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The Twist was a rock and roll dance popular in the early 1960s named after the song that originated it, The Twist. It was the first major international rock and roll dance style in which the couples did not have to touch each other while dancing. Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... The Twist is a 1960 and 1962 hit song performed by American singer Chubby Checker. ...

The dance was first popularized by Chubby Checker in 1960 with a hit cover of the 1959 B-side and minor hit "The Twist" written by Hank Ballard. Checker's single became a smash hit, reaching #1 on the US charts. The song set a record, being the only single to reach #1 in two different chart runs (as it reached #1 in 1960, and then resurfaced, reaching #1 again in 1962). Chubby Checker is the stage name of Ernest Evans (born October 3, 1941), an American singer best known for popularizing the dance The Twist with his 1960 song The Twist. He was born in Spring Gulley, South Carolina,[1] and raised in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended South Philadelphia High... In recorded music, the terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 7 inch vinyl records on which singles have been released since the 1950s. ... Hank Ballard (born John Henry Kendricks) (November 18, 1927 - March 2, 2003) was an African American R&B/rock singer and the lead vocalist of Hank Ballard & the Midnighters. ...

Faced with explaining to the youthful audience how to do the dance, a member of Checker's entourage came up with the following description:

"It's like putting out a cigarette with both feet, and wiping your bottom with a towel, to the beat of the music."

In 1961, at the height of the Twist craze, patrons at New York's hot Peppermint Lounge on West 45th Street were twisting to the music of the house band, a local group from Jersey, Joey Dee and the Starliters. Their house song, "Peppermint Twist (Part 1)," became the number one song in the United States for three weeks in January 1962. Sailors and hookers, hipsters and weekending Yalies danced alongside New York's social elite, including the Duke of Windsor, at the legendary Peppermint Lounge. New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... Peppermint Lounge was a popular nightclub located in New York. ... The current version of the article or section reads like an advertisement. ... Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; later The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from the death of his father, George V (1910–36), on 20...

In Latin America, the Twist craze was sparked in the 1960-62 period not by recordings by Checker or Ballard, but by Bill Haley & His Comets. Their recordings of "The Spanish Twist" and "Florida Twist" were major successes, particularly in Mexico, and the band were given the credit for starting the dance craze. Haley, in interviews at the time, was always quick to give credit to Checker and Ballard. Coincidentally, Checker appeared in two musicals that took their titles from the two films Haley made in the 1950s (the Checker films had the same producer): Twist Around the Clock (after Rock Around the Clock) and Don't Knock the Twist (after Don't Knock the Rock). Latin America consists of the countries of South America and some of North America (including Central America and some the islands of the Caribbean) whose inhabitants mostly speak Romance languages, although Native American languages are also spoken. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Twist Around the Clock is a 1961 musical film produced by Sam Katzman who earlier made the very similar Rock Around the Clock. ... Dancers Earl Barton and Lisa Gaye take the stage in Rock Around the Clock as Bill Haley and His Comets play in the background. ... Dont Knock the Rock was a 1956 rock and roll film starring Alan Dale as a rock star who returns to his hometown to rest up for the summer only to find that rock and roll has been banned there by disapproving adults. ...

The dance resurfaced for a time in 1988, as a result of a rap version of the song recorded by The Fat Boys with Checker's participation. Hip hop music is a style of popular music. ... The Fat Boys were an American hip-hop music trio from Brooklyn, New York City who emerged in the early 1980s. ...

Cultural references

In 1962, Dell Comics produced a comic called "The Twist" that fictionalized the Peppermint Lounge dance craze. Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publications, which got its start in pulp magazines. ...

In 1993, a film by Ron Mann called Twist was produced which was a documentary about the Twist craze. Ron Mann (1959-) is a Canadian documentary film director focusing primarily on aspects of American popular culture. ...

In the MMORPG World of Warcraft game, druids will perform "The Twist" in Tree of Life when given the "/dance" command. An image from World of Warcraft, one of the largest commercial MMORPGs as of 2004, based on active subscriptions. ... World of Warcraft (commonly abbreviated as WoW) is a massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment and is the fourth game in the Warcraft series, excluding expansion packs and the cancelled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. ... Druidry or Druidism was the religion of the ancient druids, the priestly class in ancient Celtic and Gallic societies through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in the British Isles. ... The Tree-of-Life is a fictional plant (the ancestor of yams, with similar appearance and taste) in Larry Nivens Known Space universe, for which all Hominids have an in-built genetic craving. ...

In Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction, John Travolta and Uma Thurman dance The Twist to Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell" as part of the Jack Rabbit Slim's Twist Contest. Quentin Jerome Tarantino (born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, actor, and screenwriter. ... Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Pulp Fiction is an Academy Award-winning 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote the screenplay with Roger Avary. ... John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is a two-time Academy Award-nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning American actor and singer. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Charles Edward Anderson Chuck Berry (born October 18, 1926 in St. ...

In Spider-Man 3 (2007), Harry Osborn and Mary Jane Watson dance to "The Twist." Spider-Man 3 is a 2007 superhero film written and directed by Sam Raimi, with a screenplay by Ivan Raimi and Alvin Sargent. ... Harry Osborn is a Marvel Comics character, both one-time friend and foe to Spider-Man. ... Mary Jane Watson or Mary Jane Watson-Parker, depending on the adaptation, is (in the fictional world of Spider-Man) the wife of Peter Parker (Spider Man) and a supporting character in the Marvel Comics Spider-Man series. ...