Things I don't understand #75...

...How sex is used to sell almost everything.

Welcome to "Music Monday", sort of. Today might seem a little esoteric, but you should try wondering through my mind some time. I'm sure you wouldn't be surprised to see the example I've chosen on the right. For an artist with the somewhat limited range and musical talent of Rihanna, not to mention her target audience, she probably needs to use every asset(ah-hum) at her disposal. See Britney Spears. See Lady GaGa. See Beyonce. See Shania Twain. Sex sells pop music. Sex sells R&B. Sex sells country. Got it. Got it. And got it. Now what I didn't expect was this.

One day while perusing the Amazon mp3 selection I noticed their free download of the day was some opera number. I thought,"Why not?" Everyone could use a little culture, even me, plus the price was right. Sure, it probably won't take, but I've got a pretty big hard drive(if you know what I mean). So as I was downloading the song, I glanced at the "Customers Who Bought This Song's Album Also Bought" area that featured various covers from various classical and opera albums. Now, this it not pop. Or R&B. And definitely country. Those things are products of the music industry, this is art. This is the high-minded world of the hoity-toity music lover. Surely, they wouldn't fall prey to the basest of instincts in us. After all, they just care about the music...the opulence of a string section...the power of a well trained mezzo-soprano. Surely this crowd would not be swayed by a hot chick on the cover. Right? Well, this is just a sample of what I saw:

Okay...So we all have our weaknesses. Sure, no one's wearing a barbed wire bikini, but I'm not overwhelmed by a sense that we're focusing on the music here. I really don't know why this struck me so(ok, I probably know one reason), but it just seems so odd to me. The juxtaposition of, "Hey, you should be listening to these really important works of art...and you can know this because they're performed by hot chicks." Isn't that basically Bud Light's strategy? And we all know what Bud Light tastes like. Now St. Pauli Girl, that's a beer.