Let’s do all the wedding party songs! Didn’t realize this one fell into that category? Then you’ve obviously never attended a wedding in the UK.

There’s a dance involved. Oh yes, there’s a dance.

The Hues Corporation formed in California in 1969. Originally they wanted to call themselves The Children Of Howard Hughes because they thought it would be funny to go by that name as a black trio, but apparently Howard and his legal team had no sense of humor. The group couldn’t find any success in Los Angeles under any name, so they got themselves booked into a club in Las Vegas, proving so popular they soon began opening for big stars like Frank Sinatra and Glen Campbell. Word of mouth spread and RCA Records signed them up.

The Hues Corporation recorded and released their debut album in 1973, but the first two singles stiffed. Luckily, a record executive from RCA attended one of their shows and heard the audience respond enthusiastically to a song called “Rock The Boat.” The track was an afterthought on the album and nobody in the group or at the label had ever remotely considered it as a single, but the executive thought it could be a hit.

RCA took a chance and released “Rock The Boat” in the spring of 1974. And it flopped. It looked like the song would remain an afterthought, but sales started to pick up in New York as dance clubs discovered the groove, followed by radio DJs, and suddenly “Rock The Boat” spread like wildfire. By the summer, disco was at #1 for the first time (or second, depending on what you call disco).

Unfortunately, the lead singer on the song, Fleming Williams, had already left the group. He was replaced soon after, but the new Hues Corporation never recaptured the magic. They hung around until the end of the 70’s but the hits dried up.

“Rock The Boat” has remained a radio staple, but it also took on a secondary life. At some point in the late 70’s or early 80’s, bands (or DJs) began playing the song at weddings in the UK, particularly in Ireland, and a sort of line dance developed with guests sitting down on the dancefloor in rowboat formation and proceeding to … row the boat. And wave their arms about, but mostly the choreography works well because it’s very easy to do when you’ve had a few. Hard to tip the boat over when you’re already on the floor.

So rock on with your bad self … and with The Hues Corporation.