ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "The Hustle" by Van McCoy

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  • Опубліковано 11 січ 2025

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  • @ToddintheShadows
    @ToddintheShadows  5 років тому +2156

    Yep. Caught an error, and you know what... screw it, I decided to reupload a fourth time. I mean, why not, who cares at this point. Sorry to be screwing around with this so much, I genuinely hate it. It's been a frustrating couple of days.

    • @missnotsocool96
      @missnotsocool96 5 років тому +242

      Keep the quality reviews coming and take as much time you need to make them. We understand how much you put into each one and we appreciate them. 💜

    • @BizarreWords
      @BizarreWords 5 років тому +78

      Thank you for all the hard work you put int your videos! your content is quality and I enjoy it very much.

    • @djaevlenselv
      @djaevlenselv 5 років тому +47

      Better pin this so everyone doesn't keep coming down here to make the same joke.

    • @MichaelJenkins910
      @MichaelJenkins910 5 років тому +29

      We've all had days like that. Thanks for this content!

    • @Nightingale_time
      @Nightingale_time 5 років тому +26

      Hell, I'll rewatch this over and over if you want, as many times as you'll post it! Sorry it's been a rough week!

  • @NeutralityTsar
    @NeutralityTsar 2 роки тому +329

    Mind you, he was born in 1940. He died at 39. Over 700 writing credits in 39 years. Less even, given that he probably didn't write any music as an infant. That's pure volume, the density of which is comparable to the number of various writings Voltaire published in his 83 years of life.

    • @tafua_a
      @tafua_a Рік тому +48

      Man, Van McCoy really did do the Hustle

    • @RenaldyCalixte
      @RenaldyCalixte Рік тому +3

      ​@@tafua_aclever

    • @timmy841212
      @timmy841212 Рік тому +31

      He started his career at the age of 16 so the fact he was credited with 700 compositions in 23 years is HUMONGOUS. I often wonder if he did that much cause he knew he wouldn’t live long. I hate he died at 39. That’s not a lucky number. 😢

    • @rimmersbryggeri
      @rimmersbryggeri 5 місяців тому +2

      And how many words did Voltaires wirting have on avrage? That was a really bad anology.

  • @Adamniezgodzki
    @Adamniezgodzki 5 років тому +578

    God is a DJ and he is ready to boogie. That's pure poetry right there.

    • @patricklauer4452
      @patricklauer4452 5 років тому +5

      Adam Niezgodzki for some reason I thought he was quoting that Faithless song

    • @cfredrics
      @cfredrics 2 роки тому

      😌

    • @larrymantic2635
      @larrymantic2635 6 днів тому

      And he shall smite the racists of DDN.

  • @JomasterTheSecond
    @JomasterTheSecond 5 років тому +431

    You do not "do" The Hustle. The Hustle is something that does *you.*

  • @tylerkeenan4390
    @tylerkeenan4390 4 роки тому +292

    My grandpa thought the lyrics were “tuna hotdog.” He also thought “they just wanna” from girls just want to have fun was “they test the weather.”

    • @bigmac137
      @bigmac137 9 місяців тому +21

      I think your grandpa needs hearing aids lmao

    • @BiggestCorvid
      @BiggestCorvid 8 місяців тому +4

      Is he from Baltimore/Philly area?

    • @tylerkeenan4390
      @tylerkeenan4390 8 місяців тому +3

      @@BiggestCorvid Omaha, NE

    • @illmsg77
      @illmsg77 6 місяців тому +2

      My Honduran buddy thought "Get down on it" was "Cheecharone" I thought that was the funniest thing I've ever heard

    • @Ramonatho
      @Ramonatho 5 місяців тому +1

      Did your grandpa tend to think he's always right even when everybody tells him he misheard something cause if so that's a familiar type of guy in my life

  • @chicagoakland
    @chicagoakland 5 років тому +155

    Van McCoy died July 6, 1979.
    Disco died a week later at Disco Demolition Night (July 12, 1979).

    • @robertsherman7978
      @robertsherman7978 2 роки тому +8

      Damn…

    • @jackthorton10
      @jackthorton10 Рік тому +7

      Talk about bad omens

    • @timmy841212
      @timmy841212 Рік тому +2

      Wow

    • @bobdavis4848
      @bobdavis4848 9 місяців тому +14

      That's a convenient oversimplification. It was multitude of factors that led to disco's decline in popularity, not just how that event that included homophobic racists helped make radio averse to disco.

    • @DKdrop
      @DKdrop 9 місяців тому +5

      @@bobdavis4848 That’s true, but I don’t think that we’d say that disco “died” if not for the disco demolition night. That’s the kind of dramatic event that cements a genre’s downfall as a dramatic demise, rather than a slow decline.

  • @rgs8970
    @rgs8970 4 роки тому +254

    My younger sister and I learned how to play the flute loop and would take turns busting it out on the rest of the family randomly. (Like, when my dad called us all to dinner at night or when everyone was chilling in the living room on a Sunday afternoon after church or whatever.) It was met with mixed reviews

  • @tammyr.5203
    @tammyr.5203 5 років тому +330

    "It's like God is the DJ and he's ready to boogie!" Can I get that on a shirt, please!

