Indie Filth: 10 explicitly sexual lyrics in alternative anthems
Music has always been an industry that ignores taboos and celebrates sexuality. Unlike other areas of society, the music industry is a place with very few rules, and artists can be their true selves within their lyrics rather than hiding behind a more socially palatable version. It’s also a subversive force and has been at the forefront of sexual liberation.
For as long as music has been a crucial part of popular culture, artists have pushed boundaries and caused hysteria by breaking unspoken social taboos. When musicians ride close to the sun, they often draw criticism from right-wing Mary Whitehouse types who accuse them of poisoning the minds of the youth.
In America, the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) sought to censor music with adult themes ‘to protect children’ back in 1985. The PMRC collated a series of songs they deemed unsuitable for minors and presented them to the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA), who later created the ‘Parental Advisory’ sticker – much to the dismay of artists such as Frank Zappa, who fought hard against the cencorship of music.
Despite the efforts of those who want music to be bland and exist purely within a vacuum of vanilla, sadly for them, it’ll never be the case. Not Safe For Work (NSFW) lyrics have been a permanent fixture in contemporary pop for over half a century, and fingers crossed, naughtiness will remain in music’s DNA for eternity.
The 10 most explicitly sexual lyrics ever written:
‘Little Red Corvette’ – Prince
In all honesty, all ten contributions on this list could be from Prince’s back catalogue. NSFW was his go-to lyrical home, and his filthy tongue became a signature part of his identity. In the 1980s, it was taboo to discuss sexuality as openly as Prince, yet, he didn’t care, and neither did his fans, who loved him for his lustful lyrics.
On ‘Little Red Corvette’, Prince doesn’t leave anything to the imagination of the listener and sings: “Girl, you got an ass like I never seen, And the ride, I say the ride is so smooth, You must be a limousine”. When Prince released the track in 1982, he was still relatively unknown, but ‘Little Red Corvette’ proved vital in his ascension to dominance and made him stand out from the rest of the pack.
‘Relax’ – Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Frankie Goes To Hollywood offered a breath of fresh air to the landscape of the British pop industry when they arrived in 1983 with their debut single, ‘Relax’. The track was proudly an anthem celebrating gay sex, which was revolutionary, and finally, there was a mainstream hit which spoke to the LGBTQ+ community.
Holly Johnson sings on the track, “Relax, don’t do it, When you want to go to it, Relax, don’t do it, When you want to come, Relax, don’t do it, When you want to suck it, chew it.” There was a backlash from the media, and it was banned from BBC Radio 1, which had the adverse effect they desired. Rather than summoning Frankie Goes To Hollywood into obscurity, it helped gift the group their first number one and gave them an aura of danger.
‘Every Other Freckle’ – Alt-J
On the surface, Alt-J, a band named after a shortcut on a Mac keyboard, aren’t a group you’d expect to crop up on a list about filthy lyrics. However, the band’s intellectual image can be deceiving. ‘Tessellate’ could also have appeared on this list; however, “I’m gonna bed into you like a cat beds into a beanbag/Turn you inside out and lick you like a crisp packet” assures the place of ‘Every Other Freckle’.
“We pretty much learned from the reaction of the first record that we could get away with whatever we wanted, musically,” the band’s Gus Unger-Hamilton said of the track to BBC Radio 1. Although the lyric is a surprising inclusion, the way Alt-J get sexual on ‘Every Other Freckle’ is exceptionally on-brand and acerbic.
‘Whole Lotta Love’ – Led Zeppelin
A whole host of songs in the back catalogue of Led Zeppelin are fuelled by Robert Plant’s libido, which had a mind of its own, and behind the lyrics for ‘Whole Lotta Love’. While Plant had plenty of steamy moments with the band, this track is certainly the naughtiest as he sings, “I ain’t foolin’, you need schoolin’, Baby, you know you need coolin’, Woman, way down inside.”
In the song, Plant rigorously details what he planned to do with the object of his affection and doesn’t let the listener draw their own conclusions. At one point, Plant takes the inappropriateness up another level with the explicit line, “Shake for me girl, I wanna be your back door man”.
