Do All Giants Fall?

Recently, Coz and I had been showering you with our entries for a contest held by media reviewer extraordinaire Rolling Stone. One of the finalists for the concert line-up was a tribute to, as the entrant so eloquently put it, cock rock. The article was subpar, and though I admit that my submission should not necessarily have won, this has me thinking.

I could call Rolling Stone on being trapped in sensationalism and, to a point, Howard Stern-ism. Covers that were once graced by an artistic photo shoot of Janis Joplin or Jimi Hendrix now features Christina Aguilera (though I do have to admit that she has cleaned up her act in preparation for her latest release "Back To Basics") half-naked sprawled on an automobile.
If you watch I'm From Rolling Stone or read the magazine's recent articles, the quality of writing is just downhill. Obviously, this can't be blamed fully on the magazine; just as with Saturday Night Live, the quality of the work is fully based on the quality of the people currently working there, and the original guerilla reporters pass away with time, passing the mantle on to hands sometimes undeserving.

I could call Rolling Stone on this, but I am not going to. Yes, Rolling Stone is no longer worth its namesake and I am embarrassed to have wanted to model myself after them. However, I think some mention needs to be made to the culture at large. American media has become a mere play-doh counterpart of its former marble statue. There is something inherently misguided about a culture that will fund not one, but two Jackass movies, a culture where Paris Hilton - whose only claim to fame should be that she happens to be an heiress to the Hilton chain - releases a successful album and lands movie roles. Three 6 Mafia wins an Oscar. Not a Grammy, but an Academy Award. Three 6 Mafia is heralded in the tradition of Bruce Springsteen, The Little Mermaid's "Under The Sea", Bob Dylan, and Burt Bacharach. We get our culture from Family Guy and our satire from South Park. (Now don't be fooled; these two shows are incredibly intelligent in these fields. But to be able to accurately name them pinnacles of satire and culture says something.) We trust a somewhat crude though absolutely hilarious comedian more than we do our actual news programs.

The "best" new music out there is a pile of lamented teenagers who probably bathe in hair gel, bemoaning how horrible they have it and how they can never get affection from the opposite sex, all while dating someone like Paris Hilton or Drew Barrymore. If that's not it, it's a band painted in the least sympathetic light possible, sounding like a second-rate Nickelback and praising getting high and chasing your ex-girlfriend, and this album tops Bob Dylan. It's all well and good for classic acts to know when they've reached their prime (ahem, Mick Jagger), but what we have in their place is unpromising at best and downright depressing on average.

It's hard out here for an American music fan. At least there's the British Isles.

Thank God we got the criminals, and America got the Puritans!, Australian folk song.

Music and sex go together like chocolate and strawberries. Both are good apart, but they complement each other so well. And thanks to our First Amendment they can been seen and have been seen for a long time.

I believe that the real sexuality of music started in the 1950s with Elvis.

One Pissed Off Liberal wrote:

Elvis descended on American culture like a cataclysm. The impact scar was a deep-running schism between those who feared and hated him for the loosening of social strictures he represented, and those who thought, "I don’t know, what’s so wrong, let the boy wiggle when he sings."

We must thank Elvis for his impact on America and especially music. He took the use of the television and sexuality in music to a whole new level. We have free speech to thank for him and for his critics. It's one of those double-edged swords that you get freedom of expression and people who think that speech is wrong. Anyway, acts like Elvis helped music evolve and helped break cultural boundries.

Watch the performance

Madonna has done nearly everything you can do as a Super Star: Rock Star, Movie Star and top selling author. Madonna took sexuality to a whole new level. Madonna helped revolutionize the music video business by making people want to watch, make and buy music videos. She took female sexuality in music to a whole new level.

In my humble opinion, Madonna took sexuality to the second level in the music industry. Women could use their sexuality to sell records and people would respond by buying them, often in bulk. Madonna helped pave the way for the Britney's and Christina's, not to mention those boy bands of the 90s. Sex sells.

The third stage of sexuality in music I think was the addition of male sexuality. With the success of woman artists, they started using their new status to have male dancers and actors in their videos. Men were not really used as eye candy before this, but now it not unusual to see a hot male actor vying for a lead woman's affection in a video.

The third stage is where we are now, where people have real musical talent and real sex appeal. There are entire acts created just to make money using sex and singing ability, but there are still artists who aren't the best looking but who have fans. After Madonna there were notable cases of artists not signed because they were ugly and videos of bands were shot differently to highlight prettier members. Now we have acts that are sexy and acts that are not. For the most part, bands don't really try to do what you wouldn't expect them to do. Or if they do they fail miserably, like Jewel recently did.

I probably should have put a bit more thought into this, but I did try, so what do you think?