Linda Lovelace of Gerard Damiano’s Deep Throat

Grooving Between the Grooves: A piece on Pornography Music

It’s no overstatement to say that the world is obsessed with pornography. Spoilt for choice by our internet overlord, most members of the global society are only ever a few clicks away from witnessing a plethora of penetration. But despite it’s billion-dollar status, most consumers seldom regard the production values of the videos they are watching. Even less would probably consider the music behind all the ‘action’.

Naturally, a deep (deep…) curiosity would urge me to investigate.

Wikipedia answered my first question (doesn’t it always?). Porn music has its own genre, ‘Porn Grooves’. I read on, my world slowly becoming illuminated.

“Porn groove (or porno groove) is the music soundtrack to typical pornographic films, or a genre of music that imitates such music.” I read. “The electric guitar with wah-wah pedal is the most common instrument associated with porn groove, and synonymous with the genre. Simple, often minimalistic-sounding drums, with the rimshot sound being commonly associated with porn groove.”

After very childishly laughing at ‘rimshot’, I decided to look further into these instruments to understand these typical musical characteristics. The wah-wah pedal (sometimes referred to simply as the ‘wah pedal’) is a foot pedal that alters the shape of the envelope of sound from an electric guitar. It is a type of filter that can be controlled at different levels by the musician using the pedal. Although entering the musical scene in the 1920s, the wah-wah pedal reached peak popularity in the funky times of the 60s and 70s. Jimi Hendrix remains the most famed wah-wah pedal user, with the unusual style of manipulation often identified as his signature sound. The guitar also coined the ‘bow-chicka-wow-wow’ sentiment.

The percussion techniques that are paired with the wah-wah pedal in ‘porn groove’ give a complimentary contrast to the slick guitar style. To use the rimshot sound, the drummer will strike the top of their drumstick across the edge of the snare drum as opposed to the skin of the drum. What results is a brighter and crisper sound than the usual shake of the snare drum.

My investigation into the musical elements of the ‘porn groove’ naturally led to a desire to listen to the style in its proper context (research/wank bank. Whatever.). For my viewing, I decided to watch what is considered the catalyst of modern pornographic cinema – Gerard Damiano’s ‘Deep Throat’. Credited as the first full-length pornographic feature, the 1972 film was the first commercially produced and distributed porn film, bringing in millions over the box office following its release.

Linda Lovelace of Gerard Damiano’s Deep Throat

Linda Lovelace of Gerard Damiano’s Deep Throat

What is musically exceptional about the film is it’s completely original score and soundtrack. Indeed, music is an integral part of the feature’s composition. Upon watching, it is easy to see how the Damiano has cut the scenes to fit a selection of instrumental and vocal musical pieces – even timing the music to the sexual thrusts of the actors which I gotta say, is a nice touch.

The film opens onto our feminine protagonist, Linda Lovelace, driving to a jaunty pop tune that echoes the sounds of the late 60s. The tune is uplifting, simple and almost wholesome, unnervingly reminding me of the Brady Bunch theme song. I was almost mistaken in thinking I was about to witness a film about empowerment or women’s liberation. Certainly the first sex scene of the film would suggest that kind of slant. Linda arrives home to her housemate Helen receiving cunnilingus on the kitchen table. The music is whimsical and brings together a light rendition of ‘porn groove’ – a light wah-wah pedal guitar riff paired with psychedelic sound affects, an energetic vocal and less than subtle lyrics;

Bubbles – great big magic bubbles,
Losing all my troubles
In my baby’s bubbles

As the film progresses and the sex scenes become more graphic, the music becomes more indicative of a heavy ‘porn groove’. It should be important to note at this point that the film has a greater male involvement in terms of sexual acts perpetrated. As the scenes become more intense and more male pleasure is showcased, the more unrelenting and darker the ‘porn groove’ becomes. The second scene, an orgy of sorts, really sets a standard for the rest of the film. The porn groove is hard, more repetitive and increasingly aggressive. The wah-wah pedal takes a harder and more jarring frequency and the drums take a slower, more sinister tempo. You feel like a dirty little biatch just listening to it, let alone viewing the mass of come-shots and blowjobs that flick by frame by frame.

Awkward n’ shitty male voyeurism in Deep Throat

Awkward n’ shitty male voyeurism in Deep Throat

It appears that this style of music continued throughout the 70s and part of the 80s, otherwise referred to as the ‘Golden Age of Porn’. Typified by films that featured such stars as Ron Jeremy and Marilyn Chambers – porno groove thrived in films that seemed to be centred around male pleasure, a voyeuristic gaze and new kind of frivolous American sleaze. The American dominance of the industry is important to note, as porno groove can be seen as a sexual appropriation of psychedelic rock music that thrived in generic culture in the historical context.

Most of the studios that were responsible for the release of these films and the recording of the scores are now defunct. The ‘Deep Throat’ production company, Bryanstone Pictures, which also released Texas Chainsaw Massacre and a collection of Andy Warhol’s films as well as many other pornography films, has been dormant since the late 70s. VCX, the Hollywood-based company responsible for producing titles such as ‘The Devil in Miss Jones’, ‘Taboo’ and ‘Debbie Does Dallas’ still exists. Today it still distributes and sells its archives of films from the period – all of which feature that familiar groove.

Naturally, as pornography has developed and evolved, so has the music to which it is performed and presented. Although it might still be popular to reference and parody, the porno groove faded away with the advent of ‘dirty hip hop’. Taking over in the 80s, ‘dirty hip hop’ or ‘porn rap’ took over from the ‘porno groove’ as the dominant soundtrack for pornography films.

