View source for Smokin' in the Boys Room

{{Infobox song
| name       = Smokin' in the Boys Room
| cover      = Brownsville SITBR.jpg
| alt        =
| caption    = Dutch picture sleeve
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Brownsville Station (band)|Brownsville Station]]
| album      = [[Yeah! (Brownsville Station album)|Yeah!]]
| B-side     = Barefootin'
| released   = October 1973
| recorded   = 1973
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      =
*[[Blues rock]]
*[[hard rock]]
*[[boogie rock]]<ref name="az"/>
| length     = 2:58
| label      = [[Big Tree Records|Big Tree]]
| writer     = [[Cub Koda]], Michael Lutz
| producer   = [[Doug Morris]], Brilliant Sun
| prev_title = Let Your Yeah Be Yeah
| prev_year  = 1973
| next_title = Kings of the Party
| next_year  = 1974
| misc       = {{Extra album cover
 | header = Alternative release
 | type = single
 | image = Smokin in the Boys Room by Brownsville Station US single side-A.png
 | caption = One of side-A labels of US single
}}
}}

"'''Smokin' in the Boys Room'''" is a song originally recorded by [[Brownsville Station (band)|Brownsville Station]] in 1973 on their album ''[[Yeah! (Brownsville Station album)|Yeah!]]''. It reached number 3 in Canada<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4982a&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=uue39chjjkrjv14dpe18ndgc70 |title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |access-date=July 27, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828144620/https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4982a&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=uue39chjjkrjv14dpe18ndgc70 |archive-date=2017-08-28 }}</ref> and on the US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]], and was later certified by the [[Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA]].

The song is about students hoping to avoid being caught violating their school's [[smoking ban]] by smoking cigarettes in the boys' restroom. The song begins with a spoken recitation, and the verses and a part of the chorus, are mostly spoken, rather than sung.

==Chart performance==
{{col-begin|width=63%}}
{{col-2}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!align="left"|Weekly charts (1973–1974)
!align="left"|Peak<br />position
|-
|align="left"|Australia [[Kent Music Report|KMR]]<ref name="tsort1">{{cite web|url=http://tsort.info/music/yr1974.htm |title=Songs from the Year 1974 |website=Tsort.info |access-date=July 27, 2016}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|9
|-
|align="left"|Canada ''RPM'' Top Singles<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4982a&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=uue39chjjkrjv14dpe18ndgc70|title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada|website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca|access-date=July 27, 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828144620/https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4982a&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=uue39chjjkrjv14dpe18ndgc70|archive-date=2017-08-28}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
|align="left"|France<ref name="tsort1"/>
| style="text-align:center;"|7
|-
|align="left"|[[UK Singles Chart|UK]]<ref name="tsort1"/>
| style="text-align:center;"|27
|-
|align="left"|US ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Billboard Hot 100|Hot 100]]
| style="text-align:center;"|3
|-
| US ''[[Cashbox (magazine)|Cash Box]]'' Top 100<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/1974.html |title=Cash Box Top 100 Singles, January 26, 1974 |access-date=January 8, 2018 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160822224814/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/1974.html |archive-date=August 22, 2016 }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|}
{{col-2}}

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
!align="left"|Year-end charts (1974)
! style="text-align:center;"|Rank
|-
|Australia <ref name="australian-charts.com">{{Cite web|url=https://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=40275|title=Forum - Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts - 1980s (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)|website=Australian-charts.com|access-date=1 June 2021}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|74
|-
|Canada <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.3893a&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=3o0l1fqi323flj1r8hj5i66e87 |title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |access-date=July 27, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817064832/https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.3893a&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=3o0l1fqi323flj1r8hj5i66e87 |archive-date=August 17, 2016 }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|54
|-
|US ''Billboard'' Hot 100<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1974.htm |title=Top 100 Hits of 1974/Top 100 Songs of 1974 |website=Musicoutfitters.com |access-date=July 27, 2016}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|44
|-
|US ''Cash Box'' <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/1974YESP.html |title=Cash Box Year-End Charts: Top 100 Pop Singles, December 28, 1974 |access-date=January 17, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190722221522/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/70s_files/1974YESP.html |archive-date=July 22, 2019 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|47
|}
{{col-end}}
{{clear}}

==Mötley Crüe version==
{{Infobox song
| name       = Smokin' in the Boys Room
| cover      = Motley Crue SITBR.jpg
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Mötley Crüe]]
| album      = [[Theatre of Pain]]
| B-side     = Use it or Lose it
| released   = 24 June 1985
| recorded   = 1985
| studio     =
| genre      = [[Glam metal]]<ref name="az">{{cite web|last=Masley|first=Ed|date=July 8, 2014|title=Best '80s pop-metal songs, from Def Leppard to Poison|url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/07/08/best-pop-metal-songs-80s-def-leppard/12367099/|access-date=March 3, 2021|website=[[The Arizona Republic]]}}</ref>
| length     = 3:22
| label      = [[Elektra Records|Elektra]]
| writer     = [[Cub Koda]], Michael Lutz
| producer   = [[Tom Werman]]
| prev_title = [[Too Young to Fall in Love]]
| prev_year  = 1984
| next_title = [[Home Sweet Home (Mötley Crüe song)|Home Sweet Home]]
| next_year  = 1985
| misc         = {{External music video
 | type        = single
 | header      = Music videos
 | 1           = {{YouTube|e18D14X9Ii0|"Smokin' in the Boys Room"}}
}}
}}

