A Changing Relationship: Music and Sex

Since the 1960s sex has been synonymous with music. It is one of our most enjoyable and actively engaged in activities (45 million of us are having sex on earth at any given time) and it’s no surprise that artists can’t stop talking about it.

Since Lil Jon’s direct approach to referencing his genitalia would not have got past the standard and practises division of major record companies in the past, artists instead used the guise of innuendo to discuss their favourite pastime. One of the most famous of these songs was The Lemon Song, recorded in 1969 by the legendary rockers Led Zeppelin. Robert Plant famously prays for a certain female to ‘squeeze me, babe, ’till the juice runs down my leg’, obviously referring to his special blend of homemade lemonade.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tHHRpAzGcM

Robert Plant’s Lemonade

However, it wasn’t just men who were getting all the lyrical action. Two years prior to Led Zep’s Lemon Song Aretha Franklin released (You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman. If it had been more honestly titled it would have been called something along the lines ofYou Make Me Orgasm Frequently. This became one of her most famous songs and was a soulful contribution to the on-going female sexual revolution at the time.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEWuAcMWDLY

Aretha’s Orgasms

The birth of MTV radically changed the way music was presented and led to the rise of the music video. Unsurprisingly it wasn’t long until musicians were pushing the boundaries of what was ‘acceptable’ for television. In 1981 Madonna’s Like a Virgin caused controversy on both sides of the Atlantic as millions of teenage girls proceeded to significantly shorten their skirts. No doubt this was much to the delight of teenage boys everywhere.

However it was Duran Duran’s Girls on Film that caused the most problems, or depending on your point of view, the most happiness. Uncensored, it contained extensive scenes of naked mud wrestling and was subsequently banned by the BBC. Unsurprisingly it massively boosted the sales of their eponymous debut album.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T18K-BcZZb4

Girls On Film

In 1997 the Prodigy released a drug-fuelled sex-crammed explosion of controversy for their 12^th single ‘Smack my Bitch Up’. It was labelled ‘misogynistic’ by critics around the world for its portrayal of a particularly eventful night out, despite the oddly though provoking twist at the end. The song inevitably became a worldwide hit.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf1KaRjOg9g

The Prodigy Smacking Some Bitches

Fast forward to the present and we are overwhelmed with sex in our music. The pop charts are constantly saturated with half naked men and women spouting out generic turd-musical sex has become a tad dull. Artists are as forgetful as a film starring Vin Diesel and sex is constantly used to over-compensate substandard popular music. I am however more than slightly in love with a certain Harlem based rapper who made the BBC Sound of 2012. A woman who knows exactly what she wants, and has no problem demanding it in the most explicit of ways. Enjoy.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3Jv9fNPjgk

Azealia Banks- 212 ft. Lazy Jay