I
came across this article where Chrissie Hynde of the rock group The Pretenders calls current young female pop stars, “sex workers.” From the UK’s Daily Mail:
She provoked fierce
debate by saying it was her own fault for being sexually assaulted at 21.
And now Chrissie Hynde
has waded into another contentious area – the overly sexualised nature of
modern pop music.
In an obvious reference
to scantily-clad stars such as Miley Cyrus and Rihanna, the former Pretenders
lead singer branded them ‘sex workers’ for selling music by ‘bumping and
grinding’ in their underwear. The 64-year-old also accused them of doing ‘a
great deal of damage’ to women with their risque performances.
Miss Hynde launched the
scathing attack during a tense interview on BBC’s Woman’s Hour yesterday. She
suggested that today’s provocatively-dressed stars are sending the wrong
message about how people should view sex.
Miss Hynde added: ‘I
don’t think sexual assault is a gender issue as such, I think it’s very much
it’s all around us now.
‘It’s provoked by this
pornography culture, it’s provoked by pop stars who call themselves feminists.
Maybe they’re feminists on behalf of prostitutes – but they are no feminists on
behalf of music, if they are selling their music by bumping and grinding and
wearing their underwear in videos.
‘That’s a kind of
feminism – but, you know, you’re a sex worker is what you are.
As
I think about it, I don’t recall ever seeing Hynde dressed in a provocative outfit. For a rock singer, she’s definitely on the
modest side. But she is absolute
right. I can’t stand what these female
pop stars are doing. Frankly I don’t
even think they are that musically gifted.
If you have to expose yourself to get popularity, it ain’t because of
the music.
One
place I do disagree with Hynde is on blaming women for being sexually assaulted
by their dress. There is never
justification for forcing oneself on a woman, no matter what her
condition.
You
can read the rest of the article for more details. But I did want to post the closing paragraph.
Miss Hynde, who moved to England in 1973, also
said she regrets her hard partying ways and how they damaged her relationship
with her parents. The singer has given up drugs, alcohol and cigarettes and now
embraces a clean-living lifestyle.
Good
for her.
Let
me take this opportunity to post my favorite of The Pretenders’ songs, “Back on
the Chain Gang.” I’ll also post the
lyrics. I’m going to ask a question on
the meaning of the chorus section of the song.
I want to get some opinions.
Here
are the lyrics:
I found a picture of
you, oh oh oh oh
What hijacked my world
that night
To a place in the past
We've been cast out of?
Oh oh oh oh
Now we're back in the
fight
We're back on the train
Oh, back on the chain
gang
A circumstance beyond
our control, oh oh oh oh
The phone, the TV and
the news of the world
Got in the house like a
pigeon from hell, oh oh oh oh
Threw sand in our eyes
and descended like flies
Put us back on the
train
Oh, back on the chain
gang
The powers that be
That force us to live
like we do
Bring me to my knees
When i see what they've
done to you
But i'll die as i stand
here today
Knowing that deep in my
heart
They'll fall to ruin
one day
For making us part
I found a picture of
you, oh oh oh oh
Those were the happiest
days of my life
Like a break in the
battle was your part, oh oh oh oh
In the wretched life of
a lonely heart
Now we're back on the
train
Oh, back on the chain
gang
And
here is the song.
While
the Wikipedia entry on this song says it’s about the death from a drug overdose of the Pretender’s
founding member and lead guitarist, James Honeyman-Scott, ostensibly the song seems to be about the memory of a failed relationship. Nowhere could I find was it said that
Chrissie Hynde and James Honeyman-Scott had a romantic relationship. It doesn’t appear to be. The lyrics are cryptic enough to blur both a
romantic relationship and a friendship.
What
do the chorus lines “Now we’re back on the train/Back on the chain gang” refer? For the thirty-something years I’ve heard
this song, for some reason I thought “Back on the chain-gang” referred to being
remarried: wedding rings being links in a chain. Suddenly yesterday while listening to the
song I questioned myself and realized she means just what it means, a euphemism
for convicts. But then how does that fit
into the song? And what does being “back
on the train” have to do with chain gangs?
It’s quite odd, and like the stanzas very cryptic. I can’t seem to crack it. Does anyone have any suggestions?
But
what a great song this is. The melody is
so memorable, and melancholic. It seems
to capture a sadness with an angry undertone.
And the phrases are just superb, despite their opaqueness. That
first stanza in one succinct sentence captures the situation. The verbs “hijacked” and “cast out” suggest powerlessness
to forces beyond their control. And the
outside world entering their “house like a pigeon from hell” is superb. And this stanza just captures the anger and
bitterness: “But I'll die as I stand here today/Knowing that deep in my heart/They'll
fall to ruin one day/For making us part.”
