“Dance to the Music”

Sly Stone wrote and produced it, and it came out in November 1967. CBS Records executive Clive Davis had pushed the band toward something more radio-friendly, and saxophonist Jerry Martini later admitted it felt like an unhip thing for them to do. It worked. The song climbed to No. 8, the band’s first Top 10 hit, and it showed off a band that looked like few others then: men and women, Black and white, four lead singers, every voice and instrument taking a turn in the spotlight, starting with trumpeter Cynthia Robinson’s call to the crowd. It helped lead the way to funk, inspired the Temptations’ “Cloud Nine,” and entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.