Artist: Haddaway
Title: What Is Love?
Favourite Lyrics:
What is love?
Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more
Why?: Baby don't hurt me
Don't hurt me
No more
I actually don't know the song outside of this Saturday Night Live sketch and the movie 'Night At The Roxbury'. I do have a vague memory of this song being blasted on repeat from all the Cameros, IROC-Zs and Mustangs that cruised along the Danforth (Greektown) in Toronto, all with all the other Eurobeat songs that reigned in Greektown and Woodbridge.
This was 1992 after all. I detested the song at the time as I had started to bury myself firmly in the middle of punk. So I was anti-establishment and this song was, in my head, part of the establishment. I hated the mainstream. I hated the whole preppies scene. I found I needed to label myself, and mod became that label, though looking back, I was probably something in between an emo, goth and mod.
So here I was, stuck in my beaten down 1987 Ford Mustang with a 2.3L engine, trying to out aggress the big boys and their souped up machines. What I lacked in horsepower I made up in loud punk and ska. And weirdly, Japan and Duran Duran, blasting from the stock speakers that my brother had already blown when he owned the car. But this SNL sketch came along, and turned the whole preppie scene on it's head and made it funny. Now the song was funny.
Today, you will see me, in my TARDIS blue Honda Civic, occasionally blasting this hated song, doing that head thing because it's funny. It's fun to be stopped at a set of lights and see the car next to you doing the head thing with you. It's also fun to be on your motorcycle and have a car load of people blasting said song and you join them in your head bobbing because nothing seems to unite Canadians better than a reasonably funny comedy sketch.
