Mony Mony by Billy Idol

About

Billy Idol’s original 1981 remake of this 1968 chart-topper by Tommy James & the Shondells made little impact on US radio, reaching #7 on the US Bubbling Under Chart. In late 1987, Idol’s live performance of the song shot the song all the way back to #1 in the US. It also reached #2 in New Zealand and #13 in Switzerland. That year, a trend began in dance clubs around the US where the crowd would shout back obscenities during the silence in the song’s verses, differing in various regions. One popular variation of the callback is: “Hey everybody, get laid, get fucked!”