Last week Mamamia took to the road at Lend Lease shopping centres as part of Family Life Forum . The awesome line up of speakers (including Mia Freedman, Rebecca Sparrow, Paula Joye and Jo Lamble) has been further strengthened with the presence of Joanna McMillan who will address attendees in two of the forums in Victoria.
Joanna will cover the hot topic of food battles. A growing number of kids are getting dangerously overweight and at the other end of the scale girls as young as five are now expressing a desire to be thin. Joanna will explore how parents can encourage kids to eat well while also helping them to foster a positive relationship with food and establish a healthy body image.
Katy Perry wearing a shaving cream bra. As you do. This sponsored post is brought to you by Lend Lease
But today we are battling video clips. Or rather trying to work out if there are any music videos that you would be happy for your kids to watch. Is there any music clip that you’d be happy to let your child watch unattended or even with you sitting next to them? And I’m not talking about The Wiggles because at some stage all children will grow out of watching them (although no one in the family will ever forget the words. Ever.)
The leap from four men clapping and waving their hands in the air to the gyrating hips of the top 40 video hits covers a chasm. So what is an appropriate music clip for children who have outgrown Hot Potato but aren’t yet allowed to watch soft porn, because well that’s what the current video hits seem to portray ?
Mike Stock, who was part of the legendary pop factory Stock, Aitken and Waterman, is well aware of the differences between potatoes and porn and he worries that our children are being sexualized by pop.
He asserts that it’s not about being old fashioned bur rather about keeping values that are important in the modern world. ‘These days you can’t watch modern stars - like Britney Spears or Lady Gaga - with a two-year-old” he says. ‘Ninety-nine per cent of the charts is R ‘n’ B and 99 per cent of that is soft pornography.’
‘Kids are being forced to grow up too young. Look at the videos. I wouldn’t necessarily want my young kids to watch them. ‘I would certainly be embarrassed to sit there with my mum.’
And it’s not that Mr Stock doesn’t know about pop music and even the creation of pop videos after all he was the man behind the rise of our very own Kylie in the late 1980s when she stormed the charts with I Should Be So Lucky. In the accompanying music video Kylie wears a simple black cocktail dress. The lyrics are innocent about love rather than sex.
You don’t see many dresses around in pop videos these days. Just think about it. You see a lot of flesh, a lot of underwear and well, a lot more flesh. But it’s not just about the attire, it’s the suggestive poses, the crude metaphors, the emulation of sex and the highly explicit and sexually advanced lyrics. Do you really want your child to be watching simulated sex acts as they eat their cornflakes before school in the morning?
In a recent article published in The Daily Mail Stock says that ‘Mothers of young children are worried because you can’t control the TV remote control. Before children even step into school, they have all these images - the pop videos and computer games like Grand Theft Auto - confronting them and the parents can’t control it. Talking to mothers’ groups, they were saying that even they have lost faith in brands like Disney.
‘They were quite happy to put their kids in front of the telly to watch Hannah Montana but recently Miley Cyrus [who played Montana] has shown off her maturing body.’
As a result of these concerns, Stock has written and produced a new musical, called The Go! Go! Go! Show, which is playing in London.
He said: ‘It’s born out of my frustration with the way the music industry has gone.
‘We’ve written a family-orientated show. They [the mothers' groups] have been telling me what they want – and we have been trying to deliver it.’
Watch Mike Stock talking here
What rules do you have in your family in regards to watching music clips on TV or online? Do you know what your children are watching?
You can hear Mia talking about the role of the pop star as a role model at some Family Life Forum events. Click here to register for tickets . Also as a special promotion today, if you live in Queensland and are one of the first 100 people to email familylifeforum@lendlease.com telling us which forum you would like to attend – Sunshine Plaza, Caneland Central and Cairns Central, we will reserve you a spot. But be quick, spots are limited due to strong demand and excellent feedback from the NSW forums.
