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ONE HIT WONDERLAND: “I Touch Myself” by Divinyls

Todd in the Shadows | December 29, 2025



I don’t want anybody else…

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Written by Todd in the Shadows

Comments

This post currently has 45 comments.

  2. @thebusbitches7155

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    I think one of the other things that really propelled this into success in America is the song was co-written by tried-and-true eighties hit makers Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, who were no strangers to writing sensual lovemaking ballads like Like A Virgin, I Drove All Night, In Your Room (the Bangles), etc. Not to mention non-sensual hits like True Colors, Alone, Eternal Flame, So Emotional, Mad About You by Belinda Carlisle, and eventually I’ll Stand By You by the Pretenders. So the fact that the songwriters clearly knew what would appeal to an American audience helped the song gain the crossover appeal it did more than the subject matter itself (the song, regardless of the lyrics, is a masterclass in pop composition)

  3. @Halokon

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    Converse to the Australians all knowing each other, on my first flight to America (I’m Scottish), I was sat next to a couple who were neighbours or family friends with Joe Biden. I called bullshit, they showed the photographic proof. Was weird, and I wonder if they’re so quick to pull that out now.

    Also I asked a woman on an elevator what floor she was going to when she got in, and she heard my accent and screamed “AAAAHHHH AM I IN A MOVIE!?” which confuses me still over a decade later, she was lovely though. And also a crazy guy followed me a block and called me a sheep the whole way. Why yes, I was in NYC, why do you ask?

  5. @rgs8970

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    Hearing the opening riff reawakened a panic in me. I remember hastily changing the radio station when this song came on, when I was in junior high, lest I lose radio privileges or, even worse, hear a lecture from my father on the song's "message"

  10. @thatguitarguy5856

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    Chrissie RIP was married to Charlie Drayton. Charlie was Keith Richards' bass player/drummer- he and Steve Jordan swapped over for a song or two- in the Xpensive Winos. He played with Keith after the Stones broke up in the '80's. Wonderful guy, and a wonderful partner to Chrissie. Great player too.

  12. @bobthebear1246

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    My first song of theirs was "Boys In Town" all the way back in 1982 and I loved it. It was one of those great, short, punchy New Wave/Hard Rock hybrids that were coming-out by the handful in the early-80s, and I was so there for it.

    I was really surprised that they didn't get big from it, though. Over the ensuing years, I occasionally wondered what happened to The Divinyls. Well, unfortunately I got my answer in 1991. Before I even heard the song, I had already seen mention of "I Touch Myself" somewhere, and my reaction was: 🙄🤦🏻‍♂️. Uccch. That ultra-gratuitous title alone turned me off, then when I heard the song, it was this super-kitschy mess that didn't sound anywhere near like the same band as before. I hated it then, and I still hate it now. Bleccch.

  18. @RoseThePhoenix

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    I've heard one other song about this sung by a woman. It's called "Coin Operated Boy," it's unfathomably irritating, and I've only ever heard it at karaoke. (Not every week or anything, but this really obscure song about taking your vibrator into the bath is weirdly popular at karaoke bars.)

  19. @eyebl0ss0m

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    one year after this video, “Wet” by Dazey and the Scouts would drop, giving us another female masturbation song by a woman-fronted band with a cult following.

  29. @MrRiffArchives

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    14:03 Speaking of all Australians knowing each other, I know the man who arranged the song for this ad. He even showed me some of the isolated tracks.

    I was also a part of Katie Noonan’s choir (one of the artists who makes an appearance in the ad) for her performance in Wangaratta VIC in 2012.

  30. @hayleyalves1704

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    I can’t do the radio I hate commercials that’s why I got YouTube red when it first came out or whatever it is now I think it’s premium I cannot for the life of me do fucking commercials cannot do it will not do it not going back.

  33. @marisasd9541

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    I think it's so sad that this song was my first introduction to Divinyls, because my repressed, 12-year-old catholic-school-girl brain couldn't get past how "dirty" this song was, and thought it was a cheap ploy to get radio play. I had no idea they had such a good discography behind them! I am duly shamed, and will check them out!

  36. @mhoppy6639

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    There’s a great memory I have of watching this on top of the pops here in England.
    At the start of each record the producers would do a little graphic which helped the intro to the band.
    For the Divinyls, a very cheeky graphic designer / animator sneaked in a stick figure simulating female masturbation. It was hilarious and to this day I’m sure hardly anyone noticed.
    Edit I’ve just watched it again and I’m certain someone was taking the mickey albeit very subtly

  43. @myopinion69420

    December 29, 2025 at 4:54 pm

    14:05 you know what the sad thing is? I just googled MS and Chemotherapy as I had never heard that someone with MS could not get chemo. turns out, they are now looking into chemo to TREAT MS as it from a 2017 study it looks like it slows MS right down.

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