Steps - 5, 6, 7, 8

What this video is

Released in November 1997, '5, 6, 7, 8' arrived at the peak of a UK line-dancing craze that had been building since Billy Ray Cyrus's 'Achy Breaky Heart' (1992) and Rednex's 'Cotton Eye Joe' (1995), with leisure centres and village halls across Britain offering weekly classes by 1997. The song was created by line-dancing instructor Steve Crosby and songwriter Barry Upton, produced by Pete Waterman, and boldly…

Why it matters

Represents the moment UK pop absorbed and repackaged American country line-dancing as a chart-viable teen dance product, prefiguring the late-90s UK pop group explosion. The song's structural design — equal-length sections engineered for repeated choreographic loops — was an early example of a…

The director

Phil Griffin graduated from Ballet Rambert in London as a dancer and choreographer before establishing himself as a music video director and photographer. As head of creative at MCA London he commissioned videos for artists including C&C Music Factory,…