Love this thread. I recently heard a no.1 that I have no idea if it was controversial at the time (maybe some of our ahem seasoned Buzzjackers would know) but just can't imagine the lyrics being played on daytime radio today. That one is 'Suicide is Painless' the theme to MASH which was no.1 in 1980 which has lyrics that could be interpreted as encouraging suicide.

 

What is darkly prophetic is that the Manic Street Preachers took a cover of the song to the top 10 in 1992 with the then guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards still a member. A few years later he disappeared- widely believed to be suicide.

Edited April 27, 20232 yr by Smint

Love this thread.

As most people who've known me on here long enough will allude to, I love to start controversy! :kink:

I remember this from the 90s dance number 1s thread, an official number one for 1 week of course:

 

The Outhere Brothers - Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)

 

Official Chart Run 9-2-1-2-2-2-2-5-9-13-19-25-36-56-69 (15 weeks)

*Positions in red are the weeks when the track would be number 1 if just dance music was chart eligible.

 

Since the early 60s shocking and outrageous lyrics have, if not well disguised, been guaranteed to attain notoriety through the inevitable press coverage that follows, and during the following years had been invading the charts with ever-increasing frequency. In the previous decade radio had tried to ban records with controversial or sexually explicit lyrics, particularly that which was provided by the publicly funded BBC, however that was often counterproductive (see: Frankie Goes To Hollywood). A compromise - the radio edit - was born, this eventually leading to the labelling of all on-sale explicit content in 1990 with the now widely recognisable black-and-white warning label. Usually a radio edit would discreetly replace the offending word(s) with either a new 'family friendly' phrase or a sound effect, however “Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)”, originally a pretty gratuitously graphic ode to oral sex, was changed beyond recognition with the child friendly Townhouse edit replacing much of the offending lyrics and leading to the strange situation where the single in the charts was not the song that people were hearing in the clubs and buying the record for.

 

The Outhere Brothers were the Chicago duo of rapper Keith Mayberry (Malik) and producer Lamar Mahone (Hula) who were brought together by DJ Jazzy Jeff in 1987. Mahone produced DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s “Summertime” which had hit #8 in the summer of ’91, with Mayberry helping to co-write the rap on Fresh Prince’s 1993 UK #1 “Boom! Shake The Room”. “Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)” was the follow-up to LMFAO-esque bro-rap “Pass The Toilet Paper” which was released in 1993 but failed to find a commercial footing, though it sets the tone for the duo’s output. Its combination of hip-hop/house beats, and Mayberry’s hoarse and rather range-limited rap was to find them success however with Top 10 placings in Belgium and the Netherlands during the winter of 1994, and these imports frequently found their way into the UK chart lower rungs as the explicit OHB Club Version spread through the clubs; though the group had found a somewhat younger audience too with their playful rapping and catchy beats and controversial lyrics providing hushed sniggering in the classrooms and playgrounds of the UK. By March 1995 the single was hyped enough to make an impressive debut, and subsequently debuted at 9, before rising to 1 and remaining highly placed for some time due to the controversy that predictably soon followed.

 

The lyrical content of “Don’t Stop (Wiggle Wiggle)” was brought up in Parliament by Worcester MP Peter Luff who bemoaned ‘such filth suggests that the record industry is not policing its output effectively’ and the album from which it was taken 1 Polish 2 Biscuits & A Fish Sandwich was re-recorded after the UK government threatened to prosecute the group and label under the Obscene Publications Act; the last time the act had been used for a pop record was against Essex anarchists The Crass’ 1983 political protest record “How Does It Feel To Be The Mother Of A Thousand Dead?” - which was directed at Margaret Thatcher. There’ll be more from Malik and Hula later in the year...

Edited April 27, 20232 yr by TheSnake

Yep both Outhere Brothers no.1 were offensive puerile trash although the one you mention did have a remix which stripped out the smut and was a half decent banger (and played on radio)

 

Can't seem to post the link but it's here.

 

Called the Townhouse radio edit.

 

 

Edited April 27, 20232 yr by Smint