Moral Hysteria in Music

A moral panic or hysteria is an intense feeling expressed in a population about an issue that appears to threaten the social order. The biggest example throughout history has been the older generation concerned with the choices made by the youths they are leaving the world to, and music and its messages of each decade since the 1950s has had a huge impact on that.

1950s

Biggest hits: "Cold, Cold Heart" - Tony Bennett; "I Believe" - Frankie Laine; "Young at Heart" - Frank Sinatra; "Heartbreak Hotel" - Elvis Presley

• The older generation first became worried by Elvis Presley's signature move as he gyrated his hips on stage while performing such hits as "Hound Dog," "Jailhouse Rock" and "Blue Suede Shoes."
•  As rock 'n' roll was born (starting in Elvis' hometown of Memphis), Christians feared its growing popularity as they believed it to be the music of Satan. (Bands like Slayer and Slipknot would later relish this connection to the Devil.)
• The dancing style became much more provocative and as women became sexualised.
• Clothing became more revealing after the Second World War.

1960s

Biggest hits: "She Loves You" - The Beatles; "Surfin' USA" - The Beach Boys; "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" - The Rolling Stones; "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" - Nancy Sinatra

• As rock 'n' roll became the leading genre in music, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones gained a huge influence over Western society, leading to the term "Beatlemania," defined by Oxford as "extreme enthusiasm for the Beatles pop group, as manifested in the frenzied behaviour of their fans in the 1960s." This worried elderly people because they saw that this music was taking over youth.
• John Lennon particularly ruffled some feathers when aggravated many generations and religions by saying the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus," causing much controversy and making history.
• These big-name bands influenced what is known as adolescent girl hysteria, where a group of girls, for example, would get together and talk about how they wanted to marry Paul McCartney.
• The availability of drugs became a huge problem in the '60s as many bands were taking them and that led the fans that followed them religiously to also take them, causing a massive social problem.
• The contraceptive pill was introduced. The public eye believed this would just mean teens sleeping around, therefore having a knock-on effect in music videos as they became more sexualised.

1970s

Biggest hits: "Bridge Over Troubled Water" - Simon and Garfunkel; "Jungle Boogie" - Kool and the Gang; "We Will Rock You" - Queen

• As The Beatles broke up and Elvis died, there was a huge gap in the music industry for a new wave of hit artists and new movement to revolutionise the medium.
• Metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple rose to prominence as the genre gained more recognition. There were many fans of metal, despite critics dismissing it. This was a new kind of rock that no one had experienced before.
• Anarchy became the main threat to society, and social paranoia and fear.
• When the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam leading to many protests against the U.S. government, punk music was born.

1980s

Biggest hits: "Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson; "Footloose" - Kenny Loggins; "Jump" - Van Halen; "Sweet Child o' Mine" - Guns 'N' Roses; "Walk Like an Egyptian" - The Bangles

• The '80s saw a resurgence in the rock genre and the decade is seen as the heyday of rock music as its most popular form, the glam metal subgenre, was created.
• The most popular bands included AC/DC, Van Halen, Queen, U2, Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and Twisted Sister, who still remain popular today.
• During the 1980s, hard rock band Guns 'N' Roses emerged to a strong rivalry with Motley Crue for a stranglehold on the glam metal scene. Aerosmith underwent a successful comeback, then more popular than they'd ever been as they came out with some of their greatest hits.
• Pop became the main genre in the late 1980s as superstars Michael Jackson, Prince and the emerging female artists of Madonna, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson. These were the most successful pop musicians during this time.
• Michael Jackson was the first African American artist to have his music video aired on MTV.
• The '80s saw the First Wave of pop music with many American artists taking the British pop scene by storm. Duran Duran, Dexys Midnight Runners and Culture Club produced some of the biggest hits of the decade, for example "Hungry Like the Wolf," "Karma Chameleon," and "Geno."
• Drugs again became widely available to the general public, and the cocaine trade exploded with Pablo Escobar importing it to Miami while the U.S. drug enforcement were more concerned with cannabis. However, the AIDS epidemic at this time meant sexually active people and drug users were afraid well into the '90s. The earliest and most famous case of AIDS in the media would be Freddy Mercury, a gay musician who died from this disease.
• Cross dressing was a key theme during this time, and therefore in many music videos, men would be seen wearing women's clothing and vice versa, such as David Bowie and Elton John.

