ABSTRACT
The terms sex and music video have become almost synonymous, in that it is difficult to talk about music videos without the subject of sex featuring in the conversation. In many ways, the shift in concern can be linked to the development of music video and the changing roles which this focus on the visual has mandated for women in the music industry. An important moment in the history of the visual in popular music, and of women's role in it, was the introduction of Top of the Pops to the BBC TV schedules in 1964. Scopitone jukeboxes can also be seen as precursors to music video, or early examples of the staged-performance video, and they too feature a version of the highly eroticised female dance performance that is so familiar in today's videos. The primary role for women in music was, and still seems to be, to be looked at.
