Physical is sexiest song of all time

Replies to polls are mostly subjective and the only thing the winners or I should say those who get the most nods can lay claim to, is that they are most like everybody else on this planet. But it also cannot be denied that polls are lots of fun and people are always interested in the results. That is why those Top 10 lists remain popular. Also why do you think all those candidates for office in the 2010 elections keep commissioning polls? It gets them in the news.

Now, I found poll results some of you might be interested in while I was checking out the website of Billboard Magazine for the hits of the week. The poll is about The 50 Sexiest Songs Of All Time, which I believe has never been done before. It covers over 60 years of the Hot 100. That means since Billboard started tabulating the hits in August 1950 to the Jan. 16, 2010 issue.

I do not think that Pinoys will agree with most of the results. Must be the Latin lover in us, but you all know how we like soft and languorous slow jives when picking out our make out music. I’ll Make Love To You by Boyz II Men is a very good example. The poll, however, took into account not only the melody and arrangement but also the theme of the songs. It is not actually the sexiest songs but about the sexiest songs about sex or about getting it on as Marvin Gaye put it. And that was the rule even if the tune is a frenetic disco number.

Now I recall kids as young as three or four years old in their sweat bands and sneakers wearing little leg warmers jumping up and down to the tune of Physical by the oh-so-wholesome Olivia Newton-John during the ‘80s. Cute but nothing sexy, save perhaps for pedophiles, but the Billboard poll named the song as the sexiest of all time.

This was because being physical in the lyrics did not mean doing the Jane Fonda workout bit of that time. The physical came from the lines that say, “I took you to an intimate restaurant/ then to a suggestive movie/ there’s nothing left to talk about unless it’s horizontally.” I say that there is not much in those words of the sort of seductive mystery, which we like to have around when dealing with the physical in relationships.

The other songs that made it to the Top 20 sexiest list of the pop era are: Tonight’s The Night by Rod Stewart 1976; I’ll Make Love To You by Boyz II Men 1994; Too Close by Next 1998; Let’s Get It On by Marvin Gaye 1973; Hot Stuff by Donna Summer 1979; Do That To Me One More Time by Captain & Tenille 1980; Like A Virgin by Madonna 1984; Kill You All Over by Exile 1978; Do Ya Think I’m Sexy by Rod Stewart 1979.

Honky Tonk Woman by the Rolling Stones 1969; Lollipop by Lil Wayne 2008; Bad Girls by Donna Summer 1979; I Want To Sex You Up by Color Me Badd 1991; You’re Making Me High by Toni Braxton 1996; Promiscuous by Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland 2006; Ring My Bell by Anita Ward, 1979; The First Night by Monica, 1998; Candy Shop by 50 Cent feat. Olivia, 2005; and Afternoon Delight by the Starland Vocal Band in 1976.

Also held by Billboard alongside the Sexiest Songs poll was one about who are the 10 Sexiest Pop stars. This was divided into male and female categories and readers were asked to vote on their choices.

The top girl in the list is a no-brainer. Named Sexiest Female was Britney Spears. The No. 1 male choice though came as a surprise. It was last year’s American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert. Times have really changed a lot.

The others who made the Top 3 are: Female: Beyoncé Knowles and Miley Cyrus who has really grown up. Male: Nick Jonas and Chris Brown.

For the rest of these lists, Sexiest Songs and Sexiest Male and Female Pop Stars, check out the Billboard website. There are great pictures and even the remarks from readers are fun to read.