Program Length: 1 hour
Produced: 1996

Introduction

This documentary examines the connections between music and image in the popular music industry, especially the pressures that the music video has placed on artists to construct artificial images. It also examines some of the functions pop music plays in the lives of teens, particularly regarding sexual repression and rebellion.

1. Ask students to bring in some CDs. Examine the CD images to note patterns of images (many urban-decay images, faces of the artists), or examples of carefully-constructed images, (fantasy images). How important are these images in attracting buyers to the CDs? Place a plain white cover over the CD with only the hand-written CD title and group name on it.   Which cover is more attractive? Why?  What is the role of the CD cover in selling the CD?

2. Look around the classroom. Who is dressed in a style similar to that seen in music videos? Which videos?
What name would you give to that style of dress?
Do most videos presenting that genre of music include artists dressed in the same style of dress?
Is the style of dress mostly working class, middle class or upper class? Do those students dressed in the most distinctively video-oriented clothes listen to a particular genre of music?
Does their clothing style match their favourite genre?

3. Brad Roberts, lead singer for the Crash Test Dummies and Public Images' host, is a skinny man dressed in plain T-shirt and shorts. What impression do you get of him in this clothing?
What musical style does his clothing match?
Is this the way he dresses in most of the Crash Test Dummies' videos? ..concerts?
What musical style is the black and white jacket and hat from? Do the jacket and hat match the Crash Test Dummies' style? How does Roberts' choosing to wear this hat and jacket make us aware of music's constructed images?

4. Roberts states: "Constructing images for rock stars has been a central preoccupation of the music industry for many years now and has, in fact, intensified in the last several years due to the advent of rock videos. But before that, rock stars have always been concerned with shrouding themselves with images to seduce the public eye."

Do you agree that 'Constructing images for rock stars has been a central preoccupation of the music industry for many years?'
Do you agree that 'most rock stars have always been concerned with shrouding themselves with images to seduce the public eye?'
Which artists are the most obvious examples of this?
Which artists appear NOT to present constructed images?
The word 'seduce' suggests something corrupt, that the public is being 'had,' or not getting as much as is promised. Is this a fair judgment of the relationship between musical artists and their public? Why or why not?

5. A montage of newspaper headlines is presented which accuse rock of being dangerous, evil, corrupt etc. These headlines date from the mid-1950s, when rock and roll began. The Executive Secretary of the Alabama White Citizens Council states: " The obscenity and vulgarity of rock and roll music is obviously a means by which the White man and his children can be driven to the level with the Negro."
Why do you think many adults of the 1950's saw rock and roll as a threat to their children and their future?

6. Could it be that rock and roll described sexual repression and rebellion? How would most parents of teens feel about their children being exposed to messages of sexual freedom and rebellion? Explain.
What might parents do to limit their children's exposure to these messages?

7. Re-view the headline montage. Substitute 'gangsta rap' for 'rock and roll' in the montage headlines. Does the same fear and contempt surface in the 1990's?
What have parents and teachers done to limit teen's exposure to these messages?
Is gangsta rap often about sexual freedom and rebellion? Explain.
Are sexual freedom and rebellion something parents find scary and teens find attractive? Expain.

8. Pete Townsend, writer, musician and composer, states that teens find commonality and sharing, or a sense of community, through clothing. Do people in your class agree that they find a sense of community through clothing?
Do many people in your school find a sense of community through clothing? Explain.

9. Malcolm McLaren, manager of The Sex Pistols and fashion consultant, states: "All these kids are trying to make pop records only for one reason -- to escape. They're all trying to escape. That's why we make thousands of pop records, 'cause it's the only way, with some notion of glamour, it's the one excuse to look effeminate, it's the one excuse to jump out of that suit, it's the one excuse that might suggest you can, without language, problems, live somewhere else."

What do you think McLaren means by this statement?
What might artists and fans want to escape from?
How might the music help them escape?
How might the clothing help them escape?