This is a sponsored post from Lend Lease. Comments on this post are just for this post. If you want to talk about the IDEA of sponsored posts or the choice of advertisers please click here. We will be reading all those comments too for feedback
Comments
96 Comments so far
It’s not just music videos and not just under 10′s. I’m a nearly 50 year old dad and i’m no prude. I never in my wildest imagination thought I’d have to have a talk about anal sex with my then 11 year old son. All because of something he saw on TV at 7:00PM. TV Shows such as 2 1/2 Men and Big Bang Theory actively use as comedy things like promiscuity, masturbation (with and without an electric toothbrush), homosexual and heterosexual anal sex, threesomes, foursomes, moresomes, B&D, S&M, promiscuity and even sex with animals, all without the slightest hint of embarrassment or an acknowledgment that some of these things may be slight deviations from the mainsteam’s moral compass. No talk of safe sex during discussions about Charlie Harper’s (or his mother’s) numerous sexually transmitted diseases. All on endless repeat on TV. Let’s not even talk about the total lack of respect for women that is demonstrated in some of these shows. Is this how we want our sons to treat women or have our daughters to expect to be treated? All while most families are having their dinner. 7PM, 5 nights a week, all rated PG?? Is it any wonder our kids are more and more screwed up every year. What line do these shows have to cross to get an M rating and moved to a more appropriate time slot? I love Big Bang (Sheldon reminds me of me!) and early 2 1/2 Men was great (I’m not an Ashton Fan), but shows like these need to be on later and so do the commercials for them (some can be nearly as bad as the shows!). The line of “what is acceptable” for our kids to see is continually being moved. We are getting closer to EVERYTHING being acceptable minute by minute. Is this the world we want for our kids?
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My kids (6y and 9y old) never,ever watch Music Channels,for exactly those reasons-i might as well put on a soft porn movie for them…
My daughter was recently invited to a birthday party held at the local PCYC Disco.Along with playing the songs,they also showed the matching videos on a huge screen.
It was cringeworthy to watch the girls mouth along with some Kesha song about drinking yourself to oblivion on the weekends,and also watching her stumbling about drunkenly with her smeared makeup etc to really drive that message home..
Or all the kids cheerily singing along ‘i’m gonna make you sweat,i’m gonna make you wet’,'come on rude boy,is it big enough?;….what the?
I know quite a few of my daughters first grade buddies have thir own iPods loaded with that kind of garbage already…
Lucky,no one in our family listens to that sort of crap,so at the moment the kids are still fairly sheltered.
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The music videos are losing there meaning. Instead of being interesting narratives with some cool effects that go to the music they just end up having half naked women flooded throughout. Katy Perry’s video are inappropriate in every way and I was disappointing when I watched Dynamite by Taio Cruz’s music video. The only male in the video was him with girls using machinery and other equipment with little to no clothes on. I like the song but would not watch the video and that seems to be the case with most music videos these day.
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I realised that there was something wrong when my then 6 year old was singing along to Rihanna’s Rude Boy – Come here rude boy, boy can you get it up, come here rude boy, boy is you big enough – not creative, not tasteful, completely inappropriate as a pop song – and I am far from a prude.
I also wish that more parents would stop their young kids from having facebook accounts and buying violent video games. I am a 3rd grade teacher and I am constantly shocked by the lack of vigilance provided by many parents.
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It’s not just sexualised images. I wonder if anyone has done any studies about the link between songs about drinking and underage/binge drinking?
It seems to me that there are SO many songs out at the moment that talk about how fun it is to ‘get wasted’ and do irresponsible/reckless/illegal things. It really does make it sound like you can’t have fun without doing it, or that if you don’t like to get drunk, you’re uncool. And then I read about how bad a problem many countries have with binge drinking, underage drinking, and violence.
Song e.g. : ‘Last Night’ by Good Charlotte, “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)’ by Katy Perry, Ke$ha’s older song ‘Tik Tok’, etc. etc. etc.
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And rhiannas Cheers (drink to that)
I often wonder what people who will live 100 years from now will look back and think about society today. probably that we are a sex obsessed culture who cant entertain ourselves without having a drink. Its really sad
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I don’t understand why music videos aren’t rated.
I’m not a prude by any stretch but some of those clips are just wayy too much!!
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I haven’t been able to turn on Rage or Video Hits for years. My kids are 3, 6 and 9. They love to listen to music but I have to google the lyrics before they are allowed a song on their playlist. I am not super-strict about what they listen to because I believe they need to learn to make their own decisions. Sometimes they will see/hear things in life that they know we don’t use in our family and they need to learn that just because they see or hear it doesn’t mean they can use it. I don’t mind the kids hearing the odd mild swear word in songs, as long as they don’t sing the word when they sing the song. However, I do draw the line at songs which denigrate others or where the language is too rude. Usually if a song has one of these things, it has both. Unfortunately though, most music videos are unsuitable for children. Or maybe the odd one they can watch is surrounded by many others they can’t. We just don’t bother with music videos because it’s too difficult to filter out the rubbish.
