Sex scandals in the rock world

[Brian Cady <brianinatlanta2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

An interesting article focusing on the continued
popularity of R. Kelly despite charges of owning child
pornography and having sex with an underage girl.
There are some great points raised here about whether
or not such charges have meaning for fans. Here's the
link:
http://www.timesstar.com/Stories/0,1413,125~1549~1570005,00.html

and since these articles can disappear, here's the
article:

The age of indiscretion
Sex scandals in music world
By Jennifer Carnig
HE put the "R" in controversy.
STAFF WRITER

And this Friday R. Kelly will put the controversy in
Oakland, where he'll be playing the Arena on his first
stop on a five-city mini-tour, a trip that had to be
approved by a Chicago judge.

The R&B crooner, currently free on $1 million bail,
faces 21 charges of child pornography in Illinois
stemming from an alleged videotaped sexual encounter
with a 14-year-old girl. He is also facing 12 more
counts of child porn possession in Florida. 

Kelly, 36, has maintained his innocence. But on his
latest album, "Chocolate Factory," he does little to
tone things down or to change his "Bump N' Grind"
image. On his first single, "Ignition," he lets the
metaphors fly: 

"Girl, please let me stick my key in your ignition.
Have you ever driven a stick, babe? You'll be
screaming every time we shift them gears, babe."  

Despite the charges against him, his album debuted in
February at No.1 and is still on the Billboard charts
25 weeks later -- it's gone double platinum. Big sales
are also predicted for next month's greatest hits
release, "The 'R' in R&B Collection Volume 1." 

Clearly, the negative publicity hasn't deterred the
public's interest in his music nor has it frightened
off the music industry. 

Local radio stations KMEL and WILD 94.9 -- both of
whom, along with their parent company Clear Channel,
didn't return repeated calls requesting comment for
this article -- never stopped playing Kelly's music.
If anything, air play has increased, especially in the
weeks before Kelly's upcoming show. 

Both stations have been hyping his trip to Oakland on
their Web sites and on the air. KMEL is even playing a
promotional ad spoofing the state's gubernatorial
recall. Their "R. Kelly for Governor" commercial ends
with a deep, sultry voice -- a Kelly impersonator --
saying if he won the office, "I'd lower the drinking
age, and I'd definitely lower the age of consent." 

It's a joke for sure, but it's difficult for some to
find the humor when the punch line is advocating child
abuse. R. Kelly's publicists refused a request from
ANG Newspapers for an interview. 

"There's always been sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, and
that's one thing, but child porn is a different thing
altogether," says Dean Suzuki, a rock history
professor at San Francisco State University and a San
Leandro resident. "It's emblematic to me of the
decline of our society's sexual mores. Thirty years
ago his career would have been destroyed, and now it's
stuff to talk about around the water cooler. It's
pathetic and sickening." 

Nose-diving careers 

Suzuki points to the careers of Jerry Lee Lewis and
Chuck Berry, two 1950s-era artists whose careers took
a nose dive after word of their sexual improprieties
got out. 

Lewis, a piano-playing rocker, enjoyed a string of
hits with songs like "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole
Lot of Shakin' Goin' On." But in 1958, things changed
when he married his third wife -- his 13-year-old
second cousin. 

Lewis' rock career was pretty much over after the
press caught on to his affair, Suzuki says. To get by,
he turned to country music, and was virtually ignored
by the rock community until he was inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, the first year
such awards were given. 

Also inducted that first year was Berry, a
breakthrough artist who was one of the first
African-Americans to cross over and enjoy mainstream
success. He hit the top of the charts consistently
with songs like "Maybellene" and "Roll Over
Beethoven," as well as ditties like "Sweet Little
Sixteen" and "Too Much Monkey Business." 

But in 1961 Berry was convicted of violating the Mann
Act for "transporting an underage girl across state
lines for immoral purposes." He served 20 months in
prison, and his career seemed at an end until the
British blues rock explosion began and groups such as
Cream and the Rolling Stones paid him tribute. In
1972, Berry bounced back and had his biggest success
with the No. 1 hit "My Ding-A-Ling." 