  • @theunwantedcritic
    @theunwantedcritic 4 роки тому +27

    You have no idea how big this song was. This was the smells like teen Spirit song for the disco era. It put rock bands out of work for years. It change the way people partied. You didn’t go to a concert and sit down and stare at the stage. You went out to dance with your girl. The focus was on the audience it was the first time that black music completely took over the music industry. All of a sudden in the space of a generation why people learned how to dance.The whole point of this goal was to have continuous dance. The musicians came from mostly the jazz and classical backgrounds. It was orchestrated and was a continuation of what Isaac Hayes and Barry White.

    • @jonahfalcon1970
      @jonahfalcon1970 3 місяці тому +1

      I got tired of it quickly. I liked stuff more like Born to Be Alive by Patrick Hernandez. Upbeat.

  • @musicandmagic909
    @musicandmagic909 4 роки тому +470

    "Over-mythologized genre like punk rock" Holy shit, thank you for saying this.

    • @SynGirl32
      @SynGirl32 3 роки тому +32

      I don't believe it's quite nearly as important as people make it out to be. I mean, it basically only lasted 3 years and wasn't that big of a mainstream success outside of Britain.

    • @rashotcake6945
      @rashotcake6945 3 роки тому +94

      @@SynGirl32 if we strictly mean first wave punk, and only look at it by itself, then yeah it wasn’t that huge a deal and does get overhyped. However, when you look at all the genres that are adjacent to it, or influenced by it, punk as a subculture did have a big impact long term. Punk eventually influenced, directly or indirectly, grunge, indie, alt rock, Riot Girl, metal, industrial, post punk, post-punk revival, nu metal, new wave, shoegaze, dream pop, noise rock, goth, emo, metalcore, lofi, electronic music (synth punk), and even today’s bedroom pop and emo rap and alternative r n b. And that’s just the impact it had on music. It also had a big impact on fashion (again grunge, streetwear, goth, emo, emo rap, etc.) And it also had an impact ideologically, since it made it cool to stand up to “the man” and be anti-establishment and protest and be non-conformist, etc. Now you could argue other counter-culture sub-cultures also did all the things I’ve mentioned, like hippies in the 60s or Bikers in the 50s. And you’d be right. But I don’t think that makes punk redundant, rather, it makes punk a continuation of those counter-cultures that helped society move away from the Puritan nightmare it used to be. Each of those genres/subcultures played their significant role in moving the needle and the same can be said of the genres/subcultures after punk that continued this fight. Idk about you, but I think this continuation of youthful rebellion was and still is pretty important to society, considering how much society was and is in need of social change, which generally stems from young people.

    • @careful...Icarus
      @careful...Icarus 3 роки тому +42

      Jeezus it is so very un-punk to discuss punk. Punk is about doing something for yourself that is yours and not waiting for someone else to do so. Emphatically NOT discussing it. Now see I've already rambled on too long about it.

    • @typicalfurry2747
      @typicalfurry2747 3 роки тому +3

      @@rashotcake6945 you should write a book about this

    • @jojoversus1100
      @jojoversus1100 3 роки тому +3

      @@typicalfurry2747 That would be the most not-punk thing ever.

  • @godzillafan4033
    @godzillafan4033 3 роки тому +73

    I was 14 in 1975. This was beyond huge. An absolute phenomenon.

  • @jimpemberton2246
    @jimpemberton2246 5 років тому +137

    The Macarena is closer in time to the release of The Hustle than it is to 2019. #FeelingOld

    • @Musicradio77Network
      @Musicradio77Network 5 років тому +8

      And prior to that, “The Twist” was a popular dance craze of the 1960’s, thanks to Chubby Checker.

  • @jackieandrea
    @jackieandrea 5 років тому +138

    "get the gun" made me cackle. Thank you.

    • @daclyde
      @daclyde 3 роки тому +1

      If only Documentary Now covered Summer of Sam from this idea...

    • @littlekingtrashmouth9219
      @littlekingtrashmouth9219 Рік тому +1

      The hustle by Judas Priest?

  • @Gnomelotte
    @Gnomelotte 5 років тому +173

    I must say that sample from the 'Night Time Is Lonely Time' album sounds rather nice.

    • @SonofMrPeanut
      @SonofMrPeanut 4 роки тому +22

      He's a legit post-Crooner.

    • @MajorSeventh
      @MajorSeventh 3 роки тому +10

      I would've guessed it was Johnny Mathis.

  • @thomasdeja523
    @thomasdeja523 5 років тому +123

    Todd, my friend, I can confirm that this was the point where Disco entered the mainsream consciousness....'cause I was there, sad to say...

    • @RobertJRoman
      @RobertJRoman 4 роки тому +15

      And he is correct that it was the first disco record that was not anything else. It was undeniably it's own thing.

    • @rrdream2400
      @rrdream2400 4 роки тому +2

      this was actually later in the game, KC and the Sunshine Band Get Down Tonight came before the Hustle, as did George McCrae, Hugh Corporation and others in 1974.

    • @rikk319
      @rikk319 6 місяців тому +2

      I think Barry White's "Love's Theme" was more the beginning of Disco, in 1973. What is really crazy is that Barry wrote it in 1965 and sat on it for 8 years.

