By Cat Marr
One of the common factors of the ladies in pop videos today seems to be their aversion to clothes. Of course, that is not to say that everyone adheres to this, but some ladies seem to think that music video dress code equates to "not much". Compared to some of today's offenderes Geri Halliwell's Union Jack mini dress seems positively frumpy.
My question is - how much further can we go? If it's all about evolution of music and fashion, a need to shock people and get attention to appear in the papers and sell those records. How soon before we see what they've had for breakfast? Thanks to some photographers whose spot and shot of choice is lying on the pavement and papping up the skirt, for some we already have.
This nakedness issue has got a couple of people in hot water, Robin Thicke has been rapped on the knuckles for his "sexist" video of ladies in see-through macs where he blows smoke in their faces. This has been labelled as shocking. I can only guess that the critics didn't see N*E*R*D's video to Lap dance in the naughties, and well yes it was, very naughty indeed. Justin Timberlake has also opted for the nuddy factor. His video for ‘Tunnel Vision’ features a lady getting her appendages out, but it is in black and white so it's obviously dead tasteful.
Whilst both these examples can be easily defended, I feel compelled to ask how far this trend can go? Are Robbie and the Chemical Brothers great visionaries, the Nostrodamuses of our time, predicting the future? Robbie stripping down to those pants in Rock DJ and being left as a bloody skeleton after pulling off his own skin and muscle, throwing in a bid to get the attention of a lady. This could be the future. Are people going to start ripping their own skin off to get the YouTube views up? Chemical Brothers opted for the x-ray look in their ‘Hey Boy, Hey Girl" video; maybe bones are the new nipples?
Perhaps instead, the need to shock will go so far that it turns back on itself and thermals become the new sexy. Baggy cardigans and long trousers could be the the new shocking.
"Did you see that new video by *insert usually naked pop star here*? She was fully clothed Parker, thermal tights, the works... I wouldn’t have minded but it was before the watershed!" ‘Loose Women’ will then talk about the bad affect it has on our kids, and then a celebrity will walk on with nipple tassels and a g-string and apologise for being over dressed.
There is another possibility arising from using sex to sell their records. Maybe showing off that body they work eighteen hours a day for, or being allergic to their clothes might result in them being involved in a scandal of the emperors new clothes school. Don't say anything, just let them be embarrassed.
If Robbie and The Chemical Brothers are right, I will get the sick bucket ready as I brave trying to watch music videos in ten years time, but until then I guess we will all just shrug off the odd nipple or baby oiled bum. After all, it seems that we really have become desensitised to the nakedness...
WARNING: THIS VIDEO IS DEFINITELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK
