After last night’s Video Music Awards on MTV – you can be certain that many in today’s establishment are condemning the outfits (or lack thereof) and the provocative choreography as signs of moral decay. Bemoaning the rebelliousness of a younger generation always carries a tone of the end of the civilized world is near.
At last night’s VMAs – The Weeknd won the biggest award for Video of the Year for “Blinding Lights,” which he performed.
Taylor Swift became the first solo female artist to win the VMA’s Best Director award for her song, “The Man.” Swift did not attend the awards show and has been busy during the pandemic working on new projects.
Lady Gaga’s performance of “Rain on Me” with Ariana Grande was eye candy, and she won awards for Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Collaboration and Best Cinematography. Her outrageous outfits had equally as outrageous masks, and she said she was setting an example to her fans that wearing a mask is a “sign of respect.”
The VMAs were performed at various locations around New York with no audiences present. Events with no live audiences is currently the new norm for entertainment and sports.
See-through outfits were a common theme at the VMAs. But before any criticism of last night’s VMAs from today’s establishment is taken seriously and as an indication of society’s downward spiral – let’s look back at the role sexuality played in the lives of the Baby Boomers!
The rock ‘n roll of the 1950s oozed raw sexuality and Elvis Presley’s hip gyrations were considered so provocative at the time that he was only shown from the waist up during his TV appearances.
The British Invasion of the 60s possessed its share of controversial artists. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones was one of the artists that represented a new primal sexuality that reminded us the girls do like the bad boys.
The rock opera musical, “Hair,” was highly controversial, in part, because of the scene featuring total frontal nudity from men and women.
The blatant sexuality and androgyny of the 80s defined the early years of MTV, which launched in August of 1981, and drew non-stop criticism from the then-establishment.
Among the music videos harshly condemned were the videos from the big-hair 80s band Whitesnake. Actress Tawny Kitaen was a frontrunner among sexy performers in music videos, and she appeared in very provocative scenes and positions in several Whitesnake videos, including “Here I Go Again” and “Is This Love.” Whtiesnake lead singer – David Coverdale and Tawny were briefly married.
There was no doubt that many music videos from the 80s were selling sex and tapping into the sexuality of a young generation.
Warning to Boomers: Avoid being the hypocrite you despised by realizing that in the context of the 80s – what you supported and defended was as sexually controversial as the outfits and the moves at last night’s 2020 VMAs. And please avoid the misleading cliché – “But it was different then!”
The desire to appeal to human sexuality was as prominent in the past as it is today. The only difference is the new sensitivities to content that are manifested by age.
With all the see-through outfits at the VMAs last night – I think we all wish our politicians could be as transparent.