Released 31 May 1999 Recorded 1999 Length 4:20 | Format 12"
CD Genre Euro disco
dance-pop Label Jimmy Franks
Geffen | |
"The Bad Touch" is a song recorded by American alternative rock band Bloodhound Gang. It was released on May 31st, 1999 as the lead single from their album Hooray for Boobies, which was released a year later, in the US and UK. The song was remixed by many artists including God Lives Underwater, KMFDM and Eiffel 65.
Contents
Like much of the Bloodhound Gang's other music, the song contains a wide variety of sexual colloquialisms. The sleeve for the single features a photo of two zebras in copula.
Lyricism
The main chorus and anthem of the song is the stanza "You and me, baby, ain't nothin' but mammals; So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel", referring to the nature documentaries shown on the Discovery television channel in the 1990s.
The lyrics are composed almost entirely of double entendre, which include a number of references to late-1990s or topical North American popular culture. In the first verse these are: lack of precipitation leading to drought in the United States and specifically the state of Texas; risqué lyrics from musician Prince; Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert from television film-review programme At the Movies giving "two thumbs up"; restaurant-chain Waffle House and their hash browns foodstuffs; the delivery speed of courier firm FedEx; the stock-price of The Coca-Cola Company; and daylight saving time change during the Northern-hemisphere spring-time and its relation to nocturnal penile tumescence.
The second verse continues alluding to: the lost Egyptian Catacombs of Kom el Shoqafa and early Egyptian hieroglyphs; the southern Pacific Ocean; US-National Weather Service weather alerts distributed as a small craft advisory to marine vessels; oceanic high-tides; the boardgame Battleship; automated coffeemaker manufacturer Mr. Coffee; juvenile exploration through playing doctor; television programme-in-programme Tool Time, from sitcom Home Improvement; country music singer Lyle Lovett; and science-fiction series The X-Files.
Music video
The song's video, shot during the summer of 1999, features the band dressed in "MonkeyRat" costumes with oversized ears, in numerous locations of Paris (including the Place de l'Estrapade, Avenue de Saxe, and Champ de Mars), and the Eiffel Tower is visible in many shots. During the video, the band uses blowguns to shoot tranquilizer darts into the buttocks of four passing young women dressed in black with short skirts and stockings, then carrying them away. They then use a fishing rod to dangle a croissant in front of a group of French chefs, enticing them to follow. The band members dance around for a few seconds and then lure three chefs into following them. The band members swallow several mealworms, before finding two stereotypically French effeminate gay men in a café, who are then beaten over the head with baguettes and knocked unconscious. A dwarf mime artist played by actor Jordan Prentice is captured in a net and then thrown into a cage with the four women, three chefs and the gay couple in a clear parody of animal collectors capturing frightened specimens. The band leap around the cage taunting their captives. As the song draws to an end, the prisoners are released and all dance together in formation in the street. The mime artist escapes and is run over by a speeding Renault 5 car driven by Lüpüs Thünder.
The uncensored version of the video shows the band playing with and eating a brown semi-liquid food, with the implication that it is feces, and a beginning which features them feigning sex in a doggy-style position rather than dancing as in the clean version. The violent capture of the gay couple is also missing from some versions.
Controversy
A scene in the video featuring a pair of gay men in sailor suits, who share french fries and are subsequently beaten by the band members wielding baguettes, was cut after it initially premiered. GLAAD complained about the scene to MTV stating that "a gay-bashing scene in any context in today's climate is not acceptable". MTV reviewed the video and suggested to Geffen Records that the scene be cut. On the scene, lead singer Jimmy Pop commented "I would give any gay man two tickets to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of his choice if he could describe exactly who's going to become violent based on that scene".
Track listings
Promo single
Canada promo
Europe promo
Europe single
Europe single
Australia and Europe maxi-CD
Europe maxi-CD
UK promo
Spain vinyl 12"