The Non-Conformist Meaning Behind “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats

We can dance if we want to, insisted Men Without Hats on their iconic single “The Safety Dance,” which was released in 1982 and became a worldwide hit the following year. It’s one of the most unforgettable songs of the entire decade, yet many people don’t know much about who Men Without Hats were or what actually inspired the song.

We’re here to rectify all that. To begin, we have to go back to the beginning of the musical career of Ivan Doroschuk, a Canadian whose decision to switch genres paid big dividends.

From Punk to Pop

When Doroschuk began making music, punk was the hot movement, which is why the earliest versions of Men Without Hats skewed in that direction. (By the way, the band name emanated from the fact that Ivan and his brothers Stefan and Colin, both of whom have been part of the group at various times through the years, preferred to go around in the freezing winters of Canada with bare heads for the sake of fashion.)

To his credit, Ivan Doroschuk read the tea leaves of where music was going and left punk behind as the ’80s approached, instead trying his hand at the synth pop that was all the rage. When he and friends would go to local clubs, the new music he heard inspired them to start moving their bodies. That, in turn, inspired the incidents that spawned the song that would change his life, as he explained to this author for the book Playing Back the ’80s: A Decade of Unstoppable Hits:

“It was the late 70’s and disco was dying. And the DJs were just starting to mix in a little new wave music to their disco sets. Whenever we’d hear Blondie’s ‘Heart of Glass’ or The B-52s’ ‘Rock Lobster’ or something like that, we’d jump up onto the dance floor and start pogoing, jumping up and down. And we’d get kicked out by the bouncers for basically inventing slam dancing. So I went home and basically the song just kind of came out by itself. It was a direct reaction to being kicked out of bars for not being allowed to dance the way I wanted to.”

Unlikely Remixers

The basic version of “The Safety Dance” begin with the main keyboard riff and jumped right into the first verse. Men Without Hats’ record label thought that a version of the song that could be played for folks out on the dance floor made sense. This remix has since become the version of the song most often played on radio stations today. Not bad, considering Ivan Doroschuk and the rest of Men Without Hats (at that time, Ivan’s brother Stefan and Allan McCarthy were in the group) had to do it themselves, even though they were at a loss how to proceed.

“We were put into the studio and we were told to make a 12-inch extended remix,” Ivan explained. “And we really didn’t know too much about it. So on the 12-inch we just basically stretched out the song. With the spelling of the letters and the rap part, I was trying to emulate Grandmaster Flash actually. I was channeling ‘The Message,’ and that was basically what came out. And the blips at the beginning, I wanted to put something in there that would announce to people that ‘The Safety Dance’ was coming up, kind of warning signal or something like that.”

What is the Meaning of “The Safety Dance”?

Ivan Doroschuk might have had the specific memory of getting bounced in his head when he wrote “The Safety Dance.” But he ended up writing an anthem that spoke to free thinkers and non-conformists everywhere. He suggests throughout that these folks can get away from those who don’t dance to a place they’ll never find.

Unique fashions come into play in the song as well, as Ivan Doroschuk makes a sly reference to the name of his band along the way: And we can dress real neat from our hats to our feet / And surprise ’em with a victory cry. He even gives his enemies the same freedom he affords his friends: And you can act real rude or totally removed / And I can act like an imbecile.

In one of the final verses, he suggests that rebelling against inane practices is the only way to assure your well-being: As long as we abuse it, never gonna lose it / Everything will work out fine.

“The Safety Dance” immortalized Men Without Hats and gave ’80s music fans a worthy, winning anthem. It’s to the band’s credit that the song has sustained through all the years since and makes just as much sense now as it ever did.

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Photo courtesy of Paradise Artists