Where we do come unstuck, is Youtube. I love to sing. I sing to my kids every night before they go to sleep. But my husband can’t sing. Hasn’t got a single musical note in his body. Played the triangle in music class at school and still failed
So on nights when I’m out and he puts the kids to bed, he plays them a song on Youtube. We have had to ban any modern songs unless he has watched the clip first without the kids around. The songs they hear and fall in love with on the radio are often the edited version, unavailable for purchase by the general public. We have to purchase the version with all the bad language included. So when they do watch a music clip we restrict them to musical theatre or old-fashioned clips. Needless to say, they know all the words to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
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It is phenomenally difficult to bring up girls (I have two) when the messages my husband and I give them seem to be constantly drowned out by the dross of popular culture. I do take the opportunity to discuss the values behind what they are seeing/hearing but I feel like I’m this annoying whiney white noise. My biggest bug bear is the way women are portrayed in the videos – such victims and objects. Not only are the back up artists or ‘warm props’ wearing next to nothing but why is it that the lead singer, if she’s a woman is also half naked but the men are fully dressed most of the time? Katy Perry drives me nuts – she’s not empowered or ironic, she’s part of the problem! So far my girls are going well but they are only 7 and 13 and we have a long road to go and many midriff tops with suggestive slogans to avoid!
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I agree, but it’s not only difficult to bring up girls. I have one girl and two boys. I want to teach my sons that women are to be respected. How can we do that when women are regularly denigrated in music, amongst other things?
I also refuse to buy my children tshirts with words on them. Most tshirts with slogans are putting down either the person wearing it, or the person reading it. The person wearing the shirt is only as smart as the slogan they are wearing. If you can’t respect yourself, how can you expect others to respect you?
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“The person wearing the shirt is only as smart as the slogan they are wearing.” Love it! So true.
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That there is a good t-shirt slogan
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I woke up super early on Sunday morning (goodness knows why!?) and rather than toss and turn in bed I got up, had some brekkie and watched the end of Rage. The video clips were awesome! It was almost like someone had plugged in my ipod and put on the clips to my play list.
Anyway, the older clips (such as We Built This City by Starship, Jump by KrissKross, Crazy Little Think Called Love by Queen) I wouldn’t have any problem watching with kids. There really isn’t anything very sexual about them and if there was anything it was more innuendo and I don’t think kids would get it.
The newer clips (such as Gold Digger by Kanye West) were a totally different story. Full of sexual lyrics and scantily glad girls doing suggestive dance moves.
I think back to when I was a kid and when I was 11 or 12 my favourite show was Rage. I’d get up early every weekemd to watch the whole count down. I’ve posted on here before that Alice Cooper was one of my favourite artists and I absolutely loved his songs Poison and Bed of Nails. I would sing at the top of my lungs ‘I’m going to pound you like a hammer on a bed of nails’ and other sordid lyrics. I cringe now but at the time I had no idea what it meant and I don’t think it did me any harm. But then I don’t think the video clips for those songs were really that sexual, or if they were, they were sensored for a time slot when kids would be watching.
Something did strike me as a bit odd when I was watching Rage the other day and it was in reagrds to the video clip for Gold Digger by Kanye West. It was about sensorship and what they do take out verses what they deem suitable viewing. For example, in Gold Digger the line goes ‘I ain’t sayin she’s a gold digger, but she ain’t messin with no broke niggers’ but they edit out the N word. Yet all through the film clip there’s the scantily clad girls doing their suggestive dances as I mentioned above. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the N word and don’t mind that they take it out because it’s a good thing and kids don’t need to know such words. It just seems like maybe they should also be setting rules about removing sexually explicit content as well.
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I really enjoy this site but this feels like a repeat of what was discussed on mamamia tv, some new and more interesting topics would keep regular readers more interested.
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But for those of us not lucky enough to watch Mamamia TV it’s good that we still get to hear about and discuss these topics.
