Moral Hysteria and Audience

Moral Hysteria is defined as panic from an older generation concerning the choice of youths.


1950's No. 1 - Frankie Laine - I Believe

• Elvis Presley gyrating with hits such as "Blue Suede Shoes," "Jail-house Rock"
• Fear of Rock and Roll starting in Memphis - people believed rock was Satanic music 
• Clothing became more revealing after WW2
• The dancing style became much more provocative and women became sexualised.

1960's No.1 - The Beatles - She Loves You

• Rolling stones - Influence of the Beatles on Western Society - John Lennon aggravated many generations and religions saying the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus." 
• These big name bands influenced whats known as teenage girl hysteria.
• The availability of drugs became a huge problem in the 60's as many bands used them which also influenced their fans to. 
• The contraceptive pill was introduced.The public eye believed this would just mean teens sleeping around, therfore having a knock on effect in music videos as they became more sexualised.

1970's - No.1 - Boney M - Rivers of Babylon

The Beatles broke up leaving a gap open for a new hit band!

• Elvis pronounced dead - Really the end of country music for decades
• Metal Bands eg "Black Sabbath" started to embrace the music scene, this was a new kind of rock that no one had experienced before.
• Anarchy becomes the main threat to society
• US pulls out of Vietnam leading to many protests against the U.S government creating Punk music.

1980's No.1 - Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Relax

• The resurgence of hard rock music in a form of glam metal subgenre. 
• Bands: AC/DC, Queen, U2, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Twisted Sister,Were the most popular acts of the decade. 
• The 1980s saw the emergence of international hard rock band Guns N' Roses and the successful comeback of Aerosmith. The success of hard rock act Van Halen spanned throughout the entire decade.

• Pop became the main genre in the late 80's as Michael Jackson, the superstardom of Prince and the emergence of Madonna,Whitney Houston, and Janet Jackson—who were all the most successful musicians during this time.
• Michael Jackson was the first African American artist to have his music video aired on MTV.
• First Wave of pop with many American Artists taking the British pop scene by storm however Duran Duran and Culture Club as well as Dexys Midnight Runners came up with some of the biggest hits of the year with classic songs such as "Karma Chameleon" and "Geno"
• Again drugs were widely available to the general public, however Aids became prevalent at this time and the most famous case would be Freddy Mercury as he died from this disease. 
• Cross dressing was a key theme during this time therfore in many music videos men would be seen wearing women clothing and vice versa - for example David Bowie and Elton John.

1990's No.1 - Bayside Boys - Macarena Bayside Boys Mix

• Pop music was still popular in this era however the movement of Rap threatened pops outright position.
• Rappers such as Dr Dre, Snoop Dog, Easy E, Tupac, Wu Tang Clan, Eminem, Ice Cube, Nelly and R Kelly pioneered this movement with other rappers coming in at the end of the 90's such as Jay Z, Kanye West and 50 Cent. 
• Rap is seen as protest music and it mainly concerns the rights of the African american race some of the stereotypes of this music would be gold chains and beautiful dancers therefore displaying how these rappers have come from nothing but worked for wealth. These rappers were predominantly black, however Eminem became a hit brining in an audience of white american and white British, however there was much controversy over his themes and his popularity. 
• Of course the 90's was a time of protest from many with events such as Mandela's release however there had no been any wars in recent times therefore this era was the safest to live in.  

2000's No.1 - Rihanna - Umbrella 

• The 2000's was the year that R&B really took off with songs such as "Candy Shop" "It Wasn't Me" leading the movement, R&B incorporated the two leading genres Rap and Pop and formed something of a super Genre. 
• However the 90's peace was desolated as on the 11th of September 2001 a terrorist attack shook the world. Which lead to music videos concerning peace and freedom as well as Rap taking a protest stance. 
• The invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan has also had an effect on our society as it is true that in our eyes of many any person resembling Muslim features is deemed a terrorist.
• Music videos suddenly took a turn from being the cute pop music kids were used to hearing to more violent and sexualised.