    • @timmy841212
      @timmy841212 3 місяці тому

      @@rikk319 Yeah before he died I saw many credited Barry with starting disco (though he never called his dance music under that title and didn’t like to be referred to as such). But now he’s barely mentioned as a disco pioneer. Van McCoy now gets most of the credit (though they also said Gamble and Huff predated the genre alongside Barry). KC and the Sunshine Band could also be cited as “disco pioneers” since they became popular around early 75 (KC co-wrote George’s Rock Your Baby and Betty Wright’s Where Is the Love)

  • @dsnodgrass4843
    @dsnodgrass4843 5 років тому +83

    The thing that's always been intriguing to me about "The Hustle" is something you brushed on; and that's how it didn't NEED "heavy" feel in rhythm to get people dancing. It's the "lightness" of the Hustle that animated people, somehow; kind of skimming happily across the beat instead of LANDING on the "one" or "three", like we know in funk or more modern dance music. Another one that does this is my favorite disco song, "You'll Never Find", by Lou Rawls, but even it does that in a different way. It was that 'lightness' that repulsed fans of other kinds of music so radically, i think. And yet it gathered in all sorts of more casual music consumers (like clubgoing dancers), almost irresistably.

    • @hardnewstakenharder
      @hardnewstakenharder 6 місяців тому +2

      You just hit the nail on the head. I could never put my finger on why this song was so different!

  • @ponygon777
    @ponygon777 4 роки тому +133

    12:49 On this day, Studio 54 received a grim reminder.
    In all seriousness, It's a shame Van McCoy died so young. I could have definitely seen him composing for film and television after the 70s. I could have also seen him doing production and songwriting work for Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and many other R&B stars too if he were still around.

    • @artbk
      @artbk 2 роки тому +9

      Yeah, some one-hit stars never have the chance of getting a second one, sadly.

    • @timmy841212
      @timmy841212 Рік тому +1

      Imagine Van doing a song for Whitney ❤

    • @christopherwilliams9418
      @christopherwilliams9418 11 місяців тому +2

      I'm imagining what a 90s house equivalent to The Hustle could have been like now, lol

  • @scottlarson1548
    @scottlarson1548 5 років тому +184

    I'll reupload my trivia comment... The thing that surprised me after not hearing the song for several years is that the mid-70's production is surprisingly weak, even for a song that was only expected to be a regional novelty. Not only is there no thudding bass like other disco songs but also the drums are all on one track. I guess McCoy had to downmix them to fit more violins or something.
    Back in 1976 they thought the line dance of the Hustle in my fifth grade class, you know, the step to the left and tap then step to the right and tap dance. I was the only boy able to make it through the whole dance without screwing it up. That subjected me to ridicule from other boys because for some reason boys were not supposed to be able to dance.

    • @RBS_
      @RBS_ 4 роки тому +16

      ...as opposed to ME, who was the ONLY one who screwed it up in MY 5th grade line dance, and ran off the school playground, into the school cafeteria, to be consoled by the lunch monitors...I CANNOT BELIEVE this post brought that back to my memory! ...Todd, ya doing DANGEROUS things to my repressed memory!

    • @Theevil6ify
      @Theevil6ify 4 роки тому +4

      @@RBS_ That's nothing. I once ran to a lunch lady still serving lunch, to be consoled because i swallowed some mashed potatoes that were REALLY hot and my throat burned. I was like 6 or 7. But she just yelled "Well, blow on em!" And I returned to my table, dejected, and with a sore throat.

    • @RBS_
      @RBS_ 4 роки тому +1

      @@Theevil6ify ...yeah, but can you do the 'Hustle'!? ...ha-HAA!! ...ya should've told her, 'blow on THIS, wench!' ...ha-HAA! >thatllteachher

    • @Theevil6ify
      @Theevil6ify 4 роки тому +1

      @@RBS_ Indeed.

    • @hardnewstakenharder
      @hardnewstakenharder 6 місяців тому +1

      The lightness of the production is what makes it so good. It's like you're skimming on the beat, instead of following the steps with a heavy bass or drum.

  • @jimpemberton2246
    @jimpemberton2246 5 років тому +73

    This song sounds like a really cool history lesson about 1975.

  • @hejin57e77
    @hejin57e77 4 роки тому +183

    I'm just getting into Todd In the Shadows videos but I love all these disco song retrospectives. He's so knowledgeable and succinct on the subject of disco it's crazy cool.

  • @dcbandnerd
    @dcbandnerd 3 роки тому +35

    Washington, D.C. is home to some of music's greatest craftsmen:
    -John Phillips Sousa
    -Duke Ellington
    -Marvin Gaye
    -Van McCoy
    And that last one I mean with my whole heart. 💜
    Also 7:59 gets me every time.

    • @alejandrovinas3770
      @alejandrovinas3770 Рік тому +2

      Get to the go-go!

    • @timmy841212
      @timmy841212 3 місяці тому +2

      DC created Ellington, Gaye and McCoy. An underrated city of talent.

  • @macsnafu
    @macsnafu 5 років тому +44

    You're not kidding when you say this song holds up. I liked it when I was a pre-teen in the 70s, and I like it now.
    Along with The Hues Corporation's Rock the Boat and Love's Theme by the Love Unlimited Orchestra.

  • @pjabrony8280
    @pjabrony8280 5 років тому +30

    (Reposted) Thank you! I've been singing "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" to "The Hustle for twenty years now. Finally someone else hears it!

  • @timbaumann9046
    @timbaumann9046 3 роки тому +14

    You know what it REALLY WAS/IS/AND WILL ALWAYS BE? Just PURE, UNADULTERATED... JOY!!!!!!
    R.I.P. Van, you were the REAL McCoy!!! Thank You!

  • @mnmrmust
    @mnmrmust 5 років тому +21

    There are things that I am glad I was around for. Playing OG video games when they first came out, seeing Star Wars when it hit theatres in '77, a grocery list of concerts with bands that aren't around anymore. But having to "Do The Hustle" during YMCA Summer Camp is not one of those things.

