(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer to the "Poor Little Fool" post.)
Chubby Checker - "The Twist"
Hit Number 1: September 19, 1960 and January 13, 1962
Stay at Number 1: 3 Weeks
"The Twist" by Chubby Checker has one pretty big distinction that no other #1 song has ever done before. It hit #1 twice in two different years. And I'm not talking about a song that hit #1, got knocked off for a couple weeks, then returned to the top spot. "The Twist" hit #1 for one week in 1960, then went back to the top spot during the twisting craze in early 1962. There have been songs that spent two different stints at #1, but "The Twist" had literally left the charts, then returned. Quite honestly, I'm not sure that will ever happen again. I guess you never know when it comes to songs about dancing.
Chubby Checker seemed to only know how to do songs about dancing. He was born as Ernest Evans, and started a street-corner harmony group when he was 8, and started to take piano lessons when he was in high school. He was known to entertain his classmates by imitating popular entertainers in his day such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, and of course, Elvis Presley. An interesting note to bring up, is that Evans was classmates with Fabiano Forte. He went by the stage name of "Fabian", and was one of those teen idols in the late 50s and early 60s.
After graduation, Evans continued to entertain customers at his various jobs. One of his jobs was working at a produce market, and it was at the produce market that his boss there gave him the nickname "Chubby". Another one of his jobs was working at the Fresh Farm Poultry, where the owner of that place, Henry Colt, got so impressed by Evans' performances that he and his friend Karl Mann, who was a songwriter at Cameo-Parkway Records, arranged Evans to do a private recording for Dick Clark, the host on "American Bandstand". While there, Clark's wife asked Evans what his name was, and he replied "Well, my friends call me Chubby". He had just come off of a Fats Domino impression, so she asked him "As in Checker?", and it made everyone laugh. It implied dominoes and checkers. It was just a joke, but it really stuck, so he ended up going by the stage name of "Chubby Checker".
It wasn't long after that that Checker introduced his version of "The Twist". The song was originally recorded by Hank Ballard, but Checker basically made the song his own after he released it. It became a huge smash hit, and as I said earlier, is the only song that ever hit the top spot on the charts twice in two different chart runs. The song itself is definitely a lot of fun, and all it is is a song that commands you to get up and do "The Twist". The song even has a "sequel" to it, when Checker did "Let's Twist Again", which peaked at #8. (It's a 6) There are certainly worse ways to get to #1. The song doesn't leave any sort of impression on you, and there are better dancing songs out there. Some of which will eventually show up in this blog. But you do have to appreciate the excitement and legacy that "The Twist" has left.
GRADE: 6/10
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