Pioneer Christian Monthly - September, 1985

Rock Videos: Phenomenon of the 1980's Should They be Censored? Part I
Peter Kamminga

A few years ago the music industry was in dire straits. Competing in a tough entertainment market, record sales were in a depression-like state. At this time the video industry began soaring to unseen heights. Video games, recorders and movie rentals were consuming a larger share of the available entertainment dollar. But not today! Today the music business is hot! As Guy Perron, publisher of Graffiti magazine says, "The music business has never been this hot since the Beatles". Why this sudden new-found interest in music? The answer lies in the discovery of the new medium - the rock video.

Have you ever seen a rock video? Do you know what they are? Or better yet, could you describe one? To see a rock video is simple; just tune into the video program programs like Video Hits, Good Rockin'Tonight etc. or the pay TV show, MuchMusic. The continuous barrage of four minute mini- movies will take ,you anywhere they want you to go. You can watch a couple make love on the beach, then witness a man being shot to death by desperados in Central America. You can experience the beauty of Sri Lanka, visit the Mayan ruins in Peru, attend the sold- out concert of your favourite band or go back in time and what "The Who" shoot a home movie. Robert Quartly, the most prominent of Canadian rock video producers, says, "It is a whole new medium accessed by emotion rather than rationality. Rock videos are all about feeling and release just like 'rock 'n roll'."

In very simple terms, a rock video is the state- of-the- art in modern advertising. They are closely akin to a television commercial and come in three basic forms. Some use a simple straight forward approach showing the band playing its song. Some have a short story theme, your basic boy meets girl idea. And some videos rely on a continuous assault of irrelevant, but subliminally seductive images. Stephen Leacock once described advertising as "the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it'. If we accept the fact that rock videos are merely addictive advertisements, we must explore the spaces between the airwaves!

Rock videos have been hailed as the" saviour of the music industry". Record sales have soared along with video popularity. Clearly this new medium has to be given due credit for the turnaround. This is hardly surprising; this is the purpose of advertising. So, on examination, we must keep the following questions in mind:

1. Who are they marketed for?

2. What is being promoted?

3. What degree of influence do they wield over the viewer

I shall assume that many of the readers of this magazine do not like rock music. But the music is very popular with today's young people. The youth of the 80's revel in it, some say, even worship it. So immediately you can see that if the audience of rock music is young adults, teens and pre-teens, rock videos will enjoy the same audience.

The second question concerns what is being promoted by rock videos, or rather, what is being marketed and how. To attract the jaded tastes of our young, rock video producers are using more and more sex and violence, to keep a restless audience tuned in, keep them listening to the song they're trying to sell. in modern society, although sad, the truth is, sex sells. The use of explicit sex is not a major concern. The major focus of women's protest groups is the use and effect of widespread sexism. They ask how impressionable girls and young women will be affected by the depiction of women as only fit for sexual consumption. The use of sexism is often subtle and subliminal. A good example is a female singer who sports a belt buckle that reads "boy-toy". Such use is difficult to legislate against.

Another example is a video in which band members "herd" a group of cowering, scantily-clad women into a corral of sharp steel bars. The significant point here is how women are treated. Teenage girls were asked to watch this video and upon questioning, admitted they felt intimidated.

The other major tool of promotion is the use of violence. This is also not a surprise because violence is titillating. What is tasteless is now in fashion. True, "heavy metal" is a form of popular music that receives considerable criticism. Critics claim the music and the bands have always expounded a sense of power and domination over others, and that "heavy metal" champions the ugly side of human relations. Meanwhile those in the business ask that no one take them seriously. They say that the music and videos aye very escapist, a harmless way of relieving pressures and tension. However, critics argue that by absorbing so much violence in so many forms (not just in videos, but television and movies as well), we become desensitized to violence. Undoubtedly videos have the power to educate and therefore also have the power to cause us to regress into lower levels of behaviour..

This brings us to the question of influence. which will be discussed in the next issue.

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