Men Without Hats Celebrate The 1980s With New Single – New Album Also On The Way

By Jim Barber

‘Iconic’ is a term tossed around hither and yon when describing almost anything in popular culture today that reaches a certain level of virality. But is the epithet really and truly justified or accurate for many of these examples? To your humble correspondent (me) ‘iconic’ means something that is instantly memorable, evocative of a time, place and feeling that can’t be repeated. It is emblematic of a person, place or thing where the recognition factor is immediate the reaction is powerfully visceral and deeply emotional. It’s something that draws out powerful memories, enlivening the spirit and the soul.

Visual art is capable of such wonders, but there is a particular sensory, emotional and even spiritual experience when one hears a song that is truly iconic. The opening notes can elevate heart rates, make one cry out in joy, prompting one to raise their hands into the air and wave ‘em like they just don’t care.

Iconic songs can represent an entire era of music and popular culture, they can provoke a specific feeling, vibe and style. They are cultural touchstones elevated far above mere sales numbers and chart positions. They permeate other arts and cultural media, adding a cache of cool viability to TV shows, movies, pop art, video games and advertising.

Most of all, the resonance of these songs transcends time and space, even the place in history from which they originate. Their meaning and impact can traverse decades, cross continents and oceans, riding radio and satellite waves to imbed themselves into the hearts and minds of folks who have markedly different languages and cultures.

Such a song, in the opinion of many, including the author of this piece, is ‘Safety Dance’ released in 1982 by Canada’s Men Without Hats. It’s been featured on TV shows such as Family Guy and The Simpsons, received the official pop culture kudos when it was parodied by Weird Al Yankovic [aka ‘The Brady Bunch’]  has been covered by artists such as fellow Canadians, The Box as well as the cast of Glee and most recently featured in a video/TV ad campaign by Molson Breweries (another legitimately iconic Canadian brand) during the NHL playoffs. It is the biggest, most familiar and most culturally resilient song in an impressive repertoire of hits that also includes ‘Pop Goes the World,’ ‘Sideways,’ ‘Antarctica,’ and ‘I Like,’ and is the foundation of a now 45-year career for band founder, frontman and songwriter Ivan Doroschuk.

But this is not a career founded solely on nostalgia and celebrating past honours. It is also a legacy based on continual creativity moving forward well into the third decade of the 21^st century, as Men Without Hats recently released a new single, ‘I Love the 80s’ in anticipation of a new album Men Without Hats on the Moon set to be issued in mid-October.

‘I Love the 80s’ is joyously reflective and boundlessly celebratory, with the composition and musical performances hearkening back to the sorts of sounds and sonic landscapes created by, primarily, the synth-pop bands of the 1980s, of which Men Without Hats was at the forefront, especially in Canada. It is also a song with an energy cultivated from Doroschuk’s obvious joy and sense of positivity that he believes was a hallmark of that entire decade. Yet, it is a song that is modern in its approach and delivery, and comes from the point of view from someone wistfully seeking to reclaim that which was good from the past, and bringing it forward into what is at times a dark, divisive and foreboding present day.

“I find that 1980s music has been trending for the last 10 years. It’s just getting stronger. Everywhere you look there are 1980s references. Pop music today is completely reliant on 1980s sounds – big drum sounds, synthesizers, robot voices, everything. The styles are coming back, the passion’s coming back and people are just really, really into it. I’ve done more shows this time out with this incarnation of the band than I did in the 1980s. There’s just this huge, huge demand for 1980s music which is great. We’re super busy. We’re touring all the time. We’re heading back to Europe this summer to do a five-week tour of Europe and Scandinavia and bits of the U.K. and have more shows coming,” said Doroschuk who has lived in Victoria on Vancouver Island for more than 20 years, after launching the band in Montreal.

“And there are a few other songs on the new album that are like ‘I Love the 80s’, in terms of the meaning, but it’s more about the overall sound. We’ve just gone back to our old sound. We sort of drifted away from it, with Sideways [released in 1991] doing a full guitar album and stuff like that. But we decided we don’t want to reinvent the wheel anymore. We’re happy going back to our old sound. I think it’s the sound that people enjoy the most – that 1980s sound.”

It was in response to fan demand and a profound sense of appreciation for the culture of the 1980s that led Doroschuk to compose the infectious and wonderfully upbeat new single, as well as the entire album.

