1986 song by Christopher Saint Booth and Philip Adrian Booth
"Ulterior Motives" is a song by filmmakers, producers and composers Christopher Saint Booth and Philip Adrian Booth, recorded before 1986.[3] 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),[4] 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.[1][5] 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.[6] 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".[4]
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.[3]
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)"[7] and claimed that he "rediscover[ed] 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."[8] 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.[8]
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.[1] On 7 January 2024, two members of the subreddit were interviewed by French commercial TV network TF1.[9]
Online search
File:EKT Boombox.jpgThe pink Nextplay Glitz and Glitter NP400GB boombox, which has become associated with the song after being featured in videos showcasing the original song snippet
The search for the song was initially slow to gain traction, but it gained a dedicated following over time.[1] Possible theorized sources for the song included a 1990s MTV broadcast, a piece of production music, or a commercial jingle;[1] theorized artists included Roxette, Savage Garden, and Jason Paige.[4] 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".[3][10]
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.[4] 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.[4][11] 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".[8]
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 filmAngels of Passion.[3][12] 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.[13]
