Controversial music videos

Today in lesson we have learnt about controversy in music videos. Controversy is normally when loads of people disagree with a particular thing because they think its inappropriate and it raises awareness of people, which then leads to everyone talking about it....


An example of a controversial music video we watched was Relax- Frankie goes to Hollywood. After watching the music video and listening to the lyrics it is safe to say that it is very controversial. Critics on the radio banned it and refused to play it because they thought it was disgusting. It was released in 1980's which was when there was a lot of gay people but not necessarily everyone accepted them back then and believed in equality. The lyrics clearly suggest that you should think about what your sexual orientation is and who you want. This is why it as seen as controversial because it clearly undermines gay people which isn't right.


Here is a link to the video:
                 




Another a controversial music video we talked about was Rihanna's - Bitch better have my money. However with this one we was given an article who Dorian Lynskey has wrote which discusses maybe why Rihanna has made this video. He believes that certain pop stars make these sort of videos in some points of their careers and describes the video as an "event video" which has its own conventions of being hubristic, long  and self-regarding. Furthermore, he also argues that an event video is designed to 'project power and money but usually ends revealing a fatal flaw just before it swallows them up'. All of them conventions are evident in Rihanna's music video and other people recognise them as well. This is because her video only topped the billboard charts for only a week.

I agree with Lynsky's idea that artist go through a stage when they make an 'event video'. This is because when an artist is having maybe a low point in their career and arent making much money they release a video like Rihanna's. They think that because its got violence, blood, drugs or sexual references it will jumpstart their career. When in reality it causes controversy and these videos will do the opposite of helping their career and instead makes the artist seem low and degrading.

There are more music videos that cause controversy and are the top 20 in the UK. Heres the link if you're interested: http://www.nme.com/list/20-of-the-most-controversial-music-videos-ever/373505

Textual analysis of Drake- started from the bottom

Drake started from the bottom from kieranlukas

Genres and sub genres of music videos

Genre theories

The different types of music genres 

In today's lesson we learnt about four different theories what we can apply to genres in our music video coursework

John Hartley (1994) - argues that 'genres' are agents of ideological closure and they limit the meaning potential of a given text.

Robert Hodge and Gunther Kress (1988) - say that genres control the behavior of producers of such texts, and the expectations of potential consumers.

Both theorists suggest that genres limit creativity.

John Fiske (1987) -  asserts that generic conventions 'embody the crucial ideological concerns of the time in which they are popular'.

Rick Altman - argues that there is no such thing as "pure" genre anymore. Genre is progressive in that it will always change. He also argues that genre is only surviving due to hybridisation or genres 'borrowing' from one another and being more difficult to categorise.