Dance to the Music

Epic released it in 1967, and it reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, the band's first single in the Top 10. Clive Davis wanted something commercial, and the band did not think highly of it at the time. Jerry Martini called it "glorified Motown beats" and said it was an unhip thing to do. The Guardian says the label's demand produced a song derided by the band as "unhip", yet one whose distorted guitars and shifting sound changed Motown and ushered in the psychedelic soul era.

It opens with Cynthia Robinson calling the audience to "get on up" and dance, then the Stone brothers and Graham break into an a cappella scat. It works as a kind of theme song, introducing Errico, Robinson and Martini by name, and Robinson ends one exchange with "all the squares go home". Four co-lead singers share it, and it carries rock guitar riffs from Freddie, a funk bassline from Graham, a syncopated drum track from Errico and Sly's gospel-style organ.

The Temptations' "Cloud Nine", a top ten hit that won a Grammy, was inspired by it. The song entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and is among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The band played it at Woodstock and, in a medley with "I Want to Take You Higher", on Soul Train in 1974.