Professor Mikey in the Old School today, on a field trip where we will be twisting the night away.
The Twist was all about the dance. The music was kind of secondary. Sure, there were a handful of Twist stars, but as far as phenomena go, the Twist had a trajectory of it’s own.
Welcome to the last big to the last big music craze before the British Invasion.
We are coming to you from the ghostly realm of the Peppermint Lounge at 128 West 45th Street in New York City, a sonic shrine from 1961 that predated the cultural pop of Studio 54. Who cared that it was small and most people spent their evenings trying to get on the wait list? Or that it was run by the mob?
The popularity of the Twist came and went to fast, almost as quickly as it’s West Coast counterpart, surf music. But it was a completely different vibe. Wiggling your hips to phenomenally forgettable Twist tunes in the middle of the night was pure east coast, where the beautiful people flocked to the Big Apple. On any given night you might see Norman Mailer, Greta Garbo, Truman Capote, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Liberace, Audrey Hepburn, Annette Funicello and so many others. When the Beatles came to play the Ed Sullivan Show, they wanted to party at the Peppermint Lounge.
We have the pictures to prove it on the newsletter at professormikey.substack.com.
Another origin story took place at the same time in Philadelphia, where TVs most popular disc jockey ordered up a cover version of a Bside from 1958. It was still the early days of rock, and having a grown up white guy decide what the next craze would be was nothing unusual. That’s a whole other story.
Some of the songs were catchy, some were downright twisted. All of them involved a dance that anybody could do, and everybody looked silly doing it. Good times! This is Old School #83.
Hey! Let’s Twist!
Exactly how or why that song sat for 2 years before it got Dick Clark’s attention is a mystery. The king of Philadelphia and teen aged afternoon TV on his American Bandstand dance show wanted a new dance. He called a friend at Cameo Records to see if they had anyone who could do a new version of Ballard’sforgotten B Side. Earnest Evans, who would have probably been called Ernie E if he had been discovered today, got the nod. The 20 year old had earned the name Chubby while entertaining for Fresh Farm Poultry in the Italian Market on Ninth Street. His boss, the guy who nicknamed him Chubby, Anthony Tambone, got the call from his buddyKal Mann, who worked as a songwriter for Cameo-Parkway Records arranged for young Chubby to do a private audition recording. Clark played it for his family and his wife suggested they tack on Checker as an homage to Fats Domino. Clark smelled money.
Enter Joseph DiNicola, born in Passaic, New Jersey on 11 June 1940. As Joey Dee he and the Starliters (David Brigati, Larry Vernieri (vocals), Carlton Lattimore (organ), Sam Taylor (guitar) and Willie Davis (drums), were playing a club in Lodi, New Jersey. They got the call to meet on 45th street for a weekend gig at the Peppermint Lounge. It was a tiny club pulsing with energy. What the public didn’t realize at the time was it was being run by the Genovese crime family, specifically Matty “The Horse” Ianniello. Teen tough guy Joey Pesci was an extra who was asked to leave after his dancing got a little too wild.
All that faded into the background when the Peppermint Twist was released. The 45 came as a two parter, with the first side getting the airplay, and hit the number one spot quickly. Here is the way they never heard it on the radio. The Peppermint Twist Parts One and Two!
Their hit “Peppermint Twist” hit number one in 1962.
On any given night, you might spot Judy Garland, Greta Garbo, or even the Beatles—all twisting elbow-to-elbow with downtown kids.
Designed to get a quick laugh and hopefully turn a quick buck, Twisted Humor resulted in a handful of mostly regrettable tunes that did nothing to help the twist. They were songs produced by adults, for adults, and they were funny for about the first 20 seconds. In fact, Prof Mikey has made an editorial decision to cut these into segment so you won’t dislike me or disown me or whatever people do when they unsubscribe. If you want to hear the entire versions, they are safe and uncut on the public Twist playlist on my YouTube Channel.
