Dance Craze - The Reception

 

Promo poster for the screening of the original film in New Zealand.

Record Mirror (7th February 1981)

THE PREMIERE of 'Dance Craze' , the Two - Tone movie, was an extra special event held on Saturday for several hundred under - 18s. Tickets were distributed via a Record Mirror competition and direct invitations to childrens' homes such as Dr Barnardo's. Our 14 year old correspondent Sean O'Donovan hot - footed it from Canvey Island to the Sundown in Charing Cross Road and sent us this report:

AT 4 PM the waiting crowd were at last let into the premiere of 'Dance Craze'. hailed as 'the best of British ska - live' and starring the Beat. Madness. The Bodysnatchers, Bad Manners, Selecter and the Specials. As the mass flocked in, the walls were stripped bare of all posters and LP covers. Down on the stage. Radio One's Richard Skinner was playing some of the aforementioned groups' hits, which got us up onto the dance floor for a moonstomp. At 4.20 the first of the groups' members entered - John Bradbury,  drummer of the Specials, came in rather unnoticed. Suggs. However  made a dramatic

entrance and was immediately mobbed by autograph hunters. I don't think anyone could not have noticed Madness because they were wearing black dress suits with red carnations and canes for the event.

Arriving later were Terry Hall, Rhoda of the Bodysnatchers, Ranking Roger and Dave Wakeling of the Beat, Charley ex of Selecter and many others. They gathered in the Liggers' bar above the main hall, talking to fans and signing the posters and LP covers previously decorating the walls.

The music played for an hour, with records, T-shirts. posters (which were ripped to bits) and badges being distributed to the madding crowd. Five o'clock and the film was underway. The fans were not exactly ecstatic - no one danced! – but clearly enjoyed it nevertheless.

As the crowd filed out, the announcement came over the speakers that more merchandise was being given out at the door. This caused havoc, but luckily order was maintained.

The one question being asked at the end of the event by all the girls was about Suggs and Bette Bright. Is she really going out with him? SEAN O'DONOVAN

THE OPENING of the Two - Tone movie is a spoof of the old 'Look At Life' short films that used to precede the main feature at Odeons up and down the country, and though many of its audience won't remember such things, it's a nice witty way to start.

The Specials' 'Nite Klub' is first up, followed by Madness with 'The Prince'. A new technique has been used for the live footage of which the film largely consists, and very effective it is too. The hot, jumpy atmosphere of the various gigs is splendidly captured throughout.

The Bodysnatchers' cover of old fave '007' comes next, and it's a heartening sight to see the girls - girls! hooray! - keeping well up with the male musical competition. Pauline Black of the Selecter looks exceeding well, too, and I hope she' ll forgive a totally non - sexist comment here: the camera seems

reluctant to move away from her bottom (clad in white ski - pants) and I don't blame it a bit.

During Madness's ska 'Swan Lake ' there's some really tasty footage of loafers and Dr Martens slow - motion dancingl, and amusing cuts to a ballet company performing to 'Swan Lake' in its onginal form. I only wish there'd been more of this sort of thing; it would have broken the relentness flow of live

performance to good effect.

Ah well, on with the bands . .. Bad Manners don't come off too well I'm afraid. particularly when following the Bodysnatchers; they look so big and white and male. The Beat quite simply steal the show, with Ranking Roger in particular walking off with my personal Oscars for best dancing, best hat, most charm and totally infectious enthusiasm.

Halfway through we break for a section of Pathe News, hilarious stuff showing dance crazes of yesteryear. This would have been better cut up and shown in bursts throughout the film methinks,  but it's a good idea .

More stand - out bits: Madness's 'Razor Blade Alley ' and ' Night Boat to Cairo' . the staged fight during Selecter's 'Too Much Pressure ', the bottle of Lucozade on Jerry Dammers' piano and the closer - ' Nite Klub' again – with Terry Hall deadpanning beautifully throughout the scathing lyrics.

See it, dance to it, sing along and cheer for your laves. It's that kind of movie and I loved (almost) every minute of it. SUNIE.

Record Mirror (7th February 1981)

DANCE CRAZE (Soundtrack)

(CHR TT 5004)

By Sunie

YOU'VE FLOCKED to the gigs, you've thrilled to the hits, you'll soon be queueing for the movie - now hear the soundtrack! Let's skank through the tracks on this live monument to the Two-Tone story so far, before sitting back for some armchair analysis ...

Side One opens with the Specials' 'Concrete Jungle', followed by the Beat's 'Mirror in the Bathroom', the

latter surprisingly sounding more sinister here than on the studio version. Anti-stoutism's firmest

advocates Bad Manners are next with 'Lip Up Fatty', which is hearty enough but suffers rather from

foliowing the much more subtle Beat sound.