  • @pinkwings8036
    @pinkwings8036 5 років тому +72

    The hustle is a craze still in the ballroom dance scene. It’s bouncy and fun and more swanky than standard West Coast Swing.

    • @isabellamorris7902
      @isabellamorris7902 Рік тому +2

      Was literally attempting to dance West Coast around my kitchen while listening to the samples from this review! The triple step rhythm works really well alongside that flute solo

  • @Ducaso
    @Ducaso 5 років тому +58

    I was hoping Todd would explain exactly what the Hustle was, but now I have even more questions. Lol

    • @WobblesandBean
      @WobblesandBean 4 роки тому +10

      I don't even think people who lived through it understand how do you do the hustle. When I was taught, if was just the electric slide set to this song.

  • @christopherwall2121
    @christopherwall2121 5 років тому +51

    I was introduced to this song by Futurama, and yet I always associate it with Yakuza, despite it not playing in any of the Yakuza games. All thanks to a crazy one-eyed man and his quest to infiltrate a cult.

    • @patrickracer43
      @patrickracer43 2 роки тому +10

      It always blows my my mind how wild Yakuza missions can be

  • @micaelalerouxburch6947
    @micaelalerouxburch6947 4 роки тому +37

    My mom had a "legendary disco tracks" type cd that she bought in the early 2000s with Funkytown, some Kool & the Gang, Whip it, and ofc this. She played it every road trip. I know this instrumental by heart but didn't know anything about it's conception and it's interesting to hear it's a one hit wonder. wow

    • @uglyaniimals
      @uglyaniimals 2 роки тому +1

      i've never heard whip it being categorized as disco, but besides the fact that it came 5ish years later, i guess the shoe kinda fits doesn't it ? hell the name's even similar to a popular drug amongst the gay club kids ,,,,

  • @maxresdefault_
    @maxresdefault_ 5 років тому +53

    The new tree comes with a remote.
    Winter, Summer, Autumn and DISCO.

  • @emilyadams3228
    @emilyadams3228 9 місяців тому +2

    The British could dance to 6/8 because of all the three-cylinder steam locomotives they had. A two-cylinder engine makes the familiar "I think I can" rhythm, with four exhaust puffs per drive wheel revolution, but a three-cylinder engine puffs six times. They existed in the States, but there were only ever a few hundred out of 50,000 engines at the peak of steam. The British had dozens of entire classes of three-cylinder power on an island the size of Nevada. And unlike the States, where none of the four preserved three-cylinder engines operate today, the UK has a few dozen operable ones, including a new one built in 1999-2009. So when a 6/8 disco song first boomed out over the dance floor, the Brits said "Eah, I know this one!" and jumped right in. They probably call it the Gresley, after the inventor of three-cylinder valve gear.

  • @MajorSeventh
    @MajorSeventh 3 роки тому +10

    McCoy also wrote two songs for the cheeziest movie of all time, Mae West's final film _Sextette_ (made in 1976, escaped in 1978): "Marlo's Theme", and "Next Next" with lead vocal by Alice Cooper.

    • @kitkatcutie520
      @kitkatcutie520 6 місяців тому +2

      Watched that movie earlier this year and lost my mind when I saw his name in the credits (which was already stacked with a wild array of cameos to begin with, like Ringo Starr and Keith Moon)

  • @fishtank39
    @fishtank39 5 років тому +15

    One of the most notable things about The Hustle in my memory is the fact that MTV forced contestants of The 70s House to dance to it at completely random times throughout the show

  • @notthechosenjuan2413
    @notthechosenjuan2413 5 років тому +83

    I'm here to support you, man such a hassle to deal with the Hustle.

  • @FriendofDorothy
    @FriendofDorothy 5 років тому +17

    I remember when I first moved to L.A. in '74 going to a disco and watching people dancing to The Hustle. They did it as a line dance and were having a blast. I wasn't yet the club kid I would become in a year or two more. I also remember the record they played after The Hustle. It was "24 Hours a Day" by Barbara Pennington, also a great record. Disco was about to explode at that time. Although he had no other huge hits after The Hustle I do remember I liked "Soul Cha Cha" and was aware of his songwriting and production skills.

  • @peggyliepmann5248
    @peggyliepmann5248 5 років тому +13

    I like to imagine Amydog sitting nearby wondering what the hooman is doing over there wiggling in his chair like that.

  • @gabe_s_videos
    @gabe_s_videos 5 років тому +52

    This is one of those songs that barely exists as an actual written piece of music in my mind. It's just... a sound.

    • @OrgaNik_Music
      @OrgaNik_Music 2 місяці тому +1

      Yeah, same. Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever even heard the song in full.

  • @RyleeStrange
    @RyleeStrange 3 роки тому +11

    "change with the times" is a banger. dunno how Todd didn't vibe with that one. That electric piano is amazing.

  • @bdschwa
    @bdschwa 3 роки тому +16

    You're one of the ostensibly good ones, Todd. Sole survivor of Channel Awesome. We stan.

  • @abyssalspecter93
    @abyssalspecter93 5 років тому +24

    someone plugged your channel in a reddit thread, I just started watching your videos, good stuff

  • @pinkwings8036
    @pinkwings8036 5 років тому +16

    Happy, dancing Todd warms my soul. It’s just *good vibes* man.

