# BOW-chicka-chicka-bow-BOW (What's the best sex music?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855 "2006-07-24T18:33:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/1 "2006-07-24T18:33:46Z")
I don’t know about you, but when the missus and I, uh, _relate_, we don’t usually have porno music playing in the background. And different music is evocative of different periods in my life and sexual maturity. Early on, Def Leppard was the background music of choice for sex (hey, I’m 36, fercrissakes), there were the intoxicated grappling sessions with old school rock n’ roll in the background - Led Zepplin, the Doors, etc. But 90’s pop music was particularly well-suited to background sex music. Lately, it’s the theme to NYPD Blue. But given the choice and opportunity to prepare, what’s your music of choice to accompany sex? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/2 "2006-07-24T20:36:21Z")
Depends on the type of music you (both) like. Old Barry White, Marvin Gaye, newer R&B like R. Kelly. Pink Floyd is kinda trippy. Personally I like Nine Inch Nails and Lacuna Coil. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/3 "2006-07-24T20:39:12Z")
Quality jazz. Miles, Duke, Monk, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/4 "2006-07-24T20:44:27Z")
_Salambo_, by Pig. Why am I sensing deja vu? I think I’ve posted this before. Somewhere. Maybe here. Probably. My mind isn’t what it used… no, scratch that. Nothing has changed. I’ve never been good at this. Angry music is fun to have sex to, anyway. Angry, angry music. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/5 "2006-07-24T21:13:01Z")
I just want to know where the “bow-chicka-bow-wow” as-porn-music-meme came from. Everyone knows what that means, but where did it come from? ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/6 "2006-07-24T21:17:31Z")
> [@](#): > > Pink Floyd is kinda trippy. Oh yes, “Mother” is _exactly_ what I want to suddenly start playing as I’m having sex. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/7 "2006-07-24T21:32:56Z")
> [@Cluricaun](#): > > I just want to know where the “bow-chicka-bow-wow” as-porn-music-meme came from. Everyone knows what that means, but where did it come from? Plenty of threads on the SDMB on that one. Bottom line is that it comes from 70’s funk, which used a lot of guitar that had a wah wah pedal, which makes that sound, more or less, when used a certain way. Since porn first got big in the 70’s I think it just came from that… ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/8 "2006-07-24T21:34:11Z")
The clatter of venetian blinds in a gentle summer breeze. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/9 "2006-07-24T21:43:05Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Plenty of threads on the SDMB on that one. Bottom line is that it comes from 70’s funk, which used a lot of guitar that had a wah wah pedal, which makes that sound, more or less, when used a certain way. Since porn first got big in the 70’s I think it just came from that… Sure, I get the imitation of wah wah guitar sounds, but it’s the exact phrasing of “Bow Chicka Bow Wow”. If it was just 70’s style guitar you would be just as well served with going “wak-a chicka wack-a chicka” etc. I figured it must have come from a movie or something, but nobody I’ve ever asked knows. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/10 "2006-07-24T21:46:14Z")
**Carmina Burana**. Of course, by the time I kill the dragon, unchain the virgin, and doff my armor I don’t have much time left. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/11 "2006-07-24T21:46:36Z")
A friend of mine turned me on to [The Body Is a Stairway of Skin (Track 09)](http://www.overtherhine.com/music/recordings/cd09/cd09.html) by otherwise-gentle-and-mellow Over the Rhine. Wa-how! I must concur… ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/12 "2006-07-24T22:20:58Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > Oh yes, “Mother” is _exactly_ what I want to suddenly start playing as I’m having sex. Yeah, _The Wall_ is most definitely _not_ sex music, IMHO. _A Momentary Lapse of Reason_ - yes, but not _The Wall_. A crazy man in a Hitler-esque uniform hurling epithets at his audience is not my idea of sexy. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/13 "2006-07-24T22:24:40Z")
I had a woman over for dinner once, perhaps an american would call it a “date”, and we ate and drank wine and I had music on in the background of course. It was all very nice, talked and had a few laughs, etc, and she was the intellectual type, her dad was quite a famous translator, Anthony Burgess, et al, so I told about Graham Greene’s habit as a young man to play russian roulette, etc, and things went fine, it was a good time for both of us. I did notice though, that she seemed a bit nervous, because quite obvious she were here to have sex, and she really never had any one night stands before, and had the impression that I was an experienced geezer in these matters. So, finally in bed, she was a bit stiff, but I didn’t mind, why should I?, and thought I could enjoy her body with the couriousity of teenager, you know, I’ve never seen her naked before and and there was no hurry, and the fact that I was no teenager no more wasn’t a disadvantage of any kind. We had a bottle of red wine on the bedside table and nobody was going to work tomorrow anyhow. Also, there was a tape running. Yes, this was in those days, in the nighties, when you recorded your own tapes with all sorts of music. And there was one of them tapes running with all kinds: Cohen, Dylan, Zeppelin, all you can ask for, but also I had thrown in a classical piece by Chopin. I enjoyed making tapes almost like paintings in those days. Problem was, the Chopin bit was recorded in a much lower volume than the rest of the songs, so instead of a piano piece you got five or ten minutes of silence. Bad recording by me, but right now, I didn’t notice whether there was any music on or not. It was silent, half dark, and this naked body. In the exact moment when my lips touched her left nipple, Elvis broke through with an enormous volume: _“Treat my like a foool…! Treat me mean and cruel…”_ We both broke out in laughter, and it kinda broke the ice on that night. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/14 "2006-07-24T22:25:40Z")
_Dummy_ and _Portishead_ by Portishead. _Disintegration_ by The Cure. _Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By_ (seriously, that’s the title of the album) by Lovage ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/15 "2006-07-24T22:31:41Z")
Moved from IMHO to CS. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/16 "2006-07-24T22:32:45Z")
How about Yello’s “Oh Yeah”? You know, the one in _Ferris Bueller’s Day Off_. Oh yeah… Oh yeah… Beautiful. So beautiful. More beautiful. Bow Bow. Chick. Chicka-chickaaaaaahhhhh… What? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/17 "2006-07-24T22:34:46Z")
Whatever the elevator company has chosen for the muzak. I’m not picky. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/18 "2006-07-24T22:50:33Z")
Long, long ago I recall having had a wonderful roll in the hay while a nearby stereo was playing the long version of Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.” ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/19 "2006-07-24T23:17:35Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > _Dummy_ and _Portishead_ by Portishead. > _Disintegration_ by The Cure. > _Music To Make Love To Your Old Lady By_ (seriously, that’s the title of the album) by Lovage I completely second anything by Portishead. That stuff is pure sex put to music. ---
**Author:** ![Salt\_Seller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Salt\_Seller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salt_Seller)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855/20 "2006-07-24T23:58:00Z")
Anything by the Cocteau Twins. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bow-chicka-chicka-bow-bow-whats-the-best-sex-music/365855.md?page=2)