Top 10 Songs We All Listened To Because We Weren't Allowed

WatchMojo

Remember cranking up the volume and frantically reaching for the skip button when your parents walked in? Join us as we count down those deliciously forbidden tracks that had us in trouble but were too good to resist! From provocative lyrics to controversial artists, these songs defined teenage rebellion.

Transcript

00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down the songs that had a scrambling for the

00:11skip button the second our parents walked in.

00:19Number 10.

00:20Milkshake, Khalees At first listen, Khalees's signature

00:29hit sounds downright indecent, her milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, let's just

00:34say it didn't take a parental advisory sticker to know something very r-rated was going on

00:38over at her place.

00:39Critics weren't much more subtle, calling it everything from a lusty party anthem to

00:43the super freakiest song on the charts, and perhaps most disturbingly, thick and creamy.

00:53So it's no surprise that moms and dads weren't exactly thrilled when this one came blasting

00:58through the stereo.

00:59And yet, according to Khalees herself, there's nothing naughty about it at all.

01:07A milkshake is the thing that makes women special, she claimed.

01:10Yeah, well try explaining that to your mom when she barges in during the chorus.

01:13It's better than yours, damn right, it's better than yours, I could teach you, but I have to charge.

01:19My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they're like...

01:22Number 9.

01:23My Humps, Black Eyed Peas.

01:25What you gonna do with all that junk, all that junk inside your trunk?

01:29I'ma get, get, get, get you drunk, get you love drunk off my hump.

01:33It takes a special kind of pop sorcery to turn an unabashed ode to the female body into a top

01:38five billboard hit.

01:39But while My Humps was a commercial juggernaut, critics and parents were united in their disdain,

01:44slamming it for its juvenile lyrics, shameless objectification, and general assault on good taste.

01:57Still, love it or loathe it, the track is a relentless earworm and a perfect encapsulation

02:02of Will.i.am's unique brand of absurdist pop.

02:05And while your older relatives may have rolled their eyes, the Recording Academy didn't.

02:09In fact, they gave it the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a duo or group with vocals.

02:21Number 8.

02:22Candy Shop, 50 Cent, featuring Olivia.

02:25This extended Willy Wonka metaphor felt corny even when it was new.

02:3650 Cent had already worn out the magic stick euphemism on his previous single of the same name,

02:41so Candy Shop simply felt like another flavor of the week.

02:47But regardless of how lazy or lewd it seemed, there was no denying its chart dominance.

02:52The Scott Storch-produced banger spent nine straight weeks at number one.

03:03As for 50's claim that he was trying not to be vulgar, it's safe to say that's a hard sell,

03:08especially if you ever got in trouble for having this one queued up on your iPod shuffle.

03:12Number 7.

03:13Thong Song, Cisco.

03:23Chances are, we don't need to spell out what the issue was here.

03:25What might actually surprise you is that Thong Song isn't even Cisco's highest charting hit.

03:30Instead, that honor goes to its follow-up, Incomplete.

03:34Still, this raunchy floor filler remains his undisputed trademark track, and it's not hard to see why.

03:46It's ridiculous, asinine, and almost embarrassingly over the top,

03:50but whether you want to admit it or not, it's all so catchy as hell,

03:53with a string-laced beat that gives R&B a campy twist.

03:56That said, no amount of tasteful orchestration could distract parents

04:00from the fact that their kids were singing along to a song about underwear.

04:10Number 6.

04:11Smack My Bitch Up, The Prodigy.

04:17If you thought Thong Song was risque, wait until you meet The Prodigy.

04:21The high-octane English rave outfit stirred up major controversy with Smack My Bitch Up.

04:26The final single from their breakout album, The Fat of the Land.

04:29Riding high on the big beat wave of the late 90s, the track was instantly polarizing,

04:34banned by the BBC, censored by ITV, and condemned across the board for its title alone.

04:43So when the band insisted it was actually about doing anything intensely,

04:46most parents weren't buying it, especially when their kids were moshing to it in the living room.

04:50Number 5.

04:51The Beautiful People, Marilyn Manson.

04:56Marilyn Manson was practically engineered to freak parents out.

05:03With his satanic imagery and grotesque stage persona,

05:05he became the poster child for suburban outrage in the late 90s,

05:09and nowhere was his brand of shock rock more distilled than in The Beautiful People.