  • @WilAdams
    @WilAdams 2 роки тому +13

    In this year the flute pushed more than The Hustle to the top of the charts. After her Country flavored prior albums: Let Me Be There and If You Love Me (Let Me Know), Olivia Newton-John struck number one with the flute heavy Have You Never Been Mellow album. Both the title track (Number on Pop hit) and the follow up number one Country hit Please Mr. Please were driven by the flute, and it was this album's success on the Pop charts that propelled Olivia Newton-John not just to further Pop success, leaving her Country music career behind, but also to TV specials and movie stardom.

    • @bobdavis4848
      @bobdavis4848 9 місяців тому

      Olivia Newton-John's country success continued with this album and her three albums after this one, all hitting the Country Top Ten.

    • @WilAdams
      @WilAdams 9 місяців тому

      @@bobdavis4848True, but where Have You Never Been Mellowed went to number one on the Country singles and album charts, none of her subsequent albums did as well on the country album chart. Livvy's country fans were ever loyal to her.

    • @bobdavis4848
      @bobdavis4848 9 місяців тому +1

      @@WilAdams Point taken, but two albums after “Have You Never Been Mellow" (not “Mellowed"), her "Come On Over" album reached #2 on the US Country albums chart. So I think your statement that the “Have You Never Been Mellow” album propelled the pop success that left her country music career behind is misleading. Her “Come On Over” album did much worse on the US Billboard pop chart than country, only reaching #13 pop. It was followed by albums peaking at numbers 33 and 34 on the US Billboard pop chart. After that, she still had the country favored big hit “Hopelessly Devoted To You.” I think a compilation, soundtracks and change of image and sound with “Totally Hot” had much more to do with setting the stage for her early 1980s huge pop success than the “Have You Never Been Mellow” album.

  • @connorbiddle4703
    @connorbiddle4703 5 років тому +54

    When are you doing Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum dude? I’m so ready for it

    • @eebu4053
      @eebu4053 3 роки тому +2

      im lolo

    • @artbk
      @artbk 2 роки тому +1

      I second that

  • @monwren
    @monwren 5 років тому +14

    Todd is the Sisyphus of UA-cam with these reuploads

  • @yosh2165
    @yosh2165 5 років тому +14

    Favorite dances:
    1. The Hustle
    2. The Reupload

  • @derpoltergeist8265
    @derpoltergeist8265 5 років тому +52

    It says this part of The Hustle implores the gods to grant a favour. Usually a Trans-AM.

  • @wea69420
    @wea69420 5 років тому +22

    That piano reduction sounded like a Steely Dan song

  • @wofi784
    @wofi784 5 років тому +23

    Do a video on Rimsky-Korsakov's big 1900 hit Flight of the Bumblebee

    • @Demiglitch
      @Demiglitch 4 роки тому +1

      WonderfulFilms that fucking poseur

  • @MarcusPage15
    @MarcusPage15 5 років тому +5

    The background chords to Van McCoy's "the Shuffle" is the beginning of an Italian group (which would be awesome to feature on One Hit Wonderland) called Change with their song Searching featuring The legendary Luther Vandross.

  • @antimuppet
    @antimuppet 5 років тому +4

    Heck Yes - The Hustle is one of my favorite songs. It's this and Car Wash.

  • @future2097
    @future2097 5 років тому +31

    "Cut The Crap" by The Clash for your next Trainwreckords episode.

  • @mathieuleader8601
    @mathieuleader8601 5 років тому +79

    Imagine if somebody remixed Baby Shark with Van Mcoy's Hustle that would atomise brains

    • @matamoney
      @matamoney 5 років тому +13

      omg it's the same rhythm and everything

    • @Kikichan456
      @Kikichan456 5 років тому +4

      If this doesn't exist, it really should.
      Internet, do your thing

    • @viscountrainbows6452
      @viscountrainbows6452 4 роки тому +8

      You are pure fucking evil

    • @careful...Icarus
      @careful...Icarus 3 роки тому

      An evil genius bwahhahaha

    • @pinkcupcake4717
      @pinkcupcake4717 3 роки тому

      Baby Shark *flute solo*.
      I can already feeling my ears melting.

  • @hallamhal
    @hallamhal 5 років тому +3

    Hello there! Brit with a superior musical education here (apparently) - the Shuffle is still in 4/4, but in shuffle time, with a triplet feel (hence the name)

    • @hallamhal
      @hallamhal 5 років тому

      Also we had an answer song in the 1980s called the British Hustle... not worth a listen though

  • @sirekumasutra7022
    @sirekumasutra7022 4 роки тому +3

    Few things:
    10:50 reminds me of that one part of the Star Wars Holiday Special with the one guy cooking and the instructions. shivers
    There is even a Detroit Hustle which is just dancing to My Eyes Don't Cry from Stevie Wonder which came out in the late 80s
    Van McCoy putting the Hustle in other songs reminds me of Totaka from Nintendo who puts in a 17 note jingle in most of the games he worked on from Luigi's Mansion to Link's Awakening to Mario Paint to Animal Crossing. Neat Easter Egg.

  • @billslocum9819
    @billslocum9819 5 років тому +7

    "The Hustle" mainstreamed the disco sound and made a template for others to follow. People call a lot of late 1970s songs disco when they really are just lushly orchestrated songs with a simple beat. It's a fine song, but you can hear why critics found it easy to knock because of the echoes it found with other artists trying to connect with its light groove.

