![]() Nothing unusual, right? God only knows what this guy’s story is - maybe he’s a drunk trying to get home, maybe he’s got a human head in a duffel bag - but it doesn’t really matter, because she’s safe inside her car, doing 60 or so, and she’ll buzz right past him. She’s driving on a sodden country byway after dark, and spies a man standing on the shoulder. Standing by the road, no umbrella, no coat It was a rainy night when he came into sight It is “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You,” by Heart. It is, quite simply, a catalogue of aberrant behavior that somehow garnered and retains the reputation of a sweet and heartwarming ballad. Every time I hear it I grow a bit more incredulous. This one has everything - deception, anonymous sex, questionable judgment, cuckoldry. ![]() Of all the potential candidates for dissection, though, for me one song rises again and again above the rest. Now, though, with the perspective of encroaching middle age, when I hear these songs I often end up feeling displaced in time, divided into two selves - the younger me who loves the songs with the indiscriminate enthusiasm of a child, and the older me who can’t believe the responsible parties weren’t dragged into a Senate hearing along with Twisted Sister and Mötley Crüe. When I was a child, I had neither the critical nor social acumen to determine the difference between a benign piece of pop confection and, say, an ode to pedophilia disguised as a love song (I’m looking at you, Kip Winger). The popular music of my lifetime is littered with examples of songs that became huge hits despite the fact that they advocated for, romanticized and sometimes even celebrated deviant behavior.
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