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Nudity in Pop Music |
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#26 |
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The Pink Floyd connection is, at best, a bit tenuous because the film was based on the album. The film was directed by Alan Parker and the graphics were drawn by Gerald Scarfe so it wasn't the band "stripping off" to sell their music.
Just because you use nudity or sex doesn't mean your talentless, you might get a one hit wonder on it Sabrina Boys Boys Boys, yep crap song but her assists on show bouncing in a pool guaranteed a number 1 single. Album flopped follow ups flopped. But to have any longevity of course you have talent maybe not the best singer but you've got to be talented in some form to keep a following. |
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#27 |
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I absolutely agree but realistically you could search every artist and find something that relates to some form of nudity or sexual connotation even if it's just the song lyrics. It's the point is that sex/nudity sells. Music is a commercial product artists only make money by selling their product. All artists use various other aspects and tools to sell their music from religion to political view points.
Just because you use nudity or sex doesn't mean your talentless, you might get a one hit wonder on it Sabrina Boys Boys Boys, yep crap song but her assists on show bouncing in a pool guaranteed a number 1 single. Album flopped follow ups flopped. But to have any longevity of course you have talent maybe not the best singer but you've got to be talented in some form to keep a following. Quote:
Can you give me me one iconic artist over the past 50 years that has not used sexuality or sexual imagery of some kind or even suggestive photos to sell themselves artistically.
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#28 |
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Join Date: Oct 2005
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My point was actually more to do with the fact this topic wasn't anything about nudity in pop. It was yet another thread by summerheart just to troll Madonna. We get the fact summerheart has an obsession with Madonna and in every single thread manages to turn it all into slating Madonna.
At the end of the day nudity and sex has always been part of music from Elvis gyrating to suggestively shot videos to blatant nudity both make and female artists have used it to sell. There are very few artists who have not at some point used either sex or nudity in some way to sell themselves either in photo shoots or videos. Dearmrman your most probably right with S&G and Bob but if you think about the number of iconic artists not 1 hit wonders or 5 year career artists but most artists with careers spanning decades at some point have used nudity or sex to sell at some point. Wether it be a photo shoot or moody video that had a lingering body shot of a semi naked male or female. Its actually quite hard to come up with any artists that have not used some form of sexual connotation in their work wether it be to promote or to sell. if i want porn, ill go to a porn site where it belongs. you say that most top icons of the last 50 years have used sex in some way... well there might be some truth in that, but as i mentioned earlier, theres a difference between an odd shot here or there and deliberately pushing it as far as you can on every occasion. i cannot recall dusty, aretha, karen, sandie, pet, cilla, lulu, carole, joni, etc etc etc using such a level of nudity to promote their music. the worst they ever did was wear a mini skirt! nor did i get any kind of play to sex from any of the greats from the 60's or 70's. did we ever see the beatles topless?... elvis gyrated a bit, so did tom jones, so what? thats hardly in the same league as todays scantily dressed popsters who more frequently then not perform in their underwear! |
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#29 |
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whats all this 'sex sells' bullshit?
has anyone ever bought a musical track because someones performed it half naked?.... REALLY? sex is obviously a big part of young peoples lives and most pop stars are young singing about what is big in their lives, relationships, love, sex, . but that is not the same thing as appearing half naked, gyrating about, gusset shots, the way many females do today. imho its just a cheap way of trying to get noticed, look at my body and youll hear the song... its desperate, cheap, nasty, a truely good track does not need any visual enhancement, the material should be strong enough to stand up on its own merit. |
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#30 |
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Join Date: Jul 2001
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whats all this 'sex sells' bullshit?