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We don’t have a TV subscription anymore (there’s no such thing as free-to-air where we live) and honestly, I haven’t missed it (and I like TV!). My son, who’s 18 months old, is too young to know what he’s missing out on, but I see a friend of his (about the same age) and the TV’s on in the house all day. She’s a nice little kid, but she freaks out when the TV’s turned off. I think the more you can avoid it when they’re young the better, but I realise this is easier said than done sometimes.
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Watching the new Sneaky Sound system video this morning at the gym and it is sooooo bad, pictures emulating willies, balls and couples having sex and fellatio the whole way through- why???Yes most of the videos are soft porn.
My children are all teenages and above and I can verify that it is next to impossible to monitor what they are watching over the age of 13! Even if you dont allow them at home, they have access to friends Iphones and mobiles that continually play videos, they then look up the words online and sing along to them! They also have use of a laptop from school which means then can log on to Youtube at break/lunch times and watch.
My kids used to have their own Austar box in their rumpus room, until I saw what sort of tripe they were watching, so it went about a year ago.
Everything is sexual now, the videos, the lyrics and the performers sex sells and music companies know it. It is rare to find a new artist that is not overtly sexual I think that is partly why Adele is doing so well.
I wish I had the answer but all you can do is restrict it in your own home, it becomes impossible to eradicate viewing once they leave your front door
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I agree with you most of the way, but think rather than restrict the kids from watching at home we need to – as was discussed in a different post last week – discuss the videos and lyrics with our children, educate them on what real life is about and ensure they’re well dressed to go out into the world, where we can’t control what they are exposed to.
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My kids (3 and 6) only watch ABC for Kids, and DVDs that I check out first.
As for music, we listen to it on CDs in the car, on the computer, and I look up youtube film clips for us to watch together.
My 6yo’s fav songs at the moment are “Horror Movie” by the Skyhooks, “Rolling in the Deep” by Adele, and “Joyride” by Roxette.
We listen to quite an eclectic mix of music. It’s not hard to find good music with harmless (or not obvious) lyrics with the existence of youtube and itunes (or similar programs).
It’s sad and annoying that there is much soft porn music on tv and radio, but it is possible to shield kids from it when they’re young. I guess I’ll find it harder as the kids get older.
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I love pop music but am getting tired of seeing the singers (male and female) without much clothing on. Honestly, it’s been going on for years now and is just old. I think that female singers should not be flashing there mid drifts and running around in leotards, its just gross.
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We don’t have a TV -the kids watch iview when I’m cooking dinner. Simple.
Television – drug of a nation!
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i dont watch music videos anymore as its just half naked girls. Im so sick of everything on the tv being sexual. Even the bonds commercial is bordering on porn
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I never let my kids watch MTV etc but love having the Country Music Channel on. We have it on every morning whilst getting organised for the day. I’m quite happy for my 4yo and 18mth old to watch/listen to it. I’ve never seen anything during day-viewing time that was not suitable for children to see. My 4yo actually knows most of the lyrics to Taylor Swifts songs, her favourite artist
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Agree with comments below that it’s not just female singers. In fact the male ones are often much much much worse. Take this dance hit from a few years back. Apologies in advance *puke*:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_fCqg92qks
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Some artist I let my daughter watch : mamakin ( to my table is a great video clip) John butler trio, Kate miller heidke ( I went to school with Kate), P!nk ( most of them) powered finger, David gray, cat empire, in fact there are a lot of great Aussie bands/ singers that have huge talent minus the porn.
I have never really listened to pop music, but was horrified to hear my 6 year old singing ” last Friday night” … She doesn’t hear it at home.
There is a blanket ban on music videos in my house far, far too sexualised in my opinion.
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hehe i had to have a giggle, its “Powderfinger” not powdered finger!!
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I try to balance it a bit. My kids (9yo daughter, and sons age 7 & 4) know that they aren’t allowed to watch music videos by themselves because of the sexual themes.
Having said that, I’ll often sit with the kids and trawl through YouTube to find fun songs with good videos – more often than not we land on 80s music and we all have a good laugh. The kids LOVED seeing Wham the other night
A couple of weeks ago my daughter asked me if I’d heard of Salt ‘n Pepa. I said *ahem* SURE kiddo! and loaded up “Let’s talk about Sex”. We had a great chat about how sex is portrayed in pop culture and how S&P’s song was controversial but that their intention was to do good. Then I contrasted it with Katy Perry’s music and Ms9 got quite the education!
