THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

413-Walk the Moon-Shut Up and Dance.

2014-Number 4 single.

Best Bit-At 1.40. Can you guess from which Police song this band took their name?

Walk the Moon is the brainchild of Nicholas Petricca who formed the band in 2006 while a student at ‘Kenyon College,’ in Gambler, Ohio, United States. In total there have been 11 different band members come and go, with Petricca who is the lead singer being the bands one constant. Petricca has cited the music of the 1980’s as his major influence, naming artists such as Talking Heads, Tears for Fears, and the Police.

Without a recording contract, Walk the Moon financed the recording and release of their debut studio Album ‘I Want! I Want!’ in 2010, with the track ‘Anna Sun’ receiving multiple plays on American Alternative radio stations. This led to a bidding war between several record labels, with Walk the Moon signing to ‘RCA Records’ in February 2011. In total Walk the Moon have released five studio Albums to date between 2010-2021, there have also been seven EP’s, and 10 singles. On both sides of the Atlantic, on the Billboard top 40 singles chart, and on the UK top 40, ‘Shut Up and Dance’ remains the bands only top 40 single, coincidentally reaching the Number 4 position on each chart.

‘Shut Up and Dance’ was taken from the bands third studio Album ‘Talking Is Hard’ from 2014, with songwriting credits given to all four band members at that time. Also credited are Ryan McMahon, and Ben Berger, who are two of the three songwriters, and music production team known as ‘Captain Cuts.’

Petricca got the idea for the songs lyrics while in a Los Angeles nightclub. He had frustratingly been waiting ages to get served at the bar, and was itching to get on to the dance floor with his female friend. He started complaining about the slow service when his female friend approached him and said,’Just shut up and dance with me.’ Petricca has said that the song does actually have a deeper meaning though,’The song is not so much about my personal experience, but about living in the moment.’

Petricca has also spoken about the time when the the band first realised that they had a potential massive hit on their hands, after playing it at a gig at ‘St. Louis University. ‘We had just learned the song and no one had ever heard it, so we thought we’d try it out for these kids. From moment one it was obvious there was something about the song. The kids were singing along wit the chorus the second time around. We tried to capture that energy on the record.’

‘A backless dress and some beat up sneaks, my discotheque Juliet teenage dream. I felt it in my chest as you looked at me, I knew we were bound to be together, bound to be together.’