“We’ve been very fortunate that we’ve had songs that have embedded themselves into popular culture. There’s The Simpsons and Family Guy and all those shows. But even Glee brought us a whole new generation of listeners. So when we play shows now, we can see our original fans are there and we connect with our original fans who come out and see us, but they bring their kids and then sometimes they even bring their grandkids so it’s a multi-generational thing,” he said.

“If the 1980s was your teenage years, it was a decade that was really focused on that demographic, maybe even more so than the 1950s when the idea of the teenager was sort of invented. You had the movies with The Brat Pack, and there were bright colours and the hair was big and there was new technologies coming in; the personal computer became a big thing. There was a whole shift in the arts and in general with everything having this breath of fresh air. Things had sort of got bogged down in the 1970s, but the 1980s really took over and promoted the youth and what they liked. And think of what happened with the Walkman, and how kids could now take their music everywhere with them. It’s common for everyone to have ear buds today and listening off their phones, but back then this was a big deal [to have a portable cassette player.]”

With ‘I Love the 80s’ Doroschuk and Men Without Hats are not simply whistling into the wind, holding aloft the banner of the 1980s on a lonely island. Indeed there is a marked resurgence in the allure and appreciation for everything 1980s amongst the demographic who grew up during those heady days of Thriller, Back to the Future, Rambo, Cyndi Lauper and Cabbage Patch Dolls, but also through younger generations. Doroschuk believes there is good reason for people to be nostalgic and wanted to bring back the more progressive and life affirming parts of that era.

“The 1980s had that sound. I was a teenager in the 1970s so I grew up on a lot of progressive rock music, and a lot of keyboards, I was a keyboard player and I focused on a lot of keyboard bands like Yes and Genesis and Pink Floyd and stuff like that. And I was also front and centre in the disco movement, and I’ve always said that 1980s music was progressive rock music blended with disco; it was synthesizer music you could dance to and that’s what I brought to the table. 1980s music has a lot of sing-alongs, there’re a lot of good melodies and I think people just want to enjoy a good, good melody and a good solid beat. Disco had got a bad reputation; nothing was being said in disco any more, but 1980s New Wave kind of took over. It took the torch and kept running with it. It was also dance music that had a big social commentary component to it. It was the Reagan/Thatcher years [Republican U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Conservative U.K. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher] so there was a lot of social commentary,” Doroschuk explained.

“And we did that in our music. With ‘Safety Dance,’ someone remarked at some point that it was the only song they’d heard with the word ‘imbecile’ in it. We had this sort of goofiness about us too, but the message was serious, but we delivered it in a really fun way. We wanted people to know they could dance if they wanted to, which is about the freedom to be who you are. And it was the same with ‘Pop Goes the World.’ The message there was we’ve got to start treating Mother Earth better or she’s going to blow up. And this was the 1980s and the ‘Green’ movement was sort of brand new, the whole ecology movement was just starting to get going, but it’s a message that people today are obviously still concerned about – it still resonates today. So, we were lucky that we were able to sort of broach some of these grander themes in our songs, and they’ve stayed with us and stayed current and relevant.”

But why is the decade, which had no internet, social media, and people had to go to places called ‘record stores’ to buy their music, and stand in actual lineups beside and between other humans to get their concert tickets seemingly so fascinating and desirable for the young folks?

“Part of what I think about when I think of the 1980s, especially when I think of [TV cop show] Miami Vice, I think of their clothes with the pink shirts and baby blue pants and while suits. That look was everywhere and it was infused in the music and the music videos. A lot of the younger people who come to our shows all say the same thing. They say ‘my parents were really into 1980s music and everything about the 1980s. They were always playing 1980s music around the house. I grew up with 1980s music,” he said.

“And I know there are some who have found it on their own, but what they have in common is that there were a lot of great melodies in 1980s songs. So many great songs, with great choruses and singalong parts. And you go to see someone like Howard Jones and everyone is singing the songs – every person knows every word to pretty much every song. It’s awesome. And as I was saying before, a lot of pop music today is borrowing from the 1980s. They’re dipping into the sound banks of the 1980s music and making it their own. They’re obviously doing their own thing, but it’s still influenced by the 1980s. And so many young people are getting into the culture and the movies. So many pubs and places have 1980s Nights – they’ve sort of taken over. And it’s not just the older people going. Back in the day clubs would have Disco Nights, but now in every city, everybody’s got 80s Nights.

“I also think part of the reason why the music of the 1980s, especially in the early part of the New Wave sound was popular then and is appealing to young people now is that it was such a breath of fresh air. The whole 1980s was about good times, and there was also a lot of innovation, a lot of exploration in music and art and fashion – there were lots of people willing to try out new things. And because of technology it started to become available to everyone. There was a huge DIY component to music that actually started with Punk but continued into New Wave. You didn’t have to be a virtuoso on your instrument. All you had to do was have a good idea and you could run with it.”

