Not every bit of music is meant for every bit of your life. Sometimes when you’re in an office or around people in a professional setting, you can’t exactly play anything you want from your computer or cellphone. Sometimes music is best meant for the privacy of your own home—especially if you want to blast it at top volume.
Videos by American Songwriter
Here below, we wanted to explore three such examples. (We hope you’re not reading this at your desk!) Three one-hit wonders, no less. Indeed, these are three NSFW one-hit wonders you’ll want to check out at home.
“I Touch Myself” by Divinyls from Divinyls (1990)
This is a pretty obvious one. The song, which hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, is all about masturbation. Not exactly the top pick for topic of conversation amongst coworkers. (In fact, apologies to my editor for having to comb through this one.) Sometimes, the song says, an urge comes over you and you have to act. Understandable and natural, of course. But again, not exactly what you want to be known for at work. Sings the Divinyls frontwoman Christina Amphlett,
I love myself, I want you to love me
When I feel down I want you above me
I search myself, I want you to find me
I forget myself, I want you to remind me
I don’t want anybody else
When I think about you I touch myself
Ah-ah-oh, I don’t want anybody else
Oh-no, oh-no, oh-no
“Funkytown” by Lipps Inc. from Mouth to Mouth (1980)
While the lyrics for this song are benign enough, the NSFW quality of this work actually comes from the music video. Not exactly the thing you want to be caught at work staring at (re: leering over). Indeed, the dancer Doris D is essentially topless as she dances like, well, someone who isn’t. Ah, it was a different time back then in the 1980s. Ironically, the statuesque Doris D lip-syncs on the track, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100,
A-won’t you take me to Funkytown?
Won’t you take me to Funkytown?
Won’t you take me to Funkytown?
Won’t you take me to Funkytown?
[UPDATE from the band’s Steven Greenberg, who contacted us: “That nsfw video is not us. That woman hijacked our song and made that silly video. I have never been able to get it deleted from all digital formats. Impossible but I’ve tried. So the damage was done. We never did a ‘Funkytown’ video. It was about a year before MTV debuted so it wasn’t a thing to do at the time.]
“Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-a-Lot from Mack Daddy (1992)
Socially, this is an important song. Sir Mix-a-Lot wrote it about curvaceous women, who he says at the time were not nearly as well represented in magazines and pop culture. And the song, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, worked. Mix did his part in changing the idea of body image. However, listening to this song at work as Mix talks about getting sprung and other cheeky things might not be what the proverbial doctor would prescribe. Indeed, Mix raps,
I like big butts and I can not lie
You other brothers can’t deny
That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You get sprung, wanna pull up tough
‘Cause you notice that butt was stuffed
Deep in the jeans she’s wearing
I’m hooked and I can’t stop staring
Oh baby, I wanna get with you
And take your picture
My homeboys tried to warn me
But that butt you got makes me so horny
Photo by Brian McLaughlin/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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