VH1's 'From the Waist Down: Men, Women & Music,' Five-Part Special

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Aug 08, 2001 Source: Excite News Submitted By: nicole@bsbblackandblue.com Special Features Fascinating Footage Plus Interviews With the Bangles, Spinderella, Ted Nugent, Slash, C.C. DeVille, Tina Turner, Melissa Etheridge, Stevie Nicks, Chrissie Hynde, Jerry Harrison, Fred Schneider, Pat Benatar, John Taylor, Jane Wiedlin, Boy George, Cyndi Lauper, Tommy Lee, A.J. McLean, T-Boz, Madonna, Rob Thomas, Sheila E., Janet Jackson, Chuck D., Missy Elliot, Donna Summer, Christina Aguilera and Destiny's Child NEW YORK, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- From Elvis, "Sweet Little Sixteen" and The Twist, through "Sticky Fingers," groupies and "I Touch Myself," pop music has consistently sent one unmistakable message: It's about S-E-X. In popular culture, music sets the trends while the rest follow. And nowhere is this fact more evident than in the sexual revolution. "From the Waist Down: Men, Women & Music" traces the sexual saturation of contemporary culture in the past five decades -- and takes the provocative premise that music has been responsible for it all -- in this five-hour, five-part special, debuting Monday-Friday, August 6-10, at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT) each night. A series of five themed, non-chronological hours, "From the Waist Down: Men, Women & Music" looks at how music and sexual attitudes have been profoundly connected, beginning with the genesis of rock in the '50s, straight through to the porn metal rap of today. Hour 4 -- "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" (Thursday, August 9): In the past 40 years, women have used rock music to mount a guerilla attack on male sexist culture. Women have shown that they can be as sexual as any man. And they've learned that with sex comes power. Nowadays, women can be as sexy and as sexually powerful as they want to be. In the '50s, however, female singers were marketed as wholesome and pretty -- not explicitly sexual. But it all started to change in the early '60s when the girl group The Shangri-Las began to project a streetwise, sexy, dangerous image. Not long after, the burgeoning women's liberation movement was reflected by performers such as Aretha Franklin, with her demands for satisfaction and respect, as well as by the raw sexual fervor of Tina Turner and Janis Joplin. A more sensitive sexuality was expressed by singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt and Carly Simon. But the punk revolution truly broke open the doors for women as their greatest outlet for sexually-charged expression, as artists such as Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, Debbie Harry and Wendy O. Williams took the stage. Speaking about pioneering punkers The Runaways, Pamela Des Barres notes, "They were threatening, they wore black leather, they showed their bodies off. They were hot, sweaty little girls, and they are very important girls." The video age has allowed female performers to strut their stuff as never before. Pat Benatar says of her role as "bitch goddess": "Now, I wanted to go out there and go 'You know, we're going to do this my way, I'm going to sing this, I'm going to stand there, you're going to listen, I'm not wearing what you want, I'm wearing what I want. I'm going to have a sexual image because I want it, not for you -- I want to do this.'" And then there was Madonna. Duran Duran's John Taylor sums up the scene: "To see this girl come along, just exerting so much power, was a little intimidating, and it made everybody else look a little ... impotent." Madonna used the power of music videos to expand the boundaries of female sexual expression. Her trail was followed by such artists as Janet Jackson, Queen Latifah and Mariah Carey, and their assertions of hip hop independence. And as the new millennium takes shape, the edge between adolescent innocence and adult sexuality is walked -- though not without heavy criticism -- by new teen pop tarts like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears. "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" features fascinating film, TV, video, movie and news footage and photos, plus new interviews with The Bangles, Spinderella of Salt-N-Pepa, Ted Nugent, Slash, Poison's C.C. DeVille, Tina Turner, Melissa Etheridge, Stevie Nicks, Chrissie Hynde, Talking Heads' Jerry Harrison, Fred Schneider of The B-52's, Pat Benatar, John Taylor of Duran Duran, Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's, Boy George, Cyndi Lauper, Motley Crue's Tommy Lee, Backstreet Boys' A.J. McLean, TLC's T-Boz, Madonna, Rob Thomas of matchbox twenty, Sheila E. of Ringo's All-Starr Band, Janet Jackson, Chuck D., Missy Elliot, Donna Summer, Christina Aguilera and Destiny's Child. Also interviewed are authors Camille Paglia, Eric Nuzum, Laura Berman, Michelangelo Signorile, Pamela Des Barres, Lisa Palac and Alice Echols, music journalists Carla DeSantis, Tony Horkins and J.D. Considine, Jane editor Jane Pratt, director John Waters, David Rousseve of Reality Dance Co., Rolling Stone Press' Holly George Warren and photographer David LaChappelle. "From the Waist Down: Men, Women & Music" is a production of World of Wonder. Lauren Zalaznick, Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato are Executive Producers. VH1 produces and programs a wide variety of music-based series, specials, live events and acquisition-based programming that keep viewers in touch with the music they love. VH1 is a registered trademark of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc. MTV Networks owns and operates the cable television programming services MTV: Music Television, MTV 2: Music Television, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, TV Land and VH1 as well as The Suite from MTV Networks, a package of ten digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks also has joint ventures, licensing agreements and syndication deals whereby its programming can be seen worldwide. Comment on this item. Recent Comments Submitted by: Carol Clark Submitted by: Michael Pollitt Submitted by: Jennifer Submitted by: Ann Elisabeth Submitted by: David Submitted by: Joe Submitted by: John Submitted by: Carol Clark Comment on this item. Next Item: Around The World To Be Released In September Prev Item: Mom says A.J. McLean needed rehab