America Learns The Electric Slide - January 20, 1990

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America Learns The Electric Slide

1990

After being revived by a Washington DJ, "The Electric Boogie" by Jamaican singer Marcia Griffiths peaks at #51 on the Billboard Hot 100, as the "Electric Slide" line dance craze sweeps the nation.

Before the Spanish-flavored dance moves of the "Macarena" or the aerobics-inspired "Cha Cha Slide" encourage Americans to embarrass themselves at social events, the '90s are all about a Jamaican party ride known as the "The Electric Slide." Jamaican singer Marcia Griffiths, half of the '60s duo Bob and Marcia and a member of Bob Marley's famed backing group the I-Threes, covers Bunny Wailer's 1976 tune "Electric Boogie" in 1982. It soars to #1 on the Jamaican charts, but with Marley's death the year before, record execs in the US aren't putting much stock in the reggae genre, and the tune never makes it off the island. By 1988, Marley's son Ziggy is making international waves with his album Conscious Party that lands him a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album and tunes listeners into a fresh sound straight off the island. The following summer, a reggae-loving DJ in Washington, DC, plays "The Electric Boogie" for the first time in the US and it line-dances its way across the country, where it lands at #51 on the Billboard Hot 100. No one is more surprised by the phenomenon than Griffiths: "When I sang it in Washington, DC, the entire audience got up and started doing the dance - I was forced to learn it on the spot! I said, 'Lord, this is unbelievable.' After that, it just got bigger and bigger."

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Comments: 1

send your commentKevin James from Los Angeles I was that DJ in D.C. to first play The Electric Slide on WKYS

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