Sexual & violent content of music: 1970-2004

1. Sexual & violent content of music: 1970-2004 Elizabeth Langdon, COM 633

2. Project Overview • RATIONALE • American adolescents listen to 1.5 hours of music each day (Pardun et al, 2005) to as much as 4 hours each day (Arnett, 2002) • 98 percent of adolescents have access to radios, CD players and MP3 players at home (Primack, 2009) • In 2003, young adults were responsible for one third of all music sales (Recording Industry Association of America)

3. Project Overview • POINTS OF INTEREST • Across six media examined, music contained dramatically more sexual content (40%) than any other medium (Pardun et al) • 3% of TV sexual content and 4% of movie sexual content focused on sexual intercourse, but 15% of the sexual content in music focused on sexual intercourse (Pardun et al) • Content analyses of popular music from the 1940s to today have consistently shown that between 70% and 90% of the songs contain sexual themes (e.g., Arnett, 2002; Christenson & Roberts, 1998) and that sexual lyrics are becoming increasingly explicit, focusing more on casual sex and sexual acts rather than romantic innuendo

4. Project Overview • POINTS OF INTEREST • Among Billboard’sTop 100, from the years 1958-1998, eighty-one songs had lyrics about love. Inductive coding showed that many of the expressions of love in the lyrics were crass appeals to sex and passion (Dukes, 2003) • Dukes (2003) found a relation between genre and whether or not the song was a love song: 96% of R&B songs were love songs; 82% of rock songs were love songs; but only 59% of rap/hip-hop songs were love songs • Dukes (2003) also found a correlation between gender, time period and sex words used in songs. The greatest average number of sex words was used by black men (1991–1998), and the most concentrated doses of sex words was used by women during the period of 1976-1984

5. Project Overview • Research Questions • RQ1: Have song lyrics become more sexually explicit over time? • RQ2: Have song lyrics become more violent over time? • RQ3: Do trends in sexual content of lyrics and trends in societal indicators of sexual attitudes correlate in important ways? • RQ4: Do trends in violent content of lyrics and trends in violent crime rates correlate in important ways? • RQ5: Are there any correlations between sexual and violent content and genre? • RQ6: Are there any correlations between sexual and violent content and artist sex or age?

6. Project Overview • Sample • The overall population for this study is songs charting on Billboard’s weekly Hot 100 lists for the years 1970 through 2004 • A sampling frame was selected that included all songs peaking at #10 or higher on Billboard’s weekly Hot 100 charts for the years 1970 through 2004. The sampling frame consisted of 2,874 individual songs • The sampling frame was then separated into five-year time periods defined as 1970-1974, 1975-1979, 1980-1984, 1985-1989, 1990-1994, 1995-1999, 2000-2004 • A simple random sample of five songs was pulled from each of the 7 time periods, for a total of 35 songs. Random sampling was used again to determine a sample of seven songs which all coders would analyze, for a reliability assessment and finally to assign the remaining songs to coders (each coder analyzed a unique set of seven additional songs)

7. Coding Scheme • Instructions • General Variables • Genre, Sex of Singer, Age of Singer, Titles, Artist Names, Themes • Medium-specific variable: Emotional tone of music • “Music does impact meaning. Hence, any method designed to analyze music as a rhetorical form must consider the dynamic interaction between lyrics and score to capture a full meaning of the message” (Sellnow, 2001).

8. Coding Scheme • Conceptualization of Sex • Sex is defined as the sexual activities, practices or behaviors humans use to express their sexuality • Includes those activities that involve only one’s self (e.g. masturbation) or two or more people (e.g. intercourse, oral sex or mutual masturbation) • Includes activities between both heterosexual and homosexual individuals, as well as activities between married partners, partners in committed relationships, casual sex partners (including “friends with benefits,” one-night stands) and anonymous partners (e.g. prostitutes) • Sex includes activities between partners who are sexually attracted to one another, but also includes activities enacted with a partner strictly for fun or pleasure (without commitment), obligation, sympathy, pity, monetary gain, advantages gained, conception, or hate • Also includes activities performed under force or duress

9. Coding Scheme • Conceptualization of Sex • Foreplay activities include kissing on the mouth, with the tongue, on the body; erotic massage; touching a partner’s primary or secondary sex organs; sex talk (e.g. talking dirty); rubbing bodies together with or without clothing; watching or reading erotica or pornography • Intercourse is defined as penile-vaginal sex (i.e. when a man's penis enters a woman's vagina) or penile-anal sex (i.e. when a man’s penis enters a woman’s, or another man’s anus) • Oral sex is defined as contact between mouth and genitals • Masturbation includes masturbation by one’s self, defined as touching one’s genitals to feel sexual pleasure, as well as mutual masturbation, defined as masturbating in front of a partner

10. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Foreplay: Kiss You All Over by Exile I wanna kiss you all over And over again I wanna kiss you all over Till the night closes in Till the night closes in

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12. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Intercourse: Tonight’s the Night by Rod Stewart C’mon angel my heart’s on fire Don’t deny your man’s desire You’d be a fool to stop this tide Spread your wings and let me come inside

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14. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Oral Sex: You Oughta Know by Alanis Morissette I want you to know I'm happy for you I wish nothing but the best for you both An older version of me Is she perverted like me Would she go down on you in a theater?

