CENSORSHIP

Another planned collective post.

Starting with...

THE BANDS BANNED FROM SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE

Featuring Sinead O'Connor and the pope, a Republican billionaire, wasted alt-rock legends and flag-ripping leftie icons and more: the SNL banned list, with video clips.

GENDER (w)rapper in a dress: pop gets queered

There's nothing new in rock and pop stars transgressing and undermining normative gender expectations: David Bowie, Iggy Pop, all those 60s 'longhairs', Janis Joplin, Marilyn Manson, Perry Farrell, Boy George, Little Richard, Annie Lennox...

Nonetheless, in an era when a bearded woman won Eurovision, Judith Butler's provocative pronouncement that gender is a fiction we learn to act out has clearly won some high profile fans.

We need to be careful when judging representations: Miley Cyrus would mock a feminist male gaze reading of her controversial act, rejecting sexual and gender labels which underpin this.

...Which doesn't necessarily make her right, and Sinead O'Connor (who wrote am open letter to Cyrus on exploitation by male record label bosses) wrong. Without denying Cyrus agency, as Stuart Hall would argue, your response (or reading) will be partly guided by your own subjectivity, background, identity

Female fury and a gangster in a dress: meet the pop stars toppling gender stereotypes http://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/13/sex-pop-gender-stereotypes-young-thug-tove-lo-mykki-blanco-deap-vally?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger

REPRESENTATION Are women still male gaze others?

There has been a lot of discussion about the status of women in the music industry lately (echoed with a film industry debate too), with allegations swirling not just of secondary status but abuse too.

Although she was cruelly, publicly put down by Miley Cyrus (with cracks at the mental health of a woman who has suffered long term depression and a recent breakdown), Sinead O'Connor's plea for Cyrus to resist the sexploitation of male managers, executives and video directors still rings very true.

You can easily find lots of articles, recent and historic (look at Tina Turner or any number of 60s girl bands) to help add a deeper perspective to your own consideration of representations; how your media language choices signify and position various social groups.

Here's an excerpt from this pull no punches article:

It’s wearying if only because the stories – and the inevitable clamor that accompanies them – are generated at a constant churn, which makes them feel horrifyingly normal. Anyone who aspires to be a “woman in rock” (or pop) is only able to inhabit that scene as an “other”. They exist in a place where they’re only seen as women, as being to be looked at first, and as such can be relegated to subordinate status at any moment.

Sexism on repeat: how the music industry can break the cycle.

Miley Cyrus: feminism v post-feminism, exploited or empowered

I don't want these resources to get lost within a very long post, so am re-posting this material. I've considered Gaga in some detail in these terms, and its a key debate you need to address if you're working with a female artist (and arguably even if not!).

The discussion over Cyrus often gets quite frank, mature and sexually explicit treatment. Be aware of this before you click on any of the links below the line.

O'Connor/Cyrus' feminist/post-feminist clash became a major national news story, here on the BBC.

Jarring juxtapositions: twerking in Mastodon vid

This curious countertyping helped Mastodon gain publicity

There can be considerable shock or at least novelty value still in incorporating elements from a contrasting genre; in this example the prog-metal band Mastodon. In their video for The Motherload they incorporate ... twerking!

So, we get some fairly standard, though well-executed (nicely lit, and some effective focus pull), sepia-coloured footage of vaguely demonic figures ... counterpointed with a range of very modern dancers twerking, often in slo-mo and fairly uncomfortable close-up. The point (the 'reading') is debatable, and may simply come down to the shock value, or may be a critique of what the likes of Sinead O'Connor has attacked as exemplifying male industry control over female artists, with Lily Allen's attempted critique itself attacked for allegedly racist undertones.

(skip to the end to view the actual video)

DIGIPAKS: the small details

Most of the examples I've seen have failed to include the small print that features in most - track writer, copyright etc (often 'with thanks to' list). You really do need to be sat with actual examples to guide you - it would also be an idea to have a copy of one of the band's albums too!!!
I don't have a scan to hand, so here's an eg of the type (and scale) of small print material that might be included (its long, so click 'read more' to see it all).

re-release of "I Do Not Want.." special edition

There will be a re-release of "I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got" including a few special tracks that are hard to find or unreleased.
Here are the details I got from EMI Music: