It was on this day in 1998 that your email inbox was changed forever when the FDA OK-ed the use of Viagra for use in treating erectile dysfunction, the first pill in the United States approved to do so. The drug was originally researched as a treatment for angina, but doctors noticed that while it wasn't doing much for the heart, it sure was good at inducing raging boners. Fun fact: In rare cases, it also makes everything you see appear blue, and it's helpful for reducing jet lag in hamsters.
As Cave Johnson said, "Science isn't about why. It's about why not."
Since it was released, Viagra has been a raging, throbbing success, with annual sales climaxing at almost $2 billion dollars in 2008. To the consternation of many women, half of those sales were covered by health insurance while many oral contraceptives were not, despite the fact that birth control is used also used to treat medical conditions such as endometriosis. Viagra has also gone on to being a popular recreational drug, as should be apparent every time you check your spam folder.
For good or ill, Viagra has changed America forever, and as usual the music world took notice. Here's our playlist for boner pills.
Nu Virgos, "Stop Stop Stop": Outside of Russia and the Ukraine, VIA Gra is known as Nu Virgos. The original name is a play on words in Russian. VIA is an acronym meaning "vocal ensemble group" and "gra" means "game" or "play."
Nu Virgos did an English version of their biggest hit, 2002's "Stop Stop Stop," which was accompanied by a terrifically hot video where the girls seduce Sigmund Freud smoking a cigar. Considering that impotence is linked heavily to many psychological disorders, this seems strangely appropriate.
88 Keys feat. Kanye West, "Stay Up! Viagra": Of course, the usual stereotype for Viagra use is that of elderly men using the drug to regain the potency of their youth, and the sugar-daddy image is often tied to this.
To be fair, the commercials and ads don't do much to dispel this idea even though impotence can be caused by all kinds of things. Nonetheless, Viagra as the crutch for dirty old men remains a common perception, and 88 Keys and Kanye sum that up perfectly. Embedding is disabled on the video, but definitely check the link as it is hilarious.
