# Significance of the twist

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-the-twist/938092>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Tags:** music\
**Created:** [March 17, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-the-twist/938092 "2021-03-17T13:01:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-the-twist/938092/41 "2021-03-18T17:48:41Z")

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The significance of the Twist was that it was solitary. You did it alone and that alone was enough to make it newsworthy for adults who thought it was perverted or something.

Most significantly it came at the time of Camelot and Jackie O was part of a fad which went international. The idea of the discoteque was beginning where adults spent money and danced.

There was the Peppermint Lounge where Joey Dee created the peppermint twist. That’s where the adults went to get hep.

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-the-twist/938092/43 "2021-03-18T18:31:15Z")

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> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> I also remember its being considered slightly shocking at the time.

Did you live in that Footloose town?

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**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\
**Post date:** [March 18, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/significance-of-the-twist/938092/44 "2021-03-18T19:56:48Z")

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> [@drad\_dog](#):
>
> The significance of the Twist was that it was solitary. You did it alone and that alone was enough to make it newsworthy for adults who thought it was perverted or something.

Yes, I remember something about dances that were done without touching or responding to the specific steps of your partner, even if you did them with a partner, being considered improper in some fashion.

Which seemed kind of funny when I found out that the waltzes and so on, which we thought of as sedate and proper dances, were shocking when they first started precisely because of the way people _did_ touch their partners.

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