I didn't check out Adam Lambert's American Music Awards performance until this morning, and for all of the talk going on about it, I immediately thought of "Velvet Goldmine." I also thought that this guy was paying tribute to the golden age of Glam Rock, which is a really interesting period in music history, and I am glad to see someone attempt to bring some of that back.
But I find it funny that there is a bit of an uproar about Lambert's antics on stage (well after a normal bedtime for many children on a school night). The man was going for shock value. I was glad to know that the country saw an openly gay performer do things akin to what a straight performer would do for shock value. What I don't understand, however, is this continual discomfort with things sexual.
Our society continues to embrace violence in ways that are truly disturbing, and the Christianists don't really say much about that (I mean just check out "The Passion of the Christ" to see pornographic violence; and I was in a theatre with children when I saw it). Yet, sex continues to be something that we must "save children" from understanding.
Please.
I hope that Lambert continues to go down this path, bringing an open gay sensibility to the realm of rock and pop music, and pulling the rest of us with him. And as for my rememberances of "Velvet Goldmine," enjoy this little clip. By the way, Jonathan Rhys Meyers looks perfectly fetching in this film.
2 comments:
I couldn't agree more. I got into an online squabble with someone once because they wanted to censor Viagra commercials or confine them to late night because they felt uncomfortable watching them with their kids. They were afraid that their kids would want to know what "erectile dysfunction" means and that that might lead to them having to talk to their kids about sex. As if that would be a bad thing! The point I tried to make was that, by hiding sex-connected issues from the kids and setting up these big momentous "right times" to talk about sex with kids they're perpetuating the shame cloak that shrouded sex for us as kids. You know the one I mean: the one that makes us blush even today if we say "penis" in mixed company. How do we expect kids to make smart sexual choices when we flush with humiliation every time the subject comes up? Why do we think that kids can't handle the concept of sexuality? Little prepubescent boys get hardons all time - doesn't anybody but me remember that? I think it's high time that we stopped being embarrassed about sex and brought it fully and completely out in the open so that kids know it for what it is: a wonderful, delicious part of life that carries with it both joys and dangers, just as eating and every other perfectly natural activity does. That's the only way we're ever going to be able to break the cycle of teen promiscuity and pregnancy and all the other problems that plague teens and sex. As long as kids dread talking to their elders about sex they're going to work their sexual problems out on their own, in the dark. And that just isn't ever good, folks.
I totally agree with you.
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