"The Hustle" is a hit disco song by songwriter/arranger Van
McCoy and the Soul City Symphony. The song was a huge crossover
hit. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Soul
Singles chart during the summer of 1975. It also peaked at #9
on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report) and #3 in
the UK. It would eventually sell over one million copies and is
one of the most popular songs of the disco era. The song won
the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in
1976.
While in New York City to make an album, McCoy was inspired
to record the song after his music partner, Charles Kipps,
watched patrons do an elegant dance called "the hustle" at the
Adam's Apple club. The sessions were done at New York's Media
Sound with pianist McCoy, bassist Gordon Edwards, drummers
Steve Gadd and Rick Marotta, keyboardist Richard Tee,
guitarists Eric Gale and John Tropea, and orchestra leader Gene
Orloff. Producer Hugo Peretti brought in piccolo player Philip
Bodner to play the lead melody.
In Futurama, Fry protests to get his dog Seymour back from a
museum, and protests by performing his 'people's native dance',
which is dancing to The Hustle.