It’s been 43 years since the release of ‘Safety Dance’ and it’s silly to believe that Doroschuk thinks and writes exactly the same as he did back then. But there is a sense of common purpose and methodology between the writing process for Men Without Hats on the Moon and those halcyon days.

“It’s not that much different. I sort of grew up literally modelling my songs after The Beatles. They were my role models, really, as far as songwriting goes. So the structure of the songs hasn’t really changed that much. The way I write songs is kind of like woodshedding. I sort of sit around noodling and one day I’ll get up and I’ll write 10 songs in a week. That’s usually how it happens, they just kind of explode out of me. I know it’s a craft and a lot of people approach it differently; a lot of people get up every day and spend two hours at their instrument and work on things. I approach it differently. I just hang out and when the thing comes to me, it comes,” he said.

“Usually I am sitting at a keyboard and sometimes it’s a word that comes to me first, sometimes there’s a bigger concept. Sometimes it’s a melody, so it varies. But I usually write on the keyboard and the biggest difference from the 1980s is that technology has really helped out at that end of it. Because the computer has made things a lot easier. It’s put the ability to make music into a lot more people’s hands. Making a record back in the 1980s was a huge production. So it took a lot of money. It took a big studio and it took a lot of people and a lot of effort. Now it’s a different story. You can do a good job basically on your own. It’s become more democratic that way, which is a good thing. I know some people complain that quality control has gone down, but I still think the cream rises to the top. And it just allows a lot of people to have more fun with music. Music shouldn’t be in the control of a select few. It should be available to a lot of people.”

After returning in 2010, Men Without Hats wrote, recorded and released their first new album since a short-lived reunion in 2004 produced No Hats Beyond This Point. Love in the Age of War came out in 2012, followed by the two-parter Again (Parts 1 and 2) which came our during the tail end of the COVID pandemic.

Not every band with a legacy stretching back nearly five decades feels it is necessary to record new music, citing the changing ways music is consumed. But for Doroschuk, there’s an aspect of personal ambition to keep creating, as well as the desire of fans to hear what their favourite band is up to creatively.

“The fans are always asking for new music. They want to hear some new stuff. They love our old songs but they’ve been listening to them for 40 years. We’re already getting a great reaction from “I Love the 80s,’ people are saying nice things about it and are really, really happy that we put this new thing out, and that there’s more coming. So it’s a combination of things. It’s my creative impulse and it’s the demand from the fans and so it’s happening. But also, this is what we do, you know. This is what I do. I am a musician and I write songs. With new music, you’ve got your core group of people who want it, but with every new release there’s the possibility of reaching new people and I like that idea. Also, this is just what we do. If all this creative energy would stay bottled up inside, I don’t know how it would come out otherwise. Probably not in the best way.”

The new album was produced by Brian Howes, who is best known for his work in the rock and hard rock field (Hinder, Skillet, Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd, Simple Plan) but who connected with Men Without Hats’ vibe instantly. Doroschuk said he very much enjoyed the collaborative spirit of Howes and thought they worked well together.

“The whole process for this album was pretty organic. First of all, I got together with Brian, who is on Vancouver Island here too, so we connected and recorded a couple of songs together and had a great time doing it. It was awesome, and we actually did a couple of co-writes together too, which was the first time I’ve done that, and it worked out great. Those songs are going to be on the album. He was fantastic to work with. He brought so much to the table, so for me it was like going to school again,” he said.

Returning to ‘Safety Dance.’ Doroschuk believes part of the reason why the song, and the accompanying video, has stood the test of time, is that the video doesn’t look or feel dated. It’s not a hair metal vibe, it’s not poofy hair and the aforementioned bright pastel colours of Miami Vice, or heavily androgynous look of Duran Duran, Japan, Culture Club and Spandau Ballet. Set in a European style medieval village during a May Day-type celebration, there are no contemporary visual references to give views a clue as to when the story is set, or when the video was shot.

“That was a game changer for us, absolutely. The video for ‘Safety Dance’ was as instrumental as the 12-inch remix for our career – even more so, even today. We’re still being served by that video. And we were lucky because when you look at it and compare it to most of the other 1980s videos, you kind of chuckle and the hairstyles and clothes. But our video is kind of timeless. It’s a medieval theme. It’s like watching a Western; you don’t really know when it was filmed. It could have been shot last week. And it wasn’t like we were trying to look different from everybody else. It’s just the idea we came up with at the time,” he said.

