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"Ulterior Motives" is a song by filmmakers, producers and composers Christopher Saint Booth and Philip Adrian Booth, recorded before 1986. It gained widespread online popularity after a seventeen-second snippet of the song, at the time unidentified, was posted online in 2021. Initially, users referred to it as "Everyone Knows That" (often abbreviated as EKT), or "Ulterior Motives", both referring to lyrics from the recovered snippet.

The snippet of the song was uploaded to the song identification website WatZatSong in 2021 by Spanish user carl92. The user claimed to have discovered the recording amongst files in an old DVD backup and speculated it was a leftover from when he was learning to record audio. Since being uploaded in 2021, users searched for the full song and information regarding its origin and artist. In February 2024, The Guardian called it "one of the biggest and most enduring musical mysteries on the internet".

In April 2024, Reddit users identified the song, including its name and creators. The song's was discovered to be a soundtrack to an obscure 1986 pornographic film named Angels of Passion.

History

On 7 October 2021, user carl92 uploaded a 17-second snippet of the song to WatZatSong to ask for help identifying the song. He labelled it "Mid 80s, Bad quality. (Everyone Knows That)" and claimed that he "rediscover this sample between a bunch of very old files in a DVD backup. Probably I was simply learning how to capture audio and this was a left over." Although the song was initially unknown when the snippet was published, it was theorized to have been recorded in the 1980s due to its 'stylistic similarities' to the pop music of that time. It has since become WatZatSong's "most infamous and enduring submission", receiving the most comments since WatZatSong launched in 2006.

The song gained popularity online in late 2022 and 2023, with a subreddit dedicated to finding the song and its artist being launched in June 2023. On 7 January 2024, two members of the subreddit were interviewed by French commercial TV network TF1.

Online search

The search for the song was initially slow to gain traction, but it gained a dedicated following over time. Possible theorized sources for the song included a 1990s MTV broadcast, a piece of production music, or a commercial jingle; theorized artists included Roxette, Savage Garden, and Jason Paige. In August 2023, searchers found a registered song by the name "Ulterior Motives" in the Canadian music database SOCAN under the shareholders' names "Booth Christopher David" and "Booth Philip".

In late February 2024, users attempted to contact an "obscure" singer named "White Mike Johnny Glove", who has a "strikingly similar voice" to the one in the recording. The LinnDrum drum machine and the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer were theorized to have been used throughout the song; thus, the release date is theorized to be after 1983. Some users created reconstructions from the original snippet to have an idea of what the entire song could be like, and some theorized that the song was a hoax "planted by a troll".

On 28 April 2024, Reddit users identified the song, including its name and artists. The song's source was discovered to be the obscure 1986 pornographic film Angels of Passion. On 29 April 2024, one of the artists, Christopher Saint Booth, publicly posted an Instagram post regarding the discovery of the song's source and the artists.

See also

• "The Most Mysterious Song on the Internet"
• Lostwave
• Lost media

References

1. ^ Klee, Miles (12 November 2023). "Internet Sleuths Want to Track Down This Mystery Pop Song. They Only Have 17 Seconds of It". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 November 2023.
2. Partridge, Ken (29 April 2024). "Why An Obscure Synth-Pop Song from a 1986 Adult Film Is Trending on Genius". Genius News. Genius. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024.
3. ^ Robinson, Ellie (29 April 2024). "Viral Lost Song 'Ulterior Motives' Found In Obscure '80s Porn Flick". The Music (Australia). Archived from the original on 29 April 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
4. ^ O'Grady, Carrie (28 February 2024). "Everyone Knows That: can you identify the lost 80s hit baffling the internet?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
5. Castro, Bárbara (24 February 2024). "Mistério! Conheça a música "perdida" dos anos 1980 que intriga a internet". IGN Brasil (in Brazilian Portuguese). Archived from the original on 29 April 2024. Retrieved 25 February 2024.
6. Raymond, Stephanie (29 February 2024). "Internet is trying to solve the mystery behind a 17-second snippet of a pop song". Audacy. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
7. S, S (7 October 2021). "Can you help me name this tune?". WatZatSong. Archived from the original on 29 April 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
8. ^ Carey, Gina (25 November 2023). "Can You Help Solve the Origin of This Mystery '80s Pop Song?". Newser. Archived from the original on 19 April 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
9. "Musique cherche compositeur : ce morceau dont même Internet ne parvient pas à identifier l'auteur". TF1 (in French). 7 January 2024.
10. "Ulterior Motives". SOCAN's Public Repertoire. SOCAN Work Number 13022623, ISWC T0705632310.
11. Brown, Emily (28 February 2024). "Mystery of lost 80s hit that no one can remember song name or artist for despite everyone recognizing tune". UNILAD. Archived from the original on 28 April 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
12. Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (29 April 2024). "Everyone Knows That: internet music mystery solved via 1986 adult movie". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024.
13. From Saint Booth, Christopher (29 April 2024). "Well today, my mind has officially been blown:) WOW! #ulteriormotives #ekt #christophersaint". Archived from the original on 29 April 2024 – via Instagram.

External links

• "Mid 80s, Bad quality. (Everyone Knows That)". WatZatSong. Archived from the original on 24 March 2024.
• /r/everyoneknowsthat on Reddit

• 2021 in Internet culture
• 1986 songs
• Internet memes introduced in 2021
• Lostwave
• New wave songs
• Synth-pop songs
• Rediscovered musical works