The upshot is that she respects (at least for now) that we’re trying to keep her entertainment fun.
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This bothers me:
‘They were quite happy to put their kids in front of the telly to watch Hannah Montana but recently Miley Cyrus [who played Montana] has shown off her maturing body.’
What’s wrong with an 18 showing off her body? Should all female former Disney stars be made to cover up forever so as not to taint shows they did as adolescents. I hate this idea that child stars are somehow letting everyone down by growing up and becoming sexual beings. Also funny how the same scrutiny is never applied to male celeb’s like Justin Timberlake (who’s last album was VERY sexually explicit and who’s latest movie’s are the same) or Ryan Gosling (who’s broke away from his Mickey Mouse Club/Young Hercules image by playing a neo-Nazi, a crack addict and a man in love with a sex doll).
Taylor Lautner is just a few months older than Miley, stars in movies made primarily for teens, and spends most of his time on-screen shirtless. No one cares that he’s showing off his maturing body.
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You know the only thing that really bothers me with those disney girls like Britney etc (and the newer ones) is that they do these really sexual film clips and songs, but then they give interview after interview stating they are a virgin and they’ll wait until marriage and behave all coy and innocent.
It’s like on one hand they are embracing their sexuality and selling it to the public, then on the other hand they’re behaving as though sex is some shameful thing that they won’t admit to or have a balanced attitude towards.
Pick a side ladies, being overtly sexual onstage then shy and virginal off stage is hypocritical and promotes unhealthy attitudes towards sex.
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I don’t see much of that these days. Britney used to do that. Beyonce to some extent. Jessica Simpson did it, but then again her video’s were never all that sexual and she actually was a virgin (as far as I’m aware).
But Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, Shakira, Kesha, Rihanna, Christina Aguilera and Pink certainly don’t fit that description.
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yeah true. I think it’s more the ‘wholesome disney’ type kids, I think Christina is the only one of those girls who was from that kind of background. And she was very vocal about that issue as well, saying she might be overtly sexual in her film clips but she was comfortable with that and was not hypocritical like a lot of the other girls around her time.
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I trust that we won’t have to sit through a third replay of that crap song by Chloe Lattanzi, albeit highly edited version, on this weeks “Mamamia TV”.
Once, to prove a point, was bad enough. Twice to prove a point…..urgggggghhhhhhhhhhh !
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Anyone remember the video for the Mike Nesmith song “Rio” ?
It was highly controversial, but not for the visual content or the lyrical content. The video apparently cost $100,000 to make and people were astounded by such extravagance.
It was a great video and undoubtedly the song would not have been so successful without it. I hear the song on the radio and automatically think of the video.
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Yep – great song, great video!
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You know what…I reckon every music programmer should be made to sit down and watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN-vcyNWDjM (Probably NSFW)
They’ll never ever play another sexually explicit video ever again!
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I fully realise that this comment will get a few a bit hot under the collar, but the shop only sells what the customers are buying.
My local Woolies now no longer sells English pork pies because the locals won’t buy them. I have to travel across four suburbs to get my fix.
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I agree. Adults buying into an adult world and subjecting children to it. The video clips are made because men are aroused and excited by them and this increases sales and the singers popularity… at the expense of our children.
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I guess it’s only gay men watching the hot guys in music clip then huh?
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I love hot guys!
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Bradley are you in Brissie? On Lutwyche road there is an English Pork Pie shop that I pass on the bus all the time.. I think it’s just after the office works?
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I love the point he makes about there being no music in between. I used to teach children and it was a constant struggle between giving them a piece to perform to that wasn’t 50 years old or comb through albums to find something they liked without bad language or suggestive subject matter. i once had a child ask me if we could learn Sir Mix a Lot’s baby got back for the next performance and he couldn’t understand why i said no
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I’m a teacher too (a primary music teacher), and my view is that there’s nothing wrong with 50 year old songs! the kids don’t know we all sang them when we went to school. they just hear fun, age appropriate songs, and compilations such as the SING books / CDs usually present them in a contemporary way to appeal to this generation
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I don’t mind the old ones but i have had 4 year olds refuse to dance to anything unless i find what they like. This gets harder year after yea
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It isn’t as simple as changing the channel because children are bombarded with sexual images every where they turn – music is only part of the issue. For me the answer is stricter policies on what can be shown and where and when so that parents don’t have to worry about needing to change the channel.
