Controversial music videos

The music industry today is made up of thousands of artists all fighting for fame; one of the ways they use to try and capture people’s attention is through their music videos. More and more artists are creating controversial music videos in the hope it goes viral.

Madonna – Like a Prayer

The first showing of the ‘Like a Prayer’ was aired in 1989 on MTV after the song was used in a Pepsi commercial. The video was deemed as controversial by MTV and many music critics. One critic from The Daily Schenectady Gazette stated “the video is vulnerable to charges of being blatantly provocative in its calculated blending of sex and religion”. Religious groups across the world protested against the video as they believed it portrayed Christianity unfairly and contained offensive Christian imagery. However Madonna went on to win several awards for her controversial video, the video is even number two on VH1’s Greatest 100 Videos list. 

Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines

The majority of people had never heard of Robin Thicke before his single ‘Blurred Lines’. The reason why Robin Thicke’s video is seen as controversial as features three naked female models and because of this it was originally banned from YouTube. Banned music videos tend to generate a lot of hype on the internet as people want to see what the big deal is and look it up. It’s no doubt that because of the controversial music ‘Blurred Lines’ became a bigger hit than it would have. ‘Blurred Lines’ has also been criticised by a UK charity that provides help to rape victims saying that some of the lyrics are sexually violent. As of September 2013 the unrated version of ‘Blurred Lines’ sits at 18.6 million views on YouTube and the clean version at 166.5 million.

Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box

One of the main controversial points in this video is that the young featured is wearing an outfit very similar to those of the Klu Klax Klan; this in itself raised a few eyebrows. Also the video contains graphical images of unborn babies which can be seen throughout the video. Some people believe that Nirvana created this music video with the sole purpose of provoking their audience and to generate a discussion on the topics featured, if this is the case they certainly achieved it. Just like Madonna Nirvana went on to win several awards for this video.