WOMEN AND MORAL DEGRADATION IN JAMRUD'S SONG
Abstract
Jamrud is the famous rock band in Indonesia, popular around 1990s to 2000s. The vulgar lyrics in their songs become hits and controversial. As a result, Indonesian government banned their video clip showed in television, because the video clip visualized the lyrics. Jamrud often took relation between men and women as the main theme of their songs. Especially on how women were often considered as the cause of the sexual act done by men, such as rape or sexual harassment. For example, in the song titled ‘Otak Kotor’ (Dirty Mind) which told about how sexual intercourse between men and women happened as the effect of the way women dressed and seductive behaviour; or ‘Putri’ (Girl) that described a young girl who was keen on wearing modern sexy cloths, liked to have fun in discotheque, and had close relationship with many different men which finally made her pregnant. Other Jamrud’s songs almost had the same themes. In general, Jamrud song lyrics used women to symbolize the negative effect of modernity. Women were constructed as the symbol of the moral degradation caused by modernity. Women become signifiers of the good or bad of the society. This paper will deeply analyze Jamrud song lyrics. Using semiotic method, this paper will explain how the song lyrics have strengthened social construction which have been widely taken for granted in Indonesian society, where women becomes symbolic border of goodness and badness of the society.