Sex-o-Rama 2: Classic Adult Film Music
By Joshua Green
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As porn’s gone aboveground, so has the distinctive music associated with it–that grinding, vaguely psychedelic mix of plucked bass lines, wah-wah guitar, and cheesy Moog. Four years ago Motel Records scored an underground hit with Vampyros Lesbos: Sexadelic Dance Party, a selection of original music from the “horrotica” films of German director Jess Franco, including Mrs. Hyde and She Kills in Ecstasy. And an independent release called Sex-o-Rama, also from 1995, sold 10,000 copies almost exclusively by word of mouth. A collection of faithful covers of themes from American 70s flicks like Debbie Does Dallas, Behind the Green Door, and Deep Throat, it was advertised in small print ads in the back of Spin. But a spokesperson for the label, Oglio, attributed the impressive sales to the disc’s popularity among morning shock jocks, who were drawn in by the photo of porn starlet Jenna Jameson on the cover. In 1997 Jameson made her “legitimate” movie debut in Howard Stern’s Private Parts.
For the most part, the common criticisms of porn movies–lousy production, second-rate talent, unintentionally goofy performances–also apply to Porn to Rock. Many of the artists have taken to heart the adage “write what you know,” so there’s a good deal of stripping and lap dancing, not to mention Nina Whett’s more direct “Drink Beer and Fuck.” Cookie-cutter synthesizer tunes like Lee’s “Strike Back” and Suzuki’s “Calypso Shower” are laughably inept, and Vinnie Spit and Mistress Jacqueline’s “Asshole Man” is just awful: “Well I can’t stop thinkin’ about her rectum / All puckered up and brown,” Spit growls tunelessly over swingin’ piano, bass, and horns. “I can’t stop thinkin’ about her rectum / Look out mama I’m comin’ down.”
