtesy of the director's father, who was one of the very first people ever to use a colour home movie camera. The toddler in the home movie footage is the director himself as a child. The home movies are interspersed amid footage of Jack, Nick, and Darren, lip-synching and playing the violin. The band are also dressed up as characters from The Wizard of Oz
at the end of the video, with Jack Hues
as the Tin Man
, Nick Feldman
as the Scarecrow
, and Darren Costin
as the Lion.
The second version of the video is the most well-known, and received heavy rotation airplay at MTV
. It is a magical fantasy concept video set in the 1940s, the heyday of dance hall
s. The video begins in black and white with Jack Hues picking up and reading a flyer outside the dance hall. The next scene, which is filmed in colour, features the band performing at the dance hall as couples dance. Later in the video, there are scenes of a disco ball
lowering on the dance floor and the emergence of a disco-ball creature sprouting from its egg. The video ends in black and white with Jack Hues leaving the dance hall onto the street, and a suitcase with legs following him. This version was nominated for Best New Artist
at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards
, losing to "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
" by Eurythmics
.
(1986), Gotti (1996) and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
(1997). It can also be heard in the movie Adventureland
(2009), although it is not included on the soundtrack. The song is also used in the 2009 martial arts movie Blood and Bone
. A remix version can be heard during the frat party scene in The Sure Thing
(1985). It can also be heard on the Flash FM radio station and in the Malibu Club in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
. The song also made a brief appearance in a commercial for the video game Major League Baseball 2K9
featuring Tim Lincecum
. In the commercial, the animated Lincecum character is chastised for listening to the song. The actual Lincecum intones, "and we don't listen to that", as they are driving and listening to music. It was also featured in the 2009 film The Informers and in I Love You Phillip Morris
and Duplicity
. It is also heard in the 2010 film The Fighter
. It is briefly heard playing during a party in an episode of Breaking Bad
(S02E10), apparently a reference to the 80's crime dramas such as Scarface
(1983) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) which the series ironically recalls.
(* Released in 1997 to coincide with the band's "Best Of" release)
Wang Chung (band)
Wang Chung are an English New Wave musical group.The group found their greatest success in America, with five Top 40 hits in the US, all charting between 1983 and 1987, including "Dance Hall Days" , "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" and "Let's Go!" .-Pre-history: The Intellektuals and 57 Men :Jeremy...
's most popular and best known hit singles. It was released in 1984 on the album Points on the Curve
Points On the Curve
Points on the Curve is Wang Chung's second album and first album since changing their name from Huang Chung and switching from Arista to the Geffen record label...
. This was their only song to make the Top 75 charts in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, narrowly missing the Top 20. In the U.S. it peaked at #16 on the Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, reached #8 on the Mainstream Rock
Mainstream rock
Mainstream rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada.-Format background:...
radio chart, and went all the way to #1 on the Dance/Disco chart, their highest showing on the latter two charts.
Music videos
Two versions of a music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
were made. The first version of the video, directed by Derek Jarman
Derek Jarman
Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
, is a collection of home movies with the majority of the archive footage consisting of a stage show with swimmers and fountains, and other World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
-era material. Apparently, the footage is courtesy of the director's father, who was one of the very first people ever to use a colour home movie camera. The toddler in the home movie footage is the director himself as a child. The home movies are interspersed amid footage of Jack, Nick, and Darren, lip-synching and playing the violin. The band are also dressed up as characters from The Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
at the end of the video, with Jack Hues
Jack Hues
Jack Hues is an English musician, who is best known for forming the 1980s British new wave band, Wang Chung...
as the Tin Man
Tin Woodman
The Tin Woodman, sometimes referred to as the Tin Man or the Tin Woodsman , is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum...
, Nick Feldman
Nick Feldman
Nick Feldman is an English musician, who is best known for forming the popular 1980s British new wave band, Wang Chung. In addition to forming Wang Chung, Feldman also was a member of the duo, Promised Land, which featured Jon Moss from Culture Club, was a founding investor in Interactive Ideas...
as the Scarecrow
Scarecrow (Oz)
The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator William Wallace Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely...
, and Darren Costin
Darren Costin
Darren Costin is the former drummer for the band Wang Chung. Costin first appeared on the group's debut album, Huang Chung. When drumming, Costin used a Simmons electronic drums. Costin then left the band in 1985 after Wang Chung's summer tour, in order to pursue a solo career.Costin founded the...
as the Lion.
The second version of the video is the most well-known, and received heavy rotation airplay at MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. It is a magical fantasy concept video set in the 1940s, the heyday of dance hall
Dance hall
Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for dancing. From the earliest years of the twentieth century until the early 1960s, the dance hall was the popular forerunner of the discothèque or nightclub...
s. The video begins in black and white with Jack Hues picking up and reading a flyer outside the dance hall. The next scene, which is filmed in colour, features the band performing at the dance hall as couples dance. Later in the video, there are scenes of a disco ball
Disco ball
A disco ball is a roughly spherical object that reflects light directed at it in many directions, producing a complex display...
lowering on the dance floor and the emergence of a disco-ball creature sprouting from its egg. The video ends in black and white with Jack Hues leaving the dance hall onto the street, and a suitcase with legs following him. This version was nominated for Best New Artist
MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist
The MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist is one of the four original general categories that have been given out since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984...
at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards
1984 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1984 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 14, 1984, honoring the best music videos from May 2, 1983, to May 2, 1984. The show was hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
, losing to "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) (song)
Marilyn Manson released a cover version of "Sweet Dreams " as the first single from the EP, Smells Like Children. This version became an MTV staple and helped to establish the band in the mainstream. It also appears on the band's greatest hits album, Lest We Forget: The Best Of...