“And also timing was in our favour. When ‘Safety Dance’ first broke, MTV was new, and MuchMusic wasn’t even around yet, but even when it started, they didn’t have that many official videos in their catalogue so we were getting played on massive rotation. And it absolutely changed my life. I went from being a nobody to not being able to walk down the street.”

Men Without Hats took a hiatus for a number of years. After breaking up in 1993 Doroschuk took until 2010 to revive the band (the super short reunion in 2003-04 not really counting in the greater scheme of things), understanding that there was that aforementioned growing demand to see and hear 1980s music again amongst the general populace, not only of Canada, but throughout North America and especially over in Europe and the United Kingdom. A few folks have come and gone from the band’s lineup, but over the last few years it has been stable, and the onstage synergy between them makes for a joyfully enthusiastic show night after night.

In fact they’re going over to play a number of shows and festivals this summer, before returning home for a run across Canada when the album comes out in the fall, including a first ever show at Base 31 in Picton, Ontario alongside The Spoons on Oct. 5.

“Fans are pretty much the same wherever we go. The European fans are a bit more excited because we don’t get over there that much. But they’re basically all the same. They’re all great. It’s all good. In some places they have different favourite songs. Like, in Germany, there’s a couple of our songs that are sort of underground classics and all these German fans are saying, ‘I hope you’re playing that one.’ One is a song called ‘Security’ which was on our first EP [Folk of the 80’s, in 1980.] So every time we play certain places in Germany I get a deluge of fans asking us to play ‘Security.’ And it makes us feel good because we’re so used to people asking for ‘Safety Dance’ and ‘Pop Goes the World,’ that whenever they ask for something different, it’s a really cool feeling,” he said.

Doroschuk was born 67 years ago in Champaign, Illinois along with his younger brothers Stefan and Colin. Their parents were Canadians of Ukrainian extraction who were living in the U.S. while Eugene Doroschuk was working on his PhD. The family moved back to Canada when Ivan was five when Eugene got a teaching position at the University of Montreal, while mom Betty joined the music faculty at McGill University teaching classical voice. The Doroschuk family was immersed in music 24/7 so it’s not surprising that it has dominated Ivan’s life.

Whether it is because of the timelessness of the music he’s created and the sheer joy he puts into all his compositions and the positivity he exudes out into the world, Doroschuk onstage is similarly timeless and ageless, bouncing with an energy, and singing with an enthusiasm that would put many front people half his age to shame.

“I love being onstage. It just love it. It’s something where I sort of get into a zone and the other members of the band have a hard time communicating with me sometimes because I am so focused in my zone. But I’ve also had to take care of myself too. I mean, I had to. I had to give up all the partying, the crazy lifestyle. I gave that up quite a while ago,” he said with a chuckle.

Turning to the subject of his band. It’s always been a family affair for Men Without Hats as the previously mentioned Colin and Stefan Doroschuk have both had lengthy tenures in the band. Stefan was there from 1979 through 1993 and again during the brief revival of the band in the early 2000s. Colin was in the band from 1979 to 1986, then back again from 1990 to 1993, returning again in 2020 (although currently on hiatus after accepting a teaching position, also in Victoria). Alongside him, is his daughter, and Ivan’s niece, Sahara Sloan, who plays keyboards and provides background vocals. Drummer Adrian White has been with the band since 2018, while Sho Murray, the band’s guitarist and onstage band leader, joined in 2016.

“Colin was in the band with me until a couple of years ago. He got a position as the head of the voice department at the Royal Conservatory here in town [Victoria]. So he decided to take a break from the band, so his daughter stepped in to take his place. And she’s a classically trained opera singer too. So it’s pretty awesome. When I introduce her onstage I tell the crowd I used to carry this little girl around in a pouch on my back, and now she’s onstage with me. It’s a great feeling to be playing with family and to have another generation of musician up there with me,” he said.

“Sho Murray was in a band called ShoCore, which was a Canadian band out of the west coast here for a while. They had a few hits and he’s been my main collaborator in the band for a while now. And the drummer, Adrian, played with bands like Frontline Assembly and SNFU, so he’s our resident punk rocket. Strapping young lads both.”

For more information on Men Without Hats, upcoming tour dates and the new album, visit https://www.safetydance.com.

• Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for more than 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and marketing specialist and is an avid volunteer in his community. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.