Let's Twist Again!
The Musical Craze of the Early '60s

By Bill Kunkel

In the past few decades, Americans have joined major fads for line dancing, salsa and the Macarena. But unless you lived through The Twist craze of the early '60s, you have no idea just how big a dance can get.

It all started with rhythm and blues singer Hank Ballard, who wrote and recorded a song, called "The Twist," in the late '50s. It was successful, but hardly a monster hit. The next phase began when an eager young performer named Ernest Evans signed with Cameo-Parkway in 1958. Re-christened "Chubby Checker" (a name obviously inspired by "Fats" Domino), he re-recorded the Ballard tune in 1960, and the world still hasn't stopped twisting.

The single and accompanying album were million-record sellers and established Chubby Checker as the undisputed king of '60s dance music. At one point, Chubby had no fewer than five albums in the Top 20. A wave of dance albums featuring endless variations on the basic twist dance paradigm (the Monkey, the Mashed Potato, the Swim, the Pony, etc.) flooded the market, and boys and girls learned to dance without making physical contact.

The lack of touching should have been popular among adults, but what today seems like a tame and simple dance movement drew hellfire and brimstone from some quarters in the early '60s. Many adults condemned The Twist and its ilk as "jungle dancing," and it is undeniable that much of the controversy was racial in origin. Nonetheless, by 1962, many of the most hard-nosed critics could be seen twisting a foot or swiveling a hip. Nothing, it seemed, could stop The Twist.

The Twist gave birth to the discotheque, nightclubs where dancing was the primary focus. Joey Dee & the Starlighters held court at New York City's Peppermint Lounge, where patrons danced to Dee's "Peppermint Twist."

The Twist became more than a dance; it was the focal point of a new lifestyle, much as disco was in the '70s. The dance craze led to the production of magazines, clothing styles, movies, and the inevitable Twist lessons. The way Western society physically expressed itself through dance had changed profoundly, and the influence of The Twist is still visible in most modern dances.

Collectibles from this era include the magazine, The Twist, a teen-oriented publication that ran articles on everything from which celebrities were spotted at the Peppermint Lounge to a psychiatrist's blind "analysis" of Chubby Checker! As with most collectible magazines, the condition is all-important, but issues can be found at very reasonable prices.

The Twist craze inspired several films about frustrated youth who just wanted to Twist. The adults, of course, never got it – until the final reel. The best known and most successful of these exploitation flicks included Don't Knock the Twist, and Twist Around the Clock, both featuring Chubby Checker. Less successful entries included turkeys like 1961's Twist All Night (AKA The Continental Twist) starring Louis Prima (!) as a nightclub owner using the Twist craze to keep his nightclub going. Lobby cards, 1-sheets, posters, and other marketing materials from these movies turn up regularly on the collectible market.

No Twist collection would be complete without some actual music. Copies of Twist with Chubby Checker, the album that started it all, is a prime collectible. The label number is 7001, and the LP includes: "Twistin' USA," "The 'C. C. Rider' Stroll," "The Strand," "The Hucklebuck," "The Pony," and, of course, "The Twist," among others.

Some fans enjoy collecting the picture sleeves that once came with 45-rpm "singles." Chubby Checker picture sleeves from his prime Parkway days make great collectibles. Especially popular is the sleeve for "The Twist" b/w "Twistin' USA" and "The Hucklebuck" b/w "Popeye."

As for Chubby Checker himself, he moved to the nightclub circuit after the original hubbub from The Twist craze died down in the mid-'60s with the arrival of The Beatles. Chubby re-issued "The Twist" in 1975, and the song once again hit the Top Ten. He moved on to the oldies revival circuit in the 1980s and actually experienced yet another bump in popularity when The Fat Boys covered his most famous recording in 1988.

So let's Twist again, dance fans-like we did in '62!

The preceding material was written by Bill Kunkel. These are the opinions of the author, not the opinions of eBay, and therefore eBay does not validate the accuracy of or endorse these opinions.