Parvati Magazine February 2014 - Sobriety1 | Page 23

MUSIC
than art itself. As far as the
major record label is concerned, art is dead, long
live consumerism.
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 sober 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. It is all
too unsurprising that our
collective psyche is being reflected in 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.

Since 1994, Rishi Gerald, founder and CEO of RishiVision and
entrepreneurial coach, has empowered thousands of businesses. Rishi
has an MBA in marketing and e