1965 Dance-Craze Single Was a No. 1 Hit 61 Years Ago Today
When it comes to popular dance crazes, the '60s definitely produced some of the most memorable moves. From the Twist to the Pony to the Watusi, it seems like teens back then were always trying out some new step...decades before their modern-day counterparts would upload countless dance clips to TikTok.
One trendy '60s dance you might not have heard of, though, started with a highly energetic (not to mention quirky) British group called Freddie and The Dreamers, who were at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week in 1965 with their hit single, "I'm Telling You Now."
Led by one-of-a-kind frontman Freddie Garrity, a former milkman and skiffle singer from Manchester, Freddie and The Dreamers rode the British invasion wave to success with "I'm Telling You Now," their first and only chart-topping single in America.
The song itself is catchy enough, but it was Garrity's onstage antics that really put the group on the map. Garrity was known for his high jumps and kicks, as well as his trademark laugh and penchant for pretending to shave with his microphone. Meanwhile, the rest of the Dreamers would perform synchronized kicks as they played their instruments.
As Stereogum's Tom Breihan pointed out, "I'm Telling You Now" wasn't necessarily "good music," but it was fun, with a "nice little shuffle to the beat."
"The song's hook is a mockingly simplistic whine, but it will absolutely lodge itself into your head and stay there," Breihan wrote. "But this was an era of pop miracles, and "I'm Telling You Now" was nothing more than an amiable goof - a song that would've gone nowhere if that dance hadn't been so much fun to watch."
It's a fair enough assessment. Unfortunately, the appeal of Garrity's dance wasn't strong enough to send the band's single "Do the Freddie" to the top of the charts, though it did manage to peak at #18.
Freddie Garrity became a popular children's TV performer
Unfortunately, interest in Freddie and The Dreamers started to fade around 1966, according to Classic Rock History, and by 1971, the band fell apart. But the members kept performing: From 1968 to 1973, Garrity and Peter Birell appeared in episodes of the U.K. children's series Little Big Time, a gig that seemed suited to Garrity's wacky performance style.
And while no one could ever call Freddie and The Dreamers critical darlings, even Rolling Stone's legendary Lester Bangs gave the band a mention in The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll.
"Freddie and the Dreamers [had] no masterpiece but a plenitude of talentless idiocy and enough persistence to get four albums and one film soundtrack released," Bangs wrote, going on to point out that though "the Dreamers looked as thuggish as Freddie looked dippy...Freddie and the Dreamers represented a triumph of rock as cretinous swill, and as such should be not only respected, but given their place in history."
Related: 1969 Timeless Love Anthem Recorded 57 Years Ago Today Was Banned Before Becoming a Classic
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This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 8:24 PM.