Dance Hall Days

"Dance Hall Days"
Single by Wang Chung
from the album Points on the Curve
B-side	"There Is a Nation"
Released	January 1984
Format	CD, LP, cassette
Recorded	Abbey Road Studios, 1983
Genre	Pop rock, New Wave
Length	3:58
Label	Geffen Records
Writer(s)	Jack Hues
Wang Chung singles chronology
"China" (1982) "Dance Hall Days" (1984) "Don't Let Go" (1984)
Points on the Curve track listing — "Dance Hall Days" (1) "Wait" (2) The Best of Wang Chung track listing "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" (1) "Dance Hall Days" (2) "Don't Let Go" (3) Music sample "Dance Hall Days"

"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.

Music videos

Two versions of a music video 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 halls. 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.

"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 Pink (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.^[1][2] 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.

Track listing

7": Geffen / A3837 (UK)

1. "Dance Hall Days"
2. "There Is a Nation"

7": Geffen / 7-29310 (US)

1. "Dance Hall Days"
2. "Ornamental Elephant"

12": Geffen / TA3837 (UK)

1. "Dance Hall Days [Remix]" (8:02)
2. "There Is a Nation"

12": Geffen / 0-20194 (US)

1. "Dance Hall Days [Remix]" (8:02)
2. "Don't Let Go [Remix]" (7:12)

12": Geffen / GEF65T (UK)

1. "Dance Hall Days Revisited [Extended Version]"
2. "Dance Hall Days Revisited [Dub Version]"
3. "Dance Hall Days [Original Version]"

12": Geffen / GEF 12-22301 (US)*

1. "Dance Hall Days [Flashing Back To Happiness 12" Mix]"
2. "Dance Hall Days [Darren Costin Remix]"
3. "Dance Hall Days [Richie Warburton Remix]"
4. "Dance Hall Days [Flashing Back To Happiness 7" Mix]"
5. "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	5
Canada	5
Netherlands	9
Sweden	9
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	8
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	16
UK Singles Chart	21

Preceded by "Land of Hunger" by Earons

Billboard Hot Dance Club Play number-one single (with "Don't Let Go") June 2, 1984

Succeeded by "Tell Me I'm Not Dreamin' (Too Good to Be True)" by Jermaine Jackson and Michael Jackson

References

1. ^ Sfgate.com
2. ^ Adweek.com

Other reading

• "Joel Whitburn's, Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003", 2004