"The Twist" #1 9/24/1960

The only record to ever hit #1 on two totally separate chart runs (16 months apart), and one that spawned a thousand knock-offs. It was written and first done by R&B star Hank Ballard and recommended to Dick Clark by Baltimore DJ Buddy Deane - the Corny Collins character in "Hairspray" was a tribute to Buddy. Dick liked Hank's version, but didn't book him on "American Bandstand" since his records, though great R&B, were known to be a tad risqué. Clark arranged for Parkway Records to have the song cloned note for note by one Earnest Evans. The rest is history. Ballard didn't mind, as he still cashed all those songwriting royalty checks. Dick's wife renamed Earnest as a play on words, as Fats = Chubby and Domino = Checker. Chubby became king of the dance crazes as he did plenty of knock-offs of this himself. He said doing the Twist was sort of like stomping out a cigarette while toweling off your backside, which summed up what parents in 1960 must have thought of that danged rock and roll. By its second go-round in '62, even the parents were doing the Twist. Chubby remade this in the late 80's with the Fat Boys. Clip is from "Bandstand."