Lady Gaga and Katy Perry may be gay icons and making their music for grown men however, the majority of viewers watching music videos are girls aged 8 – 13.
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There is a blanket ban on music videos in my house.I have a 13yr old boy, 11yr old girl and a 6yr old girl. It is definately soft porn. I am even concerned with the words in some of the songs. I don’t mean swearing, just the message about sex and women. I’m no prude but I do worry about the message my children are receiving.
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I couldn’t agree more. My boys are 6 and 4yo and don’t understand what they’re watching but I don’t want them growing up with those kind of messages about women. Still I think it’s sad that this is the outcome. I grew up watching music videos and love them to this day.
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Thank goodness for the oldies station ! Give me the music of the 60′s, 70′s and early 80′s any day.
For my money, things started to go wrong when MTV came on the scene. It really did become all about the video.
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I do agree but the answer is fairly simple- change the channel. With the demise of video hits kids will have a hard time finding videos to watch on free to air TV. The sexualisation of our kids is due to far more than just music videos, though I do agree that Katy Perry/Lady Gaga etc make videos that are basically soft porn. However, kids are not necessarily their target market. They re both gay icons. As parents, we need to try and minimize what we let our kids watch but it isn’t as easy to stop them listening to music.I certainly don’t have the answers, but the day my then 10 year old went off Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, when she saw Mileys video and went yuck, was a very happy day.
I think it all comes down to what you A’s a parent find acceptable and how comfortable you are discussing sexuality with your kids. I have an acquaintance who won’t let her 3 year old watch Dora the Explorer because she’s annoyng yet let’s her listen t Lady Gaga non stop. Go figure:(
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If anything, Lady GaGa is more annoying than Dora!
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Could be more annoying…..Lady Dora and GaGa The Explorer !
Please consider !
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Ahhhhh nightmarish lol. I just keep playing them my 90,s music while they groan and moan about it but b-52′s have always been a winner lol!
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Couldn’t agree more. I have 2 girls, 10 and 12 years old, and they love music. I don’t allow them to watch music videos, I find nearly all of them offensive. My 10 year old in particular often wants to buy a cd with her pocket money, and I find most of the top 10 cds have warning – explicit language or material labels, so I don’t allow them. They have an ipod, and I will let them buy select songs once I have checked them. Is anyone else totally weary of having to constantly police what is coming in to their homes, and tired of saying no all the time to them? Why is this allowed? Where are the standands of what is decent?
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Just to be devil’s advocate, who would decide what is decent?? What you think is unthinkable might be just a bit rude by me. I once got told off by a parent because i used the word crap to describe something the child picked off the floor. I’m not saying you are wrong i just think it become a little dangerous when we ask the governing bodies to make these choices for us.
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I agree. Whilst I’m happy to give an opinion, I’m not quite so pleased to be a thought cop. If you enjoy modern music and videos, good for you.
I don’t enjoy them and choose not to watch or listen. However, I won’t be your moral barometer and don’t appreciate someone trying to be mine.
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I can’t remember the last time I sat down to watch a music video. They don’t really interest me. Much like opera, things that are all in music bore me. I’d rather watch a movie where everyone spontaneously breaks into song for no reason, or go see a musical at the theatre. At least there’s dialogue too.
I don’t have any problems with the music for myself, I like to listen to it in the car, but I would have a problem with my kids listening to some of it (if I had any). For example, there is a song they play at my work, can’t recall the name of it, but there is a line that goes something like:
“When I’m with her it’s only bout the sex, with you I had a bad romance”
That I have a problem with, because it is so unnecessary. I can just hear all the conversations in the car: “Mummy, what’s sex?” This particular song is never censored, which I find odd with all this hype about sexualisation of children. Nevermind the fact that the guy who sings it sounds like a complete player.
I have similar issues with erectile dysfunction ads on the radio, I DESPISE them. I don’t need to hear that at 2pm!! Or any time, really.
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What really saddens me is that the rise of female artists in the top 40 in the past 10 years or so has seemed to go hand in hand with the increase in sexual innuendo in their songs and film clips…
I wish the rise of the female dominated top 40 could have happened without the sexual innuendoes…Lady Ga Ga and Beyonce et al are really talented musicians…surely they could have been just as successful without the sexual imagery….
