All You ever Think about is(not) sex [A DEEP DIVE]

 Hey everyone, it is Jack/Noodle here! In a few days time I graduate university formally which is CRAZY. I started this page during uni to pass time and to have something exciting to do that wasn’t constant work and now I’m writing this to break up the drool of freedom. This post comes to us from a short but loud idea me and my fellow friend in the fandom, Joanna, had after the sparks show in Glasgow. As some of you are aware, Sparks have All you ever think about is sex in their set list for the MAD! Tour, so we started joking how funny and ironic it is that this song is one of my favourite sparks songs as an asexual person. So it only feels right to dive deep with metaphorical welly boots and a snorkel today. I hope you have a snack or drink ready for today’s diving. I recently had a matcha and raspberry blondie which was amazing and would eat again. But yes without food discussions and yaps I will begin a dive. 

(Setting the 80s theming for today)

Today I’ll be diving into the song “All You Ever Think About is Sex” from their album, In Outer Space which was released April 1983, interestingly this album was dropped on April Fools Day which adds a sense of irony to the whole album. I personally have this whole album in a high rank in terms of sparks albums, one day I hope to share that ranking formally either in a video form or writing. But today we’re not about to discuss an entire album, but a single song. This idea came from a friend at the concert I went to as well, as we were joking how they performed it for the fellow asexual sparks fans in the crowd (me in that list) 

(The song we will be discussing)

Taking a look at the lyrics, in the first verse the narrator details all the places he and a girl got laid such as “In the church at Christmas, busted by that nun” and “stating our positions on the White House lawn”. Both these lyrics are hilarious and wild to asexual people because to me personally it’s unusual to hear how people have no dignity or respect for where they do their deeds. Also as someone on the autism spectrum means I take things literally sometimes so I can very vividly seen a man and woman caught in the act in these places. The line “we’ve had our little fun” adds humour but welcomes us in to the song and reminds us that this song isn’t meant to be taken seriously and literally. I also find the “stating our positions” a double meaning. One way I read that lyric is positions in sex, which I’m told there’s plenty of and it creates an atmosphere of humour because the guy tells security their sexual position instead of his name. The other way I read that lyric is that he states their names all embarrassed and then runs off, this one to me is very funny as I don’t see any American wanting to say fuck you America more than this guy who had sex outside a government building. 

In the next verse, I find the visualisation amusing as the narrator reminds seeing “fifty thousand people saw us and turned red” and he then states “I’m still not recovered” and how when their “father came home, saw us, and dropped dead”. Looking at the first lyric I quoted, “fifty thousand people” this one makes me feel cringed as an asexual person because how can people have no shame in doing the deed in front of an audience? Imagining how the narrator seems really confident in sex and sees sex as a great thing to do to pass the time, this is contrasting to me as a writer of this blog because I’m not confident about sex, in fact because of a few traumatic moments round it I have ptsd, so I see sex as bad and ugly and gross because of that trauma. I find this contrast interesting because I have this song on my top sparks song list for this irony. I love how I can disagree with the story in this song because I can tell Ron also disagrees with his own characters on how he writes about the no shame they feel, when in reality he is self conscious and uncomfortable in sharing his sex and love life. Another lyric I mentioned was “I’m still not recovered” which I take as the character or narrator isn't not ready to get laid again as he’s exhausted and emotionally embarrassed from doing it at an American football game. Linking back to the contrast I feel to this character, I find it fascinating that he admits to his lack of recovery from this embarrassment, it almost feels like he wants the listener to step in and stop this happening again. The last lyric in this verse adds the embarrassment admitting further when he stated “your father came home” and this makes me feel like the narrator and his girlfriend (or boyfriend even) got caught in the act by their dad as he “dropped dead” I feel that short bit is an over dramatisation of what happened, but from personal life experience I can tell you my dad “dropped dead” when he heard about someone in my house doing the deed (not me, I feel like it just ruins my whole perspective of how I see my room, plus I collect stuffed animals and figures and they’d see) 

(Image from the sleeve notes of in outer space) 

In the bridge, the narrator tells us how “in a world of lovers, we don’t love each other much” which adds a hint of sadness to the whole song as he also adds “fact is, we’re too busy to love each other much” which makes me sad and understand and relate to the narrator. The first part of this bridge being a sad admittance of not being in love says how the guy realised he only is dating this person for the sex and hasn’t got anything else in common, but he does not want to accept and admit to it. As someone who is asexual I’m glad sometimes I don’t see sex as a necessity and demand because I don’t get people who only date for the sex. The other line “we’re too busy” suggests they’re busy having sex and don’t want to notice how much they hate other person. 