    • @Musicradio77Network
      @Musicradio77Network 5 років тому

      This song was produced by the legendary Hugo & Luigi, the guy who produced Sam Cooke, Perry Como and many others during their RCA Victor years back in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s where they produced his only hit.

    • @billslocum9819
      @billslocum9819 5 років тому

      @@Musicradio77Network Co-writers of Elvis Presley's hit "Can't Help Falling In Love" too.

  • @SchardtCinematic
    @SchardtCinematic 2 роки тому +1

    I was born in 1971 and the 70s has a special place in my heart growing up. The music and movies of the mid to late 70s sticks with me to this day.

  • @imogenx9145
    @imogenx9145 5 років тому +5

    Thanks for the 4th upload so I can still be haunted by hustling girls in weird genie pants in my nightmares.

  • @PowerArmorV113
    @PowerArmorV113 5 років тому +21

    "I will now perform my people's native dance"

  • @jfiorello68
    @jfiorello68 5 років тому +3

    I was only a kid in the 70s, but man, the music was fun. I remember my aunt showing me one of the Hustle dances too.

  • @humanbeing2420
    @humanbeing2420 3 роки тому +19

    The Bee Gees' 70's disco songs hold up big time. They're awesome.

    • @robertsherman7978
      @robertsherman7978 2 роки тому +3

      Hell yeah! Watched that doc on HBO and was shocked at how many great tunes they wrote/produced!

    • @timmy841212
      @timmy841212 Рік тому +1

      They really do

  • @christinecrawford
    @christinecrawford 3 роки тому +2

    I was born in 1968 so I lived thru it. And I will still say to this day that my favorite music genre is disco. I absolutely love it. I especially loved it at my local roller skating rink in the 70's! (RIP Skateland West, Westland MI 💟) I personally never cared for this particular song tho.

    • @CriscoSnowflake
      @CriscoSnowflake 2 роки тому +1

      Spent many afternoons at Skateland in the 90s!

    • @christinecrawford
      @christinecrawford 2 роки тому +1

      @@CriscoSnowflake I ended up working there a few nights a week as a floor guard in the early 2000s and my daughter worked there all 4 years that she was in high school. The owners were the 5 adult children of the original owners, who opened it in 1976. We loved working there! It's too bad it didn't make it longer. 😕 Although, they never would have survived the pandemic.

  • @barriobajaj
    @barriobajaj Рік тому +1

    Nice job Todd. Van's got an obsure song from 1961 that was called Mr. DJ that was embraced by Chicano/Lowrider culture and I still hear the song on dedication radio shows and playing out of car stereos at lowrider shows. Once Chicano's embrace and artist or song it gets passed from generation to generation. When Mary Wells' fortunes dried up in the '70's and '80's she could always tour the south west states where Chicano's loved her and her music and she would sell out every venue. That fact is mentioned in her episode of TVone's Unsung. Going through my vast collection of 60's and '70's R&B I'm blown away by his contributions as a writer, producer and arranger.

  • @dontbefatuousjeffrey2494
    @dontbefatuousjeffrey2494 5 років тому +5

    My school music teacher in the early 80's (Mrs Pretty, no less) made us learn this using the Saturday Night Fever dance as a template. First disco I actually noticed... in 1982? Weird, man. I know this way too well. It comes on and I'm cha-cha-chaing in a line-dance before you can say "boogie". Kids nowadays....SOOO lucky they don't know.

  • @matt_dude2446
    @matt_dude2446 5 років тому +6

    AFAIK most people wouldn't count The shuffle as 6/8 time, it's basically 4/4 with a lot of swing to it.

  • @zozzy4630
    @zozzy4630 Рік тому +2

    I've heard the observation (from youtuber Polyphonic, iirc) that "several artists can claim to have invented heavy metal, but NO ONE can claim to have invented it after Black Sabbath." I guess we could likewise say that nobody invented disco after Van McCoy. He might not definitely be the first, depending on your definitions, but The Hustle is probably the first surefire, unassailable disco hit.

  • @Siarawaszympanemjest
    @Siarawaszympanemjest 5 років тому +7

    DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!
    DO THE HUSTLE!
    ...oooooooh

  • @threeglassjars6051
    @threeglassjars6051 Рік тому +13

    I cant beleve that this comment section hasn't been ruined since JoJo part 9 started

  • @aperson9556
    @aperson9556 3 роки тому +2

    The one hit wonder series is my favourite out of all of ‘TITS’ (ah awkward) mainly because it’s nice to see Todd sometimes analyse music he enjoys

  • @PassTheMarmalade1957
    @PassTheMarmalade1957 5 років тому +1

    You don't look up tutorials for the Hustle, Todd. You don't learn the Hustle, you *feel* the Hustle.
    DO THE HUSTLE!

  • @theragingplatypus4743
    @theragingplatypus4743 4 роки тому +4

    Younare without a doubt the best music critic I've ever seen. You're funny, spot on and no pretentiousness.

  • @aliceosako792
    @aliceosako792 4 роки тому +3

    Basically, The Shuffle was the cool-down song for when you've been doing the Hustle for half an hour and need a break, but aren't yet ready to go to the bar for a pina colada, or out the back door to do some blow in the alleyway.

  • @cheezemonkeyeater
    @cheezemonkeyeater 2 місяці тому +2

    I genuinely never understood teh hate for disco. I remember people saying it was the worst music ever, but nobody ever seemed to be able to say why. I think it was one of those things where people repeat something until everyone believes it, but I liked the stuff. Not my favorite genre of music, as I recently discovered I'm inexplicably into 80s rock, even when it's just being mediocre, but disco had some great stuff.