Absolute stand-out on this side is 'Razor Blade Alley' by Madness, a superb slice of finger-snapping

sleaze closer to Tom Waits than to Prince Buster, which tells of losing virginity and health in one brief

encounter. On to 'Three Minute Hero' by the Selecter after that brief change of tempo; I never reckoned

this song much, but that's just my grouse. The Bodysnatchers' sole contribution to the LP is 'Easy Life',

wrapping the liberation v procreation dilemma in delicious girly harmonies and what I imagine to be a rock-• steady rhythm; it sounds different from pure ska, anyway. The Beat reappear with 'Big Shot' and

Madness end the side with an insanely fast and saxy 'One Step Beyond' .

Side Two kicks off with the seat's 'Ranking Full Stop', a lively if unexceptional number brought up to

scratch by Ranking Roger's sheer exuberance. Specials next with 'Man at C&A'; then the Selecter's

'Missing Words', smashing melodic pop deftly performed. Bad Manners' 'Inner London Violence' is more of their razzy stomp, but with considerably more musical ' substance than their previous effort.

'Night Boat to Cairo' is the song that made me fall for Madness, and here it is in all its glory: I don't know

which I love more, Lee Thompson's marvellous sax or Suggs's inimitable vocal. Then we're back to the

Selecter for 'Too Much Pressure' , and the set ends at the 'Nite Klub', with brass ensemble Dick & Rico well to the fore of a steamy Specials sound.

Each group uses its own producer, and since the list of those gentlemen's names reads like a studio

'Who's  Who’, you may rest assured that the quality throughout is triff.

It's positively mind-boggling to consider that each of these bands owes their first taste of success, at

least in part, to J Dammers Esquire's vision, and trying to count the sum total of their hits brings me and my abacus out in a cold sweat. It's been said many times before, but it is a truly joyful thing that such groups as these are actively breaking down barriers of race, age, gender and musical style. More

power  to them. + + + +

Smash Hits (19th February 1981)

New York Times (25th April 1982)

The sloppy but cheerful ''Dance Craze,'' which opened Friday at the Eighth Street Playhouse, is a concert film devoted to the musical hybrid known variously as ska, or two-tone, or rock steady. The English bands featured here owe a lot to reggae - the best-known British band rockers playing anything of this sort are the Police, who do not appear in ''Dance Craze'' - but have added a thing or two of their own. Flat tops. Checked jackets. Persistent hopping, preferably from one foot to the other. An overall spirit of jubilation.

''Dance Craze,'' which was directed by Joe Massot, shows so little concern for the ordinary cinematic niceties that it never even identifies the bands on screen, except in the opening credits. These groups are the Specials, the Bodysnatchers, Madness, Bad Manners, the English Beat and the Selecter.

The personnel is racially mixed -which is part of why the music is nicknamed ''two-tone'' - and a couple of the lead singers are women. One lead singer, from Bad Manners, is a fat man in T-shirt, droopy pants and suspenders, wearing army boots and a skinhead's hairdo. No one can accuse these bands of lacking either enthusiasm or character.

''Dance Craze'' isn't anything more than a chance to watch these groups for an hour and a half, and to hear a very muddy version of their sound; the lyrics are almost indistinguishable throughout. For anyone interested in this happy, energetic music, that may be more than enough. Janet Maslin

The Cast

DANCE CRAZE, directed by Joe Massot; visual concept and photography by Joe Dunton; edited by Ben Rayner; music produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley; produced by Gav- rik Losey; released by Nu-Image. Running time: 86 minutes. This film has no rating. At the Eighth Street Playhouse, at the Avenue of the Americas.

Some were critical...

London Trax

Fuck Art Let's Dance! - 'Dance Craze' Gets The Deluxe Treatment (At Last!)

 

Music Week magazine announcement of the original 'Dance Craze' release

7th February 1981.

Rock ‘n’ Roll films can be lame affairs, a vehicle by which stars on a downward trajectory can salvage something from a flagging career or a means by which a record company can foister a few more quid from soundtrack sales on the back of a bit of celluloid exposure. However, very occasionally, a rock ‘n’ roll film can spark the imagination of its audience.

 

When Bill Haley & The Comets’ ‘Rock Around The Clock’ opened in British cinemas in 1956, the reaction took the public by surprise as young audiences let rip. Seats were slashed and members of the audience danced in the isles, their reverie only halted by the arrival of the police. Such behaviours were very unbecoming in austere, 1950’s Britain. When similar scenes occurred some 25 years  later upon the release of the film ‘Dance Craze’, the element of shock had gone. Teenagers and their associated youth cults/movements (call them what you will) were well established, if not well received by the wider public. As suggested by the name of the film, audiences were again in the isles dancing to the band’s performing on the big screen. Was there fighting? I don’t know, probably if some of the 2 Tone gigs were anything to go by. Did seats get slashed? Most certainly.

