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Men Without Hats Celebrate '80s Nostalgia on the 'Totally Tubular' Tour
Everybody's still doing 'The Safety Dance'
Known for worldwide hits like “The Safety Dance” and “Pop Goes the World,” Men Without Hats is touring the U.S. with the Totally Tubular Festival, which also features ‘80s new wave faves like Thomas Dolby, A Flock of Seagulls and Bow Wow Wow.
“It’s like going to a new wave summer camp,” says Men Without Hats frontman Ivan Doroschuk, who enjoys being on the road with the other bands in the lineup. “I find touring now is not as competitive as when we were all trying to outdo each other in the ’80s. Now, everyone is just having fun, traveling around together, sharing stories and playing for the fans that really love the music.”
Doroschuk founded Men Without Hats in Montreal in 1977. Initially guided by a guitar-oriented punk rock ethos, the band eventually adopted the synth-heavy aesthetic that ultimately clicked with fans.
In 1982, Men Without Hats had its first hit with “The Safety Dance” from their debut album Rhythm of Youth. Doroschuk was inspired to write the song after getting booted from clubs for pogoing. (A form of dance that involves jumping up and down while keeping your body straight, it was seen as dangerous by bouncers.)
“It was an exciting time for music,” Doroschuk says of the ’80s. “The MTV era had just begun. The revolution in technology—pop music with the use of synths, drum machines and MIDI—[created] an outlet for all kinds of artists to create something new and different.”
Men Without Hats celebrates the era on their latest album On the Moon with the ebullient “I Love the ’80s.” The music video for the song has tallied 1.6 million views on YouTube.
While many of the band’s fans are Gen-Xers who discovered MWH in their youth, the band has a multi-generational fan base. Looking into the audience on this tour, “We literally see three generations of fans out there. It’s wonderful,” Doroschuk says. “Often we run into younger fans that say they found our music through their parents and dare I say some through their grandparents.”
“The Safety Dance” is often the song people recognize. Still a pop-culture staple after all these years, the tune has been featured in films, TV shows and commercials, including the 2023 TurboTax Super Bowl spot “Dancer.”
In 2020, Alaska Airlines also created “Alaska Safety Dance,” a whole safety video inspired by “The Safety Dance” and featuring the carrier’s employees.
“Licensing music has been a great way to introduce our music to new fans,” Doroschuk acknowledges. “Our publisher has a pretty big say in where the songs find these massive global placements. It’s incredible the reach it has given the songs around the world.”
