Songfacts®:

• This song is about a guy who makes incredible sounds with a rubber band stretched between his toes; the rubber band sound is simulated in the bassline. The bass was played by Bob Babbitt, who played on many Motown tracks. He ran the instrument through a device he called a "funk box" to get the unusual sound.
• The Spinners' producer, Thom Bell, wrote this song for his son with help from his songwriting partner Linda Creed. Bell wrote theme songs for all of his children, although "The Rubberband Man" is the only one that was ever recorded. At first, it was called "The Fat Man," since his son Mark was rather large and that's what his schoolmates called him. Bell wanted to change the perception of this nickname, so he wrote a song about a big man who can really move. He's the guy everyone waits for at the party because when he arrives, it can really get going. Said Bell, "It was written for big people who were hip, to change the whole idea of a person being large being sloppy, slow."
• This song was recorded at Sigma Sound Studios in June 1976. Sigma was the hub of the Philadelphia Sound; it was where Patti Labelle, The O'Jays and The Stylistics recorded. Musicians on this track included Tony Bell and Bobby Eli on guitar, Andrew Smith on drums, Larry Washington on percussion and Thom Bell on keyboards.
• The album version runs 7:22, with the radio edit cut down to 3:30. Both versions have a cold ending.
• Philippé Wynne sang lead on this track. He joined the group when they signed with Atlantic Records in 1972, and was with them until 1977.
• The Spinners had a whole dance routine to go with this song, which was choreographed by Dianne Bland. The routine incorporated very large rubber bands made of elastic that were sewn together by Bland's mother, Eunice Moore. They would show up about three minutes into their performance.
  
  These outlandish rubber bands made an interesting visual, as the group members and backup singers would find different ways to stretch them to the music. Dianne Bland told Songfacts how it came together:
  
  "I had been working with the Spinners out of the Ziggy Johnson Dance studio in Detroit after they exploded back onto the R&B scene with 'It's A Shame.'
  
  I was the primary dance instructor at the dance studio and through the owner Yvonne (Baby Jane) Johnson I was introduced to the Spinners to begin choreography for them, starting with cuts on their Mighty Love album. Baby Jane was the widow of Ziggy Johnson, who was well known in show business as a dancer, producer, MC, who hailed from Chicago but had settled in Detroit. Ziggy was producer of the famous Vegas style shows in Idlewild, Michigan, and was MC at the famed 20 Grand nightclub in Detroit. Ziggy was well known and worked with many of the Motown artists as well as known entertainers such as Sammy Davis Jr., Eartha Kitt, Billy Dee Williams, and Old Black Magic himself, to name a few!
  
  I began working with the Spinners for years, prior to Philippé Wynne joining the group after the departure of G.C. Cameron (lead on 'It's A Shame'). In September of 1976, the Spinners flew me to Tacoma, Washington (Thom Bell's home) to be introduced to the song and begin choreography on 'Rubberband Man.'
  
  I taught dance in Detroit and Toledo, Ohio for over 30 years and working with the Spinners was one of my favored highlights."
• "The Rubberband Man" was the last of six #1 R&B hits for The Spinners. All six came from 1972 to 1976, after they left Motown and signed with Atlantic. At Motown, they didn't get much support and were always second (or third) fiddle to groups like The Temptations and The Four Tops. Their time at Atlantic almost ended abruptly when they were teamed with producer Jimmy Roach, whose recordings with the band almost got The Spinners dropped from the label. But finally, the winds of time swirled in their favor: Thom Bell had recently started work for Atlantic and was given his choice of artists to work with on the roster. Eschewing superstars like Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway, he chose The Spinners, giving them a second life at the label. Bell remembered the group from the early '60s when he backed them on piano when they came through Philadelphia to perform. Knowing their potential, he took them on and right away found the winning formula - it was mostly a matter of finding the right songs with the right arrangements. It also helped that their new singer, Philippé Wynne, was the real deal, able to pack a wallop of emotion into his vocals.
• In 2004, this was used in commercials for OfficeMax. It introduced the "Rubberband Man" character, a funky young guy with a huge afro who pushes a cart around the office anticipating all the office supply needs of the staff.
• The song enjoyed a surge in popularity in 2018 as a result of its use in the superhero movie Avengers: Infinity War. Other movies to use the song include:
  
  Stripes (1981)
  Radio (2003)
  Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
  About Last Night (2014)
• This was used on the TV show Suits in the 2012 episode "Discovery." After Mike scoffs upon finding a Spinners' album in Harvey's record collection, Harvey informs him, "The Spinners were one of the defining pop bands of their time." The song plays as Mike is forced to work with Louis as punishment for his remarks about the group.
  
  Other TV shows to use the song include:
  
  That '70s Show ("Eric's Birthday" - 1998)
  Malcolm in the Middle ("Convention" - 2000)
• Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter sang this in a 1980 episode of The Muppet Show backed by "The Rubber Band Men," creatures that were made of rubber bands.