has anyone ever bought a musical track because someones performed it half naked?.... REALLY? sex is obviously a big part of young peoples lives and most pop stars are young singing about what is big in their lives, relationships, love, sex, . but that is not the same thing as appearing half naked, gyrating about, gusset shots, the way many females do today. imho its just a cheap way of trying to get noticed, look at my body and youll hear the song... its desperate, cheap, nasty, a truely good track does not need any visual enhancement, the material should be strong enough to stand up on its own merit. So much of the 60/70s music and the best of the 60/70s artists like Dylan, The Beatles, The Stones, Bowie and Tina Turner etc etc challenged many of the prudish attitudes to sexuality which existed at the time. Are you forgetting, 'All you need is Love', 'Rocks Off', 'You Really Got Me', 'Lay, Lady, Lay' etc etc. These are all sex songs or expressions of free love. The Beatles and The Stones were never just about the music, they were about cultural change, they were liberating in all sorts of ways. Many of the 'gyrating' females (always females it seems) are simply showing how visable sexuality has become in modern western society. You can criticise the sexualisation of our modern civilisation but you can't blame the messengers. |
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#31 |
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elvis gyrated a bit, so did tom jones, so what?
I find using sexual images to be boring now, because its been overused so much. I prefer concept videos and performances for visuals. |
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#32 |
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I noticed Katy Perry was mentioned in the OP. In her defense, she doesn't use sex to sell. I think the only thing she has done which is remotely sexy is having whipped cream cannons above her chest.
She might look sexy in her videos, but it's not done as a "look how shocking I am" kind of way, she's just naturally pretty. If anything most of her vids are just fun. |
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#33 |
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Surely it actually was Elvis's dancing and the looks as well as the music of The Beatles and The Stones that helped sexualise and, indeed, feminise pop/rock music?
So much of the 60/70s music and the best of the 60/70s artists like Dylan, The Beatles, The Stones, Bowie and Tina Turner etc etc challenged many of the prudish attitudes to sexuality which existed at the time. Are you forgetting, 'All you need is Love', 'Rocks Off', 'You Really Got Me', 'Lay, Lady, Lay' etc etc. These are all sex songs or expressions of free love. The Beatles and The Stones were never just about the music, they were about cultural change, they were liberating in all sorts of ways. Many of the 'gyrating' females (always females it seems) are simply showing how visable sexuality has become in modern western society. You can criticise the sexualisation of our modern civilisation but you can't blame the messengers. yep, i said they sang about sex and relationships, and the did it in a much 'tamer' way then they do today. when 'all you need is love', 'you really got me' 'lay lady lay' etc were shown on tv, you saw competent musicians performing their own material , you didnt see half naked artists gyrating, often accompanied by dancers in their underwear, singing crudely about sex. you highlight my earlier point - more nudity is related to quality of the music. ...or has pop music lead the way in sexualising society? its certainly been at the forefront. |
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#34 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
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whats all this 'sex sells' bullshit?
has anyone ever bought a musical track because someones performed it half naked?.... REALLY? sex is obviously a big part of young peoples lives and most pop stars are young singing about what is big in their lives, relationships, love, sex, . but that is not the same thing as appearing half naked, gyrating about, gusset shots, the way many females do today. imho its just a cheap way of trying to get noticed, look at my body and youll hear the song... its desperate, cheap, nasty, a truely good track does not need any visual enhancement, the material should be strong enough to stand up on its own merit. And the simplest way to get that media attention is to expose a little flesh. Britney Spears getting photographed getting out of a car in a short dress and showing the world she didn't have any knickers on wasn't an accident but it got her name, with pixelated photograph, in every paper. If people see her name it jogs their memory and they may check out her music in Spotify, or their music streaming service of choice, and buy some of her songs if they like them. It can almost be seen as a form of indirect marketing. ![]() So in that respect sex/nudity does sell. |
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#35 |
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at the time elvis gyrating was indeed seen as very sexual, but in relation to what these poor female (largely) pop stars do today it was lame. i dont think ive ever seen a topless pic of elvis..
