For most songwriters, getting a song banned by radio stations is an unfortunate post-release consequence, not a pointed, pre-release business strategy. But in 1970, The Buoys decided to lean into the latter, writing a track with the sole purpose of having radio stations ban it. While it might seem self-defeatist at first, the band’s logic was sound: if music history has taught us anything, it’s that people are really, really curious about controversial things.
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And when people are curious about something, they talk about it. After The Buoys realized they weren’t receiving any financial assistance from their record label, Scepter Records, to promote their first single, songwriter Rupert Holmes decided to let the controversy do the talking for them. Thus, The Buoys’ “Timothy” was born, a Top 40 hit with a bouncy melody about…eating people.
Rupert Holmes Wrote “Timothy” Specifically for Radio Stations to Ban It
1970 was a rollercoaster kind of year for The Buoys. The Pennsylvania pop-rockers had landed a record deal with Scepter Records. But their first single on the label, “These Days”, was a flop. The band’s window to impress their label was running out. Add the extra pressure of having no real financial backing to promote their next single, The Buoys needed to cut a surefire hit. Producer Michael Wright was describing the band’s dilemma to his songwriter friend, Rupert Holmes, who suggested they write a song that radio stations would ban. “He said, ‘Will you write one?’ And I said, ‘Yes,’” Holmes told Rolling Stone.
Still, that was no short order. The song had to be just controversial or taboo enough to get people talking about it, but not so blatantly salacious that radio stations never put it on air in the first place. The objective was to get the song on the airwaves, have listeners slowly realize what the song is about, and then, the taboo topic would drum up enough buzz to get some stations to ban it. After that, humans’ natural inclination to be nosey would take over.
The Record Label Tried to Pivot the Song Away From Cannibalism
The Buoys’ 1970 hit “Timothy” has such a catchy melody and beat that you wouldn’t expect its lyrics to be dark. But indeed they are. “Timothy” recounts the story of a mining accident that traps several workers in a cave. The song implies that while the miners waited for rescuers to find them, they ate one of their crew, the titular character. Holmes purposefully made the lyrics just vague enough that cannibalism is only an implication, never an outright confession.
“I must have blacked out just ‘round then / ‘cause the very next thing that I could see / Was the light of the day again / My stomach was full as it could be / And nobody ever got around to finding Timothy.”
“Timothy” became The Buoys biggest hit upon its February 1970 release, peaking at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. Once the track started picking up steam and Scepter Records became hip to the song’s lyrics, the label began backtracking, claiming that Timothy was a mule, not a human. However, Holmes pushed back on this theory, doubling down on the cannibalism storyline.
“People think I should be embarrassed by this song. But I’m so proud,” Holmes told Rolling Stone. And why shouldn’t he have been proud? His plan worked beautifully. Radio stations refused to play the song on air, which only made people want to hear it more. “All you have to do is tell a teenager that he shouldn’t listen to something, and he’ll demand it.”
Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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