" by Eurythmics
Eurythmics
Eurythmics were a British pop rock duo, formed in 1980, currently disbanded, but known to reunite from time to time. Consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A...
.
"Dance Hall Days" in popular culture
The song can be heard playing in the background during the strip club scenes in Bachelor Party (1984) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), for which Wang Chung also composed and performed the original soundtrack, and it was later featured in the movies Pretty in PinkPretty in Pink
Pretty in Pink is a 1986 American teen romantic comedy-drama film about teenage love and social cliques in 1980s American high schools. It is one of a group of John Hughes films starring Molly Ringwald, and is commonly identified as a "Brat Pack" film...
(1986), Gotti (1996) and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
Romy and Michele's High School Reunion is a 1997 comedy film starring Lisa Kudrow, Mira Sorvino, Janeane Garofalo, Camryn Manheim, and Alan Cumming directed by David Mirkin. The plot revolves around two 28-year-old women who appear to have achieved very little success in life and decide to invent...
(1997). It can also be heard in the movie Adventureland
Adventureland (film)
Adventureland is a 2009 Retro comedy-drama film written and directed by Greg Mottola. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Margarita Levieva, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, and Kristen Wiig.-Plot:...
(2009), although it is not included on the soundtrack. The song is also used in the 2009 martial arts movie Blood and Bone
Blood and Bone
Blood and Bone is a 2009 American direct-to-DVD martial arts film directed by Ben Ramsey and written by Michael Andrews. The film stars Michael Jai White, Eamonn Walker and Julian Sands, and features martial artist Matt Mullins and MMA fighters Bob Sapp, Kimbo Slice, Maurice Smith, Gina Carano and...
. A remix version can be heard during the frat party scene in The Sure Thing
The Sure Thing
The Sure Thing is a 1985 romantic comedy directed by Rob Reiner, written by Steven L. Bloom and Jonathan Roberts and starring John Cusack, Daphne Zuniga, Viveca Lindfors, and Nicollette Sheridan...
(1985). It can also be heard on the Flash FM radio station and in the Malibu Club in the popular video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is a 2002 open world action computer and video game developed by British games developer Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the second 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and sixth original title overall...
. The song also made a brief appearance in a commercial for the video game Major League Baseball 2K9
Major League Baseball 2K9
Major League Baseball 2K9 or, in short, MLB 2K9, is a MLB licensed baseball simulation video game published by 2K Sports. The game was developed for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable and Wii...
featuring Tim Lincecum
Tim Lincecum
Timothy Leroy Lincecum is an American professional baseball starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants of Major League Baseball. He was nicknamed "The Freak" and "Big Time Timmy Jim" and "The Franchise." He throws right-handed and bats left-handed....
. In the commercial, the animated Lincecum character is chastised for listening to the song. The actual Lincecum intones, "and we don't listen to that", as they are driving and listening to music. It was also featured in the 2009 film The Informers and in I Love You Phillip Morris
I Love You Phillip Morris
I Love You Phillip Morris is a 2009 American romantic comedy-drama film based on the 1980s and '90s real-life story of con artist, impostor, and multiple prison escapee Steven Jay Russell, as played by Jim Carrey. While incarcerated, Russell falls in love with his fellow inmate, Phillip Morris...
and Duplicity
Duplicity
Duplicity is a software suite that provides easy encrypted, digitally signed, versioned, remote backup of files requiring little of the remote server. It is capable of both full backups and incremental backups where only changes since the prior backup was made are stored...
. It is also heard in the 2010 film The Fighter
The Fighter
The Fighter is a 2010 biographical sports drama film directed by David O. Russell, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams. The film centers on the life of professional boxer "Irish" Micky Ward and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund . The film also stars Amy Adams as...
. It is briefly heard playing during a party in an episode of Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad
Breaking Bad is an American television drama series created and produced by Vince Gilligan. Set and produced in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Breaking Bad is the story of Walter White , a struggling high school chemistry teacher who is diagnosed with advanced lung cancer at the beginning of the series...
(S02E10), apparently a reference to the 80's crime dramas such as Scarface
Scarface (1983 film)
Scarface is a 1983 American epic crime drama movie directed by Brian De Palma, written by Oliver Stone, produced by Martin Bregman and starring Al Pacino as Tony Montana...
(1983) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) which the series ironically recalls.
12": Geffen / GEF65T (UK)
- "Dance Hall Days Revisited [Extended Version]"
- "Dance Hall Days Revisited [Dub Version]"
- "Dance Hall Days [Original Version]"
12": Geffen / GEF 12-22301 (US)*
- "Dance Hall Days [Flashing Back To Happiness 12" Mix]"
- "Dance Hall Days [Darren Costin Remix]"
- "Dance Hall Days [Richie Warburton Remix]"
- "Dance Hall Days [Flashing Back To Happiness 7" Mix]"
- "Let's Go! [Shep's Mix]"
(* Released in 1997 to coincide with the band's "Best Of" release)
Charts
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | 1 |
| Switzerland Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
5 |
| Canada Canada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
5 |
| Netherlands MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
9 |
| Sweden Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
9 |
| U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock Tracks Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks is a ranking in Billboard magazine of the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations, a category that includes stations that play primarily rock music. Modern rock tracks are counted in the Alternative Songs chart.This chart began with the March 21, 1981, issue... |
8 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
16 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
21 |