 

By the time Joe Massot's film was released in the UK in February 1981, 2 Tone’s flame was already sputtering. The Specials’ camp was not a happy one and within six months they would be no more. The Selecter  released their second album in the same week as ‘Dance Craze’. However, the single that shared the same name of the album, ‘Celebrate the Bullet’ was subject to radio play bans, by virtue of the fact that John Lennon had been shot dead only weeks before. Such censure hastened the demise of the band. All girl 2 Toners, The Bodysnatchers called it a day that year without releasing an album. The Beat continued on their own ‘Go Feet’ label into 1983 before splintering. Madness went on to win the hearts and minds of chart aware kids with a string of classic singles that paid scant regard to the original 2 Tone sound. And Bad Manners? Well they were Bad Manners.

 

It was Massot’s intention to make a music film about Madness, a band his son had seen on their first US tour. However, realising that the bands originally signed up by Jerry Dammers onto the 2 Tone label formed a cohesive scene that encompassed both music and fashion, the scope of the film project was revisited. At the time that the footage was shot in 1980, all six bands that featured in the film were alive and well and in your town. The film is intense, the stage is crowded (the bands sum of members was 43 musicians!) and the dance floors heroically bore the weight of thousands of bouncing souls and soles. The Top Ranks, Locanos and Meccas of Britain throbbed with energy when the 2 Tone bands rolled into town. The exuberance of the stage performances transmitted effortlessly into the receptive audiences as the boundaries between musician and music fan blurred. At no point was the absence of a feeling of ‘them and us’ more apparent than during the stage invasion that became a regular feature at the end of a Specials set. Occasional glimpses of a microphone or guitar headstock would be the only indication of the fact that in the middle of the throng a band were playing!

 

‘Dance Craze’ was a tonic for troubled times. British industry creaked under the malign influence of a new economic experiment. The ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland were at a ferocious peak and women in Yorkshire walked the streets in fear as a serial killer did was serial killers do. Black youth rose up in the inner cities as policing methods caused resentment to boil over and the National Front smashed up gigs in their efforts to find a scapegoat for their woes. This was the nature of the soil in which the 2 Tone seed germinated in 1978-’79.

 

2 Tone is remembered as a movement/scene with an anti-racism message at its heart, which of course it was. However, the bands were not given over to preaching, only a small number of the bands’ songs addressed the subject of racism. There really was no need to preach, just the fact that each of the bands (with the exception of Madness) featured both black and white musicians in their line ups. That had not really happened before, at least not to the same extent. Rather than focusing on a political agenda, the 2 Tone material dealt with the everyday trials and tribulations of growing up in Britain’s cities in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s.

 

‘Dance Craze’ captures the 2 Tone bands in their prime. Both the film and the associated soundtrack brilliantly convey the energy and passion of these bands and through that the politics finds a voice. These live recordings are in my opinion a far better reflection of what 2 Tone was all about that the studio albums (brilliant though they are). So, that leads me to ask, why has the film been ignored for 43 years! For some reason, the film did not get an official release until 1989 on VHS video. Since that time all of the band’s albums (sorry Bodysnatchers) have received the deluxe reissue treatment, so as an official release on the 2 Tone label, why was ‘Dance Craze’ overlooked. I do not have the answer to that but I can say that the issue has been addressed with a stunning release (expanded CDs, triple vinyl, T shirts and tote bags, not forgetting of course the DVD/BluRay edit of the film itself).

 

The man entrusted to turn Joe Massot’s film concept into reality was film maker Joe Dunton. Massot and Dunton has first worked together in the late sixties and both men trusted each other’s abilities. Dunton was interviewed in the 100th issue of ‘Vive Le Rock’ magazine and from that it became apparent to me for the first time just how much technical care and attention had been lavished on this cinematic project. I am no techie, but understood the fact that the decision was taken to shoot the film on 35 mm film as this can be blown up nicely to 70 mm for the big screen. It was always intended that ‘Dance Craze’ was a production to be viewed on the big screen. In fact there was no other option at that time, since at the time of its release (February 1981) home video was still in its infancy and only available at a cost that was well beyond the means of the largest proportion of its intended young audience. The other innovation was the use of the ‘Steadicam’ camera, very useful when cameramen and their subjects are in constant and frenetic movement on overcrowded stages! The film is shot both from the audience and the stage which further serves to break down barriers. The overall effect is that of a joyous communion….

 

‘Buster, he sold the heat with a rock-steady beat’….

To mark the release of the restored film, screenings and Q&A's were hosted across the country. I am still kicking myself that I missed the London screening. It was a gathering of 2 Tone royalty make no mistake!

Rhoda (The Bodysnatchers), Pauline (The Selecter), Jerry (The Specials), Buster (Bad Manners), Neville (The Specials), Sugary, Woody, Lee (Madness).

BFI IMAX, London.

Promo for the rerelease (2023).

 

What will follow are first a couple of contemporary reviews of the film/soundtrack and then six posts, one for each of the ‘Dance Craze’ bands performing at around (give or take a few months) the time when the film was recorded or released.