Songoftheday 2/18/16 - The party was packed I'm talkin' back to back, there was a rapper that was rappin' to a beat that was wack...

"The Twist (Yo, Twist)" - The Fat Boys with Chubby Checker
from the album Coming Back Hard Again (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 8

Today's song of the day comes from the rap trio the Fat Boys, who went from an underground novelty act to one of the most known groups in the genre, appearing in movies like Disorderlies and Krush Groove. Their interpolation of the 60s surf-rock classic "Wipe Out" with lily-white veterans the Beach Boys landed them a top-20 pop hit in the fall of 1987. A year later, the Boys released their fifth album Coming Back Hard Again, and with hoping that lightning would strike twice, they enlisted 60s legend Chubby Checker (aka Ernest Evans) to sing the chorus on their re-imagining of his dance-fad single "The Twist". The original, written by Hank Ballard, became the first record to go to #1 on Billboard's Pop chart in two separate chart runs, once in 1960, and again in 1962...

Checker already had a brief revival in the early 80s, with his single "Running" reaching #91 on the pop chart and "Harder Than Diamonds" going to #33 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio chart. But it was this campy retread that brought him back to the American top-40...

The Fat Boys' version of "The Twist" became their second top-20 pop hit in August of 1988, while making it to #40 on Billboard's R&B chart. Over the Atlantic, the single was a big hit, repeating the success of "Wipe Out" and reaching #2 on the singles chart in the UK. This would be the trio's final time in the top-40, with their follow-up cover of "Louie Louie" hitting #89 in the US and #46 in the UK. They recorded the theme song to the fourth Freddie Kreuger A Nightmare On Elm Street movie, and "Are You Ready For Freddy" popped in at #93 on the R&B chart. The Boys tried to get serious on their next album On and On, but it only sent two singles into the 80s on the R&B list, their last entry being "Just Loungin'" at #86 in 1989. Member Prince Markie Dee left after that, leaving Buff Love "The Human Beatbox" and Kool Rock-Ski to put out one more completely unnoticed album in 1991. Sadly, four years later, and Buff Love died from a heart attack. Markie Dee (Mark Morales), though, did really well, placing two singles into the R&B top 40; "Trippin Out" (#25, 1992), and "Typical Reasons (Swing My Way)", the latter reaching #29 R&B and making the Hot 100 American pop chart at #64. (His album Free is an awesome find.) He's also produced for Mary J. Blige (her "Real Love" hit) and is now a radio DJ. Meanwhile, Chubby popped back on the Adult Contemporary chart in 2007 with "Knock Down The Walls", which slipped in at #29. 

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The Fat Boys and Chubby Checker found themselves with enough of a big hit to land them a spot on the Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday concert in 1988...

Up tomorrow: Boston boys play with girls toys.