I still have an original recording of 'Word Of Mouth' by Toni Basil which was made during its original broadcast in 1982. Toni was way ahead of her time in adapting traditional and street dance styles into unique and vibrant choreographed pieces. 'Word of Mouth' was made at a time when, amongst others, MTV had begun to popularise the pop video by catapulting the medium into a more style and image dominated art form and this 30 minute 'video LP' is one of the crowning achievements of pop video production from the early eighties. Toni combined classical music with traditional street dance by mixing a Swan Lake extract with a street dance sequence performed by Black Dance Troupe 'The Lockers' something which had never been seen before. 'Word Of Mouth' also featured Body Bopping as a dance style two years before it became mainstream, Vogueing (Striking Poses) eight years before Madonna featured it in one of her videos and demonstrates the traditional Irish dance style that went on to become a worldwide sensation in 'Riverdance' Twelve years later. It is very easy to watch this video and forget that you are watching something that was made over 22 years ago.Outstanding!
