Are these the worst background dancers EVER?

Looks like every performance I have ever seen on Watch What Happens Live. It’s the product of no rehearsal, no budget and too much alcohol and cocaine.

R1 lol true but WWHL is supposed to be a joke. This was a real dance hit song. I think it hit #2 for club play. Maybe they were her gay best friends but they should have worked harder on being in sync and looking good

I love it! They dance to their own beat which is fresh, original & even made me laugh a time or two.

It reminds me of how (as kids) we would dance in our bedrooms in front of a mirror.

Dancing is over choreographed today. Dancers are now mindless robots with no originality. These guys at least have that. The DL will now rip them to shreds.

The one problem nobody might mention is that their antics overshadowed the singer (even with her harmonica) but even she doesn't come across as a great dancer herself. The four of them all look like they're having fun which I can't always see in some live performances of today.

In the past 20 years, most routines I've seen once aren't interesting enough for me to view again.

the 12" is so repeatable. I love listening to it

Thank you OP!!! Damn I needed a laugh today. Whoever said she basically just got her gay friends to dance around got it right. I too loved the song though. Memories of oooooolden days.

R5 it's a very catchy song. Glad you like it. Did you dance to this in clubs in 1982?

the youtube comments are brutal on the backup dancers btw lol

Back then, you'd see these kitsch performances on pre-cable (yes, broadcast) tv. It was pretty much like this. It's before MTV and the dancers were sometimes pulled from the audience with 10 minutes rehearsal. She's lip syncing because broadcast standards required it - and this was analog, so no "3 second delay". That would have been a bitches with an AMPEX reel tape deck.

R7 lol sounds like fun times. I don't want to be older but would like to see what it was like back then in NYC clubs early 80s. Madonna started out as a dance act like this but was able to go mainstream. Too bad Sharon didn't have that luck

R6/OP. Yes I sure did dance to it in clubs in NYC in 80s. Grew up in NYC. This was a big big club song for about 5 months.

She’s also lip synching because doing good live performance mixes with a noisy audience needs more work/equipment than the average local station setup for a lot of these shows. The fake wireless mic (usually a piece of shiny metal or worse a telescoping antenna from a cheap radio attached to an XLR connector) is a staple of these.

Nope. Kelly Marie and her two backup "dancers" in gold condoms is still the worst and funniest ever!

I've seen worse. The mismatched outfits make it look a little worse than it is.

Amateurs. This is how it’s done:

God damn. This is why I love DL. Forget the political, trans issues, WHET some porn star. THIS is entertainment. Thank you all.

R15 - pretty sure those were the Solid Gold dancers. Not to say that they weren’t bad, but they had nothing else to do with Matthew Wilde.

After about 2:12 the dancers on the end become "synchronized' while the one in the middle does some sort of "robot." Catchy song, never heard it before.

The kick and pelvic thrust from 2:39 to 2:42 kill me. Hilarious

Omg these are hilarious. I sometimes forget how bad the fashions and dance were in the disco era and 80’s. The Solid Gold dancers used to make me cringe in embarrassment for them.

I love how Kelly Marie struggles to look at the right camera.

Kelly Marie looks like a dude.

Kelly Marie reminds me of a PTown lesbian - I love that Sharon Brown song and the Matthew Wilder song has aged well - he wrote and produced for No Doubt

Kelly Marie is from just outside Glasgow, and she has the looks to match

Fank you OP, Oh fank you!!! You fixeded my day.

Kelly Marie looks like Pete Burns pre-fucked up face surgery.

It’s not backup dancing exactly, but I feel compelled to leave this here.

The full version or r27's video is pretty remarkable . Those Aerobic kids mastered some tight choreography.

Miss Thing in the middle is trying to cover that she doesn’t know the moves at all. The other two were occasionally in sync. I love it.

These are worst

Kelly Marie should be the patron saint of DL. Every month their should be a thread started in her honor. She literally is the gift that keepings on giving. I LOVE HER!

I had never heard of her before DL. Add me to the lovefest.

I’m rolling on them floor laughing at that aerobics video. Was there really a aerobics championship?

OP, the song is great and I love the singer - never heard of her. Thanks for the intro. Her backup dancers are not great, but there's no hint that they're putting on a spectacle, unlike the oft-cited Kelli.

My vote would be for the dancers in Taylor Dane's" Tell it to my Heart" who , while actually being attractive and obviously talented, manage to fall out of sync and never quite recover. Or maybe that's more the director/editor's fault?

Best low-cash back-up dancers? Bananarama's "Love in the First Degree". It's literally a Bel Ami/Kristen Bjorn fuckfest minus any actual fucking.

They live in her apartment building OP. They agreed to do it.

God, Pete Burns was so cute, so sad how his dysmorphia turned him into a freak and led to an early death.

