Genre Theory Essay: The Rolling Stones - Waiting on a Friend

Genre Essay

I’ve chosen to analyse the music video for ‘Waiting on a Friend’ by The Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones are a British rock band that formed in 1962 and are still together today, despite their many changing line-ups.  The Rolling Stones currently consist of original members Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and newest member Ronnie Wood, who has been working with the band since 1976. ‘Waiting on a Friend’ was originally recorded in the later years of 1972/early 1973, when Mick Taylor was still a member of the band. The single was re-worked in 1981, with additional lyrics that were considered for the possibility of a future music video, which made the video for ‘waiting on a friend’ the first promotional video by the Rolling Stones to appear on the emerging MTV channel, which was established in 1981. Michael Lindsay-Hogg  - who directed a number of videos for The Beatles and Wings - directed the video. He had worked with the Stones on previous projects and succeeded in creating a popular video for the MTV channel as ‘waiting on a friend’ was well received by the public.

The first theorist I am going to discuss is Steve Neale. Steve Neale (1995) stresses that genres are not ‘systems’, they are processes of systematization. This means that they are dynamic and evolve over time. An example of this would be the iconography changing over a period of time. The video I am analysing was created around the time music videos first became popular due to the rise of technology, therefore there isn’t any videos of the genre beforehand to compare its change to. If I was to compare the Rolling Stones’ video to a modern day Rolling Stones’ music video, there would be some considerable differences in the iconography. For example, in their video for ‘Doom and Gloom’ (2012), they have actresses playing characters and use a variety of locations which look as though they are in an empty building or on set. There is also a bigger variety of camera angles used and the majority of the video is in black and white, with the band members wearing black clothing. This is different in comparison to their early videos as they always wore extravagant, brightly coloured clothing.

Jason Mittell is the next theorist I’m going to discuss. Jason Mittell (2001) believes that genres are cultural categories that surpass media texts and operate within industry, audience, and cultural practices as well. By saying this he is suggesting that producers and institutions use familiar codes and conventions that make cultural references to their audience and their audience’s knowledge of society. For example, the video for ‘Waiting on a Friend’ will appeal more to its audience as the location (rough area of New York and a bar), people, lyrics and props used in the video/song will relate to the audience more on a personal level as it is what they know. By saying this, one would assume that people who live in that area of New York and dress in that way and enjoy going to the bar with their friends would consume this media text and other texts of the same genre.
Theorist Rick Altman (1999) disputes that genre offers audiences a set of pleasures. These pleasures consist of emotional pleasures, visceral pleasures and intellectual puzzles. The emotional pleasures offered to an audience of a specific genre are significant when they produce a strong audience response. An example of this in the Rolling Stones video would be if an audience member strongly connected to the lyrics of the song or the shot of the band members enjoying a drink in the bar at the end of the video as they may have personally experience that themselves. This will make them more likely to consume the product. Visceral pleasures are gut responses that are defined by how the texts stylistic construction provokes a physical effect on its audience. In the video for Waiting on a Friend, the audience could have a gut response of content-ness or security, as the hand held camera shots make the video seem more personal and the message of the song is a positive one. Intellectual puzzles are when a certain genre i.e thriller offers the pleasure in trying to unravel a mystery; in this case the pleasure would derive from cracking the plot or being surprised. The video for Waiting on a Friend hardly has this pleasure; however, one could say that the mystery of whether or not they’re going to be up to their old behaviours mentioned in the lyrics could be a puzzle.
Music videos are intended to appeal to youth and sub-cultures by reinforcing codes and conventions of musical genres. Music videos are postmodern texts with a core purpose to promote a star persona. Nicholas Abercrombie (1996) argues that ‘Boundaries between genres are shifting and becoming more permeable’. This is evident in media texts as there are more hybrid genres and a less evident, clear boundary between certain genres. An example of this would be the genre of The Rolling Stones often being referred to as ‘pop/rock’. David Buckingham (1993) argues that ‘genre is not simply given by the culture; rather, it is in a constant process of negotiation and change’. By this, he means that genre is not set in stone. His theory is similar to Steve Neal’s in the way that they both believe that genre changes over time. As the culture changes, the genre changes with it. People who listen to rock music now will not necessarily dress or even behave the same way as they did in the 60s/70s, which means that modern day rock music videos and artists will present themselves in media texts differently to as the genre has changed with the culture.