In early 1991, the song charted internationally, topping the charts of Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States. The accompanying music video was directed byMarcus Nispel, and features singer/dancerZelma Davis lip-syncing to Wash's vocal parts. In 2023 and 2025,Billboard magazine ranked "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" among the best pop and dance songs of all time.[4][5]
Robert Clivillés wrote and produced an instrumental track that was to become "Gonna Make You Sweat".[6] He offered the track to vocal trioTrilogy, but when they declined to record it, Clivillés decided to use the track for his andDavid Cole's band,C+C Music Factory.[6] Therap verse was performed byFreedom Williams and the female vocals byMartha Wash.
The music video showed singer and dancerZelma Davis lip-syncing to Wash's vocal parts. After discovering that the group was using Davis in the music video, Wash (who does not appear in the video) unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate with the producers of the C+C Music Factory for sleeve credits and royalties. Additionally, the song used an edited compilation of vocal parts that Wash recorded in June 1990 for an unrelated demonstration tape.[7] On December 11, 1991, Wash filed a lawsuit in theLos Angeles Superior Court against C+C Music Factory's Robert Clivillés and David Cole, charging the producers and their record company,Sony Music Entertainment, withfraud, deceptive packaging, and commercial appropriation.[7] The case was eventually settled in 1994, and as a result of the settlement, Sony made an unprecedented request ofMTV to add a disclaimer that credited Wash for vocals and Davis for "visualization" to the "Gonna Make You Sweat" music video.[8]
Having previously worked withDavid Cole doing some demos in the past,Martha Wash recorded her vocals for "Gonna Make You Sweat" as a demo song. She was told that it was for another artist. OnlyRobert Clivillés was present in the studio during recording. Wash had to phone Cole for instructions on how to sing, before recording her vocals. She stated in 2017:
"I remember thinking as I was singing the hook of the song that it was set so high, it was like I was reaching for the ceiling trying to hit the notes. "Damn, this is high", I was thinking, basically screaming at the top of my lungs. I don't know what happened to the vocalist who they had originally in mind to actually sing the song or why they didn't use her version".[9]
Music critics praised "Gonna Make You Sweat" for Freedom Williams'Ice-T-like rap delivery in conjunction withMartha Wash's powerful, exuberant,post-disco vocals and deemed the song as a bona fide classic.[10] Bill Lamb fromAbout.com said that the vocal performances "along with state-of-the-arthouse rhythms" made up "one of the most exhilarating songs of the year".[11]AllMusic editor Jose F. Promis described it as "unstoppable" and noted that it "incorporated dance, house, andhip hop beats, wailing diva vocals, and rap to come up with one of the year's most exciting hits".[12]Larry Flick fromBillboard magazine wrote, "New act featuring hot producers Robert Clivillés and David Cole serves up a potential multiformat smash with this slammin', guitar-driven hip-hopper, fueled by a stellar appearance from formerWeather Girl Martha Wash".[13] He remarked its "wall-shattering command"'everybody dance now' by Wash, that fast filled dancefloors and air-waves around the world.[14] The song was also described as "a virtually flawless stew of hip-hop bass and percussion, deft rhyming courtesy of newcomer Freedom Williams, and ripping vocals by supreme diva Martha Wash".[15]
Penelope Layland fromThe Canberra Times stated that the song "is highly percussive, with an urgent beat contrasting well with the lazy vocal delivery".[16] Marisa Fox fromEntertainment Weekly said it "sounds like a composite of 1990's most memorablepop/dance tunes — a screeching bass line (reminiscent ofSnap!'s'The Power' jam), wailing lead vocals sung by former Weather Girl Martha Wash, and up-tempo beats that reek ofTechnotronic."[17] Dave Sholin from theGavin Report noted that it's "difficult to package any more excitement into this release which exemplifies what fresh music is all about".[18] A. Scott Galloway fromThe Network Forty named the song "an electrifying debut from Robert Clivillés & David Cole, the production team that brought youSeduction. With singer Freedom Williams up front demanding "Everybody Dance Now", the song is simply the best party starter to come along in months. It doesn't hurt that it's right in line sound-wise with past chart top hits likeBlack Box's'Everybody Everybody' and Snap!'s 'The Power', either".[19] A reviewer fromPeople Magazine stated that the track "deserves its Top 10 status, along with hit-to-be 'Things That Make You Go Hmmm...' blending rap, rock and dance riffs".[20]
Over the years, the song came to be used and/or referenced innumerable times by the entertainment industry, to the point that it became something of a musical, pop culture cliché. By 2007, the song was criticized byAllMusic as "the lazy Hollywood 'go-to' song for supposed laugh-filled, irony-fueled dance numbers".[21]
The song held the top spot on the USBillboardDance Club Play chart for five weeks in December 1990 and topped theBillboard Hot 100 for two weeks in February 1991. It also topped the CanadianRPM Dance/Urban chart. In Europe, it peaked at number one in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The single entered the top 10 in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as on theEurochart Hot 100, where it peaked at number two. In the UK, "Gonna Make You Sweat" peaked a number three in its sixth week at theUK Singles Chart, on January 13, 1991.[22] Additionally, it was a top-20 hit in Ireland, a top-30 hit in Italy, and a top-50 hit in France. In Oceania, the single peaked at numbers two and three in New Zealand and Australia, respectively. It earned aplatinum record in the US, after one million singles were sold there.
