Retro Video of the Week: "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer

Today is the 30th anniversary of the release of MC Hammer's third album, the monumental Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em.  

And when I say monumental, I mean monumental.  This album:

• Spent 21 weeks -- including 18 consecutive weeks -- at the top of the Billboard album charts 
• Spent 28 weeks at the top of the Billboard R&B Albums chart
• Was the #9 album on the Billboard decade-end album charts for the '90s
• Was the first hip hop album ever to be certified diamond by the RIAA
• Has over 18 million sales worldwide, meaning it was (and may still be) the best-selling hip hop album of all-time
• Spawned three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100:  "U Can't Touch This" (#8), "Have You Seen Her" (#4), and "Pray" (#2)
• Only cost about $10,000 to make

Of course, "U Can't Touch This" is MC Hammer's signature song, and it propelled him into international superstardom.  What surprised me is that it only got up to #8 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it also topped Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart, as well as seven other singles charts around the world, while cracking the Top 10 on ten other singles charts internationally.  It won the Grammys for Best R&B Song and Best Rap Solo Performance, and it was the first rap song to be nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammys.  "U Can't Touch This" samples from Rick James's "Super Freak," and James sued Hammer, who eventually gave James a co-writing credit on the song, which was worth millions of dollars in songwriting royalties.  

But most importantly, it brought Hammer Pants to the masses.  One could argue -- and I certainly will, right here and right now, without any empirical support -- that this video helped usher in the era of baggy clothes that dominated the '90s.  In the '80s, it was all about tight jeans, spandex, leather, tight shorts in athletics, and the like.  But after this video, everything was looser.  Not only were people wearing Hammer Pants (for better or worse), but we had, among other things:  (1) the introduction of longer and baggier basketball shorts and larger uniforms that became the norm; (2) grunge's fixation with billowy flannel shirts; (3) the change from tight-fitting jeans to looser, bootcut jeans, khakis, and cargo pants; (4) shorts that didn't require you to wear a codpiece to hide the outline of your junk; (5) those ridiculous JNCO wide-legged jeans; (6) Zubaz pants; (7) hoodies; (8) bucket hats; (9) girls wearing overalls in non-farming situations; and (10) the phenomenon of wearing t-shirts that were one to three sizes too big.  Personally, I'd like to thank MC Hammer for making the '90s a whole hell of a lot more comfortable.