Shots Across The Bow

Music has changed

My daughter just had her 13th birthday recently, and one of the things she asked for was the new CD from t.A.T.u. I couldn't figure out why she wanted to listen to Herve Villechaize singing, but if that's what she wanted, I would get it for her.

I got the CD and she was thrilled when she opened it.

If you've been following along, you know that we celebrated her birthday in Nashville during the 4th of July weekend, which means that we got to listen to t.A.T.u. for the entire three hour drive home.

Just in case you are as culturally illiterate as I am, t.A.T.u. is not the song stylings of Herve Villechaize, but bubble gum pop from a pair of Russian teenyboppers. According to their web site, the girls making up the dup were chosen from hundreds of hopefuls, all eager for their chance at stardom, and good dental work.

My first clue that this wasn't just some run of the mill, pre-fab, Milli Vanilli types was when my oldest son told me he wanted their album too, but the DVD version, not the CD. Now, I'm not up on the latest music trends, but when my 13 year old daughter and 18 year old son want the same music, alarm bells begin to ring.

Then I saw the MTV Movie Awards. I was flipping channels and came across waht I thought was a soft core porn channel. Dozens of girls in Catholic school uniforms were dancing and stripping on the stage, while two more girls were prancing around singing something about "not gonna get us." The scene reminded me of a strip club (not that I would know, but....well, it's what I would imagine a strip club would look like if I'd ever been inside one. Which I haven't. Never mind.)

Anyway, come to find out that the show was on MTV and the act performing was none other than t.A.T.u. Apparently, part of their shtick is that these two girls are lesbians.

Why?

I've heard their music. It's perfectly reasonable pop music, nothing special, but snappy. Why market them as lesbians?

Posted by Rich at July 14, 2003 11:23 PM | TrackBack