1990s

Biggest hits: "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" - Bryan Adams; "Kiss From a Rose" - Seal; "I Will Always Love You" - Whitney Houston; "Gangster's Paradise" - Coolio feat. LV

• Pop music was still popular in this era, however, the movement of rap threatened pop's outright position as leading genre.
• The Compton-based rap group N.W.A pioneered this movement, with such rappers as Snoop Dogg and Tupac to follow their success as Dr. Dre became a producer.
• N.W.A were notable for making rap a medium for social commentary with such songs as "F*ck the Police" commenting on the American police's "authority to kill a minority" and their prejudiced treatment of black people.
• Other rappers such as Wu Tang Clan, Eminem, Nelly, Jay-Z, R Kelly, Kanye West and 50 Cent came to prominence during this decade following N.W.A.
• Rap is a genre of aggressive protest music and it mainly concerns the rights of the African American race (unless the artist is white, such as Eminem and the Beastie Boys). Some of the stereotypes of this music would be gold chains and beautiful dancers, thus displaying how these rappers have worked tirelessly to rise from the poverty of the ghetto to the wealth and fame they have today. It is one of the most controversial genres of music because of its raw style, specifically its use of explicit language and its references to sex and violence.
• With Mandela's release from prison, the '90s was a time of protest, and it was the era of "grunge" with bands like Nirvana coming to prominence.

2000s

Biggest hits: "Umbrella" - Rihanna; "How You Remind Me" - Nickelback; "Gold Digger" - Kanye West; "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" - Green Day; "Low" by Flo Rida

• The 2000s was the decade that R&B took off with such songs as "You Don't Know Me" and 50 Cent's "In da Club" leading the movement. R&B incorporated the two leading genres Rap and Pop and formed something new. Beyoncé is possibly the most popular artist of this genre with her songs "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Irreplaceable" among others topping the charts.
• The '90s peace was obliterated by the devastating terrorist attack by al-Qaeda on 11th September 2001 that shook the world. This led to music videos concerning peace and freedom as well as rap music taking a more aggressive protest stance. Another big theme was paranoia that loomed especially over America after these unexpected attacks.
• The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan has also had an effect on our society as people had mixed feelings and everyone had their own opinion on it.
• Music videos suddenly took a turn from being the cute pop music kids were used to hearing to more violent and sexualised.

Age classification in music videos

Online music videos now receive age ratings in the same manner as films and DVDs, following a government pilot. Per the recent development, Sony Music, Universal Music and Warner Music must send the videos they produce to the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) before they are allowed to upload them on YouTube and Vevo. Of the 132 videos submitted to the BBFC so far, 56 are rated 12 and 53 classified 15. Only one video got an 18 certificate - Dizzee Rascal's Couple Of Stacks. Watch the video to see why:

Subverting genres in music videos

The music video for The Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" subverts its rap genre and the clichés that go with it. The video is a long POV shot of a character who goes out to a club, gets drunk, and starts treating women abusively and inappropriately touching them, and then takes a stripper home for an intimate night. The video ends with a shot facing a mirror where it is revealed in a plot twist that this character is a woman. This plays on the audience's preconception that someone who is rowdy and treats women disrespectfully must be a man, and also subverts one of the most prominent and controversial themes of rap music which is violence against women.

Target audience

Metal

The target audience for heavy metal music is mostly male, an older audience in their forties and fifties who grew up during the heyday of the "big four" of thrash metal: Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer and Megadeth. There is also a specific sect of metal fans in their teens and twenties who respond to the honest expression and biting social commentary offered by the artists. Critics do not think highly of the metal genre, and it is a genre that you either really love or really hate, so it only survives on the dedication of the fans (known as "metalheads" or "headbangers"). The genre began in the late 1960s, so the main fans today were teenagers during that decade, when the first heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple got off the ground and quickly attracted large audiences. Also, males who grew up during the 1970s when the genre evolved beyond its blues roots and into faster, punk rock territory with bands such as Judas Priest, Motörhead, Iron Maiden and Saxon are likely to be metal fans, and imparting their musical tastes (or trying to) onto their sons.

Rap

The target audience for rap or "hip-hop" music used to be predominantly male, as in the nineties when the movement began, most of the artists were male, such as N.W.A, Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg. Back then the audience was predominantly black as well, as a lot of the artists were and the music reflected the struggles of the black community so it was something they responded to most. But now, with the popularity of such artists as Nicki Minaj, Lil' Kim and Iggy Azalea, the audience is growing to female, and white artists like Eminem and the Beastie Boys have expanded the market across other races. It gained a broader market for most young people, who respond to songs that rebel against authority figures (i.e. Beastie Boys' "Fight For Your Right" or N.W.A's "F**k tha Police") or about the artists' struggles through poverty and failure to make it to where they are today (i.e. Eminem's "Lose Yourself").

This is my first post

This is my first post. I am a Year 13 student at St. Anselm's College and I have created this blog to post my Media Studies coursework. I hope you enjoy following my progression as a student of A2 Media!