10 Orgasmic Vocal Performances

Beginning with the Summer of Love back in 1967, singers have gone to great lengths to tap into the erotic experience, going as far as simulating orgasms on record -- sometimes eerily accurately. Valentine's Day is overrun by chocolate boxes and cheesy cards, yes, but it also holds the prospect of getting some -- so to help that along we've rounded up our favorite vocal renditions of the "Big O."

'Jungle Fever,' The Chakachas
Vocally, 'Jungle Fever' consists only of moans, sexy Spanish utterances and orgasms -- and really, really convincing ones at that. In fact, if this Belgian-spawned Latin jam doesn't get you in the mood, we're not sure what will. This 1972 Top 10 US hit is like a sonic '70s porno, and it's no surprise that director Paul Thomas Anderson used it to great effect in his adult-film-crew-as-family opus 'Boogie Nights.'

'Date With the Night,' Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Before she graced fashion mag covers and composed music for a kids' movie (albeit one by her venerable, creative-as-hell ex-boyfriend Spike Jonze), Karen O seemed like a damaged NYC sex kitten, the kind of girl who could drink you under the table and out-wild anybody onstage or off. In this song from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 2003 debut, 'Fever to Tell,' her moan morphs into a scream as she sings, "I'll set you/I'll set it off, off, off, ah-ahhhhhhh!"

'Je t'aime ... moi non plus,' Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg
You needn't know a word of French to understand this duet, sung (or, rather, whispered seductively) by real-life couple Birkin and Gainsbourg. Birkin's controversial climaxing at the end of the song sparked several countries to ban this 1969 worldwide hit; even the Pope made a public stink about it. In the US, that didn't prevent it from peaking on the Billboard singles chart at, appropriately, the No. 69 position.

'Whole Lotta Love,' Led Zeppelin
Considering that Robert Plant sells lines like "Squeeze my lemon till the juice runs down my leg" without seeming ridiculous, not to mention that he wears some of the most revealing jeans in rock history, it's not too surprising that the "Big O" became a staple of his. In this live 1973 version from 'The Song Remains the Same,' released in 1976, Plant's groans of "Ahhh!" heighten as Jimmy Page fools around with his amp, creating trippy noises that sounds like someone having sex with guitar feedback.

'Pillow Talk,' Sylvia
There's a lot more than talk going on here. And Al Green knew it, passing on the song 'cause it was so dirty. With her cooing cries of "ooh," "ahh," "oh-my-God" and sensual breaths, Sylvia totally sells this slow groover, which topped Billboard's Soul Singles chart in 1973.

'Baby Talks Dirty,' The Knack
Upping the dirty factor of their 1979 radio smash 'My Sharona,' which singer Doug Fieger penned about a 16-year-old of the same name, the Knack returned a year later with this sordid, subtlety-free cut. Between doing his best "Oh-oh-oh!" impressions, Fieger sings, "My little lady like a licky/She do it good, she make it oh, so sticky" about his bisexual mistress.

'Love to Love You Baby,' Donna Summer
To better simulate the disco number's orgasms -- there were 23, according to the BBC, which banned the song from airplay in 1975 -- Summer apparently recorded the vocals on her back in a darkened studio ... while pretending to be Marilyn Monroe getting satisfied ... for a song whose extended version neared 20 minutes. We can't make this stuff up.

'Orgasm Addict,' Buzzcocks
What this song lacks in salacious sound effects, it more than makes up for lyrically. Released in 1977, the same year as the Clash's politically pointed debut, this single by fellow Brit punks concerns a slightly different matter -- namely, that of a teenager who wanks. All the time. Our favorite line: "Sneaking in the back door with dirty magazines/Now your mother wants to know what are those stains on your jeans."

'Down on the Street,' The Stooges
Every track on the Stooges' momentous proto-punk 1970 LP 'Fun House' oozes with sleazy night-on-the-town horniness. This opener starts things off with a bang, with meaty guitar riffs and Iggy Pop's unhinged growls, yelps and screams. "See a pretty thing, ain't no wall," he coolly sings, and you can picture him prowling in the night with, to borrow a line from Woody Allen's 'Manhattan,' "the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat."'

'I've Been Loving You Too Long,' Ike & Tina Turner
Some performances offer a snapshot into the personal lives of its performers; this live rendition of Otis Redding's hit, recorded at Madison Square Garden in 1969, offers a book's worth of material on Ike and Tina's love life. As the song slows down, the duo does (to put it mildly) a seedy back-and-forth, as Ike eventually simulates what we'll euphemistically call his "linguistic skills" on a vocally appreciative Tina. The audience's response is absolutely classic, too.