360 Hello Dexy's Midnight Runners - Dance Stance

Chart  entered : 19  January  1980

Chart  peak : 40

Number  of  hits : 10

We  now  come  to  another  very  colourful  character  though  he  never  achieved  the  same  world  standing  as  Prince; in  the  States,  Dexy's  remain  the  archetypal  one  hit  wonders.

Kevin  Rowland  was  born  in  Birmingham  in  1953  to  Irish  parents . He  was  something  of  a  juvenile  delinquent  before  his  brother  let  him  into  his  covers  band  New  Blood  if  he'd  learn  the  guitar .  He  also  trained  as  a  hairdersser. Kevin  left  around  1975  to  form  the  Roxy-influenced  Lucy  &  the  Lovers. With the  coming  of  punk  they  morphed  into  The  Killjoys  and  moved  to  London. With  two  girls  in  the  band, ( one  of  whom , bass  player  Gil  Weston  would  eventually  have  a  handful  of  hits  herself  in  Girlschool )  they  stood  out   visually  if  not  musically  and  in  the  autumn  of  1977  released  their  only  single  "Johnny  Won't  Get  To  Heaven"  a  noisy  tribute  to  Mr  Rotten. With  its  expletives  , yobby  vocals  and  basic  ( that's  putting  it  kindly ) instrumentation  I'd  have  guessed  The  Exploited  if  I'd  heard  it  blind. The  Killjoys  had  frequent  line  up  changes  due  to  Kevin's  dictatorial  tendencies . When  guitarist   Kevin  Archer   ( born  1958 ) joined  the  band  in  1978  he  had  to  change  his  name  to  Al  because  there  could  only  be  one  Kevin. The  band  broke  up   shortly  afterwards  when  Kevin  unilaterally  rejected  a  £20,000  advance  from  Bronze  because  they  only  wanted  singles.    

"Al"  was  the  only  member  who  wanted  to  stick  with  him  and  found a  new  band  Dexy's  Midnight  Runners. Kevin  had  had  enough  of  punk, was  listening  to  soul  and  named  the  band  as  a  tribute  to  the  all-night  dancers  at  Northern  Soul  venues  ( Dexy = the  drug  Dexedrine ). They  set  about  recruiting  new  members.   Al  brought  in  Pete  Williams,  the  bassist   from  his  previous  pub  band  The  Negatives.  Pete  Saunders  ( born  1960  )  the  keyboard  player  joined  through  an  ad  in  the  Birmingham  Evening  Mail. He  was  London-born  and  previously  played  in  a  band  called  Pub  Theatre. A  drummer  John  Jay  came  from  the same  source. The  brass  section  took  longer  to  recruit.  Geoff  Blythe  , one  of  the  saxophonists  had  been  in  Geno  Washington's  Ram  Jam  Band. The  other  , eighteen  year  old  Steve  Spooner   was  from  a  youth  wind  orchestra  .  Trumpeter  Geoff  Kent   came  from  the  BBC  Midlands  Orchestra  Trombonist  "Big "  Jim  Paterson   was  recruited  from  a  Melody  Maker  ad  in  October  1978.   This  was  the  line-up  that  played  the  first  gigs  as  Dexy's  Midnight  Runners  in  November.

In  July  1979  they  signed  a  management  deal  with  Bernie  Rhodes. He  supplied  them  with  a  new  drummer  Bobby  Ward  from   idiosyncratic  punkers  Subway  Sect  when  Jay  left. Bobby  had  played  on  the  singles  "Nobody's  Scared"  and  "Ambition"  but  was  a  victim  of  the  mass  sacking  by  singer  Vic  Goddard  which  scuppered  the  band.

Kent  left  soon  afterwards  and  Kevin  elected  not  to  replace  him. The  band  were  now  being  courted  by   2  Tone. Although  they  accepted  a  place  on  the  2  Tone  tour  in  the  autumn  alongside  The  Selecter  and  The  Specials  they  largely kept  to  themselves. Kevin  was  now very  wary  of  being  associated  with  any  sort  of   movement  and  decided  to  sign  for  Rhodes's  Oddball  label  instead.

"Dance  Stance"  was  originally   called "Burn  It  Down"  and  is  a  fierce  attack  on  anti-Irish  prejudice  with  the  chorus  a  chanted  list  of  great  Irish  writers. Kevin  later  admitted  he  hadn't  read  them  all  at  the  time.  Like  many  of  their  songs  it  drops  the  listener  into  a  conversation  with  Kevin  trying  to  persuade  some  bigot  of  his  point.

It's  my  favourite  Dexys  song  and  thirty-five  years  on  I'm  still  somewhat  baffled  that  the  British  public  preferred  its  follow-up  to  so  great  a  degree. It's  the  horns  that  make  it , one  moment  blaring  defiance  , the  next  buttressing  Kevin's  challenges  in  the  verses  , then  playing  an  ineffably  sad  melody  in  the  corking  middle  eight. Also  worthy  of  mention  are  Pete  W's  fat  bassline  which  gives  the  song  its  dynamics  and  Pete  S's  brooding  Hammond. Kevin  hasn't  quite  got  the  full  on  General  Johnson  impersonation  worked  out  yet but  its  coming  on.

Rhodes  persuaded  Kevin  that  EMI  who  bankrolled  Oddball  didn't  like  the  incendiary  title  and suggested  "Dance  Stance"  instead. Kevin  went  with  that  but  when  he  heard  the  finished  product  he  realised  that  Rhodes  had  interfered  with  the  sound  as  well  and  the  relationship  ended  there  and  then. The  track  was  re-recorded  and  the  original  title  restored  on  their  debut  LP.