Five Faves: The Filthy Fifteen

Mid-80s. Society was being dragged down into the cesspit of sexual glorification and debauchery. Could anyone save us? Tipper Gore and the PMRC would show us the way...

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Five Faves is an ongoing listicle series presenting a collection of five of my favorites from a specific category—songs, albums, videos, books, movies, quotes—just about anything is fair game. This isn’t intended to be a definitive “best of” list but more of an in-the-moment list of things that have moved me or brought me joy.

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When I first launched the Five Faves series a few weeks ago, I already had about half a dozen fairly well-fleshed-out ideas sitting in my draft folder, two of which have I've now written and published. I figured that new ideas would be fairly easy to come by and the topic for this week's installment emerged last week while I was reading Part 2 of Matt Fish's ranking of Madonna's studio albums on the always marvelous Best Music of All Time Substack. When discussing the album Like a Virgin, specifically the title track, Matt said:

"can we agree that the song is tame to the point where I don’t fully understand what all the fuss was about back in the day? Were the Reagan days that puritanical? Were parents back then that afraid of young women being open about their sexuality?"

As someone who came of age during those Reagan years, I chimed in with this response:

"To answer your earlier question, yes, the Reagan years were that puritanical with people like Tipper Gore and the PMRC seemingly questioning just about everything. I was ten when Reagan came in and 18 when he left and much of that period was defined by these moralizing whackadoodles. Fine if you don’t like the music or you find it offensive. Don’t listen to it then. Just don’t constrain my choices with your definition of morality."

The PMRC I referenced in my response was the Parents Music Resource Centre, "an American committee formed in 1985 with the stated goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to have violent, drug-related, or sexual themes via labeling albums with Parental Advisory stickers." Fundamentally, I don't have a problem with a group of parents wanting to inform other parents about media that they think may be offensive or somehow damaging to children.

But here's the rub: when advocacy groups become the arbiters of what should be deemed "offensive" and then extend their remit to censoring artistic expression and punishing artists, I have a problem. In this instance, the PMRC were also "pressuring television stations not to broadcast explicit songs or videos and "reassess[ing]" the contracts of musicians who performed violently or sexually in concert." That's a bridge too far for me.

I consider myself to be a firm defender of free speech, particularly as it relates to artistic expression. I'm not an absolutist in the sense that I do think there should be some checks on public discourse and action. Throughout history there have been oppressed and marginalized groups, often minority groups, that the state (particularly in Western countries), as an extension of the electorate, have determined should be protected from hateful speech and behavior. The question of when protected speech crosses the line into hate speech , and who is entitled to determine such, is a thorny issue and not one I really wish to delve into here. But fundamentally I believe that people should be protected from hate speech.

For as long as people have been writing songs, and recording them, whether on clay tablet, papyrus, wax cylinders, or vinyl, there have been songs written about sex. Invariably, sexually themed songs written by women have been far more legislated against than those written by men. While men writing about their sexual exploits are largely lionized and celebrated for their masculinity ("stud", "player", etc.), their female counterparts tend to be ostracized or demeaned using language that tends to be reserved solely for women ("slut", "whore", etc.).

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Women celebrating their sexuality

From the earliest eras of recorded music, right through to the present, women have had plenty to say about sex. The prevalence of female-led "dirty blues" from the 1920s and 30s is well documented, with examples like Clara Smith's “It's Tight Like That” in 1929 and Bessie Smith's “I Need a Little Sugar in my Bowl” in 1931. Perhaps the best known dirty blues song is Lucille Bogan's rendition of “Shave 'em Dry”. While originally recorded by Ma Rainey in 1924, Bogan released her own version in 1935; she also recorded several alternate takes, including this particularly explicit version:

I got nipples on my titties, big as the end of my thumb

I got somethin' between my legs'll make a dead man come

Oh daddy, baby won't you shave 'em dry?

Now, draw it out!

Want you to grind me baby, grind me until I cry

Fast forward 85 years and you continue to find trailblazing women who are willing to celebrate their sexuality in ways that some in society may deem offensive. Cardi B's empowering sex-positive anthem with Megan Thee Stallion, 2020's "WAP", drew plenty of criticism on its release, particularly from conservative commentators apoplectic over its explicit lyrics:

He got some money, then that's where I'm headed

Pussy A-1, just like his credit

He got a beard, well, I'm tryna wet it

I let him taste it, and now he diabetic

I don't wanna spit, I wanna gulp

I wanna gag, I wanna choke

I want you to touch that lil' dangly thing that swing in the back of my throat

While there was plenty of outrage, there was also widespread critical acclaim and massive commercial success. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and had the largest opening streaming week for a song in U.S. history. The song also reached the top spot in over half a dozen countries and the top ten in another fifteen while being certified multi-platinum in seven countries. Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times deemed the song a "savage, nasty, sex-positive triumph", with Complex calling it "the epitome of female empowerment." in which the women featured are "unapologetically themselves."

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The Power of Language

A couple outlets invoked the word "filthy" when describing the song (NME: "Cardi B’s team-up with Megan Thee Stallion is a truly filthy return"; Washington Post: 'WAP' is completely filthy. We could use a lot more pop culture like it"). While NME and the Washington Post could be deemed representative of the establishment, thereby exerting some degree of institutional power, it's not surprising that both of the opinion pieces themselves were written by women. Their embrace of the word "filthy"—in an almost celebratory manner—is an example of the redefinition of language that has traditionally been used to demonize already oppressed groups.