The music video for "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" was directed by German directorMarcus Nispel and featured dancers performing in front of a white backdrop.Zelma Davis lip-syncs to the recorded vocals ofMartha Wash, who doesn't appear in the video. A short clip ofDouble Dutch is shown near the end. The video receivedheavy rotation onMTV Europe in February 1991.[23]
In 2000,VH1 ranked "Gonna Make You Sweat" number nine on its list of "100 Greatest Dance Songs",[24] and at number 36 on its list of "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s" in 2007.[25] In October 2023 and March 2025,Billboard magazine ranked it numbers 402 and 26 in their lists of "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time" and "100 Best Dance Songs of All Time",[4][5] writing, "The criminal replacement of her in the video aside,Martha Wash's command ofeverybody dance now! to kick off thisHot 100-topping early-'90s smash simply cannot be ignored. A flawless fusion of soulfulhouse diva power andFreedom Williams' rumbling rhymes, "Gonna Make You Sweat", is writers/producersRobert Clivillés andDavid Cole (the C+C) at their best. Blending their forceful production with the perfect vocalyin/yang, the song became an international smash and an early indicator of house music's crossover potential. It continues to echo through pop culture today."[5]
"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" was reworked by French DJBob Sinclar in his 2006 song "Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)", which became a hit in many countries including the UK, Finland and France where it reached number 3 and in Belgium where it topped both the Ultratop 50 Flanders and Wallonia charts.
Russian groupLittle Big covered the track for the soundtrack of the filmBorat Subsequent Moviefilm, and it can be heard in some of the trailers, and is featured in full during the closing credits.[104] InDa Ali G Show, this was Borat's favorite song.
The song has been used in many films and television shows; for example:
InThe SimpsonsSeason 8 episode "Homer's Phobia", the song is used in the gay steel mill-cum-nightclub Ajax Steel Mill/The Anvil, as well as during the end credits after Bart wonders if he's gay. It is also used in theSeason 22 episode "Love Is a Many Strangled Thing", where it plays during a football game.
In the 1993 filmFear of a Black Hat, the song is parodied as "Come and Pet the P.U.S.S.Y." as a solo track by the character Ice Cold (Rusty Cundieff)'s post-N.W.H. group, The Ice Plant (a parody of C+C Music Factory). The main joke is that a petite Japanese woman lip-syncs the powerful voice of a heavy-set African-American woman without the latter getting credit for it in the music video, also in reference to the conflict Martha Wash had with C+CMF.
In September 2017, the song was featured as one of the soundtracks of2K's video game series,NBA 2K18.[108]
In 2024, a parody of the song, "Everybody DampRid" was used in a commercial for the moisture absorberDampRid.[109] Also in 2024,Coles Supermarkets used another parody, "Great Value, Hands Down", in their television commercials and YouTube ads.
^abDeggans, Eric (January 1, 1998). "C+C Music Factory". In Graff, Gary; du Lac, Josh; McFarlin, Jim (eds.).MusicHound R&B: The Essential Album Guide. Detroit:Visible Ink Press. p. 88.
^Pennanen, Timo (2006).Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi.ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
^"Classifiche".Musica e dischi (in Italian). RetrievedMay 31, 2022. Set "Tipo" on "Singoli". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "C & C Music Factory".
^"New Releases: Singles".Music Week. December 1, 1990. p. vii.
^"New Release Summary: Singles".The ARIA Report. No. 49. December 16, 1990. p. 18.
^"New Releases: Singles".Music Week. January 19, 1991. p. vi.
^"New Release Summary – Product Available from: 28/01/91: Singles".The ARIA Report. No. 53. January 27, 1991. p. 18.Mislabeled as a 12-inch single on source.
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