Turn Me Loose

"Turn Me Loose" was the first charting single for Loverboy, their breakout hit, and a single from their debut album all at once. While charting low on the US Hot 100, it fared far better on charts all around the world and hit #7 in their native Canada, foreshadowing greater later success for the band in the States as well as the rest of the English-speaking world. It still gets steady airplay to this day.

The S&M/leather community has noted the sadomasochistic overtones of the lyrics, what with being tied down, being on your knees, and so on. And "flying" is scene slang for the high experienced while buzzing on endorphins (natural chemicals released in the brain as a response to painful or confining stimulus), so "I wanna fly" loosely qualifies. And finally, bondage fans also claim that the only time they feel "free" is when they're tied up - hence it's like being "turned loose." Make no mistake, Loverboy very clearly did not intend the song this way, but for reasons of alternative interpretations, this song is usually part of the music playlist in your typical "dungeon" - at least at the kind of Southern California "play party" where couples swish those tacky velvet floggers around with way more dignity attached to the affair than one might expect.

In the book MTV Ruled the World - The Early Years of Music Video, Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean shares the story behind the video and the meaning of the song: "We had just signed with Columbia, and we were all on holiday. We had been working hard, and we had the week off. We were all down in Mexico - Mike, Matt, and me, with our girls. I think we got a call from out manager saying, 'We're shooting a video for 'Turn Me Loose' at a club in New York City, the Ritz.' So that was our first foray into that. The director thought the song was a parody. He didn't take the lyrics serious. We wrote the lyrics serious - it was a put-down to this girl. It's all fiction... that's why they call it 'creative writing' you know? So anyway, the director, his take was 'This should be a comedy.' Who are we to argue? We were a fledgling thing... We were just thrilled to be asked, because we knew the marketing value of MTV."