The Twist Dance Craze

Young people in Berlin taking part in the Twist dance craze, 1964

Historical Context

When American rock artist Chubby Checker released his catchy pop song The Twist in 1960, few could have imagined that it would be responsible for a dance craze that would sweep the Western world in the early 1960s.

The dance itself had existed in its modern form since at least the late 1950s. Checker released his single in 1960 and it eventually claimed the top spot on September 19, 1960. Over the next two years, the craze took hold, and the song emerged as a number #1 again on January 13, 1962.

The Twist was a watershed moment for rock'n'roll as the sight of celebrities doing the dance helped popularize it with adults - making them more accepting of the genre that their kids were going crazy for.

Photo Info

Photographer: Hochneder, Christa
Date taken: May 17, 1964
Location taken: Berlin, West Germany
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Related Events

1960-07-15 Chubby Checker releases his version of "The Twist" in the US (date approximate)
1960-08-06 Chubby Checker performs his version of Hank Ballard's "The Twist" on "The Dick Clark Show", starting a worldwide dance craze
1960-09-19 Chubby Checker's "The Twist" hits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100
1962-01-13 Chubby Checker's song "The Twist", credited with starting the Twist dance craze, goes to #1 in the charts two years after first reaching number one spot
1962-01-26 Bishop Burke of Buffalo Catholic dioceses declares Chubby Checker's "The Twist" to be impure and bans it from all Catholic schools