Retro Video of the Week: "Safety Dance" (long version) by Men Without Hats

I heard this one on the radio early today, and it seemed like an appropriate Retro Video of the Week, since the Big Dance kicks off tomorrow.  "Safety Dance" is one of the strangely iconic videos from the '80s, with its pied-piper-fair-maiden-and-midgets theme.  I went with the long version -- which features a catchy little '80s synth riff and some chick spelling out "safety" -- because it's even more '80s than the regular version.  

My first memory of Men Without Hats was during rehearsals for my school talent show when I was in fourth grade.  A group of hot sixth graders performed the band's 1987 Top 20 hit "Pop Goes The World," so of course, I liked the song.  I heard "Safety Dance" (which was released in 1983 and went all the way to #3 on the Billboard charts) around that time and saw the video around then too.  

I was struck by how hardcore the narrator was about dancing:  "'Cause your friends don't dance / And if they don't dance / Then they're no friends of mine."  He refused to be friends with anyone who didn't dance.  It seemed irrational.  Some people just don't like to dance, but they're not all bad.  

As it turns out, the song is written about the lead singer getting kicked out of a club for pogoing -- the punk/new wave style of moshing, not using a pogo stick, which would have been a much better story.  Enjoy the video and the song, and good luck with your brackets.