Freedom Williams – Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)

C & C have been somewhat forgotten in recent times, but during the early 90s, they ruled the dance floors, and this record was pretty much the king of them all. Superb cut by Herbie Powers - pressing is loud, clean and flat.

As cheesy as this sounds today to our ears, back in the day before it hit mainstream America I was visiting NYC and this tune was bumping out of every car and bar. Heard it at a house club, heard it at a hip hop night, it was everywhere. If you listen to the full length 12” mix- ya gotta give em credit for delivering the goods, Clivilles and Cole at the top of their game.

My hazy recollection is that these "1991" mixes actually came out in December 1990. Of course, no way to prove that now.

"The 1991 House Dub/Bonus Beats" really well produced, everything sounds perfect!

who sang the vocals on this? Nurse Damona did it first.

There's no question this song is an anthem, both within the gay community and (should be) for the house community itself. For most of mainstream America (at least), this track and Black Box's "Everybody, Everybody" were most likely their first exposure to the sound that became urban house. It didn't hurt that the MTV-friendly gyrations of Freedom Williams and Zelma Davis (with Martha Wash's voice!) took advantage of the new format to help usher in a new sound for the 90's.

So, I'm not one bit ashamed of owning this one. I stumbled across a copy sitting innocently in the Times Square Virgin store's record racks (not normally my prime source for yummy 12" goodness, mind you) and just had to buy it. The record was still sealed in shrink-wrap, and I don't even think it's a re-pressing. Just sitting in a warehouse somewhere for (good god) 15 years. Is that dope enough? In-deed.

Finally, a bit of trivia regarding this song: When the powerhouse dance radio station in the New York City market, 103.5 WKTU, launched under that new format and "The Beat of New York" banner on February 10, 1996, "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" was the first song played on the air once the station went live.

I am a bit ashamed now of owning this...I have a few C & C Music Factory 12" singles, one of them being very rare. I suppose it's easy to look back and say this was an over commercially done gay anthem. It wasn't. House music just wasn't popular and well known yet, right when it was released. These guys really helped bring house music to the main stream.

A gay anthem if ever I've heard one. "Everybody Dance Now" was used in an episode of the Simpsons where Homer takes Bart to a steel mill. Unfortunately the mill is full of gay guys and the disco balls comes down from the ceiling. This tunes rings out loud and proud. Never has a tune been used so effectively!