No twisting here.

I've always wondered what guys like this were doing in the decades past their heyday. Interesting!

abigail05 said:

I've always wondered what guys like this were doing in the decades past their heyday. Interesting!

Chubby had mixed feelings about The Twist, because he said no one took him seriously afterward.

MickyDolenz said:

abigail05 said:

I've always wondered what guys like this were doing in the decades past their heyday. Interesting!

Chubby had mixed feelings about The Twist, because he said no one took him seriously afterward.

I never knew that, very interesting. Certainly was a MONSTER HIT for him though, and a nation-wide dance-craze. Wonder if he got paid?!?

LittleBLUECorvette said:

I wonder how Hank Ballard felt about this? This was his original he wrote and released the year before in 1959 (as a B-Side.)

When Chubby's version of "The Twist" was released, Hank initially thought it was HIS version that was being played because Chubby's and Hank's versions were too similar to each other (vocally, musically, etc.) I think Hank signed off on the royalties, only to fight for them and get a good portion of them prior to his death in 2003.

If Chubby felt all that guilty, he should've turned it down but when you're only 18 (as Chubby was at the time he recorded it), young and full of piss and vinegar, you'll try anything on the first take and he rode that "Twist" sensation for a while. He had at least five top ten hits after that with the word "twist" in it. Even a ballad with that word (I think a duet with Dee Dee Sharp) was also a hit.

Hank had some success with the original version (it went #28 on the pop chart in 1960) and this revived his career somewhat and he also rode the "twist" craze until tastes changed.

[Edited 11/27/10 11:45am]

MickyDolenz said:

abigail05 said:

I've always wondered what guys like this were doing in the decades past their heyday. Interesting!

Chubby had mixed feelings about The Twist, because he said no one took him seriously afterward.

I agree, I never took him serious.. He definitely had mixed emotions, because he Twisted again and again and again after that.

..just look at his twisting records, twist this and twist that.

StarMon said:

MickyDolenz said:

Chubby had mixed feelings about The Twist, because he said no one took him seriously afterward.

I agree, I never took him serious.. He definitely had mixed emotions, because he Twisted again and again and again after that.

..just look at his twisting records, twist this and twist that.

If anything, when you take on a novelty type of song like that (Hank Ballard himself had no idea the song would do as well as it did), you risk on being typecasted. Hank never had that problem but Chubby would have it on his butt for the rest of his career, he'll never get rid of it. And he wonders why he can't get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. WELL...

You have to remember, most acts back then didn't have a choice in what they recorded. If something was a hit, the record label usually had the act or other performers do similar songs to replicate the success. Chubby wasn't the only performer doing dance craze records.

Timmy84 said:

StarMon said:

I agree, I never took him serious.. He definitely had mixed emotions, because he Twisted again and again and again after that.

..just look at his twisting records, twist this and twist that.

If anything, when you take on a novelty type of song like that (Hank Ballard himself had no idea the song would do as well as it did), you risk on being typecasted. Hank never had that problem but Chubby would have it on his butt for the rest of his career, he'll never get rid of it. And he wonders why he can't get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. WELL...

Word.

MickyDolenz said:

You have to remember, most acts back then didn't have a choice in what they recorded. If something was a hit, the record label usually had the act or other performers do similar songs to replicate the success. Chubby wasn't the only performer doing dance craze records.

Yet he's the only one who complains about it.

I never seen Dee Dee Sharp complain when she did "The Mashed Potato" over and over.

And like I said previously, Hank didn't have complaints about "Twist" since people recognized him for his earlier pioneering work (like in the '80s but still lol).