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The mystery song known online as “Everyone Knows That” is “Ulterior Motives,” written and recorded by Christopher Saint Booth and Philip Adrian Booth. The full track was found in the 1986 film Angels of Passion in April 2024. The search lasted about two and a half years—not 17 years: the 17 seconds refers to the length of the clip that launched it.
What was the mystery ’80s song?
“Everyone Knows That” was a placeholder name used by listeners trying to identify a short, grainy-sounding recording. Its actual title is “Ulterior Motives.” Christopher Saint Booth and Philip Adrian Booth made the song, which appears in Angels of Passion, a 1986 film. The Guardian reported the identification on April 29, 2024, after online searchers traced songwriting and music-credit leads to the film. The Guardian’s report and Exclaim!’s coverage identify the title, creators and film.
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Why did people call it “Everyone Knows That”?
The nickname came from a lyric listeners thought they could hear in the brief clip. It was never the confirmed title. Because the recording was incomplete, searchers initially had little to work with beyond its sound and the words they could make out.
How was the song found?
A 17-second clip starts the search
In October 2021, an anonymous user identified as Carl92 posted 17 seconds of the recording to the song-identification site WatZatSong. The clip spread among listeners and lost-media communities, who proposed possible titles and followed leads for roughly two and a half years. The Lost Media podcast’s episode listing recounts the upload and the search: “Track 5: Everyone Knows It.”
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Credits point to the source
Online sleuths pursued songwriter and music-credit information until they encountered the track in Angels of Passion. Finding it in the film supplied what the snippet could not: the complete song and a direct link to its creators. News of the identification was reported in April 2024.
Was the song missing for 17 years?
No. The “17” in the story refers to seconds of audio, not years of searching. The clip was posted in October 2021, and the song was identified in April 2024. Calling it a 17-year search confuses the clip’s length with the timeline established in the reporting.
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Where can you hear the full song?
The Lost Media podcast listing promotes Ulterior Motives: The Lost Album and streaming access, but it does not establish current streaming availability on a particular service, an Amazon listing, or whether signed copies are currently in stock. Check the listing and your preferred music service for current access: the episode page.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the discovery mattered
The case is a clear example of how a fragment can circulate online without enough context to identify it. The clip’s lyric gave listeners a memorable nickname, but locating the full recording required following credits and connecting the song to an existing film. Once that link was made, the answer was specific: “Ulterior Motives,” by Christopher Saint Booth and Philip Adrian Booth, in Angels of Passion.
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