It took a deadly shark to draw us away from summer fun and into a darkened theatre. Steven Spielberg鈥檚 Jaws captured our attention through the scorching months of 1975 and firmly and forever conjoined the terms summer and blockbuster in our minds. And so, as we wonder what the next big hit of the season will be, Star writers look at blockbusters of the past 鈥 not just movies, but everything from art to music 鈥 looking for lessons on what made these works ripe for such phenomenal success.
There鈥檚 hitting the jackpot with a pop song and then there鈥檚 really hitting the jackpot.
In 1996, a pair of decidedly unfashionable middle-aged gents from Dos Hermanas, Spain, named Antonio Romeo Monge and Rafael Ruiz, who had been performing together in a group called Los Del Rio since 1962, hit that jackpot in colossal fashion with one of the most infamous singles of all time. That鈥檚 right, folks 鈥 and I apologize in advance for putting the damn thing in your head again all these years later 鈥 we鈥檙e talking about 鈥淢acarena,鈥 an insidiously catchy piece of musical cheese that briefly became the go-to jam for every single wedding, sporting event, bar mitzvah and other large social gathering on the planet.
The song was so ubiquitous in the summer of 1996 鈥 one where Alanis Morissette鈥檚 Jagged Little Pill continued a long reign over the Billboard album charts, the alien-invasion blockbuster Independence Day dominated the box office and TV coverage of the Atlanta Olympics was hijacked by a 鈥 that delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago where Bill Clinton and Al Gore officially got the nod for a second term saw fit to open and close the event with mass 鈥淢acarena鈥 dance-a-thons. (Undaunted by the explosion in Atlanta, the U.S. rhythmic gymnastics team would also incorporate the tune in one of their Olympic demonstrations.)
Interestingly, like Los Del Rio themselves, who鈥檇 already recorded some 30 albums of traditional Spanish music, 鈥淢acarena鈥 was anything but an overnight success.
According to — yes, there’s still a — Monge and Ruiz wrote the song in 1992 as a tribute to a fiery Venezuelan flamenco dancer. The first recorded version, a rumba, was issued on a small Spanish label late the next year.
A peppier, poppier version with flashes of flamenco would soon follow, and found popularity with audiences in Spain, Mexico and Colombia after getting picked up by BMG Worldwide in 1994. In Puerto Rico, , 鈥淢acarena鈥 was even adopted by then-governor Pedro Rossello as the 鈥渦nofficial鈥 theme of his re-election campaign.
Nevertheless, it wasn鈥檛 until an American remix team called the Bayside Boys got ahold of the song and added some English lyrics to the mix (while respectfully leaving Los Del Rio to deliver the chorus) in August 1995 that it gained a foothold in North America. And even then, it took nearly 12 months of grassroots steam-gathering nurtured by wedding, cruise-ship and resort DJs before the tune cracked wide and battled its way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, settling into the No. 1 position for the first of 14 straight weeks on Aug. 3, 1996. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Ramones performed their final show just three days later.
By this point, the 鈥淢acarena鈥 and the dippy dance craze popularized by Los Del Rio and an assortment of comely ladies in making the rounds was utterly inescapable in baseball, basketball and football stadiums around the world.
鈥淗ow to dance the 鈥楳acarena鈥欌 articles and TV news spots proliferated. 鈥淔irst, move the right arm out, then the left arm out, then behind the head and on the hips,鈥 instructed a Hartford Courant piece on the 鈥渟urprise hit of the summer鈥 picked up by the Star on July 21, 1996. 鈥淪way your hips three times and jump, taking a quarter turn to the right. Then start over.鈥
Meanwhile, the song appeared simultaneously on the North American pop charts in three separate iterations: Los Del Rio鈥檚 , an opportunistic cover by Canadian outfit and, of course, the 鈥淏ayside Boys Mix.鈥 鈥淢acarena鈥 would eventually set a record for the longest stay on the Billboard Hot 100 at 62 weeks on the chart, with the Bayside Boys鈥 version besting Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men鈥檚 鈥淥ne Sweet Day鈥 and C茅line Dion鈥檚 鈥淏ecause You Loved Me鈥 to become the No. 1 single of 1996. It had sold 11 million copies worldwide by 1997.
