Initially, this piece wasn’t intended to dissect misogyny in music, but rather to celebrate Kings of Leon. It struck me that this band, hailing from Tennessee and fronted by sons of a preacher man, with their album “Come Around Sundown” released on October 18th, represented one of the few remaining arena-filling, anthemic rock acts. Their relative isolation in the current music landscape felt like a point worth exploring.
Driven by this hunch, I delved into the Billboard Hot 100, tallying the surprisingly sparse number of straightforward rock songs breaking through. Neon Trees, Train, Maroon 5, a power ballad by Daughtry, and a trio of Taylor Swift tracks were among the closest examples – seemingly validating my initial observation about the dwindling presence of rock.
However, my investigation took an unexpected turn when I encountered “Porn Star Dancing” by the relatively new post-grunge band, My Darkest Days, charting at number 90. Suddenly, the scarcity of popular rock music seemed like a secondary concern compared to the content of this particular song.
“Porn Star Dancing” is undeniably the heaviest track on the Hot 100, amplified by a guest guitar solo from Zakk Wylde of Black Label Society. Set against a backdrop of power chords and a driving rhythm section, lead singer Matt Walst vocalizes about pole dancing and a clear preference for women devoid of emotional baggage or moral constraints. The music video, shot at the Vanity nightclub within the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, is precisely as overtly sexist as one might anticipate.
It was Chad Kroeger, the frontman of Nickelback, who discovered and signed My Darkest Days, seemingly determined to amplify the cultural impact of his own band’s controversial reputation. Kroeger even contributes a verse to “Porn Star Dancing,” delivering lines as blatantly offensive as any within the song: “Stacy’s gonna save herself for marriage / But that’s just not my style / She’s got a pair that’s nice to stare at / But I want girls gone wild.”
To be clear, misogyny is far from a novel element in popular music. Hip-hop frequently comes under scrutiny for this: Trey Songz’s “Bottoms Up” and YG’s “Toot It and Boot It” serve as prominent recent illustrations.
Yet, rock music is by no means exempt. Kid Rock and Buckcherry immediately come to mind, and the unsettling aspect of “Porn Star Dancing” is precisely its utter predictability.
There exists a level of acceptance for the sexual objectification of women in pop music that is simply absent in almost any other form of entertainment. A film that so blatantly exploited strippers and scantily clad women would trigger widespread outrage. The same principle applies to literature.
Imagine if Trey Songz or the members of My Darkest Days appeared on a talk show and verbally expressed the very attitudes they perpetuate in their music videos. Public shock and condemnation would be swift and severe.
However, when these sentiments are packaged with a catchy beat and a melodic arrangement, our reactions shift to a more visceral level. Intellectual objections are often overridden. We might intellectually acknowledge the wrongness of objectifying women, but the presence of rhythm can make us feel compelled to dance, effectively bypassing critical thought.
Last week, while on Kerckhoff Patio, I engaged with several students, asking their perspectives on the objectification of women in pop music. Their responses weren’t marked by anger or outrage. They acknowledged the presence of misogynistic themes in some popular songs but didn’t seem overly concerned by it.
I am confident that none of these students are inherently sexist or endorse the portrayal of women presented in the music video for “Porn Star Dancing.” They were all approachable and helpful in our brief conversations.
Kalvin Muljono, a third-year biology student, aptly pointed out that “sex sells,” a commercially pragmatic, if cynical, observation. Felicia Xu, a second-year psychology student, suggested that perhaps our generation has become less sensitive to these issues compared to our parents’ generation, a potentially concerning societal shift.
But is this desensitization something we should passively accept? When news outlets and magazines publish trend pieces lamenting the apathy and detachment of today’s youth, isn’t this very tolerance of casual misogyny in our entertainment landscape part of what they are describing?
In nearly every other facet of contemporary life, we are actively striving for gender equality. We cannot afford to allow music to remain the last bastion of accepted prejudice. This is, admittedly, easier said than done. “Porn Star Dancing,” despite its problematic themes, has found its way into my own thoughts more than once during the writing of this column.
However, we must consciously resist succumbing to our baser instincts when they directly contradict common sense and basic decency. Let us instead champion beauty, diversity, and mutual respect, and actively reject the regressive impulses that surface from our darkest days.