    • @iangraham9988
      @iangraham9988 2 місяці тому

      Beside the blatant homophobia and racism, it popularity may been too broad because the parody/gimmicky shit became massive hits. Disco was that one genre in which gatekeeping would’ve been a blessing.

    • @technounionrepresentative4274
      @technounionrepresentative4274 Місяць тому

      It's a combination of multiple factors,
      Racism because a large part of the disco came from black culture,
      Homphobia because another large part came from a more flamboyant culture,
      But if you want to be more generous it was also really overexposed in a really short period of time

  • @goldenheart3887
    @goldenheart3887 8 місяців тому +2

    Due to a… less-than-pleasant association I have between this song and the backstory of a Larvitar (yes, the Pokémon) OC of mine, I can no longer hear this song without feeling a sense of sadness and dread.
    I’m not kidding.

  • @dacypher22
    @dacypher22 5 років тому +6

    Oh my god, I love "Change with the Times" so much! I guess we just have different tastes. That is one of the reasons I love watching this channel, though. I come across all kinds of music I never would have sought out on my own.

  • @cookieskoon
    @cookieskoon 5 років тому +217

    The first time I ever heard The Hustle was when I was 6 or 7. I remember it very clearly because I heard it on an oldies station in my parent's van on a night drive home in winter. I can still see the snow floating by the passenger side rear window against pure darkness as that song seemed to fit the mood and visual experience super well. That was 1992 or 1993. Very vivid memory.
    Also for some reason my child brain imagined the crypt keeper dancing to it.

    • @WobblesandBean
      @WobblesandBean 4 роки тому +20

      What a beautiful memory. 💜
      And now I will also never get the image of Crypt Keeper dancing to this out and of my head

    • @cookieskoon
      @cookieskoon 4 роки тому +7

      @@WobblesandBean haha Yeah, that song is forever associated with him for me. All because of that moment.

    • @mullaoslo
      @mullaoslo 4 роки тому +5

      Do the Hustle, Kiddies!

    • @SWLinPHX
      @SWLinPHX 3 роки тому +2

      I was 7 that year too. We were living in Spain for two years and my mom said that this was the biggest new wave to come out of the United States and she bought the record.

    • @tracyveronika
      @tracyveronika 2 роки тому +4

      I have a similarly strange first memory of this song, family summer vacation in 1993. I was awake way too early for compulsory family "fun" and very confused by hearing and discovering this song. 😁😁

  • @brendanklase5048
    @brendanklase5048 5 років тому +5

    Never thought Todd would review the native song of my people

  • @grapeshot
    @grapeshot 5 років тому +16

    The Hustle is the song they played on that Simpsons flashback episode when Homer met Marge.

  • @AquaLantern
    @AquaLantern 5 років тому +4

    The Hustle 1. The Hustle 2: Age of Van Mcoy. The Hustle 3: Infinity Dance. The Hustle 4: Discogame

  • @valmarsiglia
    @valmarsiglia 5 років тому +3

    One of the most intelligent channels on UA-cam. Keep 'em coming!

  • @Kennethskellington
    @Kennethskellington 4 дні тому

    In my neck of the woods we have something called the Detroit Hustle (pronounced “DEE-troit”) which is a dance done to Stevie Wonder’s My Eyes Don’t Cry. It’s played at almost every wedding I’ve been to in my lifetime and it absolutely tears up the dance floor every time lol

  • @amacampbell
    @amacampbell 8 місяців тому +1

    Line dancing to disco music was the best. (And, believe me, people were still doing it in the early '80s.)

  • @nlmnyc
    @nlmnyc 5 років тому +5

    Subscribed. Thank you for making these mini-docs about misfires and flash in the pan artists. Really cool channel.

  • @drfreud65
    @drfreud65 5 років тому +1

    Todd, the hustle I learned in gym class in the 70s was very much what we now call the electric slide, with the electric slide only having a minor variation from the hustle.

  • @MT-or7lv
    @MT-or7lv 2 місяці тому

    Massive song back in the 70s and my mother forced my brother and I to learn the dance moves in our living room. Let me tell you, after hearing this song a bazillion times you feel like retching. That said, props to Van for a massive hit.

  • @patrickracer43
    @patrickracer43 2 роки тому +2

    I think "Do The Hustle" is one of those songs that is so big that it doesn't matter if you put out another song again, this is the same for "In The Summertime" and dare I say it "I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me"

  • @ELPIRATA14BERT
    @ELPIRATA14BERT 4 роки тому

    This song always pops in a picture of my mother dancing when the timeless classic cds commercials would come on - shw would start doing the hustle and make me dance with her

  • @midtownfarmgirl5494
    @midtownfarmgirl5494 10 місяців тому

    I love this song and can listen to it on a loop for hours. And I have, when I took Hustle dance lessons for months. It is mesmerizing. And a really hard dance to learn.

