So, I was looking up old videos from my childhood yesterday...
And also this one, which it won't let me embed
There was this one...
I won't leave out Polly Jean either...though it also won't let me embed this one.
So first, when I was in high school, I wanted to have so much of teh sex with Shirley Manson. I just need to get that out there.
But what struck me one my little trip down memory lane was how well those videos held up. I mean, those were reasonable hits - they were all over MTV and even got played on the shitty "alternative" (remember alternative music!) station in my hometown. I would say, hands down and objectively - not just seen through the mists of nostalgia - those were better songs then most of the stuff on the radio today. Duh.
What's really killer is just how fucking *sexy* those videos are. Seriously. The clip from Garbage's "I Think I'm Paranoid" totally turns me on - that little flip where she shows her matching panties, or the moment where she clutches at her lower abdomen? Swoon motherfuckers!
I think in all of those videos, what is interesting is how the women really own their sex. They're obviously hot, but they could give a fuck if you think they're hot. Their sexual actions reflect their own desires, not their interest in peaking *your* desire. You can't help but think of the JLoChristinaSpears of current music. And this is not a screed against pop music. It's about women [and being *women* is key - look at Shirley! She's no *girl*] who are sexual, versus girls being sexy in the trashiest way possible.
I might posit that the 90s was the moment, brief and fleeting, JUST BEFORE post-feminism. It was that gasp where women, in the broad cultural sense, were starting to really own their sexuality - in an aggressive way. But it was BEFORE owning your sexuality meant like flashing your boobs for Girls Gone Wild and generally being a "slut" (in the sense of "just being easy to make others like you" way, not in the "i just like doing it! way) became the norm for young girls and women.
It makes me lament.
And also this one, which it won't let me embed
There was this one...
I won't leave out Polly Jean either...though it also won't let me embed this one.
So first, when I was in high school, I wanted to have so much of teh sex with Shirley Manson. I just need to get that out there.
But what struck me one my little trip down memory lane was how well those videos held up. I mean, those were reasonable hits - they were all over MTV and even got played on the shitty "alternative" (remember alternative music!) station in my hometown. I would say, hands down and objectively - not just seen through the mists of nostalgia - those were better songs then most of the stuff on the radio today. Duh.
What's really killer is just how fucking *sexy* those videos are. Seriously. The clip from Garbage's "I Think I'm Paranoid" totally turns me on - that little flip where she shows her matching panties, or the moment where she clutches at her lower abdomen? Swoon motherfuckers!
I think in all of those videos, what is interesting is how the women really own their sex. They're obviously hot, but they could give a fuck if you think they're hot. Their sexual actions reflect their own desires, not their interest in peaking *your* desire. You can't help but think of the JLoChristinaSpears of current music. And this is not a screed against pop music. It's about women [and being *women* is key - look at Shirley! She's no *girl*] who are sexual, versus girls being sexy in the trashiest way possible.
I might posit that the 90s was the moment, brief and fleeting, JUST BEFORE post-feminism. It was that gasp where women, in the broad cultural sense, were starting to really own their sexuality - in an aggressive way. But it was BEFORE owning your sexuality meant like flashing your boobs for Girls Gone Wild and generally being a "slut" (in the sense of "just being easy to make others like you" way, not in the "i just like doing it! way) became the norm for young girls and women.
It makes me lament.
VIEW 15 of 15 COMMENTS
hysanadu:
I've said it before, I'll say it again, Shirley Manson is pure hotness.
sockpuppet:
^agrees^