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16. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Masturbation: I Touch Myself by The Divinyls I don't want anybody else When I think about you I touch myself I don't want anybody else When I think about you I touch myself I touch myself

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18. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Sexual Body Parts: Baby Got Back by Sir Mixalot I like big butts and I can not lie You other brothers can't deny That when a girl walks in with an itty bitty waist And a round thing in your face, You get sprung

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20. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Infidelity: Torn Between Two Lovers by Mary MacGregor Let me hold you close and say these words as gently as I can There's been another man that I've needed and I've loved But that doesn't mean I love you less And he knows he can't possess me and he knows he never will There's just this empty place inside of me that only he can fill

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22. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Promiscuity: All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You by Heart All I wanna do is make love to you One night of love was all we knew All I wanna do is make love to you Come on say you will, you want me too

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24. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Prostitution: The Message by Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five The Zircon Princess seemed to lost her senses Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps So she can tell the stories to the girls back home She went to the city and got social security She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own

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26. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Sexual Violence: Me and a Gun by Tori Amos It was me and a gun and a man on my back And I sang "holy holy" as he buttoned down his pants You can laugh, It's kind of funny the things you think at times like these Like I haven't seen Barbados, so I must get out of this

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28. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Lover: My Boo by Usher & Alicia Keys It started when we were younger, you were mine ( my boo )Now another brother's takin’ over but it's still in your eyes ( my boo ) Even though we used to argue its alright ( my boo )I know we haven't seen each other in awhile but you will always be my boo

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30. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • References to Refusal of Sex/Waiting for Sex/Abstinence: Let’s Wait Awhile by Janet Jackson When we get to know each other And we're both feeling much stronger Then let's try to talk it over Let's wait awhile longer Let's wait awhile Before it's too late Let's wait awhile Before we go too far

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32. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • Outcomes: Pregnancy: You’re Having My Baby by Paul Anka & Odia Coates You’re havin' my baby What a lovely way of sayin‘ how much you love me Havin' my baby What a lovely way of sayin‘ what you're thinkin' of me I can see it, face is glowin‘ I can see in your eyes I'm happy, you know it

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34. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • Outcomes: STDs: Waterfalls by TLC Little precious has a natural obsession For temptation but he just can't see She gives him loving that his body can't handle But all he can say is baby it's good to me One day he goes and takes a glimpse in the mirror But he doesn't recognize his own face His health is fading and he doesn't know why Three letters took him to his final resting place

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36. Coding Scheme • Conceptualization of Violence • Violence is defined as the use of physical aggression against one or more people for the purpose of injuring or otherwise harming them. Violence also includes verbal or nonverbal aggression that indicates the potential for physical harm and that is used against one or more people to force them to action against their will

37. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • Reference to Homicide: Cop Killer by Body Count I got my black shirt on I got my black gloves on I got my ski mask on This shit's been too long I got my twelve gauge sawed off I got my headlights turned off I'm 'bout to bust some shots off I'm 'bout to dust some cops off

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39. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • Reference to Physical Assault: Beat on the Brat by The Ramones Beat on the brat Beat on the brat Beat on the brat with a baseball bat Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh

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41. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • Reference to Robbery, etc.: The Message by Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five You say, "I'm cool, I'm no fool!" But then you wind up dropping out of high school Now you're unemployed, all non-void Walking 'round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd Turned stickup kid, look what you've done did Got sent up for a eight year bid

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43. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • Reference to Violent Death of Another: Waterfalls by TLC A lonely mother gazing out of the window Staring at a son that she just can't touch If at any time he's in a jam she'll be by his side But he doesn't realize he hurts her so much But all the praying just ain't helping at all 'cause he can't seem to keep his self out of trouble So he goes out and he makes his money the best way he knows how Another body laying cold in the gutter

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45. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • Reference to Use of Gun: Cop Killer by Body Count I got my black shirt on I got my black gloves on I got my ski mask on This shit's been too long I got my twelve gauge sawed off I got my headlights turned off I'm 'bout to bust some shots off I'm 'bout to dust some cops off

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47. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • Reference to Use of Blunt or Sharp Weapon: Beat on the Brat by The Ramones Beat on the brat Beat on the brat Beat on the brat with a baseball bat Oh yeah, oh yeah, uh-oh

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49. Coding Scheme • Variables & Examples • Outcomes: Death: Cop Killer by Body Count I'm a cop killer, better you than me Cop killer, fuck police brutality Cop killer, I know your family's grieving (fuck ‘em) Cop killer, but tonight we get even, ha ha

50. Coding Scheme