Men Without Hats is a Canadian New Wave group from Montreal, Quebec. Their music was characterized by the distinctive baritone voice of their lead singer Ivan Doroschuk as well as their elaborate use of synthesizers and electronic processing. They achieved their greatest popularity in the early to mid 1980s with their most successful single, "The Safety Dance", a Top 10 hit in both the US and the UK,
Their first release was the EP Folk of the 80's, released in 1980. By this time, the band consisted of Ivan and Stefan Doroschuk, Arrobas, and guitarist Roman Martyn. Shortly after the release of the EP, Martyn left and was replaced by Jean-Marc Pisapia. Pisapia stayed only a short time before leaving; he was replaced briefly by Tracy Howe, who also left in short order — although he was around long enough to be credited on a reprint of Folk of the 80's, despite not appearing on it. Howe's interim replacement, Daniel Wheeler, spent a short time as the group's percussionist, before departing for a brief, but successful, career in American local politics after being elected to the State of South Dakota School Board.
Both Howe and Pisapia achieved some success outside of Men Without Hats; Howe with his band Rational Youth and Pisapia after forming The Box. Mike Gabriel also joined Men Without Hats around this time of constant membership turnover and by 1982 both Arrobas and Gabriel would leave to work with Pisapia in a new (pre-The Box) band, before eventually forming their own group, Isinglass.
International success
Ivan and Stefan Doroschuk subsequently recruited Allan McCarthy (percussion, electronics) to join the group. Soon after, the trio erupted onto the international scene with their worldwide hit single "
The Safety Dance" from their 1982 debut album
Rhythm of Youth. The song spent four weeks at number three on the
Billboard Hot 100, was also a major hit in the
UK Singles Chart, peaking at #6, began a "Dance If You Want Tour 2011" with a well attended and positively received performance at Austin's
South by Southwest event in March, 2011. At North by Northeast in Toronto on June 18th, Ivan announced that Men Without Hats would be releasing a new studio album, and that it would be entitled "Folk of the 80s: Part IV". On June 19th, 2011 he played at the Festival "Sound of Music" in Burlington, ON, Canada.
Discography
Studio albums
Rhythm of Youth (1982)
Folk of the 80's (Part III) (1984)
Pop Goes the World (1987)
The Adventures of Women & Men Without Hate in the 21st Century (1989)
Sideways (1991)
No Hats Beyond This Point (2003)
EPs
Folk of the 80's (1980)
Freeways (1985)
Compilation albums
Collection (1996)
Greatest Hats (1997)
''The Very Best of Men Without Hats (1998)
My Hats Collection (2006)
''The Silver Collection (plus bonus DVD) (2008)
Singles
{|class="wikitable"
!Year
!Song
!
UK
!
CAN
!
U.S.
! Album
|-
|rowspan="4"|1983
| "I Like"
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|84
|rowspan="4"|
Rhythm of Youth
|-
| "
The Safety Dance"
|align="center"|6
|align="center"|11
|align="center"|3
|-
| "I Got the Message"
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-
|-
| "Living in China"
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|-
|-
|rowspan="1"|1984
| "Where Do the Boys Go?"
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|30
|align="center"|-
|rowspan="1"|
Folk of the 80's (Part III)
|-
|rowspan="2"|1987
| "
Pop Goes the World"
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|2
|align="center"|20
|rowspan="2"|
Pop Goes the World
|-
| "Moonbeam"
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|23
|align="center"|-
|-
|rowspan="2"|1989
| "Hey Men"
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|8
|align="center"|-
|rowspan="2"|
The Adventures of Women & Men Without Hate in the 21st Century
|-
| "In the 21st Century"
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|35
|align="center"|-
|-
|rowspan="1"|1991
| "Sideways"
|align="center"|-
|align="center"|50
|align="center"|-
|rowspan="1"|
Sideways
|-
|}
Music videos
"Nationale 7"
"Security"
"Antarctica"
"The Safety Dance"
"I Like"
"Where Do the Boys Go?"
"Pop Goes the World"
"Moonbeam"
"Hey Men"
"In the 21st Century"
"Sideways"
DVDs
Live Hats (2006)
Covers
The Adventures of Women & Men Without Hate in the 21st Century featured a cover of ABBA's "SOS"
Sideways featured a cover of The Beatles' "I Am the Walrus" (subtitled "'No You're Not', Said Little Nicola").
The Collection and Greatest Hats compilations featured a cover of Roxy Music's "Editions of You"
The Montreal-based punk band, The Nils, performed a cover of "Pop Goes The World" on their compilation release, Green Fields in Daylight.
See also
List of Quebec musicians
Music of Quebec
Culture of Quebec
List of number-one dance hits (United States)
List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
References
External links
Men Without Hats official site
Lazlo's Discography Machine: Men Without Hats
Jeremie Arrobas official site
Category:1980s music groups
Category:Canadian New Wave musical groups
Category:Musical groups established in 1980
Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1991
Category:Synthpop
Category:Musical groups from Montreal
Category:English-language musical groups from Quebec
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![Men Without Hats - Safety Dance [Official Video]](http://web.archive.org./web/20110802021739im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/7movKfyTBII/0.jpg "Men Without Hats - Safety Dance [Official Video]")
