Parvati Magazine February 2014 - Sobriety | Page 22
MUSIC
SEX SELLS
B
eginning with the twentieth century, First World society became consumed with consumption of goods and products and people began to pursue material goods with the
goal of gratifying desires rather than using goods as a way to support one’s needs. This big
shift started a pattern that has continued into the twenty-first century and is the single biggest reason why people are now mostly unconsciously driven by impulses and desires.
One only needs to study first world society during Christmas time. It is a confused amalgam
of celebrating the birth of the Christ and a manipulative commercially driven consumption fest designed to create perpetuate constant wanting in our young ones. Regardless
of recessions and other economic slumps, Christmas mass has become more like Christmas
few, and the mass is more about the masses in the shopping centres. Why has this shift
occurred? Advertising and exploitation of our wants and desires has led to a society that
seems to revere Santa and his presents more than Christ and his presence.
The music industry is one of the largest consumer driven industries. It got this way mostly
through exploitation. Even the Sex Pistols gained extensive national news coverage from
calculated marketing tactics. Notorious for its exploitation of the arts, the artist, the consumer and focus on a healthy bottom line, to a record label, money is more important than
art itself. As far as the major record label is concerned, art is dead, long live consumerism.
MUSIC
Sex sells! That’s the sober
truth. Sex or sex appeal is
used in advertising to draw
interest to help sell a particular product. The purpose of imagery in music
is to attract the attention
of the potential customer
or user. This is why music
videos have become so
successful. It is an instant
captivating three-minute
advertisement. For much
of the current pop charts,
the type of imagery that
may be used is broad, yet
it often includes nudity,
suggestions of sex and
provocative content.
Sociologists study the pop
music industry as a means
to witness the reflection
of consumer culture at a
specific time. For example during the Vietnam
War, Bob Dylan ruled the
charts. As he prophesized
that “the times they are
a-changing”, his songs reflected those times. Let’s
move forward 20 years.
Madonna starts to push
the envelope with “Like A
Virgin” and music videos
create the opportunity for
artists to use sex appeal to
sell more product.
As I said earlier, the sober
truth is that sex sells. So
now in the early part of
2014 I have to look back
on some of the biggest
tracks of 2013 and the
biggest difference between the earlier periods
and take a sobe r look
at what is happening.
Where there once was a
sense of provocativeness
it has somehow morphed
into explicit sexuality.
Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking
Ball” and Robin Thicke’s
“Blurred Lines” are just two
examples of calculated
use of sex to sell product
and gain media attention. In fact, “Blurred Lines”
is even more problematic
as its lyrics are not much
more than an anthem
to date rape. That goes
beyond just the question
of sexual wanting to a
more troubling dynamic
of sexual taking, of imposing one’s will on another
and encouraging others
to do the same through a
catchy backbeat.
this way given how sexual
violation seems to be endemic all over the world
from Delhi to Steubenville
to the Congo to Halifax
and in many cases there is
an assumption that “she/
he was asking for it”.
Having been drunk a
few times in my life I am
quite familiar with the
term beer goggles. What
may be perceived as
sexy through the eyes of
a drunkard becomes very
unappealing when one
wakes up sober. I hope
that 2014 is the year we
move towards sobriety,
towards a year of mass
musical content that does
not cater to the lowest
common
denominator
and that finds artistic expression more compelling
than explicit advertising. I
hope that our collective
psyche reflects back to
us commercial music that
resonates at a higher frequency than that of sexual wanting or taking.
It is all too unsurprising
that our collective psyche is being reflected in
Since 1994, Rishi Gerald, founder and CEO of RishiVision and
entrepreneurial coach, has empowered thousands of businesses. Rishi
has an MBA in marketing and entrepreneurial studies and a BBA in
accounting. He has spent nearly twenty years coaching, consulting,
managing and supporting thousands of businesses from new startups to
active global leaders.
For more information on Rishi, please visit www.rishivision.com.