 men without hats is a canadian new wave group from montrÃ©al, quÃ©bec. their music is characterized by the distinctive baritone voice of their lead singer ivan doroschuk as well as their elaborate use of synthesizers and electronic processing. they achieved their greatest popularity in the early to mid-1980s with their most successful single, "the safety dance", a top 10 hit in both the united states and the united kingdom, as well as other countries including south africa. their other big success was the 1987 hit, "pop goes the world". ==history== ===early days=== men without hats initially consisted of ivan doroschuk (vocals, keyboards) and jeremie arrobas (keyboards & electronics), as well as ivan's brother stefan (guitars), with various other members joining and leaving the group, including a third doroschuk brother, colin (electronics). the band was founded in 1977 in montrÃ©al and would undergo numerous personnel changes through the rest of the decade with stefan, colin, and arrobas as the only relative constants joining ivan. the name came about because ivan and his two brothers, following the self-described principle of "style before comfort", refused to wear hats during montrÃ©al's cold winters, calling themselves "the men without hats." (a popular but apocryphal tale is that an announcer at an early gig misread the band's name as "men without pants.") their first release was the ep folk of the 80's, released in 1980. at this point, the band officially consisted of ivan doroschuk and jeremie arrobas; also appearing on the ep were auxiliary members stefan doroschuk (bass), roman martyn (guitars) and lynne thibode
Canadian_New_Wave_musical_groups English-language_musical_groups_from_Quebec Musical_groups_disestablished_in_1992 Musical_groups_disestablished_in_2003 Musical_groups_established_in_1980 Musical_groups_established_in_2003 Musical_groups_from_Montreal Musical_groups_reestablished_in_2010 Synthpop_New_Wave_musical_groups