They remind me of the special needs people who dance. They know a couple of routines and endlessly repeat the moves.

How have I lived for numerous decades on this earth, and only today discovered this creature called Kelly Marie. I was transfixed by the video--she sings, she dances. Her karate kick took it Over. The. Top.

a gif needed to be created

Where have I heard that Kelly Marie song before? I swear it was in a movie or TV show but I can't remember which one.

It reminds me of "I don't want to fall in Love" r40. Holy shit, this thread is great and r39, that gif is so awesome. The one dancer looks like Baba Booey.

R38, you're welcome. I love introducing her to DL. She's the best!!!

I love the little judo chop she does around 16 seconds in.

Found it!

That is transcendentally terrible, R44...

First off, the song is fab. Second, I agree that the dancers aren't so horrible. They are each doing their thing and its very casual but they aren't awful. It looks like three volunteers just got put there and twirled about.

The dudes in Kelly's video are handsome with great bodies and those outfits are to die for.

This gets better every time I watch it. At some point Kelly Marie gives up pretending to hold the microphone anywhere near her mouth.

I was around in 1982, have never heard of her or this song before, but don't find the dancers particularly different than many others from that era.

One of the best things about the future as compared to the olden days are the tighter standards for backup dancers. I think it was Reagan who really got behind the push to do more rigorous vetting, and I for one am grateful.

R50 Reagan was always obsessed with catching up to the Finns...

None of you bitches were in a bar in 1980 ? That Kelly Marie song was everywhere !

Was it big in the US? I had never even heard it before now.

Dig dees mooves, bruv!

R54 I’m howling...It looks exactly like the moves we did in high school musical theater.

I had never seen Kelly Marie before. I am obsessed.

They prance more than dance.

R57 Comme ça?

R54, Hilarious. Without a doubt the lamest thing ever put to video.

R59 The gratuitous boob and butt closeups are a particularly special touch.

Are these Kelly Marie’s same backup dancers, in sailor suits instead of gold condoms?

here's LULU!

(move the thing along to 2:29!

No, cunt. The worst were the back ground "dancers" in Madonna's Truth or Dare. Truly embarrassing. Like everything else on that tour.

that's not the original 60s version of Lulu's Boat that I Row - didn't realize she did a remake. Champagne for Lulu!

Great thread. I had several good laughs.

Kelly Marie for patron saint of DL!

The white dude in the blue blazer is the most inept of the three. Given the time period and their age, it's likely they all died, unfortunately.

Is the third guy Latino? Filipino? I see 1 is white and 1 is black. It's cool that they were a diverse group.

In the Matthew Wilder clip...am I the only one who thinks all his band members are kind of hot?

No, these are the worst backup dancers.

R70 Gayest thing I’ve seen all week.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

I kept waiting for Benny Hill to pop up in R51

And R54 seemed like the cameraman kept cutting to the non-existent boobs in search of some.

If someone could find and post Nell Carter singing Walkin’ On Sunshine “live”, I would greatly appreciate it.

Great record but these backing dancers at the beginning are something else

Ladies and gentlemen, Miss LaToya Jackson!

The dancer in the middle is doing the robot and the two on the end are doing high-kicks.

OMG.

The white guy in the OP looks like he’s broken ranks and started aerobicizing at several junctures.

But I too love the looseness and the sense of fun, which I don’t pick up much anymore.

Kelly Marie is stupendously entertaining. She’s actually got a good voice for dance music. It has shades of Vicki Sue Robinson and Teena Marie, RIP to both.

Also, KM’s dancers are seriously great.

I liked it.

This thread deserves a bump.

Wait, has no one seen the *actual* Kelly Marie music video for that song? Tis a fucking masterpiece of kitsch.

I'm glad everyone is enjoying Kelly Marie. I introduced her to DL a while back so I'd like to take credit for this incredible find lol.

Fuck me. This actually made me shriek...

Can you bookmark this for the next time someone asks what is cultural appropriation? Yikes !

Fun fact: Aneka is a name she picked from the phone book

....

R82 Well done.

R75 How did I not know Andre Leon Talley sang that song?!

R81, total cost for production ...$5.

Bump

This clip is so fun and funny but also heartwarming

You have 3 gay guys in 1982 clearly accepted by the singer of the song. Who knows they may have been friends even. She was having fun with her performance.

The 3 gays all wore different colors of the same striped pants so they clearly planned something.

The black guy in the middle has nice footwork but he was doing his own moves separate from the other 2 lol

The white guy was very theatrical but lacked enough coordination to do the more difficult moves and sometimes was floundering about (see from 2:14 to 2:28)

The ethnically ambiguous guy had good rhythm and followed the routine well. He looked so happy to be up there too it was cute

They have to make The Kelly Marie story starring Gillian Anderson.