yep, i said they sang about sex and relationships, and the did it in a much 'tamer' way then they do today. when 'all you need is love', 'you really got me' 'lay lady lay' etc were shown on tv, you saw competent musicians performing their own material , you didnt see half naked artists gyrating, often accompanied by dancers in their underwear, singing crudely about sex. you highlight my earlier point - more nudity is related to quality of the music. ...or has pop music lead the way in sexualising society? its certainly been at the forefront. ![]() The term Rock and Roll was originally a Black American euphemism for sex, although virtually no white American teenagers were aware of that in the 1950s. |
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#36 |
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Also in the more restrained 80s when most popstars kept their clothes on, the singers could still be sexy. I was a fan of Debbie Gibson,Belinda Carlisle,Janet Jackson,Cyndi lauper and they could make you melt with just a look or a smile. Sexiness does not mean nudity. Sex was still selling them but in a 'I wish she was my girlfriend!!' way rather than having it thrust in your face like Miley Cyrus, sexiness is better when sudtle like how Taylor Swift does it, with a wink and a smile.
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#37 |
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Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Belfast
Posts: 7,276
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at the time elvis gyrating was indeed seen as very sexual, but in relation to what these poor female (largely) pop stars do today it was lame. i dont think ive ever seen a topless pic of elvis..
yep, i said they sang about sex and relationships, and the did it in a much 'tamer' way then they do today. when 'all you need is love', 'you really got me' 'lay lady lay' etc were shown on tv, you saw competent musicians performing their own material , you didnt see half naked artists gyrating, often accompanied by dancers in their underwear, singing crudely about sex. you highlight my earlier point - more nudity is related to quality of the music. ...or has pop music lead the way in sexualising society? its certainly been at the forefront. The 60s counter-cultural proclaimers of free love probably did not envisage how under late capitalism there would inevitably be commodification of the human body, the female body in particular. So yes, you can say that pop music especially with the rise of the music video has been complicit in the sexualisation of modern society. Quote:
Popular music has always been, to a greater or lesser degree, about sex. When Robert Johnson, arguably one of the founding fathers of modern pop music, recorded Dust My Broom in the late 1930s he wasn't singing about cleaning the kitchen.
![]() The term Rock and Roll was originally a Black American euphemism for sex, although virtually no white American teenagers were aware of that in the 1950s. It is one of the defining aspects of popular culture and popular music that it does deal in a euphemistic and sometimes explicit way with the baser aspects of human existence. Quote:
Also in the more restrained 80s when most popstars kept their clothes on, the singers could still be sexy. I was a fan of Debbie Gibson,Belinda Carlisle,Janet Jackson,Cyndi lauper and they could make you melt with just a look or a smile. Sexiness does not mean nudity. Sex was still selling them but in a 'I wish she was my girlfriend!!' way rather than having it thrust in your face like Miley Cyrus, sexiness is better when sudtle like how Taylor Swift does it, with a wink and a smile.
And, as the Bible suggests 'But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' (Matthew 5:28). So from a morality point of view it doesn't matter how naked or sexy a female/male appears, it's all about personal lust. |
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#38 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
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I believe this is partly due to the fact that, since the internet, albums don't sell like they used to. Singers make as much or more money from live shows as from recordings nowadays. And people get bored if someone just stands there and sings for an hour. The easiest way to keep the crowd entertained is to sex it up.
While I don't like this trend, I'm afraid it's likely here to stay. |
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#39 |
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Though when Robert Plant was singing about being a 'back door man' he knew what he was proclaiming. The Rock Gods of the 70s weren't averse to a little casual sexism in their songs and their antics. Hawkwind were quite prepared to have Stacia 'dance' with them as I recall.
![]() With Hawkwind, though, from what I have read it was Stacia who wanted to dance on stage with Hawkwind rather than the other way around. Quote:
Just remember that the 80s had bands like Aerosmith, Motley Crue and ZZ Top 'decorating' their videos with semi-naked females.
And, as the Bible suggests 'But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.' (Matthew 5:28). So from a morality point of view it doesn't matter how naked or sexy a female/male appears, it's all about personal lust. |
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