The Joy of Sax

JONNY WATKINS adores sax solos, and he thinks you should too.

house Mullets Music pop porn Saxophone Vests

If any instrument screams effortless sexiness, it’s gotta be the sex-ophone. Puns aside though, with its golden exterior and suggestive mouthpiece, it’s not hard to understand why some of the grooviest musicians in contemporary music have taken up the sax.

But let’s remember, these ‘musicians’ aren’t necessarily consigned purely to jazz or the blues. Below are just some of the swellest pop/dance tunes that employ a sax solo, transporting a classic melody into the realm of all things horny…

Cambridge studs in the 80s, enjoying a ‘down with Thatcher’ BBQ

Sade – Smooth Operator 

About a fashionable man who lives the jet-set lifestyle, Smooth Operator is more a story of sadness and heartbreak than wondrous sex appeal. With a  ‘heart  [that’s] cold’, the businessman thinks he can do whatever he so pleases, effortlessly becoming the object of various women’s desires. Little does he know that he’s under the watchful eye of Sade, who’s pretty big-dawg. Some 25 years later after all, Sade would go onto beat Adele to claim the title of the ‘highest earning UK artist in the US’ in 2012. Ah Sade, you smooth operator…

Duran Duran – Rio

80s once again, Rio by Duran Duran epitomizes the MTV generation’s endless desire for elaborate music vids. Tropical location, colourful suits, face paints, this vid has it all (including a lone sax man attempting to escape the the shoot by raft at 2mins 58secs).

Mr Oizo – Cut Dick

You’ll probs be pleased to know, it’s not all about the 80s. Mr Oizo aka. Quentin Dupieux, famous for the Levi’s ad back in the 90s featuring Flat Eric, is a pretty eccentric guy. As well as a famed French-house producer for example, he’s also a director, and responsible for a film called Rubber (that’s all about an evil used-car tyre).

Crusaders – My Lady (Purple Disco Machine Re-Edit)

The foray of the sax doesn’t stop at French-house production. Nu-Disco, a recent phenomenon that attempts to replicate the heavily synthesized Italo-Disco tracks of the 1980s, looks to eradicate the accusations of ‘cheese’ and ‘cringe’ that have wrongly come to be associated with all things Disco. The likes of Todd Terje, Touch Sensitive, Goldroom all look to the 70s/80s not for a chuckle/chortle, but genuine artistic inspiration, as well as a few things to sample. Unfortunately for any 80s-keenos out there, this comes minus a mullet and half-naked volleyball with Tom Cruise.

George Michael – Careless Whisper

Careless Whisper is undoubtedly, a pop classic. The silky-smooth vid, the tragic love story and the blonde mullet (thank g), there’s little not to love à mon avis. Saying that though, it does lack that heavy tinge of camp-icity that worked oh-so-well during Geroge’s time in Wham! together with Mr. Ridgeley.

So, any of these not floating your Duran Duran-captained yacht? Any tunes that you think could be helped by the addition of a hyped-up sax solo?