The Twist was a dance inspired by rock and roll music. It became the first worldwide dance craze in the early 1960s, enjoying immense popularity among young people and drawing fire from critics who felt it was too provocative. It inspired dances such as the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed Potato, the Monkey and the Funky Chicken, although none were as popular. The dance was inspired by “The Twist,” B-side of Hank Ballard’s single “Teardrops on your letter” in 1959. The song, and the dance the Twist, was popularized in 1960 when the song was covered by Chubby Checker.
Dick Clark was a powerhouse in music at the time, thanks to American Bandstand, which ran five times a week in the afternoons, showcasing local dancers and visiting performers who lip-synched along with their recordings. Clark saw the Twist's potential when he heard Hank Ballard's original version, but Ballard and his group, whose greatest hit had been "Work With Me Annie" in 1954, was considered too raunchy to appeal to Clark's teenage audience. He urged Philadelphia record label Cameo/Parkway to record a new version of “The Twist” with young, wholesome Chubby Checker, who had displayed his talent for copying other artists on an earlier novelty hit “The Class.” Released in summer 1960, Checker’s rendition of “The Twist” became number one on the singles chart in the USA in 1960 and then again in 1962.
In 1961, at the height of the craze, patrons at New York's Peppermint Lounge on West 45th Street were twisting to the house band, a local group from Jersey, Joey Dee and the Starliters. Their song, "The Peppermint Twist (Part 1)" became number one in the United States for three weeks in January 1962. In 1962, Bo Diddley released his album Bo Diddley's A Twister. He recorded several Twist tracks, including "The Twister," "Bo's Twist" and "Mama Don't Allow No Twistin," which referenced the objections many parents had to the pelvic motions of the dance.
In Latin America, the Twist was sparked in 1960-62 by Bill Haley & His Comets. Their recordings of "The Spanish Twist" and "Florida Twist" were successes, particularly in Mexico. Haley, in interviews, credited Checker and Ballard. Coincidentally, Checker appeared in two musicals that took their titles from films Haley made in the 1950s: Twist Around the Clock (after Rock Around the Clock) and Don't Knock the Twist (after Don't Knock the Rock).
The dance would come to be seen as emblematic of the early 1960s in later years, with popular songs, television shows, and movies likely to reference it when they wanted to convey the spirit of that time period. In 1978, rock band The B-52's included the line, "Twisting round the fire," in their song of 1960s beach party film references, "Rock Lobster". .
