Let's be clear about the topic. This is not the most deviant of sexually explicit recorded music, or else it would be a Top 10 list with ten GG Allin or Insane Clown Posse songs on it. These are all songs that are stuck in your head after you hear them, then you hope that you don't accidentally sing them out loud. I tried very hard to use textbook terms where applicable.
10. F***ing an Animal - GWAR (1999): Off the forgettable We Kill Everything album, GWAR pens a clever, and catchy, ode to the delights of bestiality. The animal noises made throughout the song are a nice touch.
The numbers: Even though I've seen the video numerous times, this was not a single (let alone a hit single). Multiple censored and uncensored versions of the song, album, and artwork exist. For the record, Scumdogs of the Universe was a much better album.
9. Untidy Suicides - Alice Donut (1992): From the underrated masterpiece Untidy Suicides of your Degenerate Children, Tomas Antona's grief is palpable when wailing about the joys, and dangers, of auto-erotic asphyxiation. Graphic description of, well, everything. Catchy as hell and there's cowbell!
The numbers: Band wasn't popular enough to have hits or be banned anywhere, which is a shame. Hard to pick Untidy Suicides in this category over such great songs as Lisa's Father (pedophilia) and Sleep (so disturbing and strange that it's hard to summarize).
8. Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood (1984): The only song on the list inspired by a 19th century poet. It's nice that Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan could relate to a community of gay men almost 200 years later. No matter what religious beliefs you subscribe to, orgies of homosexual men are probably universally accepted as deviant behavior. No one reveled in the debauchery more gloriously than the lads from Liverpool. (Frankie, of course, not those other lads.)
The numbers: Number 2 in the U.K., Top 10 in numerous countries, barely broke the Top 50 in the United States. Album art banned and Frankie had numerous controversies in their short spark of popularity.
7. Barbie Girl - Aqua (1997): Aqua did such a great job of turning Barbie into a sexual object that you own and control, Mattel dragged their asses all the way to the Supreme Court. Apparently Mattel is oblivious to good pop music no matter what the topic.
The numbers: Number 1 in over a dozen countries, Top 10 in the United States. Surprisingly, it's also on numerous worst singles ever lists.
6. Date Rape - Sublime (1991): The story of a bad boy and a good girl. Upbeat tempo supports a downbeat topic. Written by the late Brad Nowell, he was sure to slip in a moral resolution at the conclusion of the song. Don't worry, the bad boy gets it in the end. OUCH!
The numbers: Even though 40 oz. to Freedom was a Top 20 album, it took 4 years for the single to get traction. Banned, unbanned, censored, uncensored, all across the United States. Your exposure to this song probably depends on the city or the state in which you live in.
5. Knocking at Your Back Door - Deep Purple (1984): By 1984, Deep Purple had basically given up on their 11th album, but their song about nailing groupies and trying to slip into their 'rear entrances' is nothing but class. The storyline implies that not only was this going on, but it was a competition between band members. I believe certain L.A. Lakers tried to replicate this competition years later.
The numbers: A Top 10 rock single in the United States. Video is so bad (not bad as in deplorable, but bad as in horrible) that it should be banned.
4. Pretty Tied Up - Guns and Roses (1991): Izzy Stradlin's story of bondage on the seedy side of L.A. The dominatrix in the song is supposedly based on a real person with her real (fat) client. It is also interesting to note that this song is popular in the burgeoning coral sitar scene.
The numbers: Use Your Illusion II was the number one album in over a half dozen countries, including the United States. This was not one of the hit singles from the album though. Don't get me started on how peeved I am with the career arc of the band after this song.
3. Funky Poodle - Wild Horses (1979): Let's get this straight, a teenage streetwalker is going down the street, picked up by a rich woman, drugged, raped and dropped back into the street. What's not to like about a song like that?
The numbers: Very, very popular in Ohio, but not so much everywhere else. Funky Poodle is also the last song on the You, Me, and Dupree Soundtrack in 2006. If you saw the movie, you'll understand what happened to Owen Wilson in 2007.
2. Three Days - Jane's Addiction (1990): Dave Navarro and Stephan Perkins perfectly lay the groundwork on this 10 minute+ opus about a beautiful threesome. The concept of a threesome is not all that controversial in today's climate, but one containing Jesus and his Marys is probably still some sort of deep religious blasphemy.
The numbers: Ritual de lo Habitual was a Top 20 album, but this single didn't even dent the charts. Album cover banned.
1. Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed (1972): No brainer. Transsexuality, illicit drug use, male prostitution, and Andy Warhol's merry band of miscreants. Reed used Nelson Algren's 1956 novel of the same name as a starting point for the song, then used characters from his own life to fill out the lyrics. I can't help but think that if this song was released today, it would never find its way to radio.
The numbers: Top 20 hit in both the U.K. and the United States. Depending greatly on the country in which you lived in, this song was either uncut, edited, or banned.
Note to Reader:
This little article was the the first one I wrote for TopTenz.net, way back in 2012. The Editor was nice enough to tell me that he liked the list, but advertisers would bolt. (I'm not mad, he's right. I don't have to worry about advertisers on B.O.S.)