One of the pioneers of ‘dirty hip-hop’ was the 2 Live Crew, who shot to fame in 1986. Encapsulating all of the conventional elements of ‘dirty hip hop’ (excessively sexual lyrics, bass-driven sounds), 2 Live Crew released some of the most offensive, and unfortunately catchy, music in modern history. One of their biggest releases, C’mon Babe (As Nasty As They Wanna Be) features instrumental sounds that echo the ‘sleaze’ factor of the porno groove, but paired with lyrics such as;

When the party’s over we can get together,
Go to my house and fuck forever.
Do whatever comes to mind,
Let me stick my dick in your behind.

The not at all awkward 2 Live Crew ‘As Nasty as They Wanna Be’ single cover

The not at all awkward 2 Live Crew ‘As Nasty as They Wanna Be’ single cover

‘Bitch’, ‘slut’ and ‘hoe’ also enter the lyrical vocabulary in a big fucking way during this time. Again, parallels are seen between the content of the films and the soundtrack that accompanies them. As the ‘hardcore’ genre of pornography gains momentum after it’s legalization in 1987, ‘dirty rap’ continued to thrive and become more aggressive. The genre also became predominant in the musical zeitgeist outside porn through commercially viable tracks such as Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back.

‘Dirty rap’ and other aggressive musical styles, such as general metal rock and roll also features in many of the amateur porn that became readily available in the 90s with the advent of porn streaming websites. These videos have been credited with ruining the profitability of the pornography industry and have certainly changed conventional production values. Easily available and free to access, it’s safe to say that amateur or basement-produced pornography is the most viewed in the world. Any quick visit to redtube.com, xhamster.com or pornhub.com will feature an innumerable amount of videos of amateur couples engaging in sexual acts to a background soundtrack of rap or rock music. When viewing the most famous amateur porn videos, music is also an interesting feature.

Arguably the most famous porn video of all time, that featuring musician Tommy Lee and actress Pamela Anderson, is to a background of personal rock music similar to that of Lee’s band Mötley Crüe. Kim Kardashian and Paris Hilton’s sex tapes are also set to a background of ‘dirty rap’ music. These videos have been viewed millions of times around the world. Although there is very little academic writing on the subject, I think it’s safe to hypothesize that because of these famed amateur tapes – metal rock music and ‘dirty rap’ also became standard for the global amateur porn industry. Interestingly, this era of the amateur porn soundtrack marks a shift in music produced for porn to popular music supplemented into pornographic cinema.

tommy

Within any booming industry, however, you’ll find niche sectors. As Louis Theroux examines in his 2012 documentary exposé ‘Twilight of the Porn Stars’, a counter-industry to amateur production still exists.

“Faced with competition from free tube-style porn sites,” he observes, “studios have responded by making films with higher production values for the couples market.”

Theroux visits the set of a film produced by Wicked Pictures, one of the leading porn production houses in the US. The plot of the film that is being shot is a strange, period-esque romance story, with the virtuous female who is driven sexually wild by the rugged, troubled and ever-so-chiselled male protagonist. Along with careful cinematography, intricate costumes and elaborate sets, the music matches that of any other expensive romance film. This genre is very romance-generic, with most of the films featuring music that is heavy with Spanish guitars, soft female vocals and smooth synths. The essence of the music reduces some of the sleaze-factor of the film but also makes it more unbelievable. The music projects the viewer into a world of sexual fantasy and relieves the sense of voyeurism facilitated by the amateur productions.

This idea of contemporary porn music has not gone unnoticed within the industry itself. The AVN (Adult Video News) Awards are an annual ceremony dedicated to recognising excellence in the pornographic video world since 1984. They are sometimes referred to as ‘the Oscars of the porn world’. ‘Best Music’ and ‘Best Musical Score’ in an adult film are two AVN categories that can be awarded to a film or film’s composer, with the category of ‘Best Original Song’ in a pornographic film added in 2009. The last winner of the ‘Best Music’ AVN award went to the composer of ‘Not Jersey Boys XXX: A Porn Musical’. O what a time to be alive.

ron

Echo Valley and Ron Jeremy at the 2005 AVN Awards

As this suggests, the musical production for contemporary high-budget pornographic films can be varied and doesn’t necessarily fall into the ‘romance’ genre, even if for the couples market. The composers of this music are often dragged over from writing for indie films, falling into the industry similarly to the actors. Porn is constantly being produced, and it pays.

Davis Harper discusses this in his article for Noisey Magazine, ‘The Timeless Art of Porno Music’. In the piece he meets porn composer James Lynch, who made the transition to composing music for porn films after working with the horror genre. He has since worked on titles such as ‘Evil Head’ and ‘Not Another Porn Movie’

“It’s hard to make a passion piece every time,” Lynch explains in the article, “but porn will fucking hire. There’s like ten porn films shooting in America on any given afternoon.”

He later explains the rhetoric of contemporary porn music composing; “I think the role of music in porn is just to support the mood and go unnoticed, sort of blend in overall with what you’re looking at, the weird slapping of skin and stuff like that.”

So it goes, the porn industry in some ways has come full circle from when it first entered the commercial sphere. From Gerard Damiano’s perfectly composed soundtrack matching the thrust of each performer to a musical match to slapping skin in ‘Not Another Porn Movie’, it seems that music is still an integral production value of pornographic film. Whatever form it may come in, it’s obvious that pornography music can have just as an important penetrative as… all the penis.