“It became apparent that that guitar almost became the character within the songs, that phallic character, the all-conquering male. I’m letting my inner Byron fully out, I thought I’d tucked him away, but he came screaming back like the Incredible Hulk. I think Boy King is an apocalyptic record. It’s about swimming in the abyss. When you think about sex, you’ve got to think about death, they’re one and the same.”
Hayden Thorpe, CoS
I've written about UK indie rock band Wild Beasts' emotionally intelligent representations of male sexuality before, and their "Get My Bang", the lead single from their fifth studio album Boy King (2016) works in the same aesthetic vein. Thorpe's emotive falsetto and a sexually-charged dance routine in the accompanying music video flesh out the track's focal exploration of carnal desire:
'That's how I get my bang(We're making mega fauna)That's how I get my bang(And I can tell you wanna)That's how I get my bang(I feel it, the real id)That's how I get my bang
Lyrics: Genius
This may seem like a song about mindless fucking ('No getting it right, no getting it wrong/ Just getting it on'), but Thorpe predictably becomes ambivalent about the inclinations of his libido, and simultaneously bring large doses of self-awareness to the table. After a throwaway reference to a Marie-Antoinette's infamous (and self-destructive) quip, the song quickly slips from an evocation of reckless rock star hedonism ('We're making megafauna ... I feel it/ The real id') into threading the fine line between male sexual entitlement and outright desperation:
'Me dangerous baby weaponisedGot me blubbing just like a jealous childWant something so badly it elude you every timeWhy would you hold it back?Why would you hold it back from me? YeahIf not now then when?If not you then who?If not here then where?If not the truth then the dareWhy would you hold it back?Why would you hold it back from me?Yeah'