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You would think so.
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I’m 24 and feel uncomfortable watching Katy Perr’s ‘California Girls’ (the photo above) with my parents in the room! It’s faaaaaaaar too sexual for normal random viewing (oh and I’m not a prude!)
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I’m a little older than 24 and I feel uncomfortable about Katy Perry, fullstop.
Maybe I’m a little bit crazy or a little bit old fashioned, but I’m a firm believer that in order to be called a singer one has to have vocal ability. A few weeks back I was channel surfing when low and behold…I came across MTV in HD !
The host advised me not to worry about Katy Perry hitting the odd bum note or two because it was a fabulous and exciting performance that I’d be witnessing. The entertainer known as Katy Perry hit so many bum notes that the song she was performing sounded nothing like the version I’d heard previously.
I think that it’s people like Perry, limited vocal talent and relying on producers for their sound and videographers for their visual that have found me rediscovering the music of my childhood. Did you know that back in the 60′s singer could actually sing ?
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Katy Perry actually has a pretty good voice. I’ve heard her live, she was great. She changes some of her songs quite a bit for live performances.
The only pop acts I’ve ever heard who didn’t hit a bunch of bum notes whilst performing live are those who sit at a piano. It’s unrealistic to expect a song to sound the same as it did when sung in a studio.
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In the performance that I refer to, Katy Perry was completely and totally out of tune for the duration of the song. It was not a case of musical poetic licence, she was just completely off key. It was akin to watching the goof-reel auditions for American Idol or Australia’s Got Talent. The performance was a train wreck.
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A good article. I do think it’s a bit unfair to single out the female pop stars though. There’s loads of soft porn type stuff in the male stars clips. Usually focused on their harem of gyrating women they all seem to need.
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Didnt you know that men cant sing unless they are surrounded by nearly naked women shaking their boobs and butts
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Of course! Sorry yes, poor things, must be a terrible affliction.
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I am constantly appalled at the content of a lot of things which are shown on TV – not just video clips, although they top the list. I think that if you wouldn’t be happy for someone to do something in front of you or your kids in real life, then why should it be okay if it is viewed on a television? I hope something is done so that there is better classification of content – although it would be nice if the demand wasn’t there so that this content just didn’t have an audience.
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Think you need to read ACMA’s website, the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
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I’m not sure why you have suggested I look at that website?
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ACMA is your gateway to classification scheme information.
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thanks, but I was more bemoaning the fact that some of these videos etc are actually able to be shown at all, particularly at those times. I certainly pay attention to those classifications if we are going to sit down with my kids to watch a movie though, for example.
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There are three tiers to pop music:
1. Listening to the song – Ok in the car or arond the house.
2. Watching the videos – no way in our house.
3. Going to the concerts – just coz your kids like Gaga’s songs doesn’t mean you should buy them concert tickets!
Be smart parents. Come on.
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Even No 1 is risky with lyrics like “lying in the wet spot and spending ages giving head” (or something like that- lily Allen I believe)
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Lily Allen is an interesting example…to me she is an adult singing to other adults but using top 40 pop music as her art-form…but top 40 music is totally aimed at teenage girls…so it gets played to teenagers…but I’m 45 and I LOVE Lily Allen because her lyrics are so interesting…but I’m old enough to understand that…same with Kate Nash…top 40 music for Adults…
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The thing about that song though, is it’s about a woman empowering herself sexually. She’s telling a guy that his behaviour in the bedroom is unacceptable. Unlike the crap we get dished from (mostly) US artists about how women are nothing more than sex toys. That latest one…I think Snoop Dogg, about ‘Little Bad Girl’ makes me want to hurl. I picture a bunch of slobbering men watching some girl on the dance floor of a club calling her a ‘little bad girl’
Women are ‘affectionately’ called bitches now, and even call themselves a ‘ho’. Respect is lost, which is sadder than anythign else, and ironically, is what Lily Allen is singing about! Her lyrics are sensational, but they’re at least righting the balance somewhat.
Like others have said, if you don’t want your kids hearing it, switch it off. I think it’s just important to look at the intent, not just the words.
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I honestly miss “Countdown” !
Some of the pop stars might have looked a bit rough around the edges, but you could sit there with with the entire family and enjoy the show. I remember the occasion that my Grandmother frowned because of the length of the singers hair rather than the lyrics of the song.
