There is a lot of talk about Adam Lambert's performance at the American Music Awards. I was appalled by what I saw on the AMAs on ABC, but it didn't start with Adam Lambert. No, quite the contrary, Adam Lambert was the grand finale. He was strategically placed there by the producers of the show. That's how it looks to me.
Let's start with the first act of the night. I haven't found anybody, in the news or on the internet, who is disgusted by Janet Jackson's performance. Holding your own crotch when dancing has become pretty acceptable in this day and age. It was shocking at first, but now many people have become desensitized by this move, because they've seen it so often, especially in hip hop dance choreography. Janet Jackson performed that move and her background dancers did , but what was a new low for me was when a male dancer that danced in front of her and stood with his legs extended in a V formation was fondled by Janet Jackson. She very clearly reached forward and underneath him and grabbed him in the crotch and actually pulled him back towards her. It was quick, and, if you blinked, you missed it, but it was there. That was the first routine of the night, and it went downhill from there.
As the night continued, it was like everyone was in on the secret except the viewing public. There was a feeling of competition or one-up-man-ship between some of the performers. Not the county music crowd. This was the Pop, RocknRoll, and hiphop crowd. For example: Lady Gaga is known for her crazy extreme outfits. She looked naked. She wasn't. She had flesh colored tights on with weird strapping around her legs and arms. She had lights strapped around her chest and head. Her dancers were wearing the same revealing and evocative apparel.
Midway through her performance, Lady Gaga smashes through a huge glass window to get to her piano, which by the way, catches on fire. While she's playing her piano, she doesn't sit at it in a normal manner. She has one leg under the piano and the other leg is opened up beyond a 90 degree angle. She is very flexible. She also, at times, is sitting in a reclined position, which brings the focal point of the audience to her crotch. There was no doubt what her intent was. There was no other reason on the face of this earth for her to sit in that manner while playing the piano and singing.
Rianna sang a song from her new album "Rated R". Her performance and most of the rap numbers were "silenced" at certain points, so much so, that we thought there was something wrong with our TV at first. We realized eventually that the words were being cut out. In one routine, you couldn't have known the lyrics, even if you wanted to, because there were so many holes in the audio portion of their performance that it was impossible to follow or make sense of.
In one performance, the dancers were pretty much dressed in S&M strapping. The pelvic thrust was the main repetitive motion in the routine. It wasn't enough to have 30 of these dancers on the stage performing this movement repeatedly in unison. To give it more power, dancers came down the aisle ways performing the same repetitive motions. They then turned sideways and danced directly into the faces of the audience. This lack of creativity in the choreography in this routine wasn't just some choreographer having an off day. It was on purpose and intentional. They had a message to get across and they knew exactly what they were doing.
Adam Lambert took the show to a new low that I have never seen on TV before. I am so disappointed in the AMAs and in ABC who is owned by Disney! I hate to even put it into words, because it was that offensive, but for those who did not see the show, I will describe it as discreetly as possible. I jumped out of my chair when Adam grabbed a riding harness that was harnessed to two male dancers crawling on their knees. Then Adam grabs the face of a male dancer who is on his knees and pushes it into his crotch. No I'm not kidding. No, I didn't misunderstand. That is exactly what he did. Then about 30 seconds later he was fondling the crotch of a female dancer who came down on a pole from above him. He just reached up and for about 5 seconds, just so no one would misunderstand, he fondled her.
The only redeeming thing that happened in this show is that Taylor Swift, who is not only a gifted singer, but also a song writer, and producer of her stage show, etc., won five awards last night. True talent can make it 's way through all the disgusting, competitive sleaze and violence, that was witnessed on this show last night.
There were also some very good performances. Kelly Clarkson performed her new hit. It was a ballad, and wow that lady can sing and she didn't have any gimmicks, sleaze, or violence. Just a solid voice and a beautiful ballad. Carrie Underwood, again a solid performance, although someone has talked her into more suggestive choreography and costuming then we are use to seeing from her. Be careful Carrie, you have so much talent, you don't have to go there. Keith Urban, another Country and Western artist, wowed the audience with his talent. He just got up and sang and played a guitar. But it was really good and the audience truly enjoyed him.
The only other redeeming thing that happened if I didn't misread it was the audience reaction to Adam's debut on stage. There were a lot of standing ovations that night for different performances, he wasn't one oft them. It appeared to be a very tepid response from an audience who are typically much more tolerant of this type of entertainment than I am.
