Jungle - "Back on 74"

In which I deeply consider buying white flared khakis

For someone who has professed a love of dance and built a whole newsletter around said love, it’s maybe a little nuts that I am out of the loop on all the internet dance crazes. I’m not on TikTok at all because I fear all the time-waste holes I could fall down and I find it overwhelming. Still, I love that we still live in a world where teens get into dance crazes.¹

So shoutout to my brother David for introducing me to “Back on 74,” and the fact that its video has those TikTok-able moves that everyone wants to recreate. David is older than me but more in tune with what the cool dancey kids are into these days. And apparently they are into this group of young, sexy, strong people dancing on a mystery soundstage.

David posed the idea that perhaps Jungle made videos with the intention of them being TikTok-able. They use simple sets, they focus on the dancers over the musicians, and they use careful camera work that really lets you see the choreography. As I skimmed through some of the other videos for their album, Volcano, I realized they’re all set up like this, and with the same dancers reappearing. And THEN I realized, oh wow, Jungle in fact made a whole dance-focused "motion picture" to showcase the entire album.

I can hear the frustrated screams of faraway readers yelling “YES MOLLY DUH, this is Jungle’s whole thing!!!” I clearly just now opened the door to an internet phenomenon that is already beloved by many (the “motion picture” is nearing 800k views as of this post), which is honestly exciting. I love learning about a whole new internet dance phenomenon. It’s like I’m in Willy Wonka’s factory and watching “Back on 74” was me in a very interesting hallway thinking “wow, pretty cool,” and then I opened the door to this whole Volcano film/chocolate room and now I’m wide-eyed and full of understanding and excited to eat a whole marshmallow mushroom. You follow me, right?

All that to say: I did watch the entire Volcano “motion picture” (I keep putting it in quotes because it feels a bit pretentious but that’s what they call it, so FINE). It was a cool experience, and I recommend it if you want to go on a 50 minute dance journey that doesn’t really have a plot but does have a bunch of young and attractive people dancing their asses off in some kind of old theater. For this post though I must narrow down my focus to only this song:

I love a one-take shot and a meta world where we are both watching a video, and theoretically watching the filming of the video. It’s a conceit that carries through all of Volcano, but it works really well on this set with all the old floorboards and vaguely classical backdrops. It’s like they burst into a My Fair Lady set after hours.

Again, all of these dancers are young and hot and JACKED, which we are reminded of whenever they do this great muscle move:

Strength!

I love the ease and confidence in this group. It’s like a dream sequence of how I feel in dance class until I actually watch myself in the mirror and realize I’m panting and stuck in the middle of a full turn.² I’m also impressed by how many people in this video are wearing light khakis, which perhaps the hardest pant to pull off.

All the gals then get together to have a fancy little strut:

Me signing off Slack on a Friday

Then the sparkly jumpsuit lady is trying to have private moment with herself when all the stinky boys show up. Been there, girl!

Just let the woman jumpsuit!

But surprise, the boys also want to have a fancy time strutting and showing off their muscles!

More khakis!

I like this dude group sequence. It’s very “we are the Jets YEAH” but with more noodley legs and hips than snaps and jumps and nothing about going to beat up another gang because of their race.

Unsurprisingly, this is also the part that people love to recreate the most. Here are a few fun tributes:

@nathanlustThis dance and song is living rent free 🔥 #nathanlust #backon74

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OK and also this one, because even though they aren’t hitting the choreo they’ve got the spirit, which is what dancing is really all about:

@retirementhouseIt’s not about what you do its about who you do it with 🤍

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There are more fun moments after that, like when tank top guy tries to seal the deal with this wiggle:

Extra noodley

And then when they all end impressively frozen:

Stunning

But I agree that the most fun parts are when they dance as a group, perfectly in sync with one another and clearly having so much fun.

My biggest thought after watching this multiple times, and then watching the whole Volcano motion picture short film extravaganza experience, is how differently a dancer’s brain must be wired. When I used to do theater, people would often ask how I memorized all those lines. Luckily, I’ve always absorbed the written word very well and I can imprint them into a special corner of my brain to reference later. But to see or imagine a movement and then be able to instantly translate that physically? Amazing! I go to dance class once a week chasing this kind of connection, and every now and then it happens, but I can’t imagine the kind of brain storage and muscle memory these dancers must have. I can only hope that in my next life I come back with a dancer brain and a noodle-y, flexible body.

Are there other Jungle videos I should check out? Leave a comment and let me know! In the meantime, I’ll be practicing my struts and working on my muscle arms.

See you next month with more cool moves!

Love and jazz hands,
Molly

1. My light Googling keeps bringing up the Charleston as the earliest dance craze, but surely some 19th century teens were just as excited to show off how well they could nail the quadrille?

2. Someday I’ll create a “how I think I look in dance class vs how I really look in dance class” meme. Stay tuned.