10. Nick Lowe states: "Attitude -- the way they put it across -- is more exciting than the actual music that they make. He claims that the music doesn't change significantly over the years, but the images are fresh, and that is what keeps music interesting."

Do you agree? Why or why not?
What groups can you name as examples that his statement is valid or invalid?

11. John Taylor, of Duran Duran, states: "When we started Duran, it's funny because the musical instruments were almost secondary. We used to watch films of the Beatles and go to concerts and say, 'That's what we want to be! We want to be pop stars!' and it was like a necessary evil to learn to play instruments."
Does this statement affirm or deny Nick Lowe's statement?

12. Erica Ehm, MuchMusic VJ, states: "A lot of artists who didn't have the musical talent slipped through the cracks and made it on music television simply because they looked good."
This statement hearkens back to the one made by Brad Roberts at the beginning of the video: "Constructing images for rock stars has intensified in the last several years due to the advent of rock videos."

Ehm's' statement is followed by excerpts from Bananarama and Platinum Blonde videos. Do you agree that these videos suggest that these groups are more style than substance?
How have music videos made appearances and images more important than before?
Which groups have become popular because they looked good in videos?
Which groups have faded because they could not look good in videos?
Which groups have changed radically in order to look better in videos?

13. Many images of Boy George are presented in sequence. He is presented as one of the first androgynous artists.
Are there many androgynous artists?
Is David Bowie androgynous?
Is Michael Jackson androgynous?
Is Tracy Chapman androgynous?
Is kd lang androgynous?
Name some artists that might be considered androgynous.
Malcolm McLaren spoke of pop music as 'the one excuse to look effeminate.'
Do many pop music artists look effeminate?
Do many pop music fans look effeminate?
Why might someone WANT to look effeminate?
Is The-Artist-Formerly-Known-as-Prince effeminate in the excerpts we see? Why might female fans find androgynous artists, such as Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet, attractive?

14. Madonna is named by many commentators as someone who is heavily involved in image. Video excerpts show her changing her image continually. Why do you think Madonna is so controversial?
How does her continual changing images add to her controversy?
Is Madonna more form than substance?
Does Madonna communicate sex and rebellion?
What do most parents think about Madonna's image(s)?

15. Salt, of Salt N Pepa, states: "Visuals in this day of videos -- you have to because a bad video can kill a good song and vice versa."
Can you name some situations wherein a bad video killed a good song?
Can you name some situations wherein a good video made a bad song popular?
What conclusion can you come to about the power of music videos in influencing the success of pop songs?

16. New Kids On The Block is presented as a group that was chosen more for image than talent. The manager said he needed good looking people who could sing. New Kids On The Block were very popular for a short time, but their popularity didn't last.
One NKOTB, Marky Mark, continued as a solo artist. How did his image change when he went solo? Has his image changed again? Can you suggest some current examples of groups which have style over substance?
Are they becoming more or less popular?

17. Kurt Cobain, deceased lead singer of Nirvana, is presented as someone who conscientiously tried not to have an image, but to be real. Even so, his non-image became an image and was mimicked by Paris fashion designers as the Grunge look. Prefabricated Grunge clothing could be found in department stores.
Is it possible for a musical artist to avoid having an image?
Can you name any successful artist(s) who have no image?
Who forces the artists to have an image? Their managers? Their fans? Other artists?

18. Do Hip Hop artists have images?
List all the items that make up most Hip Hop artists' images.
Which Hip Hop artist has the best image? Why?
Which Hip Hop artist has the worst image? Why?
19. What conclusions can you come to about:
The connection(s) between pop music and images?
The connection(s) between pop music and sexual repression?
The connection(s) between pop music and rebellion?
The connection(s) between music videos and image? 

Written by: Neil Andersen
Neil Andersen is an award-winning Curriculum Consultant with the Toronto District School Board. He is also a speaker and consultant in media and communications technology. His most recent work includes the Between the Lines CDs, the teachers' study guide for the award-winning Scanning Television, and study guides for Space, Bravo! and MuchMusic's Cable in the Classroom broadcasts of original media literacy programming.

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