How bad can they be? Let’s just start cold.
O’Kelly, Rudolph, and Ronald–Cincinnati’s Isley Brothers–figured into a lot of music over several decades. Beginning in the 50s with gospel and doo-wop, they progressed to soul, and funk and so much more. And they were always a few dance steps ahead, like when they hired an unknown Jimi Hendrix to play in their band. Twistin with Linda was just one of their twist hits, but you probably heard a lyric in there that would gel into the backbone of a song so famous, the Beatles used it to open most of their early shows. Earlier in this episode, you heard an unknown version of Twist and Shout, produced by Phil Spector. Songwriter Bert Berns never liked that version. In 1962 he brought it to the Isleys scored their first top 40 hit with "Twist and Shout", which reached number 17 on the Hot 100 and number 2 on the R&B chart, staying on the charts for 19 weeks.
The Twist came and went in such a fast blur, it seemed almost too silly to be occupying news space alongside the real possibility of nuclear war. Chubby Checker released “The Twist” about 6 weeks before John F. Kennedy accepted the nomination to compete for the presidency against Richard Nixon in 1960. They were doing the Peppermint Twist at the Peppermint Lounge while Russia’s Sputnik 4 sailed about 500 miles overhead. And the birth control pill had been approved only a short time before Sam Cooked released “Twisting the Night Away” in 1962. Timing was everything.
We know now the Twist was a hot mess of a craze that prepared the world for a surprise attack that was on the horizon. No sooner had Chubby Checker moved on to the Limbo than the Beatles arrived in New York for their first appearances on the Ed Sullivan show. Checker had already been there and done that.
Professor Mikey here, hoping you took the time to kick out some early 60s jams with Episode #83 of Old School, Hey Let’s Twist. There’s an accompanying playlist online on the Professor Mikey’s Old School YouTube Channel, and while you are rolling up the rug you should take a moment to see the pictures and a lot of extras, including the complete “Hey, Let’s Twist” motion picture starring Joey Dee and Teddy Randazzo on the Old School newsletter on Substack. (ProfessorMikey.Substack.Com)
Even though the fad really was a fad that lasted just under three years, we’re going to close out with a beloved homage to the Twist that entered popular culture in the Quentin Tarentino motion picture “Pulp Fiction,” released in 1994. Thanks for checking out the episode, enjoy the newsletter, and sit back to hear the music Mrs.Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega twisted to at Jack Rabbit’s Slim’s Twist Contest.
Twist the night away, here comes Chuck Berry, and we will be in touch next time on Professor Mikey’s Old School!
Episode playlist
Hey Let’s Twist - Joey Dee and the Starlilghters
The Twist - Hank Ballard and the Midnighters
The Twist - Chubby Checker
Twist Around the Clock - Clay Cole and the Capris
Twistin’s U.S.A. - Danny and the Juniors
Twist and Shout - The Top Line
Let’s Twist Again - Chubby Checker
Roly Poly - Joey Dee and the Starliters
Peppermint Twist Pt 1 & 2 - Joey Dee and the Starliters
Dear Lady Twist - Gary U.S. Bonds
Twist Twist Senora - Gary U.S. Bonds
FrankensteinTwist - The Crystals
Twisting Christmas - The Marcels
Twisted Humor Segment: Twisting Hound Dog - Ray Anthony, The Alvin Twist - Alvin and the Chipmunks, Mama Don’t Allow No Twisting - Bonnie Dane, Tequila Twist - The Champs, Twist and Freeze - Bill Kuhn, Mother Goose Twist - Oliver Twist
Twistin’ Postman - The Marvelettes
Twistin’ the Night Away - Sam Cooke
Slow Twistin’ - Chubby Checker and Dee Dee Sharpe
Twistin’ with Linda - The Isley Brothers
Twist and Shout - The Isley Brothers
Shout - Joey Dee and the Starliters
You Never Can Tell - Chuck Berry
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“The past is a blast.”
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