When Lewis' and Berry's sex scandals became public,
"both of these men were just hounded by the press,"
Suzuki says. "Both of their careers were put on hold
for a long time, and Jerry Lee's never really
recovered." 

What those rockers were shunned for is "small
potatoes" compared to what R. Kelly has been accused
of, Suzuki says, and he's surprised that Kelly is
still enjoying success. 

"It really doesn't say a lot for our culture and
society," Suzuki says. 

What about Jacko? 

So what's the difference between R. Kelly and someone
like Michael Jackson? Jacko was accused of molesting a
13-year-old boy in 1993, but the charges were dropped
when he paid the boy's family an undisclosed
settlement. Jackson's career has never been the same,
while Kelly's is doing better than ever. 

"The difference," says a 19-year-old Hayward resident
who would only give her name as Tashia, "is that the
media is always trying to bring down successful black
men. Michael Jackson sold out on that, plus he stopped
making good music, so he lost support." 

Says her 17-year-old friend Jawan, "R's not trying to
be no role model. He just wants to make ... good
music, and he's doing it. I don't care what he does
with the rest of his time as long as he keeps it
going." 

According to Suzuki, it's less about race than it is a
commentary on American popular culture. The Who's Pete
Townshend, a white man, was charged with downloading
child pornography off the Internet in January (he was
cleared of any wrongdoing in May but was still placed
on a registry of sex offenders in England) but "nobody
seemed to care about that, either," Suzuki says. 

"Think about it," he says. "Every time you turn your
computer on you're hit with ads for Viagra and penis
enlargement and porn. Child pornography is just an
extension of that. People shake their heads about
things, but there's no longer the sense of outrage
that existed in the'50s." 

And what a difference a few decades makes. When Kelly
married 15-year-old Aaliyah in 1994 after producing
her first record, "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number,"
the publicity clearly didn't harm his career. The
marriage was quickly annulled by a judge when he
discovered Aaliyah lied about her age to get the
marriage certificate. 

Bay Area music writer Ben Fong-Torres, a former
Rolling Stone editor, says he "always reminds people
it's a different world today." 

"The press still continues to hound people, whether
it's Michael Jackson or Winona Ryder or Kobe Bryant,
but societal standards have changed enough that we
respond differently to these allegations than we used
to." 

'Wariness' of media 

There's a "wariness about media that didn't used to
exist," he says, so groupies are more likely to give
their idols the benefit of the doubt. And then there's
fan worship. 

"Look at Mike Tyson," Fong-Torres says of the boxer
who was convicted of rape and spent three years behind
bars. "He's still able to make millions. People still
pay to see him box. Times are just different now. Look
at Europe. They still worship Michael Jackson there." 

So why did the Dixie Chicks get kicked off radio
stations owned by the same company that owns stations
that exalt Kelly? All the Chicks did was share their
political views. 

"The Chicks were hot at the time they made those
remarks about Bush, so they got a lot of attention
when they said that," Fong-Torres says. "But they've
triumphed and are doing great again. I think a lot of
it comes from what's popular. The Chicks' music is
still popular, so they're doing OK. Michael Jackson's
incident happened when his music was on the way out so
it was convenient for people to lose interest in him."


Popularity in the music industry is a seesaw, he says
-- artists' celebrity is constantly going up and down.
What's popular and what's good ultimately will be what
survives. Jerry Lee Lewis' and Chuck Berry's careers
were almost over at one point, but they're both
celebrated now. 

Suzuki, the rock historian, ultimately agrees, though
he still shakes his head in disgust at R. Kelly's
steady success. 

"But people love Beethoven," he says, "and he was a
horrible person. Horrible. People are the same way
with their pop idols. Nobody cares what R. Kelly does
to underage girls as long as he keeps making hits."


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