‘Sweet Dreams, TN’ – The Last Shadow Puppets
When The Last Shadow Puppets and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner announced himself in 2005 with ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’, he was lauded for his social commentary. Yet, a decade later, his songwriting technique had completely evolved when he wrote, ‘Sweet Dreams, TN’ for The Last Shadow Puppets’ second album, Everything You’ve Come To Expect.
On the track, Turner sings, “Baby we ought to fuck, Seven years of bad luck, Out the parlour room mirror, Could I have made it any clearer?” However, after the song’s release, Turner admitted he couldn’t get more graphic than he did on ‘Sweet Dreams, TN’, and announced he was briefly retiring from using his ardour for inspiration. He told NME: “I think ‘Sweet Dreams, TN’ from the [Last Shadow] Puppets album seemed like the place to leave that, for the time being,” he said. “All that is, is a love letter, I don’t know how much more detail you could go into.”
‘Closer’ – Nine Inch Nails
Courting controversy was a central tenet in the make-up of Nine Inch Nails. They vied against the pop commercialism of the 1980s with an iconoclastic brand of industrial music that happily got down and dirty. In fact, it got filthy with ‘Closer’ as Trent Reznor unabashedly sang: “I want to fuck you like an animal / I want to feel you from the inside.”
It’s not the most sultry or seductive line, reading more like the prose of a virgin with a porn addiction, but in part, that may have been Reznor’s intention as he looked to defy traditional romance and set noses out of joint with a Fight Club line. Put it this way, the lyric still certainly stands out.
‘The Bad Touch’ – Bloodhound Gang
Comedy and sex are two subjects rarely paired, but Bloodhound Gang raced in where angels fear to tread to such a roaring extent that there isn’t a 2000s kid around who wouldn’t know the words to this track. That, in itself, is indicative of the sexually liberated times we now live in. This was an MTV smash hit with an iconic video and mainstream karaoke appeal.
However, beneath it all is some fairly solid twee poetry about a lusty lover. As Jack Vandergrift sings: “You’ve had enough of two-hand touch / You want it rough, you’re out of bounds / I want you smothered, want you covered like my Waffle House hash brown.” It’s no Leonard Cohen, but its juvenile enthusiasm usually prises a smile.
‘Pull Up to the Bumper’ – Grace Jones
‘Pull Up to the Bumper’ is a perfect measure of the massive impact that iconoclasts like Prince and Grace Jones had in the ’80s. When this groovy single was originally released in 1981, it only reached 53 in the UK singles chart, but after being re-issued in late 1985, after four years worth of sultry liberation, it climbed up to 12.
On top of a sensual rhythm, Grace Jones and her friend Dana Mano laid down some obliquely sexual lyrics. As Jones sings in her own unique way: “Pull up to my bumper baby / In your long black limousine / Pull up to my bumper baby / And drive it in between.” All the while, she always made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t talking about a tricky spot of parking.
‘Sexual Healing’ – Marvin Gaye
Sometimes overt sexuality in songs comes across a little bit OTT, a sort of cheesy facsimile of the real thing. But Marvin Gaye is not most people, and his air of coolness saves ‘Sexual Healing’ from this fate. Instead, with a smooth rhythm and a perfectly delivered vocal top-line, this classic anthem has become a staple of many candle-lit playlists, so to speak.
Of course, the most iconic line Gaye croons is the classic chorus, but it’s the slightly more explicit following line that saves it from radio-friendly fodder: “Soon we’ll be making it, honey / I’ll be feeling fine / You’re my medicine, open up and let me in / Darling, you’re so great, I can’t wait for you to operate.” And just like that, the Lothario of soul caused a million people to swoon.
‘Melodies & Desires’ – Lykke Li
For a long time, the music world was far more blasé about men being sexual rather than women. This troubling reality is indicative of the patriarchy that they’ve found themselves up against, even within culture. However, in recent years, the refinement of female sexuality has come to the fore in alternative music, and the following verse is a perfect paradigm of that: “Follow these instructions / Do exactly as I do / Lean your shoulders forward / Let your hands slide over to my side / Move your body closer / Let your heart meet mine.”
In this sexy anthem, Lykke Li puts the woman in charge. Thus, it shouldn’t come as all that much of a surprise that its lulling melody is all the more alluring too. Joyously brazen in its approach, scattered lines like “Now play with me,” and “You’ll be the rhythm and I’ll be the beat,” add an amorous frisson throughout.
