Men Without Hats
Men Without Hats were a
Canadian pop group from
Montreal,
Quebec who were popular in the early
1980s. They were characterized by the deep, expressive
vocals of their lead singer
Ivan and their elaborate use of
synthesizers and electronic processing. Their most-remembered single was entitled "
The Safety Dance".
Men Without Hats were always, at the core,
Ivan Doroschuk and his brother
Stefan, with various other members, including a third brother,
Colin Doroschuk, as well as
Jeremy Arrobas,
Tracy Howe,
Roman Martyn,
Lenny Pinkas, and
Allan McCarthy. They emerged with an EP called
Folk of the 80s (1980).
The band erupted onto the international scene a couple of years later with their hit single "
The Safety Dance" from their debut album
Rhythm of Youth. They also charted with the title track from their 1987 album,
Pop Goes the World.
Their 1991 album
Sideways, dominated by processed
electric guitars instead of keyboards, revealed a dramatically different sound for the band. The album failed to attract an
American label, and the band broke up.
Following the break-up, Ivan released a solo album,
The Spell, in 1997. Stefan and
Mack MacKenzie (of
3 O'Clock Train) released
Ride of Glory, a post-modern Western-themed CD.
Stefan and Ivan regrouped to release "No Hats Beyond This Point" in 2003. The song "Pop Goes The World is featured in the movie
Date with an Angel (1987), starring
Phoebe Cates,
Emanuelle Beart and
Michael E. Knights.
Studio albums
*
 |
Folk_of_80s.jpg |
Folk of the 80s (
1980) (EP)
*
Rhythm of Youth (
1982)
*
 |
Folk_of_80s_3.jpg |
Folk of the 80s (Part III) (
1984)
*
 |
Freeways.jpg |
Freeways (
1985) (EP)
*
 |
Pop_goes_world.jpg |
Pop Goes the World (
1987)
*
 |
Adventures_men_and_women_without_hate.jpg |
The Adventures of Women & Men Without Hate in the 21st Century (
1989)
*
 |
Sideways.jpg |
Sideways (
1991)
*
 |
No_hat_beyond_point.jpg |
No Hats Beyond This Point (
2003)
Compilations
*
Men Without Hats: Collection (
1996)
*
Men Without Hats: Greatest Hats (
1996)
*
Men Without Hats: My Hats (
2006)
Ivan solo albums
*
The Spell (
1997)
Videos
* The Safety Dance
* I Like
* Where Do the Boys Go?
* Pop Goes the World
* Moonbeam
* Hey Men
* ..In the 21st Century
* Sideways
* Open Your Eyes (Ivan)
* SuperBadGirls (Ivan)
DVDs
* Live Hats DVD (Le Spectrum show, from Freeways tour), expected June 6, 2006
Jethro Tull frontman
Ian Anderson played flute on the song "On Tuesday" on
Pop Goes the World.
In
The Simpsons' episode "
Make Room For Lisa (AABF12)", "The Safety Dance" is played on the radio. The radio announcer suggests that they change their name to "Men Without Jobs".
The
Futurama episode "
Future Stock" has a scene in which Fry reminsces about the '80s with a recently revived Stockbroker, in which he emulates the first bar of the chorus and then adds "You know, that dance wasn't as safe as they said it was..."
Sugar Ray's song "Under the Sun" makes a reference to Men Without Hats in the second verse.
Weird Al Yankovic parodied the song "
The Safety Dance" as "
The Brady Bunch", a song about the classic TV sitcom, and somewhat about TV watching in general. The song can be found on Yankovic's
"Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D album.
*
The Adventures of Women & Men Without Hate in the 21st Century featured a cover of
Abba's "S.O.S."
*
Sideways featured a cover of
The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" (subtitled "'No You're Not', Said Little Nicola").
* The
Greatest Hats compilation featured a cover of
Roxy Music's "Editions of You"
*
List of Quebec musicians*
Music of Quebec*
Culture of Quebec*
List of number-one dance hits (United States)*
List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart*
Men Without Hats official site*
Lazlo's Discography Machine: Men Without Hats*
Men Without Hats discussion list*
Men Without Hats at UBL.com*
Men Without Hats Lyrics
