Tuesday, June 22, 2010

And It Only Took Fifty Years...

In the year 1960, female musical groups such as The Ronettes, The Crystals and The Shirelles were sparking up the airwaves. These women had big hair, wore matching dresses and mastered the art of the shimmy and shake. They were rock & roll, but yet still had dignity and class. And the solo acts were just as tasteful.

With the likes of Lesley Gore and Little Eva, you were guaranteed a snappy pop song served with a smile. The songs mostly revolved around dancing or love, and were some of the best hits of our time. They will go down in history as classics, and were tunes that coined the phrase 'oldies but goodies'.

My question, what the hell has happened?

We went from sweet-faced ladies doo-wopping across a stage, to scantily clad women gyrating on poles. Modesty, along with self-respect, seems to have been tossed out the window. And while the general public, encouraged by the media, gasps in horror at Mylie Cyrus for the songs she sings and the outfits she wears, they are still tuning into trash TV like Entertainment Tonight and TMZ to see the next big scandal. And there always is one.

The media writes articles about how a not-even-legal Mylie fake kissed a girl at one of her concerts, and they cry "oh the horror!". While pointing out how she shouldn't be wearing something, they are blasting her picture all over the Internet asking fans to vote whether the outfit was too sexy, too skimpy or too mature for her age. What people fail to touch on, is that Mylie is giving the public exactly what they want. We have taught the females in the music industry that sexy sells, and that to be a successful pop singer you need to shake that ass and show some skin. If she walked out on stage wearing a tunic at her next show I guarantee the magazines would go crazy about her conservative look.

Is this evolution?

I would have to say no. This is regression, to what I do not know. But the world has taken one giant step backwards. Looking at this decades musical generation is going to be like looking at a train wreck. We have virtually nude 'stars' flitting around Hollywood and singing music I don't even understand. And if I don't understand it, there target audience of 13-15 year olds don't understand it.

There is an undertone to this blog, it really says...what is this teaching our children? In a society that is driven by sex, is it all that unusual that teen pregnancy is on the rise? Is it all that shocking that the average age for our children to have sex is thirteen? No. Not really. Actually, considering the amount of sex we brainwash them with, I am surprised they aren't having sex at eight.

And while my mother had Patsy Cline and Aretha Franklin as role models, our children have Christina Aguilera, Pink and Britney Spears to look up to. And I won't even touch base on the example these women are teaching our girls to act...and teaching our boys to expect. Drugs, strolling around with no underwear, drunk in public, horrible tattoos and ridiculous body images = a lifetime of turmoil for our generations youth.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against strong women. People might think that I am advocating to staunch feminism. That's not the case. The truth of the matter is sexy does not equal strong. And a half naked woman writhing around on stage singing about how dirty she is or how toxic she is does not a strong woman make. Actually, if you ask me, they are delivering a swift kick to the balls of feminism. Not me.

In conclusion, it saddens me that many preteens and teenagers are running around out in the world having no clue who Dusty Springfield, Doris Day, and Carly Simon are. These women kicked down the door for women into the music industry, and to thank them we give them the likes of Lindsay Lohan. What a travesty!

So, do me a favor? Play your kid some Wanda Jackson and make the world right again. And skip the Ke$ha (who makes me want to bash my head against the wall).

1 comment:

R.C. Lewis said...

Stop reading my mind, woman! ;)

Been saying the same thing for a long time. There are a few half-decent role model females in music today, but not nearly enough. And I always feel like I'm holding my breath, waiting for the moment when this girl or that will give in to the pressure and show up at the VMAs wearing less than a square foot of combined fabric.