"The Hustle" is a

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pi ...

song by

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ge ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

Van McCoy Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful song " The Hustle". He has approximat ...

and the Soul City Symphony. It went to No. 1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles charts during the summer of 1975. It also peaked at No. 1 on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensi ...

'' charts, No. 9 on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report) and No. 3 in the UK. It would eventually sell over one million copies. The song won the

Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance The Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded between 1969 and 2011. *In 1969 it was awarded as Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental *From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance ...

early in 1976 for songs recorded in 1975.

History

While in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to make an album, McCoy composed the song after his music partner, Charles Kipps, watched patrons do a dance known as " the Hustle" in the nightclub Adam's Apple. The sessions were done at New York's Mediasound studio with pianist McCoy, bassist Gordon Edwards, drummer

Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction into the ''Modern D ...

, keyboardist

Richard Tee Richard Edward Tee (born Richard Edward Ten Ryk; November 24, 1943 – July 21, 1993) was an American pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger, who had several hundred studio credits and played on such notable hits as " In Your Eyes", "Sli ...

, guitarists

Eric Gale Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. ''Early life and career'' Born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, Gale grew up in a diverse household. His paternal grandfather was from Yorks ...

and

John Tropea John Tropea (pronounced 'tro-pay'; born January 7, 1946) is an American guitarist. Career Tropea began guitar studies at the age of 12. His musical education continued at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he studied jazz guitar, harmony, ...

, and orchestra leader

Gene Orloff Gene Orloff (June 14, 1921 – March 23, 2009) was an American violinist, concertmaster, arranger, contractor and session musician. Background The son of a Russian immigrant violin maker, Orloff would try and get his father's violin down from the ...

. Producer

Hugo Peretti Hugo E. Peretti (December 6, 1916 – May 1, 1986) was an American songwriter, trumpeter, and record producer. Born in New York City to an Italian American family, Peretti began his music career as a teenager, playing the trumpet in the Bors ...

contracted multi-woodwind player

Phil Bodner Philip L. Bodner (June 13, 1917 – February 24, 2008) was an American jazz clarinetist and studio musician who also played flute, oboe, saxophone, and English horn. Career A native of Waterbury, Connecticut, Bodner worked as a studio musician ...

to play the

piccolo The piccolo ( ; Italian for 'small') is a half-size flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" the modern piccolo has similar fingerings as the standard transverse flute, but the so ...

lead melody. During the summer of 1975, "The Hustle" became a No. 1 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and Hot Soul Singles charts. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 21 song for 1975. It also peaked at No. 9 on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report) and No. 3 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top ...

. According to producers Hugo & Luigi who owned the Avco

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

that originally released "The Hustle", McCoy met with them shortly before his death in 1979 to discuss ideas for a new, longer version of the song, in order to appease Avco's UK and German affiliates who were clamoring for a 12" disco single release. The new version, clocking in at just under six and a half minutes, was assembled posthumously as a remix, using parts of the original recording plus new parts, including drum,

Syndrum The Pollard Syndrum is the first commercially available electronic drum, invented by Joe Pollard and Mark Barton in 1976. There were 3 major types: The Syndrum 1, the Syndrum TwinDrum, and the Syndrum Quad, the last being the most famous. At the t ...

, and a "little"

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 201 ...

. It was credited to Van McCoy alone or with an unnamed orchestra, mixed by "The Mix Masters", identity unknown.

Appearances in other media

The song has been featured in numerous movies and television shows including '' Vampires Suck'', the ''

Shark Tale ''Shark Tale'' is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. The film was directed by Vicky Jenson, Bibo Bergeron, and Rob Letterman (in his feature directorial deb ...

'' short film '' Club Oscar'', ''

The Lorax ''The Lorax'' is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss and published in 1971. It chronicles the plight of the environment and the Lorax, the titular character, who "speaks for the trees" and confronts the Once-ler, a business magnate who causes ...

'', ''

That '70s Show ''That '70s Show'' is an American television period teen sitcom that aired on Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the fictional town of Point Place, Wisconsin, fro ...

'', ''

American Dad! ''American Dad!'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Since 2014, the series has been airing new episodes on TBS. ''American Dad!'' is the first televisio ...

'', and ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction animated sitcom, sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of the professional slacker Philip J. Fry, who is cryonics, cryogenically ...

''.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Other versions

*Italian rapper Talko made a rap cover of "The Hustle". It was released in 1983 on Babalu Records. *Filipino comedienne

Rufa Mae Quinto Rufa is a given name. Notable people with the name include: * Rufa Mae Quinto (born 1978), Filipina actress, comedian, television host, and singer * Rufa Mi (born 1988), Filipina comedian, presenter, actress, and singer {{Short pages monitor