"The Bad Touch" is a song recorded by American alternative rock bandBloodhound Gang. It was released on May 31, 1999, as the lead single from their album Hooray for Boobies, which was released a year later in the United States and United Kingdom. "The Bad Touch" became a major hit in Europe throughout late 1999 and early 2000, reaching number one in Flanders, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Spain and Sweden and peaking within the top 10 in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Switzerland, and the UK. Outside Europe, it peaked at number five in Australia, number four in New Zealand, number nine in Canada, and number 52 in the US. The song was remixed by many artists, including God Lives Underwater, KMFDM, and Eiffel 65 and was referenced by Eminem in his song "The Real Slim Shady".
Music video
The song's video features the band dressed in "MonkeyRat" costumes with oversized ears, in numerous locations of Paris, and the Eiffel Tower is visible in many shots. During the video, the band uses blowguns to shoot tranquilizer darts into the buttocks of four passing young women dressed in black with short skirts and stockings, then carrying them away. They then use a fishing rod to dangle a croissant in front of a group of French chefs, enticing them to follow. The band members dance around for a few seconds and then lure three chefs into following them. The band members swallow several mealworms, before finding two stereotypically French effeminategay men in a café, who are then beaten over the head with baguettes and knocked unconscious. A dwarfmime artist played by actor Jordan Prentice is captured in a net and then thrown into a cage with the four women, three chefs and the gay couple in a clear parody of animal collectors capturing frightened specimens. The band leap around the cage taunting their captives. As the song draws to an end, the prisoners are released and all dance together in formation in the street. The mime artist escapes and is run over by a speeding Renault 5 car driven by Lüpüs Thünder. The uncensored version of the video shows the band playing with and eating a brown semi-liquid food, with the implication that it is diarrhea, and a beginning which features them feigning sex in a doggy-style position rather than dancing as in the clean version. The violent capture of the gay couple is also missing from some versions.
Controversy
A scene in the video featuring a pair of gay men in sailor suits, who share french fries and are subsequently beaten by the band members wielding baguettes, was cut after it initially premiered. GLAAD complained about the scene to MTV stating that "a gay-bashing scene in any context in today's climate is not acceptable". MTV reviewed the video and suggested to Geffen Records that the scene be cut. On the scene, lead singerJimmy Pop commented "I would give any gay man two tickets to the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical of his choice if he could describe exactly who's going to become violent based on that scene".
