“Dance to The Music” by Sly and the Family Stone

Sly and the Family Stone made "Dance to the Music" under orders, and nobody in the band much liked it at first. CBS Records executive Clive Davis wanted something more saleable than their 1967 album A Whole New Thing, so Sly Stone, who wrote and produced it, cooked up a formula: pour the band's psychedelic rock leanings into a pop-friendly mold. Saxophonist Jerry Martini dismissed the result as glorified Motown beats and an unhip move.

The joke was on the doubters. It became the band's first single to crack the Billboard pop Top 10, peaking at number eight, and it lent its name to their 1968 album. It also put their sound on the map, one the rest of black music raced to copy, soon known as psychedelic soul. It entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and ranks 223rd on Rolling Stone's list of the greatest songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.