kitbradley said:

SoulAlive said:

mjscarousal said: I agree! There's nothing wrong with being sexy,or expressing your sexuality.But many of these ladies do it in a cheap,mindless way.They're just doing it strictly for shock value.They're not doing it in a meaningful,artistic way.Rihanna and Beyoncé dress like strippers in their videos,but what's their message?? What are they trying to prove? What point are they trying to make?

Their message to young girls is if you want to be popular, you have to look and act like a prostitute. It's actually quite sad that we are in 2014 and women continue to be more sexualized than ever before. Men in the industry don't have to get almost naked and expose their behinds to make people notice them. Some may take their shirts off or act like idiots, but they don't have to reduce themselves to being slabs of meat or smutty stage antics to make people notice them. I'm not saying it never happens with some male artists. But, generally, it has never been the norm.

I agree.

MotownSubdivision said:

Due to pop music being completely youth-oriented

Top 40 radio has always been youth oriented. Even Frank Sinatra was originally a teeybopper idol, and so were Elvis Presley & The Beatles. It was teens and young adults that made doo wop, surf rock, dance craze songs, and girl groups popular. Chuck Berry wasn't really popular when he was doing blues, but when he started writing songs with lyrics that appealed to teens. Little Richard also began with blues songs but became a hit when he started doing rock n' roll.

what does Ms. Knight expect? that these chicks stand up flat footed and sing? honey, if most of these women stopped for 2 seconds from shacking that ass around the stage, folks would realize they have ZERO talent.

look, these types of artist have always been around... once upon a time, artist/singers who had talent got top billing and effort by record labels. I said record labels, not these conglomerates that operate now.

TD3 said:

what does Ms. Knight expect? that these chicks stand up flat footed and sing? honey, if most of these women stopped for 2 seconds from shaking that ass around the stage, folks would realize they have ZERO talent.

that's true

SoulAlive said:

mjscarousal said:

There is nothing wrong with sexuality being expressed in music or even performances but just as long as it is used in an artistic way. Just as long as their some meaning or depth behind it. It is crazy how people don't care about creativity anymore. Glady's is right. Nice to see some legends really keep it real about today's industry.

I agree! There's nothing wrong with being sexy,or expressing your sexuality.But many of these ladies do it in a cheap,mindless way.They're just doing it strictly for shock value.They're not doing it in a meaningful,artistic way.Rihanna and Beyoncé dress like strippers in their videos,but what's their message?? What are they trying to prove? What point are they trying to make?

That in order to be a female superstar you have to show your ass. It is quite sad that they don't seem to care that their image is very impressionable on young girls. It is even more sad that they are being marketed as great role models for young girls. It is almost as if the music industry is telling young girls, that they "should" behave like that, its pretty sad.

This is a little off topic but when they do a Biopic on The Empress of Soul the ONLY actress I want cast for the role is Anika Noni Rose..Anika can sing and she looks like a younger version of Gladys..

mjscarousal said:

SoulAlive said:

mjscarousal said: I agree! There's nothing wrong with being sexy,or expressing your sexuality.But many of these ladies do it in a cheap,mindless way.They're just doing it strictly for shock value.They're not doing it in a meaningful,artistic way.Rihanna and Beyoncé dress like strippers in their videos,but what's their message?? What are they trying to prove? What point are they trying to make?

That in order to be a female superstar you have to show your ass. It is quite sad that they don't seem to care that their image is very impressionable on young girls. It is even more sad that they are being marketed as great role models for young girls. It is almost as if the music industry is telling young girls, that they "should" behave like that, its pretty sad.

Who is they? The Music business is behind the way the image is promoted not the artist.

MickyDolenz said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Due to pop music being completely youth-oriented

Top 40 radio has always been youth oriented. Even Frank Sinatra was originally a teeybopper idol, and so were Elvis Presley & The Beatles. It was teens and young adults that made doo wop, surf rock, dance craze songs, and girl groups popular. Chuck Berry wasn't really popular when he was doing blues, but when he started writing songs with lyrics that appealed to teens. Little Richard also began with blues songs but became a hit when he started doing rock n' roll.

Well in decade's past, there was at least variety. Even if the music was always meant for teens and young adults, it still seemed to reach out to every age demographic. There are adults who listen to today's Top 40 music but the music now seems to focus completely on the youth and if you aren't in the youth demographic then you're in for the ride or out of luck.

MotownSubdivision said:

Well in decade's past, there was at least variety. Even if the music was always meant for teens and young adults, it still seemed to reach out to every age demographic. There are adults who listen to today's Top 40 music but the music now seems to focus completely on the youth and if you aren't in the youth demographic then you're in for the ride or out of luck.

That probably had more to do with MTV, than the music itself, or even the radio stations. MTV made stars out of synth pop and hair metal bands, when Top 40 was still playing Air Supply and other light rock acts. The popularity of MTV began copycats like Friday Night Videos and Video Jukebox. BET was the R&B version, that originally broadcast in the evenings. The rest of the day was mostly infomercials. Video killed the radio star. Top 40 started playing the acts popular on MTV like Human League & Madonna. Before MTV a lot of the acts weren't really seen on TV, especially pre-1970s. Some were on variety shows like Ed Sullivan, but that only came on once a week. It was the same for Shindig, American Bandstand, Soul Train, The Midnight Special, Hee Haw, Solid Gold, etc. They weren't a daily broadcast that constantly showed the same acts and songs all the time and a few of them came on late at night and there wasn't home VCRs. It wasn't as important that an act had to be pretty, because people didn't see them unless they bought the records and some acts didn't even put their pictures on the cover like Chicago or prog rock bands. Many people just heard the songs on the radio and then bought the 45 or album and 45s didn't always have a picture sleeve.