Head, shoulders, knees and…ass January 13, 2010

When you really think about it, human body parts are mentioned a whole lot in songs. It’s no surprise really that the word ‘ass’ is a common term in the hip-hop genre, or that Gospel music often mentions hands. But what body parts are alternative musicians and metal bands regularly working into their lyrics?

That’s where Fleshmap comes in. Based on a study of a sample of 10,000 songs, ranging from popular artists to the more obscure, the people behind Fleshmap, Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg, have created visual representations categorised by genre of how often specific body parts are mentioned.

From even a cursory glance at the graphs, the most startling thing is how much hip hop artists like to talk about body parts, from their favourite word ‘ass’, used in 23.64% of the chosen songs, right down to ‘prick’, used in 0.09%.

And that’s just the ‘Listen’ part of the site. In the ‘Touch‘ section, by surveying thousands of men and women, the team have devised a map of both a male and female body, highlighting the areas we like to be touched in. Print one off for future reference perhaps?

[Image: Fleshmap]