This 1970s Hit Song Has a Disturbing Double Meaning
A lot of 1970s music was just good old-fashioned fun, while some of it was disturbing beyond all measure. One 1970s classic rock song tackled a deeply upsetting subject. However, it spoke about a taboo topic in a way that made it seem innocuous. Here’s a look at one of the most questionable hit songs of all time.
A glam rock song from the 1970s is not as innocent as it may seem
Glam rock gave us icons like David Bowie, Freddie Mercury, and Elton John. It also gave us some flashes in the pan whom nobody talks about anymore. One of those flashes was Nick Gilder. You may never have heard his name, but if you own some of those 1970s compilation CDs, you might remember his big hit “Hot Child in the City.” It’s a catchy little ditty about making love.
Or is it? The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits reports that Gilder told Rolling Stone the track is about child prostitution. Apparently, we are supposed to take the title very literally. The fact that a song like this managed to become a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single back in the day shows how much cultural standards have changed since the 1970s.
Nick Gilder said the track reflected Los Angeles in the 1970s
Gilder had a lot to say to Rolling Stone about “Hot Child in the City.” “I’m intrigued by sex,” Gilder confessed. “It’s so much a part of everything we do, and we don’t completely understand why we’re doing it. It’s our prime directive, almost, on this planet. Seek out and multiply, you know. Seek out and multiply, you know. I write stories around it because it intrigues people so much.”
Gilder admitted he smuggled a dark topic into a song that sounded innocuous. “‘Hot Child in the City’ could well have been entitled ‘Don’t Bite the Apple,'” Gilder said. “I’ve seen a lot of young girls, 15 and 16, walking down Hollywood Boulevard with their pimps. Their home environment drove them to distraction, so they ran away, only to be trapped by something even worse. It hurts to see that, so I tried writing from the perspective of a lecher — in the guise of an innocent pop song.”
Nick Gilder’s comments ruin his signature song
Judged on its own merits, “Hot Child in the City” would just be a fun, relaxing song about sex. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s the sort of laid-back radio song that you can listen to again and again without getting tired of it.
However, Gilder’s comments throw a massive wrench in that. How is anyone supposed to enjoy a pop song about the most disgusting topic imaginable? Of course, people are allowed to sing about anything. What makes “Hot Child in the City” so objectionable isn’t that it’s a song about child sexual abuse. It’s that it’s a song about child sexual abuse that broaches the issue in a nonchalant way. It feels like it’s trying to make pedophilia sound fun.
Certain offensive cultural artifacts inspire debate as to their merits. We are probably going to be arguing about “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” for decades. Meanwhile, “Hot Child in the City” has completely disappeared from the radio. That’s for the best.
How to get help: In the U.S., call the RAINN National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 to connect with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area.
