{"id":38721,"date":"2015-01-26T00:00:37","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T08:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=38721"},"modified":"2015-01-25T14:44:51","modified_gmt":"2015-01-25T22:44:51","slug":"day-history-january-26th-twist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/day-history-january-26th-twist\/","title":{"rendered":"This Day in History: January 26th- The Twist"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Day In History<\/a>: January 26, 1962<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"the-twist\"<\/a>There is only one song that made it to number one on the Billboard charts on two separate Billboard runs, and that is Chubby Checker\u2019s legendary dance smash \u201cThe Twist.\u201d The title first topped the chart for the week of Sept. 24, 1960, and then reclaimed the number one position on January 13, 1962, until finally relinquishing it for good on January 26, 1962.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Twist\u201d became a hit in the first place thanks to the tireless efforts of Dick Clark. The shrewd host of American Bandstand knew the song had the potential to be a huge smash, but the song\u2019s composer, Hank Ballard, had also written a sexually-driven ditty called \u201cWork With Me Annie\u201d that was banned by the FCC in 1954.\u00a0 In the end, Ballard’s version only managed to hit number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960.<\/p>\n

Clark knew he needed a more wholesome singer to cover the \u201cThe Twist\u201d for it to be successful. That singer turned out to be a young chicken plucker named Chubby Evans, soon to be dubbed “Checker” thanks to Mrs. Dick Clark.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’d had the nickname Chubby since I was 11 years old, and I was doing a Fats Domino impression.\u201d Checker recalled. \u201c\u2018His name is Chubby, like Fats? Well, then, his last name should be Checker, like Domino\u2019.\u201d \u201cThe Twist\u201d – both the song and the dance craze – and the exposure he was given on American Bandstand turned Chubby Checker into an overnight sensation.<\/p>\n

Other hit songs and dance crazes came and went. Chubby had another number one five months later with \u201cPony Time\u201d \u2013 another catchy song with an accompanying dance. Then, a year after its original release, after it had completely fallen out of the Hot #100, \u201cThe Twist\u201d shot to the top of the charts again, a phenomenon that hadn\u2019t happened before \u2013 or since.<\/p>\n

The song became a big hit with American adults after actress Merle Oberon was spotted doing the Twist with an elderly exiled Russian prince at the Peppermint Lounge. Teenagers from sea to shining sea died with embarrassment as their parents got a buzz on at family parties and cookouts and did the Twist. Bad news for America\u2019s teens perhaps, but it assured Chubby Checker\u2019s place in rock and roll history.<\/p>\n

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