I will never watch the AMAs again. I think we have to stand up and say "enough" and not support programs that trample on common decency this way. Some people called this "pushing the envelope". I call it revolting!
Let's start with the first act of the night. I haven't found anybody, in the news or on the internet, who is disgusted by Janet Jackson's performance. Holding your own crotch when dancing has become pretty acceptable in this day and age. It was shocking at first, but now many people have become desensitized by this move, because they've seen it so often, especially in hip hop dance choreography. Janet Jackson performed that move and her background dancers did , but what was a new low for me was when a male dancer that danced in front of her and stood with his legs extended in a V formation was fondled by Janet Jackson. She very clearly reached forward and underneath him and grabbed him in the crotch and actually pulled him back towards her. It was quick, and, if you blinked, you missed it, but it was there. That was the first routine of the night, and it went downhill from there.
As the night continued, it was like everyone was in on the secret except the viewing public. There was a feeling of competition or one-up-man-ship between some of the performers. Not the county music crowd. This was the Pop, RocknRoll, and hiphop crowd. For example: Lady Gaga is known for her crazy extreme outfits. She looked naked. She wasn't. She had flesh colored tights on with weird strapping around her legs and arms. She had lights strapped around her chest and head. Her dancers were wearing the same revealing and evocative apparel.
Midway through her performance, Lady Gaga smashes through a huge glass window to get to her piano, which by the way, catches on fire. While she's playing her piano, she doesn't sit at it in a normal manner. She has one leg under the piano and the other leg is opened up beyond a 90 degree angle. She is very flexible. She also, at times, is sitting in a reclined position, which brings the focal point of the audience to her crotch. There was no doubt what her intent was. There was no other reason on the face of this earth for her to sit in that manner while playing the piano and singing.
Rianna sang a song from her new album "Rated R". Her performance and most of the rap numbers were "silenced" at certain points, so much so, that we thought there was something wrong with our TV at first. We realized eventually that the words were being cut out. In one routine, you couldn't have known the lyrics, even if you wanted to, because there were so many holes in the audio portion of their performance that it was impossible to follow or make sense of.
In one performance, the dancers were pretty much dressed in S&M strapping. The pelvic thrust was the main repetitive motion in the routine. It wasn't enough to have 30 of these dancers on the stage performing this movement repeatedly in unison. To give it more power, dancers came down the aisle ways performing the same repetitive motions. They then turned sideways and danced directly into the faces of the audience. This lack of creativity in the choreography in this routine wasn't just some choreographer having an off day. It was on purpose and intentional. They had a message to get across and they knew exactly what they were doing.
Adam Lambert took the show to a new low that I have never seen on TV before. I am so disappointed in the AMAs and in ABC who is owned by Disney! I hate to even put it into words, because it was that offensive, but for those who did not see the show, I will describe it as discreetly as possible. I jumped out of my chair when Adam grabbed a riding harness that was harnessed to two male dancers crawling on their knees. Then Adam grabs the face of a male dancer who is on his knees and pushes it into his crotch. No I'm not kidding. No, I didn't misunderstand. That is exactly what he did. Then about 30 seconds later he was fondling the crotch of a female dancer who came down on a pole from above him. He just reached up and for about 5 seconds, just so no one would misunderstand, he fondled her.
The only redeeming thing that happened in this show is that Taylor Swift, who is not only a gifted singer, but also a song writer, and producer of her stage show, etc., won five awards last night. True talent can make it 's way through all the disgusting, competitive sleaze and violence, that was witnessed on this show last night.
There were also some very good performances. Kelly Clarkson performed her new hit. It was a ballad, and wow that lady can sing and she didn't have any gimmicks, sleaze, or violence. Just a solid voice and a beautiful ballad. Carrie Underwood, again a solid performance, although someone has talked her into more suggestive choreography and costuming then we are use to seeing from her. Be careful Carrie, you have so much talent, you don't have to go there. Keith Urban, another Country and Western artist, wowed the audience with his talent. He just got up and sang and played a guitar. But it was really good and the audience truly enjoyed him.
The only other redeeming thing that happened if I didn't misread it was the audience reaction to Adam's debut on stage. There were a lot of standing ovations that night for different performances, he wasn't one oft them. It appeared to be a very tepid response from an audience who are typically much more tolerant of this type of entertainment than I am.
I will never watch the AMAs again. I think we have to stand up and say "enough" and not support programs that trample on common decency this way. Some people called this "pushing the envelope". I call it revolting!
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