Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)

"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" is a song by American dance music group C+C Music Factory, released by Columbia Records on November 18, 1990, as the lead single from their debut album, Gonna Make You Sweat (1990). The song is sung by Martha Wash and rapped by Freedom Williams; it was written by Robert Clivillés, Williams, and David Cole, and produced by Clivillés and Cole.
The song charted internationally, topping the charts of Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States. The accompanying music video was directed by Marcus Nispel, and features singer/dancer Zelma Davis lip-syncing to Wash's vocal parts. Billboard magazine ranked "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" No.‍402 among the "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time" in 2023.
Robert Clivillés wrote and produced an instrumental track that was to become "Gonna Make You Sweat". He offered the track to vocal trio Trilogy, but when they declined to record it, Clivillés decided to use the track for his and David Cole's band, C+C Music Factory. The rap verse was performed by Freedom Williams and the female vocals by Martha Wash.
The music video showed singer and dancer Zelma 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. On December 11, 1991, Wash filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles Superior Court against C+C Music Factory's Robert Clivillés and David Cole, charging the producers and their record company, Sony Music Entertainment, with fraud, deceptive packaging, and commercial appropriation. The case was eventually settled in 1994, and as a result of the settlement, Sony made an unprecedented request of MTV to add a disclaimer that credited Wash for vocals and Davis for "visualization" to the "Gonna Make You Sweat" music video.
Having previously worked with David 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. Only Robert 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:
Music critics praised "Gonna Make You Sweat" for Freedom Williams' Ice-T-like rap delivery in conjunction with Martha Wash's powerful, exuberant, post-disco vocals and deemed the song as a bona fide classic. Bill Lamb from About.com said that the vocal performances "along with state-of-the-art house rhythms" made up "one of the most exhilarating songs of the year". AllMusic editor Jose F. Promis described it as "unstoppable" and noted that it "incorporated dance, house, and hip hop beats, wailing diva vocals, and rap to come up with one of the year's most exciting hits". Larry Flick from Billboard wrote that "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 former Weather Girl Martha Wash". He also described it 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".
Penelope Layland from The Canberra Times stated that the song "is highly percussive, with an urgent beat contrasting well with the lazy vocal delivery". Marisa Fox from Entertainment Weekly said it "sounds like a composite of 1990's most memorable pop/dance tunes — a screeching bass line (reminiscent of Snap!'s "The Power" jam), wailing lead vocals sung by former Weather Girl Martha Wash, and up-tempo beats that reek of Technotronic." Dave Sholin from the Gavin Report noted that it is "difficult to package any more excitement into this release which exemplifies what fresh music is all about". A. Scott Galloway from The Network Forty commented that the song is "an electrifying debut from Robert Clivillés & David Cole, the production team that brought you Seduction. 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 like Black Box's "Everybody Everybody" and Snap!'s "The Power", either". A reviewer from People 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".
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 by AllMusic as "the lazy Hollywood 'go-to' song for supposed laugh-filled, irony-fueled dance numbers".
The song held the top spot on the US Billboard Dance Club Play chart for five weeks in December 1990 and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in February 1991. It also topped the Canadian RPM Dance 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, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where it peaked at number two. In the UK, "Gonna Make You Sweat" peaked a number three in its sixth week at the UK Singles Chart, on January 13, 1991. 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 a platinum record in the US, after one million singles were sold there.
The accompanying music video for "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" was directed by German director Marcus Nispel and featured dancers performing in front of a white backdrop. Zelma Davis lip-syncs to the recorded vocals of Martha Wash, who doesn't appear in the video. A short clip of Double Dutch is shown near the end. The video received heavy rotation on MTV Europe.
In 2000, VH1 placed "Gonna Make You Sweat" at number nine on its list of "100 Greatest Dance Songs", and at number 36 on its list of "100 Greatest Songs of the 90s" in 2007. In October 2023, Billboard magazine ranked it number 402 in their "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time".
Ubisoft has used two covers of the song in their Just Dance games:
The song has been used in many films and television shows; for example:
The song has also been used in numerous film trailers and television commercials.
Ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir performed to the song in the Figure Skating Exhibition Gala at the 2010 Winter Olympics after winning the gold medal.
In September 2017, the song was featured as one of the soundtracks of 2K's video game series, NBA 2K18.
In 2024, a parody of the song, "Everybody DampRid" was used in a commercial for the moisture absorber DampRid. Also in 2024, Coles Supermarkets used another parody, "Great Value, Hands Down", in their television commercials and YouTube ads.