Every so often a nude scene gets paired with a song that, for better or worse, ends up making it that much more memorable, and this Tunes-day it’s actually multiple nude scenes with multiple songs - all from the same artist- with this skin-depth look at the 1996 Razzie Award winner for Worst Picture, Striptease.
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The film first received a lot of buzz thanks to star Demi Moore’s huge $12.5 million dollar payday, crowning her the highest-paid film actress up to that time, and then again due to the many appearances by her newly enhanced breasts. The frequency of catching her cha-chas on display no doubt saved the film from being a box-office bomb despite its dismal reviews. Demi’s lack of comedic chops didn’t stop audiences from wanting to see her take it off as a divorced mom trying to earn enough money to get back custody of her daughter by working the pole at a Miami strip club called the Eager Beaver. In fact, director Andrew Bergman has admitted the film probably wouldn’t have been made without Moore since she was the only A-lister willing to go nude, so in truth, we owe a lot to Demi and her daring exotic dance routines.
Demi Moore Nude in Striptease
Of course, all of Demi’s dances have one thing in common: whether on stage or at home, Demi’s former FBI secretary-turned-stripper Erin Grant’s ass-shaking is set to dulcet tones of Scottish singer Annie Lennox. Demi takes to the stage for the first time just shy of seventeen minutes in, heating things up with a sultry and flexible chair number to Lennox’s slow jam “Cold,” off her popular solo album Diva.
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Then about forty-four minutes in, Demi flashes her funbags and fanny while dancing to another song off the album, “Little Bird,” after a shower, which then becomes the song playing while baring her feather-boa-ed boobs at the club ten minutes later.
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The soundtrack also features the Diva track “Money Can’t Buy It”, and two of Annie’s collaborations with Dave Stewart as the Eurythmics, “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of These)” and “Missionary Man,” though for some unknown reason, when it was released, “Sweet Dreams” was the only Annie Lennox song included on the disc.
If one had to guess, the pairing seems to be an attempt to further separate the character of Erin from the club’s other dancers, most of whom seem to be blonde bimbos with cartoonish curves next to brunette babe Demi. She’s not a real stripper, she’s a high-class, artsy lady who’s just doing this out of necessity! For her daughter! What’s more noble than that?
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But if you think this film is a minor footnote in skin-ema history, think again. Aside from it seemingly marking a distinct downturn in Demi’s career, to some this music and nudity combo seems to have an indelible place in pop culture as well.
Just listened to Little bird - Annie Lennox and wanted to dance round my kitchen like Demi Moore in Striptease. Does this happen to others?
— Carl Frampton MBE (@RealCFrampton) April 30, 2014
Mr. Skin hopes it does!