The song was covered in 1985 by [[Mötley Crüe]]. Released as a single, "Smokin' in the Boys Room" reached #16 on the U.S. [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]], and became [[Mötley Crüe]]'s first Top 40 hit.<ref>Whitburn, Joel. ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits'', 69th ed, Billboard Publications, Inc. 1996. {{ISBN|0-8230-7632-6}}</ref>
Their version of the song appears in the 1986 film ''[[The Wraith]]'' directed by Chieffallo. A [[LeAnn Rimes]] version of the song appeared on the album ''Nashville Outlaws:  A Tribute To Mötley Crüe''.

===Music video===
Crüe's version was accompanied by a conceptual music video featuring [[Michael Berryman]] as the school principal.  The video focuses on a high school student named Jimmy who is mistreated and misunderstood in school. After he is paddled by the principal for (truthfully) claiming that a dog ran off with his homework, a frustrated Jimmy goes to the boys' bathroom where he sees Motley Crüe in the mirrors. The band pulls him through the mirror to join them, and Jimmy and Motley Crüe watch a dystopian vision of the school through a barred window. At the end of the music video, the principal apologizes to Jimmy and offers an A for his missing homework; instead, Jimmy doesn't accept and rips up the homework. After Jimmy walks away, Nikki Sixx reaches out of the mirror and snatches the dumbfounded principal's toupée.

===Charts===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Chart (1985)
! Peak <br/> position
|-
|align="left"|Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=209}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|61
|-
|align="left"|Canada Top Singles ''([[RPM (magazine)|RPM]])''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0579&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=3o0l1fqi323flj1r8hj5i66e87 |title=Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada |website=Collectionscanada.gc.ca |access-date=July 27, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314023330/https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0579&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=3o0l1fqi323flj1r8hj5i66e87 |archive-date=March 14, 2016 }}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|19
|-
{{single chart|UK|71|date=1985-08-18|access-date=August 20, 2018}}
|-
{{single chart|Billboardhot100|16|artist=Motley Crue|access-date=December 25, 2021}}
|-
{{single chart|Billboardmainstreamrock|7|artist=Motley Crue|access-date=December 25, 2021}}
|}

===Personnel===
*[[Vince Neil]] - Vocals
*[[Mick Mars]] - Guitar
*[[Nikki Sixx]] - Bass
*[[Tommy Lee]] - Drums
*[[Mickey Raphael]] - Harmonica

==Other versions==
In 1981, the song was translated to Hebrew and covered by [[T-Slam]] under the name "Me'ashnim Beyahad" (Smoking Together) on their debut album. The English-language version of the album, "Loud Radio" featured the original version of the song.<ref>{{Cite web |title=אלבום: Loud Radio |url=https://www.t-slam.com/?album=loud-radio |access-date=2022-04-24 |website=תיסלם |language=he-IL}}</ref>

The song is referenced in the television program [[King of the Hill]] in season 10 episode 10. Brownsville Station is the favorite band of the character Lucky. The song "inspired him to smoke" and plays over the ending credits.<ref>{{Cite web |title=King of the Hill/Hank Fixes Everything - The TV IV |url=http://tviv.org/King_of_the_Hill/Hank_Fixes_Everything |access-date=2022-04-24 |website=tviv.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-06-15 |title=Tom Petty's King of the Hill character buys Brownsville Station tix for primo view of Mike Lutz's guitar solo |url=http://earofnewt.com/2019/06/15/tom-pettys-king-of-the-hill-character-buys-brownsville-station-tix-for-primo-view-of-mike-lutzs-guitar-solo/ |access-date=2022-04-24 |website=earofnewt.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{YouTube|8ORpAP9OH_s|Brownsville Station - Smokin' in the Boys Room}}

{{Mötley Crüe}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1973 singles]]
[[Category:1985 singles]]
[[Category:Big Tree Records singles]]
[[Category:Brownsville Station (band) songs]]
[[Category:Elektra Records singles]]
[[Category:Mötley Crüe songs]]
[[Category:Song recordings produced by Tom Werman]]
[[Category:Songs about school]]
[[Category:Songs about tobacco]]
[[Category:Music videos directed by Wayne Isham]]
[[Category:1973 songs]]
[[Category:Blues rock songs]]


{{1970s-single-stub}}