STRIP JOINTZ ROCKS

What sort of music is ideal for stripping? If you're looking for classic rock or alternative, the 1998 compilation Strip Jointz Rocks: Rock N Roll for Sexy Dancers gives a pretty good mix of classic rock and alternative tunes collected for, well, stripping. (For rap and r&b, those are on the other two Strip Jointz collections. I have no idea if there's a country collection designed for this activity.)

Strip Jointz Rocks is pretty evenly divided between classic rock and alternative songs. While some of the classic rock songs are pretty obvious -- Motley Crue's "Girls, Girls, Girls," Billy Squire's "The Stroke" -- I was surprised to hear "Born to Be Wild" and "What's Your Name" here. And when hearing Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll Part 2" I'll always think of sports fans chanting in a stadium. Still, they tend to work with the, er, theme of this album: strong beats, and simple or risque lyrics that aren't exactly thought-provoking.

The alternative songs work much like the classic rock ones, though there are the occasional lines in Duran Duran's "Girls on Film," Robert Palmer's "Addicted to Love," and Republica's "Ready to Go" that may be a little uncomfortable when mixed with stripping. (And Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself" feels pretty out of place here.) But these songs have even more overtly sexual overtones -- Berlin's "Sex (I'm A)," Gleaming Spires' "Are You Ready for the Sex Girls" and the DiVinyls' "I Touch Myself") -- and they also manage the strong, steady beats that seem ideal for the local strip club (or private show). Of course, anyone who's lived through the '80s will hear Yello's "Oh Yeah" and think of the end of Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Strip Club Jointz ends withTom Jones' cover of "You Can Leave Your Hat On," and in a way it's the perfect finale: the horns and drums sound like they're played right in a club, the unmistakable lyrics (actually directing the subject on how to move and what to remove), and a voice that's both sensual and fun. I don't know how the music in strip clubs is chosen, but Strip Jointz Rocks works very well: not only for that motif, but also as a very nice blend of classic rock and alternative music.

Overall grade: A-
Reviewed by James Lynch