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As soon as I had kids, I stopped watching Video Hits and Rage. How can those clips not have ratings attache to them????
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I found my kids watching these shows while I was having a sleep-in!
And it’s not just my daughters I’m worried about being exposed to all that it’s my son. I don’t want him thinking that’s what women are like.
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So true. The men in the clips are also crappy role models. All hard bodied – they look like they’re on steroids or something. And they usually treat women terribly.
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Did he start thinking all toys could talk once you showed him Toy Story?
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Um, my daughter did… that’s the problem!
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I think concerts should also be rated. I went to see a Lady Gaga concert a couple of years ago and I was shocked at how many young kids were in the audience. What were those parents thinking?
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@mouse – Concerts ARE rated. Most, if not all, are 18+.
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My biggest shock was at the Pussycat Dolls and Lady Gaga concert a few years back. The amount of kids there were unbelievable. and what was more shocking were the ones who were allowed to leave the house dressed like a pussycat dolls.
6 – 13 year olds should never be allowed to leave the house in fishnets and underwear.
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actually, no one should really be leaving the house in stockings and underwear
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Video Clips do have ratings. They are rated PG. Personally certain video clips should be banned from being aired during children’s viewing times.
Music videos aren’t the only form of exposure. Some lyrics are just as shocking.
Funny how we feel the need to defend our opinion by saying “I’m not a prude”. We need NO defense to proclaim we are subjecting children to some highly sexualised material, be it video clips, billboards, Play Boy magazine covers at the local newsagents, or porn on the net. Even some FB pages should be subject to ratings!
You only need look at the behavior of children / teens today to realise we (adults) are having a negative effect on them by bring what is an adult world to their attention.
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RAGE is interesting…it’s strange that most of the more adult-oriented film clips played between midnight and 6am are usually less sexually explicit than the top 40 clips played between 6am and 9am…weird…
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Totally agree with Mike Stock. Music videos aren’t pop anymore. They’re just sex.
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I went to the Family LIfe Forum in Erina and hear Mia and Jo talk about this and I was nodding all the way through.
Great points by Mike Stock.
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Stuff like this makes me so angry. Mike Stock is the most out-of-touch person in the music industry, possibly even more so than Simon Cowell – and that’s saying something. He seems to struggle with the concept that popular music has changed and evolved since the 80s (when he was last relevant), and is now trying to get all of this attention with his incessant whining.
When are we going to get over this “won’t somebody please think of the children” nonsense and just CHANGE THE CHANNEL?
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In a sense I agree with the ‘change the channel’ mentality. But when every music channel you turn to is showing the same thing, it just means turning off the music. And that’s a sad thing as far as I’m concerned. Parents shouldn’t have to make a choice between exposing their children to these images or not exposing them to current music at all.
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Music television is not the be all and end all of exposing current music. I have a friend who’s a mother of two young boys who plays them Battles when they feel like dancing and Sigur Ros when she’s putting them to sleep. It doesn’t need the visuals to go with it.
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Kids dancing to Battles – thats cool!
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I know, right? These kids play their pillows like they’re guitars along to Atlas – coolest thing I’ve ever seen.
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Let’s all change the channel and watch Friends and ignore how the pornification of music videos. I’d much rather not complain and be blissfully ignorant to the reinforcement of sexist stereotypes in popular culture. Why on earth should I be disgusted at the video clip on TV at 8am of a young woman pouring milk over herself in a kiddy wading pool while thrusting her rear at the camera? If I don’t like how “empowered” she is, I can just pretend it’s not happening!
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But it is not just about the kids. I don’t watch rage/ MTV etc because I prefer my music without having a close up on some chicks barely covered ass gyrating on the screen and simulated sex acts. So yep your right I don’t watch that crap in my house. But wouldn’t it be great if we could listen/ watch great music without it all being about tits n ass?
There are brilliant, talented musicians out there but unfortunately they seem not to get exposure unless they are performing in their underwear and performing/ singing about giving head jobs and s&m .
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I would love to know what my children were watching online and short of tracing their cookies I am not sure how to do this. This stuff is porn pure and simple. Much like that Chloe Lattanzi clip you spoke about on Sky on Friday night. It seems that the video has become more important than the song
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I used to let my children watch video hits all morning while I slept in on a saturady. now I would rather them watch a cartoon (however violent)
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