Sunday’s Moral Claws

First off, to all of the Menz readers who saw the title to the last music video I posted yesterday, I hope you have a sense of humour about the entire “Pig” thing. The truth is, many of the guys I know were the first to inform me years ago that “Men are pigs.” So, consider the source. It’s your own gender making most of the jokes. That’s right. I won’t take responsibility for anything other than finding that tune and putting it up for fun and continuity. So rue me – not.

The same thing in a different way might be said about many of the women we see in the music biz these days. Have so many of these girls-women become strippers and porn queens? Will Britney stop kissing other women on stage for the supposed shock of it all? Will Rihanna continue to shed more costumes with each new performance? If so, she has very little to leave to one’s imagination.*

Hey, I realize that it’s not a new trend for women to strip down and writhe on the stage ground. It simply seems that rather than one or two of the hallowed iconic few are now following each other to an overly sexualized stew of pumping away instead of singing without whips and overly-heated, bleating ego trips. 

I’m far from a prude, my dudes. Performances of sensual sensation are part of various artists’ creation. Madonna knew how to sell it well in the early days of her alarming career. Cher? Well, Cher dresses like Rihanna wants to, but focused more on her vocal chords and skipping across the stage than thrusting her bust into our faces. She didn’t have to. All anyone has noticed with Cher is her leggy fishnets and whatever’s going on with her hair. She didn’t have to play Truth Or Dare to gain anyone’s stare (or glare).

As usual, I have one foot in and one foot out of what the buzz is all about. Having been on stage as a singer and actress as a child through teen years, then later as an MC at music events, I always understood the impact one can have on an audience – especially if one is pushing whatever the “limits” were/are at a particular time. When on the air as a DJ, flirting with an audience was fun while developing a persona as The Screaming Queen Bitch Shauna in a major Top Ten radio market. The ratings shot up, groupies lunged far and wide. But the persona was created from theatrical aptitude and not to play upon sexitude.

And so, round and round we go in the debate of late regarding what the message is that many of the women in music (more than in film) are sending.

In mine eyes, if I wanted to see women in leather or lace, doing sexual bumps and grunts in our face, there are many other outlets for that kind of space in my entertainment arrangement. If true music is what I’m after, then give me a songstress with a great voice or an ability to combine performance and singing with equal rapture.

I admit I didn’t mind when Michael Jackson grabbed his crotch to bump and grind, or when, in the old days, Tom Jones and Elvis would throw their garments into the crowds where the Wimmen’s would scream aloud. They were sexy. But, none of them did more than shake or grab their loins because their talents as singers went far beyond quasi-porn.

Every generation goes beyond the previous one’s limits. Or, responds in opposition. That's why Glee is doing so well on American TV despite the other parts of the music biz's controverse-it-tee -- the epitome of all that is seen as genial decadency.

This latest generational trend has me questioning if the pop culture of now is just a lot of BS on the prowl.


(Photo via Getty)
*(See all searches on Rihanna's latest on stage appearances.)