Song of the Day 10/21: Gen X, “Dancing With Myself”

The jokes about Jeffrey Toobin, the CNN pundit and New Yorker writer who was suspended for exposing himself during a Zoom meeting, pretty much write themselves, but that hasn’t stopped people from taking their shots — I particularly liked the wag who declared that Toobin shouldn’t resign, he should stick it out. Far be it from me to resist the temptation, so here’s a song whose title has become slang for masturbation, despite the claim by its composer — William Broad, better known as Billy Idol — that it was inspired by seeing Japanese teenagers pogo-dancing in front of mirrors at a Tokyo club.

Idol first recorded it with his band Generation X in 1979, but it wasn’t released until 1981, by which point the band had changed personnel and shortened its name to Gen X. “Dancing With Myself” was released as a single in the UK but it stiffed (heh), topping out at No. 62. By the end of the year Gen X was history and Idol remixed the song to kick off his solo career and entry into the U.S. market, where it became a dance-club and MTV hit. The Donnas covered it for the soundtrack of the 2004 movie “Mean Girls.”