"Electric Boogie" by Marcia Griffiths from the album Electric Boogie. 1976.
I know exactly what you're thinking. Well, lemme explain:
Put aside the cheese; put aside the line dance. Put aside that this is likely the most well-known song featured since Jimi Hendrix's take on "All Along the Watchtower" back in March 2009 (before the blog existed!). Maybe you'll subdue your current askance impression of it and hear the carefree charm that originally catapulted it o'er the ramparts of success. If that siege fails, perhaps the unique history of a single released in '76 became popular almost 20 years later can airstrike your interest. If the whole shebang grates annoyingly for you regardless, then er.. I'd still say this fine whine has aged well.
I didn't always think highly of this ghost of dancehall past. Too many memories of elementary school sock hops. And while I was much too young to dododoo-dodoo-dodoo-doo-do the Hustle, I suffered through the overwhelming evolution of line dances up through middle school, with the "Cotton Eye Joe" hoedown, "Macarena" craze, and "Cha-Cha Slide" mistake. Thankfully, "Cupid Shuffle" never made it to the ridiculous social gauntlets of my time. Yet oddly enough, the only line-dance that became the spine-dance of playlists at these er.. "parties" was the ever-popular Macarena. Even in high school (and beyond!) the thing would show its pop-corny head and all the goofy friends would wave their arms and butts around in that spin cycle set for tortoises. All of these songs have that annoying tendency of being catchy in the worst way, but the spoiled macaroni had an edge over the rest. My theory is its dance. I remember a MAD Magazine joke along the lines of this: 40% of Americans know how to perform CPR, yet 95% can do the Macarena. And it wouldn't surprise me, either! The Electric Slide might aw well have an Olympic line-dancing competition, what with its non-stationary steps and bombarding boogie-woogie-woogies, yet essentially everybody knows how to do that modern hand jive of Macarena. All the double left-footers can feel good without an extra left out. And for that 5% that can't do waggle it, well... the mob may think them as the uncool morons, but who's the one miming a drunken "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes"?
No, I first heard "Electric Boogie" isolated from all that at least a decade later. I got my driver's license after high school (gasp!) and, being the music nerd I am, had to plan out and immortalize the very first song I cruised along to. Un-widen your eyes, it wasn't Griffiths' ditty; I picked the facepalm-ingly named Pearl Harbor and the Explosions' minor hit "Drivin'". Mind you, that's a face-palm for both the band's choice in name and my choice in driving song. So I guess that's doublefacepalmingly. Anyway, I'm a firm believer of the shuffle, so random tunes kept springing up on the rPod as my first real drive continued. I don't remember any others, but as I neared my destination, a wild "Electric Boogie" appeared. I contemplated skipping the cheezy number, especially since the only slide you can do in a car makes a terrible dance move. Instead, though, the happy sound fit the mood and I surprisingly realized it made for a fantastic driving song. Even now I can't completely shake the contempt from childhood days it rekindles, but I still believe with those feelings as locked away as possible, "Electric Boogie" makes a great sing-along, a groovy mood-booster, and grandiose one-liner factory. Besides the obvious "It's Electric!" chant, 'Its Eclectic!' word choices to throw off your friends include gems like "She sure got the boogie!" and "Let me take you on a party ride!" Hmm, use that last one carefully.
Marica Griffiths has had a long career, starting in 1964. She sang with several groups, but perhaps most notably with the background singers for Bob Marley and the Wailers starting in 1974. According to some, she has worked her way to the title Queen of Reggae. As noted earlier, "Electric Boogie" had its first release in 1976. The dance, called "The Electric" without any Slides on the playground, also had its creation that year by Ric Silver, who seems very set on keeping his choreography properly attributed. Maybe her work with Marley prevented any widespread pursuit in the single, but when the song had a re-release in 1989, the public finally took hold. No release by any other female reggae artist has matched the sales of "Electric Boogie", and clearly the dance still has its fangs in pop culture; thus, its line-dancing popularity can only fall short to the Macarena, which reached the throne of the Billboard charts compared to Boogie's 51st row middle seat. Plus, as far as I know, Boogie never had a Christmas Remake. I guess that's something to be thankful of this year.
tl;dr "Electric Boogie" without any connections to lame dances or embarrassing pasts has great appeal in both its bouncy lyrics and casually uplifting atmosphere. Perhaps other songs from that cheesy, cheesy era deserve reevaluation?
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