Shocking

Shocking only happens during the 2nd and 3rd turnings. 

Or to be pithy about it: In the First, no one dares; in the Fourth no one cares.

In the Second starts the tearing of social structures, but there are still structures around.  That makes it possible to be shocked at their erosion or destruction. In the Third the technique of shocking has become science and people push it to the limits - they shock in order to shock, whereas in the Second the shock value was more a secondary effect. The Jane's Addiction album "Nothing's Shocking" - with a cover showing a naked flaming sculpture - is a perfect example of this.

Watching Saturday Night Live musical guests, especially early on, is a great way to see this. Devo, jerking about in radiation suits. The B-52s' bouffant hairdos and toy pianos combined with strange lyrics and "all sixteen dances." Fear inciting a skin head riot. Gary Numan and David Bowie and Klaus Nomi gender-bending to the breaking point - all really unexpected -shocking- in a way that can't be imagined with current pop stars. Even the Rolling Stones were an unexpected burst of raw sexuality, with Mick licking his bandmate's lips during "Respectable."

Sinead O' Connor's outburst was about the last thing that might be called "shocking." Now, though...what? The only surprising things have been manufactured stars being caught with their backing loops exposed. The good stuff is mainstream, the non-mainstream stuff doesn't get close.

Music videos with androgynous women and cows or faces rising up out of a pot of beans was perhaps more shocking 30 years ago than, say, the Saw series is now. While society was changing then, there were still vestiges of the post-War standards that have since been completely shattered. We won't be shocked that way again until SOME standards are ubiquitous enough for someone to tear them down.

When Rachel Rosenthal shaved her head, a woman in the audience supposedly vomited. When Britney Spears did it....who cared?