Dance Hall Days

"Dance Hall Days"
Single by Wang Chung
from the album Points on the Curve
B-side	"There Is a Nation"
Released	1984
Format	CD LP cassette
Genre	New wave[1]
Length	3:58
Label	Geffen
Writer(s)	Jack Hues
Certification	Gold (CRIA)[2]
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 a song by English band Wang Chung, released as a single in 1984. It was the band's only single to make the Top 75 charts in the UK, narrowly missing the Top 20. In the US, it peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went all the way to number one on the Dance/Disco chart, their highest showing on the latest chart.

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 stopping in front of a closed-down hall, setting down the suitcase he carries, and picking up a flyer. The scene shifts to colour, featuring the band performing in the packed hall with the backing of a big band as couples dance (played by heavily made-up children from a local dancing school). Later, a disco ball descends to the floor and breaks open, allowing a mirror-covered humanoid creature to emerge and dance. The video ends in black-and-white, with Hues walking past the hall and down the street; he leaves his suitcase behind, but it sprouts legs and hurries off after 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 and To Live and Die in L.A., for which Wang Chung also composed and performed the original soundtrack. It was later featured in Pretty in Pink, Gotti, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Adventureland, Blood and Bone, The Informers, I Love You Phillip Morris, Duplicity, The Fighter and Seeking a Friend for the End of the World.
• A remix version can be heard during the frat party scene in The Sure Thing.
• 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 as well as a brief appearance in a commercial for 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.^[3][4]
• The song is briefly heard playing during a party in the Breaking Bad episode "Over", apparently a reference to the '80s crime dramas such as Scarface and To Live and Die in L.A. which the series ironically recalls.
• The song was featured in the ABC series The Middle in the season one episode "The Fun House".
• The Psychemagik's Leg Warmer Edit of the song plays in the montage of Ryan and Wilfred practicing their dance routine on an episode of Wilfred.
• The song was featured in the direct-to-DVD release Blood and Bone.
• The song is softly sung at the end of the episode 23 of the tenth season of Grey's Anatomy.
• The song briefly plays in a scene of American Ultra whilst Mike replenishes stock of vegetable oil at the convenience store.
• In the 2016 movie Deadpool, the song can be heard faintly in the background as Wade and Vanessa are discussing Wade's post-cancer diagnosis issues.
• The song is featured and sung by characters in season one, episode four of the Netflix show Flaked.

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 [Victor Flores 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)

Chart performance

See also

• List of number-one dance singles of 1984 (U.S.)

References