Songfacts®:

• Before breaking through with their song "Never Say Never," Romeo Void released "Talk Dirty (To Me)," with a sultry and vaguely menacing lyric by lead singer Debora Iyall.
  
  "Debora gave it a classic Debora approach," the group's bass player Frank Zincavage told Songfacts. "She starts off describing an environment then moves to interpersonal relationship commentary. Her delivery has a bit of snarl to it, and a teasing quality."
• The song landed on Romeo Void's debut album, It's A Condition, in 1981, but they played it live months earlier; an early version can be heard on their album Live from Mabuhay Gardens: November 14, 1980. It's A Condition was one of the first albums produced by David Kahne, who worked in A&R at 415 Records, the San Francisco punk/new wave label that signed Romeo Void. Kahne went on to produce Different Light for the Bangles and a lot of Fishbone's material.
• Romeo Void's funk influence is apparent on this song; Frank Zincavage says he had Larry Graham in mind. The group also had a saxophone player, Benjamin Bossi, who plays a key part in this song. "Benjamin's sax became a second voice, interacting with Debora's vocal, accenting the playfulness of the tune," Zincavage explained.
• "Talk Dirty (To Me)" got some airplay on the mighty radio station KROQ in Los Angeles, which expanded Romeo Void's reach beyond San Francisco - it earned them a gig at the Whisky A Go Go. The It's A Condition album got a rave review in Creem ("This is good stuff indeed, this is what we want. Buy it."), and the band came to the attention of Ric Ocasek of The Cars, who produced their Never Say Never EP, released later in 1981. Their upward rise continued with a move to the major label Columbia Records and a minor hit in 1984 with "A Girl In Trouble (Is A Temporary Thing)." But it came crashing down when Columbia dropped them in the middle of their tour that year. They split up in 1985 and never pulled off a full-scale reunion, although they did get back together in 2004 for the VH1 show Bands Reunited.