Do we, or do we not have to take our clothes off?

I'm not sure, because the music keeps giving me conflicting messages.

Of course there's Jermaine Stewart's 1985 hit, "We Don't Have to Take our Clothes Off," which just might be the most perfect pop song of that decade. Really, it's one of my favorite songs of all-time. Even though it's a bit silly ("I'm not a piece of meat, stimulate my brain!") the melody and the beat are just so catchy, I could never get sick of it. Jermaine was also praised for sending a positive message to the kids by encouraging them to keep their trousers on...

But recently Gym Class Heroes came out with "Clothes Off!," which samples the Stewart song but flips it on its head, guest vocalist Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy singing, "We have to take our clothes off/ We have to party all night."

Now along come the wonderful Kids on TV, with their remake of the Stewart original, giving the song a childish innocence with pretty harmonies. And once again I'm being told we DON'T have to take our clothes off.

And then I find another cover of the song by some girl group called Clea. They made a video for it. And the video features a bunch of guys with no clothes, and a girl singing the song naked in a bathtub!

I cant figure it out. On or off... WHICH IS IT?

Irony of ironies: Jermaine Stewart died of AIDS in 1997. Now I'm even more confused...

MP3: Kids on Tv - We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off

YouTube: Jermaine Stewart


YouTube: Gym Class Heroes (no video, just audio)


YouTube: Clea