"Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child" is a song by

Mojo Nixon Mojo Nixon (born Neill Kirby McMillan, Jr.; August 2, 1957) is an American musician and actor best known for his humorous, irreverent Novelty song "Elvis Is Everywhere" which was an alternative staple on MTV. His style can generally be defined ...

and

Skid Roper Skid Roper (born Richard Banke, October 19, 1954, in National City, California, United States) is an American musician, most active in the 1980s and early 1990s. He has recorded with several groups including the surf band The Evasions, but is bes ...

, released on the album '' Root Hog or Die'' in 1989.

"Incubating the incubus"

Known for their cultural parodies, Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper released two EPs and four full-length albums in the 1980s; their 1989 LP, ''Root Hog or Die!'', considered by many fans to be their best, contained " Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with My Two-Headed Love Child" as its lead single. In the song, Nixon not only asserts that he is the father of Gibson's child, but is also married to her (with Joan Collins performing the ceremony at a chapel in Las Vegas). He also manages to insult Rick Astley ("a pantywaist"), Spuds McKenzie ("hate that dog") and

Tiffany Tiffany may refer to: People * Tiffany (given name), list of people with this name * Tiffany (surname), list of people with this surname Known mononymously as "Tiffany": * Tiffany Darwish, (born 1971), an American singer, songwriter, actress kn ...

("wrestling in Jello") along the way, all in just two minutes and three seconds. The song is not, however, a direct attack on any one artist, but rather a parody of tabloid gossip (hence the title) and pop culture in a similar vein to Weird Al Yankovic's "

Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the network primarily carries true crime programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982 by Turner Broadcasting as CNN2 (later renamed Headline News ...

" of several years later. Not surprisingly, the song caused a bit of controversy. Gibson herself was even moved to write an answer song, "Stuffy White Girl", which she planned to release as a

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

, but ultimately thought better of it. It did give Mojo his first ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' chart appearance, as the tune peaked at #16 on the Modern Rock listings in the summer of 1989.

Video

The music video, produced by T'Boo Dalton and directed by Scott Kalvert, features Nixon and Roper with lookalikes of Tiffany, Astley and Collins—and actress Winona Ryder as Debbie Gibson. Ryder (who once called the video "my favorite role of all time") wears a wedding dress and gives birth to "a

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

baby, all covered in fur" with the requisite two heads. Kalvert's Boston partner and producer David Horgan was on the set offering Kalvert creative support. However,

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

(perhaps fearing legal action) declined to add the video to its regular rotation, despite having Nixon as a network spokesman (itself surprising, since Mojo had first won fame with his song "Stuffin' Martha's Muffin", a reference to then-VJ Martha Quinn). Mojo and Skid did perform the song on MTV's late-night ''

120 Minutes ''120 Minutes'' is a television program in the United States dedicated to the alternative music genre, that originally aired on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then aired on MTV's associate channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003. After its cancellation, MTV ...

'' (even then, Nixon was forced to mumble the word "

fornication Fornication is generally consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. When one or more of the partners having consensual sexual intercourse is married to another person, it is called adultery. Nonetheless, John ...

"), but the channel's refusal to air the video led to Mojo Nixon severing ties with the network.

External links

* * {{authority control 1989 singles 1989 songs Debbie Gibson Songs about actors Cultural depictions of actors Satirical songs I.R.S. Records singles