The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

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sex – the times they are a changin’?

by 16 Comments

I wonder if the shift away from “edgy” violence in the arts and media will be paralleled by a similar shift from ‘edgy’ sex in the arts and media; it must be 40 years since Mapplethorpe argued you could skewer art pretensions by making it pornographic (see his biography). Then there was the Cosey Fan Tutti/ GPO exhibition at the ?ICA which also sought to deconstruct/ challenge/ [enter your post-modern buzz-word here] sex and pornography. Fashionistas eventually got it, Jeff Koons, his missus, all those photo essays of the fetish and s&m world, Madonna’s “Sex” book (oh those amusing transgressions she played with), Terry Richardson, porn as a norm, and the hiding in plain sight of sexual predators (I see Max Clifford and Weinstein as reflecting similar phenomena). I’m all for sex, and all for it being represented in an honest manner to accommodate a wide variety of orientations and preferences. Can this be done in a better way than currently? Discuss.

Broooooooooooooce !!

by 2 Comments

Takes me back to being 19 when I saw him a few months after this. There has been some criticism of The River here and this is one of the tracks that probably would come in for a kicking. A throwaway song, but f*** me, what a great live band

http://www.vevo.com/watch/bruce-springsteen/Ramrod-(The-River-Tour-Tempe-1980)/USSM21502075

Sexiest Moments In Rock

by 156 Comments

Fin59 thinks it is seconds 16 to 19 of Sara, when Stevie Nicks sings, “Wait a minute, baby/Stay with me a while…” I can see what he means. The voice is alluring. It draws you into the song. And it affects my hormones.

It made me think about the sexiest moments in Pop. I’ve come to the conclusion that, for me, it is a Hip-Hop skit. De La Soul, under the supervision of their master producer, Prince Paul, are the kings of the skit. Some say they invented the genre. Their best album, Three Feet High And Rising, is full of them. There is one called De La Orgy, in which they all fake an orgasm. It’s funny but deeply unsexy. The one that is a real turn on is Transmitting Live From Mars. Over a laid-back, slinky beat, we are treated to an aural lesson in speaking French. It feels like being smeared all over in oil by a beautiful woman. It’s lovely.

Ahem.

*rubs head ruefully*

So, Afterworders, tell me, what floats your boat? It’s not whole songs I’m interested in but those fragments or moments that spark your interest.

http://youtu.be/0cUibv9Q-3g

The world needs Christian Grey

by 8 Comments

todayoutof10 on Fifty Shades – Christian Grey is ready for us. But are we ready for him…?

As I booked my ticket to see Fifty Shades of Grey, I was very much looking forward to my date with Christian Grey. I had been left disappointed by our first encounter and was eager to find out if our second meeting would be an improvement. I had reason to believe this would be the case.

I was late to the Fifty Shades party, having bought the book and its two sequels long enough after they had become a sensation to expect a cracker of a read. Finding the idea interesting, I was eager to immerse myself in a story that I expected to be emotionally charged, erotic and pretty gripping. In my head, I was already conjuring the developing relationship between the troubled man and the sexually naive young woman and looked forward to how it would play out in word form. Unfortunately, the books disappointed. So much so, that I gave up part way through the second novel. For me, a good book will put flesh on the bones of the characters I am imagining, helping me develop the story » Continue Reading.