Or Julianne Moore

They dance terribly, yes, but what about HER dancing? All she's doing is shaking her hips to the count of "one-two, one-two".

Seeing this leaves me longing for the Solid Gold dancers.

All of those dancers had extensive dance training. Here is where they began.

OK, not the worst dancers but it looks as if the choreographer told the dancers, since the song is called "Caliente Caliente ", turn it up to flaming.

The white guy's Peter Brady, all growed up.

Amateurs!

There really are no words

"There really are no words"

Yes there are : R51.

R85 ...She don't love herself!

For you, R27:

[quote]In the Matthew Wilder clip...am I the only one who thinks all his band members are kind of hot?

You’re not alone. Especially the guy next to him in the gray jacket. Hot damn!!

R54 made my photosensitive epilepsy kick in. I just had a seizure.

The guy next to Matthew Wilder is hot, but jesus, is Wilder fug. Somehow, I don't think I ever knew what he looked like until now.

This thread is great. R70 bless you. I watched the whole thing and still can't believe it. It seems too camp to be real. The sailor suit, the "lithe" dancers, the bananas, need I go on?

I know I didn’t, r102.

r15, are the solid gold dancers not his background dancers.

Op is the winner.

I'm disappointed that none of our eldergays know or can id any of the dancers. They have to be in their late 50s/early 60s by now. This was in 1982 and none of them looked older than 25.

The middle guy looks like a totally random addition, like he just jumped up there from the crowd and no one forced him off the stage.

R107 all 3 guys had the same style of pants though in different colors so they were together. It was weird though that he did his own moves lol

[quote]They have to be in their late 50s/early 60s by now. This was in 1982 and none of them looked older than 25.

We don’t know that. Suffice it to say that was a bad time to be a 25 year old.

This vid is how the CIA determines if one is gay. If all you see is the gay guy in the vid....ding! ding! ding!

This kick and pelvic thrust takes me out every time. Fucking hilarious

R110 he's gorgeous and doesn't ring my gaydar. What does this mean?

No, for the worst video choreography , go back to 1969. Lou Christie's last Top Ten hit "I'm Gonna Make You Mine", filmed in what appears to be the pool area of an Econo-Lodge with two horrible back-up dancers, and one confused watcher. The only good part is Lou's hairy chest.

r112, he recently came out (Juan Pablo di Pace).

I don't think even one backing dancer in this vid was under 47.

I make everyone one the stage disappear!

Since r113 could not be bothered.

You want shitty dancing?

THIS is shitty dancing.

"Shock of the New" - The Trees

That Lou Christie performance has to be from one of those dippy music shows they aired on weekend afternoons, where they would put these poor singers in ridiculous situations as they lip synced. I remember seeing one of Neil Diamond playing "Solitary Man" while some dudes played with crabs on a beach in what was obviously the middle of a cold, cold winter, and another where Michael Landon was singing "I Like it Like That" with cheerleaders who I was sure were about to kill his ass dead.

R119, No. It is a Scopitone, which was sort of a video jukebox. There were a lot of short music films that were made for these. Most were pretty bad as can be seen below.

R94 wow - Raffaella Carra's chorus boys are adorable, except for the ONE queen - darkly tanned, completely shaved and oiled, short hair and no stache.

R121, with headband?

Raffaella Carra's videos never disappoint. Interesting, her big hit ,,A far l'amore comincia tu" invariably get new lyrics rather than a translation when performed in another language, e.g. "Tanse Samba mit Mir". The original translates as " you’re the one who takes the initiative to make love" and is about women taking control during sex.

R122 sure that's the one - had to attract attention to his divoone self. The pale skin boys are very cute. Nowadays that patchy Italian chest hair pattern would be shaved off and also the torsos would be beefed up, not wiry like here. I like the blondish guy with the huge stache - super queeny doing it all like a young Will Ferrell might. Great!

German fashion show...

Fräulein Thing at 1:30 in orange, red and white stripes is the STERN des Spektakels

^^Uh, ok.

*backs away slowly*

Miss Karen and her boys spent months staging this performance.

Karen's fucking up the groove herself here with her Mom at a wedding bopping in place.

ABBA could have used some background dancers, terrible or otherwise, to distract...

AIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

bump

shocked that no one on DL, particularly our NYC residents during the early 80s identified any of the 3 gay dancers. Would love to know if they're still alive and dancing like this haha

Your mother sucks COCKS IN HELL. Dirty uncut satan cocks! IN HELL! Bump Troll die in a grease fire!

Choreography!

R119 The white brunette cheerleader is Donna McKechnie, who later went on to win a Tony for Best Actress in A Chorus Line.

[133] OMG...the winner! The most awful "dance" ever.

R133

That’s art.