鈥淭he 鈥楳acarena,鈥 when it came out, was the song that made your business look good,鈥 says Page Magen, who with twin brother Jian 鈥 colloquially known together as Toronto鈥檚 鈥淏ar Mitzvah Kings鈥 鈥 runs the immensely successful party-planning company . 鈥淚 knew that if the party was bad or if that party wasn鈥檛 hopping, I had the 鈥楳acarena鈥 in my back pocket to throw down. It was used as an ignition for an event.鈥
Page credits the song鈥檚 raging popularity to its undeniable catchiness (鈥淚t鈥檚 a stain in your head鈥) and the everyman spirit of its accompanying, easy-to-grasp dance moves 鈥 a spirit personified so awkwardly by Los Del Rio themselves in the videos. The dance was a great leveller, after all, because everyone looked ridiculous doing it. Pull the groom or the father of the youngster celebrating his bar mitzvah onstage to do the 鈥淢acarena鈥 and you had an instant icebreaker. The only comparable phenomenon he鈥檚 witnessed since, he says, is
鈥淕enerally, everyone鈥檚 a bad dancer,鈥 observes Page. 鈥淓veryone who goes to parties is trying their best to be somewhat accepted in an environment of social etiquette, and when there鈥檚 a song that鈥檚 so easy and so dumb and so easy to keep up with it allows everyone to get a passable grade. So when you put 5 billion people under the roof of 鈥業 can do this,鈥 everyone feels like they鈥檙e in it.鈥
The Magen boys still bust out 鈥淢acarena鈥 from time to time, he says, but these days it鈥檚 used more as a 鈥済immick鈥: during a set of 鈥渢he five cheesiest songs of all time,鈥 for instance, or as cue for an easy laugh when played out of context. 鈥淚鈥檒l play a Flo Rida song and say 鈥楧o the Macarena,鈥欌 he chuckles.
The 鈥淢acarena鈥 phenomenon wound up becoming one of the pop-culture stories of 1996, rivalled only perhaps by the finalization of Prince Charles鈥檚 divorce from Diana, Princess of Wales on Aug. 28; the fatal shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas on Sept. 7; and the commencement of the O.J. Simpson trial on Oct. 28.
The song鈥檚 moment did eventually pass, despite diligent efforts to keep the flame burning on the part of Los Del Rio, who鈥檇 recorded six different versions, including late 1996鈥檚 Subsequent attempts by the duo to recapture the magic, such as a 1997 collaboration with 鈥淲ho Let the Dogs Out?鈥 auteurs the Baha Men and MC Hammer entitled 鈥淐ar Loca Rosa,鈥 didn鈥檛 pan out terribly well, but Los Del Rio鈥檚 money was made.
And is still being made, for that matter. 鈥淢acarena鈥 regularly haunts hockey rinks and wedding receptions to this day, and recently resurfaced on the silver screen as performed by Miss Piggy in this year鈥檚 Muppets Most Wanted .
Once you鈥檝e heard the song, in any case, it doesn鈥檛 go away. A 2005 study by researchers at the U.K.鈥檚 Huddersfield University, in fact, ranked 鈥淢acarena鈥 as one of the 10 catchiest summer songs of all time based on a mathematical formula which, as the Star reported at the time, derived a 鈥渃atchiness quotient鈥 from 鈥渇actors like the number of chords in the song, distance between the highest and lowest notes in the chorus, number of steps in the dance routine and how much the record company spent on promotion.鈥
It didn鈥檛 top the list, ceding the top spot to Las Ketchup鈥檚 鈥淭he Ketchup Song鈥 once the calculations were done. Given how relentlessly the 鈥淢acarena鈥 has run on endless loop in my head while I鈥檝e pulled this piece together over the past few days, however, I could mount a very strong anecdotal case for its rightful place at No. 1.
FIVE BIG EVENTS FROM THE SUMMER OF 1996
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