Throughout history we've seen demeaning and hateful language—slurs typically wielded as tools of oppression—adopted by marginalized groups and redefined to celebrate themselves and their communities, thereby robbing them of some of their intended power. While the words are no less ugly when hurled by racists (the n-word), misogynists, (the b-word) and homophobes (the f-word), the act of reclamation "grabs power back: it takes ownership over the derogatory label and repurposes it. It also denies out-group members access to the newly repurposed label."¹

I would argue that "WAP" further extends this act of reclamation by normalizing the right of female artists to use whatever language they choose—be it in a sex-positive song or otherwise—when writing and performing. For so long, the idea that women have as much right as men to their own sexual agency has been anathema to the mainstream—read male-dominated—discourse. "WAP" upends these ignorant and outdated expectations in a gloriously "filthy" way.

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The PMRC's Filthy Fifteen

You may be asking "I thought I was reading a Five Faves installment, not a treatise on challenging the patriarchy?!?” Stick with me, folks, we're about to get there!

As per the Wikipedia entry, "One of the actions taken by the PMRC was compiling a list of fifteen songs in popular music, at the time, that they found the most objectionable." This list became known as the Filthy Fifteen and comprised songs whose lyrical content included sex, masturbation, drug and alcohol use, and the occult. Or, in other words, just about everything that a 14-year old me—along with just about all of my contemporaries—was interested in back in 1985.

When reviewing the full list, I decided that focusing on female artists singing about sex and/or masturbation could form the backbone of an interesting article. Of the five tracks, three of them were already well-known to me, one was by an artist I was aware of, and one was a completely new artist/track. What I can say—echoing Matt's comment that started me down the whole PMRC rabbit hole—is that these songs really feel about as tame as it gets. It's almost unbelievable to me that these were the songs selected as filthy.

My five selections are presented below in alphabetical order by artist, with minimal editorializing, along with an excerpt from the lyrics. I'll leave it to readers to draw their own conclusion about the offensiveness or obscenity of the lyrics and whether each song deserved being called out.

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Cyndi Lauper - She Bop

"She Bop" was one of the most popular singles from Cyndi Lauper's debut studio album, 1983's She's So Unusual, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and making the top ten in both Australia and New Zealand. The lyrical allusions to masturbation were just a bridge too far for the PMRC.

Well, I see 'em every night in tight blue jeans

In the pages of a Blueboy magazine

Hey, I've been thinking of a new sensation

I'm picking up the good vibrations

Do I wanna go out with a lion's roar?

Yeah, I wanna go south and get me some more

Hey, they say that a stitch in time saves nine

They say I better stop or I'll go blind

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Madonna - Dress You Up

"Dress You Up" was the final single released from Madonna's second album, 1984's Like a Virgin. Tipper Gore heard her daughter listening to the song and found the refrain to be an example of "vulgar music". Gore is quoted as saying, "popular culture is morally bankrupt, flagrantly licentious and utterly materialistic ― and Madonna is the worst of all." Somehow, despite its licentious themes, it still managed to make the top ten in almost a dozen countries, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

Gonna dress you up in my love

All over, all over

Gonna dress you up in my love

All over your body

Gonna dress you up in my love, in my love

(All over your body) All over your body

In my love (All over, all over)

From your head down to your toes

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Mary Jane Girls - In My House

Produced, as it was, by noted super freak Rick James, it's perhaps not surprising that "In My House" drew the ire of the PRMC for its sexual innuendoes /sarcasm. The track was the lead single from the Mary Jane Girls' second album, 1985's Only Four You and was the band's highest charting single, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and making the top ten in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.

Boy, you can just believe

I'm the only girl in your life

I'll be your sugar in the morning

And the sweet stuff you need at night

And you can just best believe

When it comes down to making love

I'll satisfy your every need

And every fantasy you think of

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Sheena Easton - Sugar Walls

Released as the second single from Sheena Easton's fifth studio album, 1984's A Private Heaven, upon its release "Sugar Walls" was criticized by that bastion of morality, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. While Swaggart would later have his own come to Jesus moment, in 1984 he was clearly still comfortable throwing stones. Somehow, the track would manage to reach number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 (anyone sensing a theme here? these depraved music lovers should be shipped off to Bomont, Texas to get themselves straightened out!)

Blood races to your private spots

Lets me know there's a fire

You can't fight passion when passion is hot

Temperatures rise inside my sugar walls

Come spend the night inside my sugar walls

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Vanity - Strap On 'Robbie Baby'

The PMRC really had to go deep for this track as it was a non-album cut from Wild Animal, Vanity's debut solo album after her sudden departure from the group Vanity 6. This is probably the most provocative of the five tracks and, despite its relative tameness by today's standards, the album was apparently too much for noted music critic Robert Christgau, who wrote "anyone who dreamed that she'd liberated herself from pornographic role-playing should get a load of the electric dildos, cum-stained frocks, and psychedelic sex slavery she flaunts as she strikes out on her own." Poor Robert...

So don't you provoke me

Come on, stroke me

Strap this thing tight

If you wanna glide down my highway, it's open

Strap yourself in, ride

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As always, I’d love to hear what you thought about these picks. When you’re finished reading, listening and watching, please hop into the comments.

• I know they’re all fantastic, but do you have a favorite track here?

• Were you around when all this was happening in the 80s? What did/do you think of the PMRC and their actions?

• What are your thoughts about explicit songs about sex? Are there standards to be maintained or lines that shouldn’t be crossed?

• Do you have a favorite filthy song? Please drop a link so we can all avoid it like the plague enjoy it!

1. https://philarchive.org/archive/POPRTB