Otis Williams, the oldest living member of the legendary music group The Temptations does not approve of music’s current stars selling sex more than music. While currently on tour with The Four Tops in Europe, the star spoke of both his admiration for Beyoncé and Rihanna but also condemned the sexually explicit music they make for profit.
When speaking of Beyoncé’s grammy performance he added, “I watched Beyoncé at the Grammys and I have to say, I’m a huge Beyoncé fan, but what she did with Jay-Z, I thought, ‘No you ain’t girlfriend’!” He singled out Rihanna as well when he added “I love Rihanna but I’m shocked by her and a few others that are coming out with very explicit things.” When speaking about the decline of morality in music, if you will, he seemed to think that selling sex is unnecessary because according to Williams, “A great song will always stand the test of time.”
That last quote has proven true because the music he and his bandmates made was and still is extremely popular and they didn’t have to appear half naked or recreate their amorous activities with their significant others on stage. Make no mistake, Williams isn’t saying that the music of yesteryear was church music by any stretch of the imagination. I’m sure tons of children were conceived to Lets’s Get it On by Marvin Gaye, but the way in which the package is presented is completely different, there was mystery and creative word play, it was almost elegant the way older stars approached the topic of sex.
I’d almost say that Rick James brought the raunch, but he was a self proclaimed super freak with the talent to back it up. He didn’t do it to get attention, he did it because that who he was and perhaps that the difference.
Is Williams saying the Temptations were saints in their personal lives? Not by a long shot! But the different is David Ruffin for example, never did drugs on stage or made a song glorifying his personal life or demons and that’s what our performers of today don’t get.
Personally, my problem with Rihanna is that she uses outrageous antics in place of actual talent and that never ends well, just ask Miley Cyrus. She may not be able to blow the crowd away with her vocals but she can hump a mic stand, and that’s sure to get attention.
Beyoncé on the other hand, doesn’t need to show her behind (literally) in public. She is doing it because it sells. Let Beyoncé tell it, she almost conceived another baby on sage because she wanted to show women who have had children that they too can be sexy after baby… which is a crock of PR crap. I’m the youngest of 5 children, clearly my mother didn’t need a pop singer to give her permission to be sexy after she had my sister and neither does any other woman.
I would like Beyoncé and other stars more if they were genuine, Beyonce is exposing herself to the whole world because they will buy it. Point. Blank. For example, Her last album 4, (which was my favorite) didn’t have any sexually explicit songs on it and it didn’t get nearly the praise and attention of this album. She must have taken note because she went full throttle in the opposite direction with her current album. All Williams is saying is that your antics won’t grant you longevity in the public eye, your music will. I agree. what do you guys think?
Are the current music stars cop outs? Have people like Riahnna, Miley Cyrus, and Beyonce simply substituted explicit sexuality for good music – and since that seems to be selling, what does that say about us? These singers, like Beyonce, sell sexuality instead of good music because it works – it makes them easy money – and great music is damn hard to create – any attempt on their part to pretend that it’s about empowering women or feminism is a crock – on the contrary this stuff reinforces the female as sex object. Sound off in the comment section.