"The Bad Touch" is a song by American
alternative rock band
Bloodhound Gang. It was released in September 1999 as the second single from their third studio album, Hooray for Boobies, which was released the following year in the United States and United Kingdom. In most territories, the song was released as the first single from the album, as "
Along Comes Mary" was issued only in German-speaking Europe.[5]
"The Bad Touch" became a hit in Europe throughout late 1999 and early 2000, reaching number one in
Flanders, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Spain, and Sweden. Outside Europe, the song peaked at number five in Australia, number four in New Zealand, number nine in Canada, and number 52 in the United States, charting on several charts. In Ireland, the song won a
Meteor Music Award for Best Selling International Single – Group.[6] The song was remixed by many artists, including
God Lives Underwater,
KMFDM, and
Eiffel 65.
The song's video features the band dressed in "MonkeyRat" costumes with oversized ears, in numerous locations in
Paris, including the
Place de l'Estrapade,
Avenue de Saxe, and
Champ de Mars; 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, then carry them away. They then use a fishing rod to dangle a
croissant in front of a group of 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
effeminate gay men in a café, who are then beaten over the head with
baguettes and knocked unconscious. A
mime artist played by actor
Jordan Prentice is captured in a net then thrown into a cage with the four women, three chefs and gay couple in a 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 it is
diarrhea, 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, who share
french fries and are subsequently beaten by the band members with baguettes, was cut after it premiered.[7]GLAAD complained about the scene to
MTV stating "a
gay-bashing scene in any context in today's climate is not acceptable".[7] MTV reviewed the video and suggested to
Geffen Records the scene be cut.[7] 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."[8]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^Hann, Michael (2008). The Guardian Book of Rock and Roll. London: Aurum Press. p. 132. The Bad Touch' by Bloodhound Gang 1999's out-of-character plunge into Euro disco found the Gang...
^Jeffries, David.
"Bloodhound Gang". AllMusic.
Rovi Corporation. Retrieved February 24, 2013. Titled just Hooray on the clean version, the album featured 'The Bad Touch,' an infectious dance-pop number...'
^The Bad Touch (European 12-inch single disc sleeve). Bloodhound Gang.
Geffen Records. 2000. 497 270-1.{{
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