Gonna Make You Sweat

"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)"
Single by C+C Music Factory
from the album Gonna Make You Sweat
B-side	Remix
Released	December 18, 1990 1996 (Radio Disney edition)
Format	CD single CD maxi 7" single 12" maxi
Recorded	1990
Genre	Dance, hip hop
Length	4:06
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Robert Clivillés Freedom Williams
Producer	David Cole, Robert Clivillés, Freedom Williams and Larry Yasgar
C+C Music Factory singles chronology
- "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (1990) "Here We Go (Let's Rock & Roll)" (1991)

"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" was C+C Music Factory's first hit. It was released in late 1990 in many countries and achieved a great success in U.S., Austria, Germany and Switzerland where it reached #1 on the charts.

Background and writing

The rap was performed by Freedom Williams and the vocal "Everybody Dance Now" by Disco/House Music artist Martha Wash.

Wash, perturbed by the fact that her image had been labeled "unmarketable" because of her obesity, successfully sued to receive proper credit (and royalties). Wash's courtroom efforts spurred legislation making vocal credits mandatory on CDs and music videos.

Reception

When it was first released, "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" was met by widespread commercial recognition, initiating the house movement of the early '90s. Topping charts in several countries, the song dominated the airwaves while its accompanying music video received constant rotation on MTV. Music critics praised "Gonna Make You Sweat" for Freedom Williams' Ice-T-like rap delivery in conjunction with Martha Wash's powerful, exuberant, post-disco vocals and deemed the song as a bona fide classic.^[1] However, over the years, the song came to be used and/or referenced an innumerable amount of times by entertainment industry, to the point were it became something of a musical, pop culture cliché. By 2007, the song was criticized by Allmusic as "the lazy Hollywood "go-to" song for supposed laugh-filled, irony-fueled dance numbers."^[2]

Chart performances and cover versions

The song held the top spot in the Billboard Magazine list of popular dance club tunes for five weeks in December 1990, and topped Billboard's Hot 100 Singles list for two weeks in 1991 (February 9 and February 16.) It reached #3 in the UK in January, a full month before its American pop success.

It was remixed and used, first in French DJ Bob Sinclar's 2006 song "Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)" - and then more obscurely in Plastik Funk's "Gonna Make You Sweat".

Music video

The video featured dancers performing in front of a white back drop. Zelma Davis lip-synchs to the recorded vocals of Martha Wash. A short clip on Double Dutch is shown near the end.

In the media

• Used in the movie The Super (1991).
• Parodied in the hip-hop 'mockumentary CB4 as "Wacky D's in da House" with Stoney Jackson as Wacky D, a rapper resembling Freedom Williams who raps about his dancing ability.
• Also parodied in the 1994 hip-hop mockumentary Fear of a Black Hat as the Ice Cold song "Come and Pet the P.U.S.S.Y." -- the video for which contained an Asian woman clearly lip-syncing to the voice of a large African-American female singer, specifically parodying the appearance of Zelma Davis in the video for the original song.
• Used during the rain dance montage in Chevy Chase film Man of the House.
• Sung and played (on the harmonium) by Borat in Borat's Guide to America, a segment of Da Ali G Show, firstly at a yoga session, then later on used during a new age dance class.
• Played in the trailer for the 2006 movie Flushed Away.
• Played in the 2003 movie Old School.
• Played several times in the 2005 documentary Mad Hot Ballroom.
• Used as background music in a gay steel mill in The Simpsons episode "Homer's Phobia", it also was used at the episode's end, accompanied with the message "Dedicated to the Steelworkers of America. Keep reaching for that rainbow!". The song later appeared in "Homer and Ned's Hail Mary Pass," and "Lard of the Dance".
• Played in Mary-Katherine's dream sequence in the cafeteria and the dance scene in the movie Superstar.
• Used in the 2005 film Jarhead during a "field fuck" scene with the Marines.
• Used as background music for the end credits in the 2007 film Evan Almighty.
• Jeffrey Pelehac, "The Dancing Cadet" danced wildly to "Gonna Make You Sweat" in a famous viral video.
• Used in a second season episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, where Vivian Banks takes dance classes.
• Used in an episode of The King of Queens. According to Doug, the song played when Doug and Carrie first met at a night club where Doug worked as a bouncer.
• In the film Robots, there is a party scene where this song plays in the background, while the main character's "Wonderbot" is acting strange after being used as a mixing glass by a bartender.
• The song is used to score the dodgeball scene in the 2005 animated film Chicken Little.
• This was the first song to be played on the current WKTU as a dance station in 1996, and KMVQ-FM in the Movin' format in 2006.
• In the second season episode of Will & Grace 'Polk Defeats Truman', Will enters his apartment singing the vocal hook from the track.
• Used in the holiday special Shrek the Halls, when Donkey is talking about his Christmas/Thanksgiving Parade.
• Musician Adam Green has covered the song live.
• Parodied in the Squidbillies episode "Flight of the Deep-Fried Pine Booby".
• George Sampson, the winner of the 2008 Britain's Got Talent, used the song to dance to in his audition. 2009's winner, Diversity, also used a sample of the song in their final live dance performance in which one of the group members mimed the lyrics.
• Robert Muraine used the track during a guest dance performance in season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance.
• Played in the tv spot for the film Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie.
• Included in Abercrombie & Fitch's Spring Break 2009 Playlist.
• In The Office, Andy & Kelly are both challenged to a dance-off to dance to this song during the episode "Cafe Disco". Also used when Michael starts playing the song through an air vent to distract the workers.
• Used in an episode of Drawn Together, Ling-Ling and Wooldoor are doing to dance.
• Used in WarioWare: Touched!, 9-Volt and 18-Volt dance to the polka dance after rocking the game, 36-Volt Man.
• Used in an early episode of The Amanda Show
• Is a skill point in the video game: Ratchet and Clank; Future Tools of Destruction.
• Was used in a commercial for Cabbage Patch Kids. The words were changed to "Everybody Pop 'n' Style" to advertise the new Pop 'n' Style Cabbage Patch Kids.

Track listings

CD single

1. "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (radio version) — 4:06
2. "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (in your face mix instrumental) — 4:54

7" single

1. "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (radio version) — 4:06
2. "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (in your face mix instrumental) — 4:54

12" maxi

1. "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (the slammin' vocal club mix) — 6:50
2. "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (Clivilles & Cole DJ's choice mix) — 5:00
3. "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" (the master mix instrumental) — 4:54

Certifications

Charts

References