200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time

Herbie Hancock, ‘Rockit’ (1983) – #131

After leaving Miles Davis in 1968, jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock was no stranger to dance floors, from the funk of 1973’s Head Hunters to the disco of 1979’s Feets Don’t Fail Me Now. Hancock even visited club DJs to promote the latter: “I was there to learn, and they were saying ‘What a nice guy he is to do our kind of music,’” Herbie recalled. When a friend made Hancock a tape that included Malcolm McLaren’s “Buffalo Gals,” he flipped. “I said, ‘What is that? I want to do something like that!’” He got his wish with “Rockit,” a demo that Bill Laswell and Michael Beinhorn of the group Material worked up for Hancock. The crowning touch was the scratches by DXT, a former drummer whose timing made the record jump. As breakdancing became a global fad, “Rockit” became its most frequent soundtrack. —M.M.

Source: Rolling Stone