The chorus is repetitive, I mentioned in an early blog post here (may make a revisit to said post) on my love of the use of repetition in sparks songs. The title of the song is frequently chanted out “all you ever think about is sex”. The chant is also joined with “all you ever think about exclusively” which seems to be from the narrator and his description of the other character in the story. This second lyric, especially the word “exclusively” is humorous to me as an asexual person because, in my head I visualise how this person eats and drinks and sleeps thinking of sex and doesn’t take any breaks. Another look at this lyric suggests the narrators frustration but he finds it hilarious that his girlfriend (or boyfriend) can’t stop thinking about it; the frustration is seen as the narrator repeats this statement, implying that he wants to stop and take a break from sex and love the person for who they are. The funny side of this line relates to me as an asexual person because the narrator is trying to imply that this other character has some form of obsession. Another magnifying view into the chorus, links to autism; it is quite common to have a thought repetitively consume you and this can bring anxiety or fear or stress or joy or sadness. At the moment u am constantly thinking about my graduation as I know I will be sitting for a while unable to doodle (which I like doing when sitting for long periods) and I’ll be unable to write something on my phone (as I can only use it sneakily to text my best friend) and unable to go on my recently found old 3DS (as it’ll not fit a pocket). I’m hoping to play a few mental games to occupy me and to keep my stress and anxiety down because I have a chronic condition with my skin triggered by it. The repetition of the chorus lines is very similar to my overthinking, there’s humour in my thinking as I’ll look back and laugh at how nervous I was, but also there’s frustration because I just want to get the graduation over with to get rid of this anxiety. 

(Snapshot of the music video)

The music video also continues the theory that this song is mocking those who discuss and are confident about sex. Ron is frequently slammed by a cream pie when the lyric “all you ever think about sex”. This could be a reference to the album design, but it could also be mocking how horny rockstars stereotypically appear and the pie slapping Ron is to make fun of this concept/view. I read somewhere a while back that the pies to Ron’s face gave him bruises as the pies were frozen so they didn’t melt and get everywhere in the warm studio lights. He also stated in an interview at this time that he’d “do anything for a video” which adds to the sense of humour they wanted to represent in the video. Another way I see this video and song is that it is a mock at all the rude not “family friendly” videos which were frequently on MTV. The song in my vision pokes fun at the sex positive and sex confident crowd and the video is laughing further and louder at those people. 

(Another screenshot from the music video)

Personally, I feel like my favourite bit of this video is the use of stop motion because intentional or not, the animation creates a further level of humour and unseriousness to the music. I feel like any animation in videos (especially music videos) adds a sense of child play to the song, as most people see animation as the childish form of media. As a creative I can assure you, animation can be loved and cherished by adults; there’s plenty animations made for the adult crowd. Another thing I love about this video was the outfits. Russell is in a very 80s outfit with a blazer over a vest and the handful of badges (I do hope he kept this outfit) and then Ron in a strict conservative outfit, and the rest of the band fitting and tailoring Russell. The whole video also reflects and adds a sense of humour on how Ron’s the only one being pie faced and he’s the conservatively dressed character, it almost hints at the “Fuck you America” message they want to portray and still portray in present day. 

(The outfits worn in the video, if these two men read this please ask to drop a high quality version of the vid among a few others, thanks)

So we nearing the end of this post, what can we take from it? That “All you Ever Think About is Sex” is a mockery of those who are sex confident and the video aids in this belief as it pokes fun at those who take songs literally and also takes videos seriously. Where is the link between being asxexual and finding this song funny? Personally I see it in how the narrator admits he doesn’t love the person he’s having sex with, but I also find the video a nice link because it doesn’t show sex or hint at sex. How can we tell it is a humour song and not serious? The video has Ron being hit by lies and it lists openly places narrator has had sex. 

This is the end of the post, thank you so much for reading! I find it wild that by the time my next post is up I’ll be an illustration graduate. To those who follow me on either instagram or facebook, look out for the graduation post and celebrate my win with me as it’s been such a stressful 3 years. I also will add that I cannot wait to do more divings here now I have a bit extra time to actually let my thoughts out. I also will give a shoutout to Joanna who suggested this idea and is doing an impressive job of going to most the sparks concerts. And also a shoutout to my best friends mum, Lisa who is kindly treating me after my graduation as I’ll be so drained all I’ll want is a sweet treat. 

Until next posting or next time we meet, feel free to send messages/comments of your own views and ideas. And remember I’ve been Jack/Noodle and you’ve been an amazing reader!