  • @dylz
    @dylz 5 років тому +11

    I really love the disco era, and for all the effusive, sometimes exaggerated defenses people recently proffer in its name lately as restitution for its former vilification, I truly think there's much to the music that is still largely underappreciated, by nonfans and fans alike! Behind the basic, predictable time signatures there's truly a wealth of gorgeous, intricate and sometimes surprising* instrumental arrangements, and the sentiments expressed in its lyrical content could often be playful and seductive but also subtle and transformatively uplifting.
    Looking back at the era from such a massive cultural distance away, it can be hard to peer beyond the veneer of contrived cheer and optimism, cheesy and hopelessly outdated as it seems in the form's most crass and commercial products. In particular, some of disco's profoundly clumsy gesturing toward intercultural unity -- often by incorporating costumes and sonic flairs from cartoon stereotypes of other people's cultures -- can now read, often correctly, as astonishingly naïve and ultimately disrespectful.
    But at its best, disco music offered a beautiful, humbling vision of a world where everyone could be happy; where the distinctions between friend, stranger and lover could blur, then cease to exist; where we could all see the inherent good in one another, and celebrate it freely and openly. It's a powerful, though basic, fantasy, but I rarely see it expressed so potently in any form of pop music other than disco. The disco cuts that render this dream most vividly and spectacularly -- like Voyage's "From East to West" and "Souvenirs," or Change's "A Lover's Holiday" and "The Glow of Love," to name just a few -- easily stand up, for me, among the best pop recordings of any era or genre.
    And disco was even more than that. It was also Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes' "Bad Luck." It was Thelma Houston's "Don't Leave Me This Way." It was Patrick Cowley's "Goin' Home." So much pain, heartbreak, suffering, acceptance and redemption could be rendered beautifully for the dancefloor.
    I'll stop. TL;DR Disco fucking ruled.
    (* Seriously, one of the early disco floorfillers -- tho not a big crossover success -- had a banjo solo! If you're curious, it's Al Downing's "I'll Be Holding On.")

    • @dylz
      @dylz 5 років тому +1

      As a minor aside, I don't think the distinction you give this song in your video (of being the first 'just disco' #1 hit) is really meaningful enough to be valid.
      There had been major disco crossover successes before "The Hustle" that were only considered tangential to soul music at most (e.g. Frankie Valli's "Swearin' to God" and Gloria Gaynor's "Never Can Say Goodbye"), and that those didn't reach #1 on Billboard's pop chart hardly negates the formidable cultural footprint they managed to make at the time.
      Nor does straining to say "The Hustle" couldn't also be described as soul or funk make any sense, or to say that it was really meant specifically for the dancefloor rather than, I guess, public spaces, homes or radio. The fact of the matter is that in addition to being a huge seller, this was a major airplay hit as well, and people were enjoying it in the same spaces that they enjoyed virtually any typical pop smash. It also *was* widely accepted as soul music, attaining heavy play at stations specializing in such music since, as you mentioned, the record's sound was hardly different from the symphonic soul that had been popularized by the likes of Barry White and which often got spun in discos.
      So given that that's the case, even restricting our focus to #1 Billboard pop hits, there had been multiple before "The Hustle" that could be called disco.
      I know that people can quibble endlessly over details like this and that it really doesn't make much of a difference in the end, but in my opinion you definitely got it wrong there so I still needed to say something. ;P

  • @twilightjoltik3151
    @twilightjoltik3151 5 років тому +11

    A fourth upload? I think this is a new record

  • @KamiKazuo
    @KamiKazuo 5 років тому +1

    This video was great the first 3 times I watched it.

  • @awkwardauntie1978
    @awkwardauntie1978 5 років тому +2

    Ha! Ok, you got me! However many times you want to reload this I'll watch! Way to Hustle! Do do do do do do do do do ..... Baby Shark.....

  • @bittipasuta
    @bittipasuta 5 років тому

    I will watch this video as many times as you need me to. Thanks for the entertainment all these years.

  • @thedudemeisteragain
    @thedudemeisteragain 5 років тому +1

    Seeing parts of the old Dutch Top Pop TV show is fun

  • @vinson311
    @vinson311 5 років тому +1

    Awesome! I'd love to see more disco One hit wonders on the show!

  • @rosannaeagers2242
    @rosannaeagers2242 5 років тому

    Ya'll better watch those ads without skipping this time - Todd deserves it

  • @kriskenard
    @kriskenard 5 років тому +11

    I literally bought this song in high school on itunes for 99 cents

  • @joethemediaicon
    @joethemediaicon 5 років тому +1

    One Hit Wonderland Recommendations...
    Send Me On My Way by Rusted Root
    Steal My Sunshine by LEN
    Pretend We're Dead by L7
    Sucked Out by Superdrag
    I Got a Girl by Tripping Daisy
    Teenage Dirtbag by Wheatus
    In the Meantime by Spacehog
    Girl Next Door by Saving Jane
    Black No. 1 by Type O Negative
    A Girl Like You by Edwyn Collins
    Bust a Move by Young MC
    Natural One by Folk Implosion
    I Wish by Skee-Lo
    Brimful of Asha by Cornershop

  • @emilyjane7027
    @emilyjane7027 5 років тому +6

    I'd love to see a OHW on "Turn Me On" by Kevin Lyttle

  • @LillikoiSeed
    @LillikoiSeed 3 роки тому

    I realize you were not there but I was about seven years old when it came out. It blew the world away. You have no idea how much influence it had on every single child I knew including myself. Back it down Bubba boy- just because you’re a 90s doesn’t mean I’m not, and doesn’t mean that I have not been where you are because you ain’t been where I have. Irrespective, I like you anyway. Keep going.
    Oh by the way it was not originally edited. Every single thing I wrote is full on and absolute.

  • @alanwhite9466
    @alanwhite9466 4 місяці тому

    The Shuffle was the theme tune to a BBC Radio 4 sports program. It was also the first tune of his I ever heard.