This Classic HIT is 4 DECADES Old & It STILL Causes MAJOR Controversy!—Professor of Rock

Coming up, the controversial song about female self-love… was written by a dude? Ha ha. It's I Touch Myself by the Divinyls. This story is almost too good to be true, and yet it is. I have an interview with a Hall of Fame songwriter Billy Steinberg who wrote 5 #1 hits with his songwriting partner Tom Kelly. And all five #1s were for female artists. All 5 songs were huge in the 80s, but at the end of the decade, Billy met with a prolific Australian band and sheepishly gave them his private notebook of lyrics and asked what song they wanted to work on. And today’s iconic female rocker Chrissy Amphlett chose a song that was about self-love. I Touch Myself wasn’t quite finished so the band and the songwriting team tackled it. It’s pretty straightforward forward, and though it was controversial it became a global smash. Up next the story on Professor of Rock.

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#classicrock #onehitwonder #vinylstory #90srock

It’s time for another edition of our series Bottled Lightning where we celebrate a great one-hit wonder that captured our hearts and our ears… this one is fun. The Hall of Fame songwriting team of Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly wrote some of the most memorable #1 hits of the 80s …All for females. but one of their most memorable songs barely missed #1 because of its subject matter which did get it banned in some parts of the nation and some stations just flat-out refused to play it. because it wasn’t very subtle. ha ah. It was about self-love from a female perspective. and it was sung so sensually by Divinyls singer Christine Amphlett you couldn’t mistake it. It was a smash. And even with its controversy it still hit #4 on the charts and went to #1 in Australia and top 10 pretty much everywhere else. . A quick crash course Billy and Tom wrote the 5 number one hits for some of the greatest singers of the 80s: but when they wrote this one it was a team effort along with Christine Amphlett and Mark McEntee of the Divinyls …

Christine would say about the song after it became a hit and I quote: It was written in a heartfelt way, touching yourself in a heartfelt way. But I like double entendres, so... It didn't worry me at all, because I really liked it but the musicians were shocked. The musicians freaked, and they were really worried for me. I don't think they are now; I think they've come to terms with it.” Today I have Billy Steinberg to tell the story so let’s get into it.

Christine bravely fought breast cancer for years She Passed away in 2013 at age 53 but leaves a great legacy of music. One of the best singers of her era, check out their stuff. Leave us a comment about Divinyls. What are your memories?

[ProfessorofRock]

Poll: What do you think is the most controversial song of the rock era?

[darrenberich]

When Chrissie Amphlett passed away from Breast Cancer she gave her Royalties for the song to the Breast Cancer Council. She was a great Aussie Lady. We are very proud of her.

[roddow]

"I Touch Myself" was for people who didn't get the subtlety of "She Bop"

[ronyYTube]

I remember that when she was diagnosed, she used this song to raise women awareness about the importance of touching themselves (their breasts) to check for unusual lumps that could be an early sign of cancer. Loved this song as a kid and still do now.

[dysturbedone]

Best $10 bucks ever spent during the 90's, seeing the Divinyls in a Mildura pub.

[ericfreeman]

Billy said that "Like a Virgin", and "I Touch Myself" sounded like songs that had to be sung by a woman.
I believe that "Eternal Flame" also has to be sung by a woman. Because if a guy sings, "Close your eyes, give me your hand....", a woman just naturally tends to answer, "Oh no, I'm not falling for that again".
If you get my drift.

[christineml]

Never would've guessed two dudes wrote "I Touch Myself", just assumed it was a female writer. The things I learn from the Professor!

[TubbsFarquhar]

I saw The Divinyls on their last Australian tour and Chrissie was still unbeatable. She really was a force of nature.

[raybuttigieg]

A bit harsh to classify the Divinyls as a one hit wonder. They had a great repertoire of hits here in Australia.

[littlecatfeet]

Chrissie Amphlett was already a sex symbol in Australia after Boys In Town and Science Fiction and wearing school uniforms in her early performing days. I didn’t know the Divinyls didn’t completely write it themselves, but Chrissy Amphlett utterly owned it. Fun fact; she was a lovely woman and I met her a couple of times (I worked with one of her bandmates’ sister). The only time I heard her get REALLY frosty with an interviewer was when he called her Chrissie Hynde by mistake 😂.

[lauriemathews]

When "I Touch Myself" came out, my kids were in their early teens. I LOVED it!!!! My kids--not so much. Every time it came on the radio, i'd sing it at the top of my lungs---and it thoroughly embarrassed my kids. Whenever they acted up and we were out just riding around, I'd start singing it and it would embarrass them so much, they'd settle down and behave. I always laughed my butt off when they'd get embarrassed. Thank you to the Divinyls for a great song!!!

[kelst]

As soon i saw the title, I knew which song it was. Chrissy owned this song.

[lynbattersby]

As an Aussie 80s girl, my big regret is not appreciating The Divinyls at the time. I was extremely religious, so viewed them with much side-eye (and a touch of stink-eye).
Then, in the early 2000s, I left my religion and met my husband. He taught me to be a feminist and reintroduced me to The Divinyls. *Mind asplode.* I suddenly saw all my potentials.
The day Chrissie Amphlett died, I cried a million tears.

[davidhutchinson]

Chrissy Amphlett was a gorgeously talented goddess. RIP Ms.

[FredGroenke]

I’ve never seen a POR interview where the musician hasn’t said something along the lines of “Adam, you’ve done your homework”. Great interview Professor !

[paullees]

Adam, thank you for featuring one of my all time favourite bands. As a couple of young blokes in the early 80s, a friend and I would visit a pub called the Piccadilly Hotel on Victoria Street Kings Cross Sydney to have a cheap meal and a few beers, And to watch whatever band was playing. As it turned out this one Wednesday night, it was Chrissy Amphlett and the Divinyls, up on stage. We returned every week to the pub for between 12 and 18 months to watch them play . We would take a small table right at the foot of the stage with our cheap lamb roast and a beer and watch this amazing woman with her band perform. After about a year and a bit. The band stopped performing at the pub. As they had outgrown this small venue and moved on to performing in stadiums and touring across Australia. Good times. Who would have known that I would be sitting here writing this 42 years later? RIP Chrissy❤

[lawrenceteft]

I saw the Divinyls at The Stone in San Francisco June 9, 1983. They were fresh off the US 83 concert that Memorial Day weekend. I still have the button on my fridge.

[stevegallo]

Fun fact: Divinyls' "I Touch Myself" isn't the only song about female self-pleasure. Cyndi Lauper's song "She Bop" covers that same topic. Sadly, we lost Chrissy Amphlett in 2013 to breast cancer. Chemotherapy is one of the major tools used in cancer treatments, but unfortunately it was unusable in Ms. Amphlett's case due to her Multiple Sclerosis.

[devonbrooks]

I was in 8th grade when we used to listen to the radio in art class. When the song came on all my teacher told us is “Ok everyone hands above your desk” I was still innocent at that age so I just laughed along and got the joke later.

[wendyperdue]

I remember my mom telling me “every boy does it, but not girls.” 😗 I call bull, mom 😂