Shortly after the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers in the beating of Rodney King in March of 1991, a series of riots broke out throughout Los Angeles County during April and May 1992. Surrounded by the civil unrest in Los Angeles, Joni Mitchell started questioning what justice meant while driving around Los Angeles one day. Her curiosity, and concern, led to her writing “Sex Kills.”
“It was written at the time of the Los Angeles riots,” recalled Mitchell. “I pulled up behind a car with a license plate, ‘JUST ICE,’ which was very provocative to me. I asked a lot of people what justice was—nobody seemed to know. This is a song about America, and Los Angeles, at this particular time.”
Videos by American Songwriter
‘Sex Sells Everything’
Is justice, just ice? asks Mitchell in the song.
Though “Sex Kills” had nothing to do with sex, directly, it had everything to do with injustices. On the license plate, which Mitchell saw while driving around the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, she saw the word “Justice” broken up. The word prompted her to write about injustices, throughout history from the Native American genocide to the radical 18th-century French radical Maximilien Robespierre and his Reign of Terror to the effects of oil spills, greed and lust, cost of living (bills bury you like an avalanche), and more.
“It got me generally thinking, ‘What is justice, and what is injustice?’” said Mitchell.
I pulled up behind a Cadillac
We were waiting for the light
And I took a look at his license plate
It said, “just ice”
Is justice just ice?
Governed by greed and lust?
Just the strong doing what they can
And the weak suffering what they must?
Oh, and the gas leaks
And the oil spills
And sex sells everything
Sex kills
Doctors’ pills give you brand new ills
And the bills bury you like an avalanche
And lawyers haven’t been this popular
Since Robespierre slaughtered half of France!
And Indian chiefs with their old beliefs know
The balance is undone, crazy ions
You can feel it out in traffic
Feminism?
In writing “Sex Kills,” women’s rights also spilled into her lyrics. “Coincidentally, in my search for justice, the injustices that seemed to be jumping out at me from most places were women’s issues,” added Mitchell. “I never was a feminist. I always thought the feminists were too apartheid in their thinking.”
Mitchell added, “But I’ve always felt that that work had to be done, that the relationship between man and woman needed adjustment. We’re not that different; it’s our role-playing that made us different. Now, with women working shoulder to shoulder with men in the workforce, the roles are changing. A more sympathetic and androgynous creature is developing here and there.”
Everyone hates everyone
And the gas leaks
And the oil spills
And sex sells everything
Sex kills
All these jack-offs at the office
The rapist in the pool
Oh, and the tragedies in the nurseries
Little kids packin’ guns to school
The ulcerated ozone
These tumors of the skin
This hostile sun beating down on
Massive mess we’re in
Released on Mitchell’s 1994 album Turbulent Indigo, which won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Album, “Sex Kills” was never released as a single but was an affirmation about America at the time, and the riots.
“Writing is a cathartic experience,” said Mitchell. “In pursuit of happiness, you try to lighten your soul as you go along. As a writer, I’ve got a lifetime of experiences I’m dumping and dumping on you. You don’t want to be carrying that stress, that baggage, into your later years, if possible.”
Photo: Joni Mitchell at The Wall Concert, Berlin, July 21, 1990. (Michael Putland/Getty Images)
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.