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Robin Thicke’s Grandpa Loves ‘Blurred Lines’: ‘Sonny Boy, You’ve Got a Hit!’

Robin Thicke, 'Blurred Lines'

The best-known bit of trivia about Robin Thicke is probably the fact that his father, Alan Thicke, was TV’s Jason Seaver. If you didn’t know, check out the “Blurred Lines”-Growing Pains mashup. Less famous, for now, is the singer’s octogenarian grandfather, but with the younger Thicke’s Blurred Lines album out today, the whole family is getting caught up in the promotional blitz.

Discussing the record’s controversial, chart-topping title track, Thicke told USA Today: “Anybody who knows me knows that (“Blurred Lines”) doesn’t represent my whole personality. It’s just a happy song. When my 80-year-old grandfather heard it, he said, ‘Sonny boy, you’ve got a hit! We’re dancing around the house!’ And I thought, maybe I have something here.”

If it makes you feel any better, non-family members also approve of the song, at least to judge by Vampire Weekend’s cover. And Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme’s cover. Does that bizarre non-porn, non-parody “gay porn parody” count here?

Anyway, as for the song’s goofily salacious video, Thicke says the nudity was director Diane Martel’s idea. In fact, Thicke’s first reaction, he’s quoted as saying, was hesitant, because he “didn’t work this long on my career to throw it all out the window over boobs.” (Someone who almost threw out his career for similar reasons, former President Bill Clinton, has been known to “cover” “Blurred Lines.”)

He also continues to express puzzlement over criticism of the video that has included the phrase “rapey.” To wit: “We knew it would get a little controversy. But to use the word ‘rapey’? When Pharrell and I are just dancing around, acting like complete fools? And when we’re both happily married men?”

As MTV reports, Thicke’s next video will reunite him with director Martel. She’ll be overseeing the visuals for dubstep-flirting “Give It 2 U,” with Kendrick Lamar