05:13The Beautiful People, The Beautiful People, It's all relative to the size of your steamboat.

05:20Equal parts industrial stomp and snarling social commentary, the track isn't merely loud.

05:25It's confrontational by design, tearing into vanity and abuse of power with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

05:30Even if you didn't understand the lyrics, the guttural delivery and grinding guitars made it clear this was not church-safe music.

05:44So when Manson started showing up on TRL, you can imagine how fast parents smashed the panic button.

05:48Number 4.

05:56Killing in the Name, Rage Against the Machine.

05:58If it wasn't clear by now, let's spell it out.

06:05The 90s were a nightmare decade to be raising teenagers.

06:10Case in point, the ubiquity of this scorched earth anthem, which ripped into authority and conformity with a vengeance.

06:18Rage Against the Machine's signature song is a searing response to police brutality,

06:22specifically the beating of Rodney King and the LA riots that followed.

06:26And if the message wasn't clear enough, most of its lyrics revolve around a single, very loud,

06:37off-repeated curse word.

06:38You know the one.

06:39But that's exactly what made it so fun to listen to.

06:42It was deliberately subversive, and it made you feel like you were in on the rebellion.

06:51Number 3.

06:52Nookie.

06:53Limp Bizkit.

07:01A few new metal bands embody turn-of-the-millennium teenage angst quite like Limp Bizkit.

07:06They were crude, crass, and proudly immature.

07:09A walking, swearing monument to the South Park generation.

07:12And Nookie was their less-than-subtle mission statement.

07:14The song that's arguably Fred Durst's magnum opus is a petty, profanity-laced breakup anthem

07:26that spends nearly four minutes insisting he did it all for the Nookie.

07:30Why did it take so long?

07:31Why did I wait so long, huh?

07:34To figure it out, but I did it.

07:36What exactly that meant didn't take much imagination, which is probably why parents

07:40hated it, even before the shouting started.

07:42But for a generation of angsty teens, Limp Bizkit wasn't noise at all.

07:46It was catharsis, wrapped in cargo shorts and red Yankee caps.

07:49I did it all for the Nookie, come prove the Nookie, come on.

07:53So you can take that cookie and flick it, let's go with your hand.

07:56Number 2, Closer, Nine Inch Nails.

08:07If there was ever a song that proved controversy sells, it's this one.

08:10Closer isn't just Nine Inch Nails' most infamous track.

08:13It's also, ironically, their biggest.

08:16Despite, or more likely because of, its unprintable chorus,

08:19the song became a breakout hit, helping Trent Reznor bring industrial rock to the mainstream,

08:24with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

08:34Combining distorted vocals, a pounding instrumental,

08:37and one of the filthiest hooks ever to grace radio edits,

08:40Closer felt like an open challenge to decency standards, and somehow emerged victorious.

08:45Against all odds, Reznor's gleefully provocative rejection

08:48of social graces, launched a career that would, years later, lead him straight to the Oscars.

08:53Before we continue,

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09:10By the time The Real Slim Shady dropped, Eminem was already a lightning rod,

09:24the kind of pop culture figure that made headlines and gave PTA meeting attendees something to clutch

09:29their pearls about. With his cartoonish beat and rapid-fire name drops,

09:33The Real Slim Shady was equal parts novelty hit and nuclear-grade button pushing.

09:44He took aim at celebrities, politicians, and the FCC, and pretty much dared America to censor him.

09:50For kids, it was glorious. For parents, it was chaos set to a Dr. Dre beat.

09:55And somehow, this middle finger to the mainstream became one of the biggest hits of the year,

10:00cementing Eminem's plays as the most dangerous man in pop, and also the best-selling.

10:12Did any of these tracks get you grounded? Or at least give you a close call?

10:15Are there any forbidden songs we missed? Be sure to let us know in the comments.

10:25We wanted to see you.

10:43Want to see you?

10:44You've got a close call?

10:44Probably not.

10:45You've got a close call and see you down the street.

10:46You've got a close call.

10:46I don't have the close call.

10:48But there, there, there.

10:49The Police are a close call, and you've got a close call.

10:52I'm not kidding, we're about to meet you.

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