SUBSTANCE USE IN
 

POPULAR 

MUS C 

VIDEOS 

O F F I C E O F N A T I O N A	 L D R U G C O N T R O L P O L I C Y
 

JUNE 2002
 
TIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY AND 

AS PERFORMED WITH FUNDING BY THE 

PURSUANT TO CONTRACT NO. 289-99-0004. 

OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY 

Washington, D.C. 20503 

1-800-666-3332 

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov 

Copies available at: 

NATIONAL CLEARINGHOUSE FOR ALCOHOL AND DRUG INFORMA 

P.O. Box 2345
 

Rockville, MD 20847-2345
 

1-800-729-6686 TDD 1-800-487-4889
 

E-Mail: info@health.org
 

http://www.health.org
 
Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 

Sponsored by 

Office of National Drug Control Policy 

Research conducted by
 


Donald F. Roberts, Ph.D.
 


Professor of Communication
 


Stanford University
 


Peter G. Christenson, Ph.D.
 


Professor of Communication
 


Lewis & Clark College
 


Lisa Henriksen, Ph.D.
 


Research Associate
 


Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention
 


Elizabeth Bandy
 


Department of Communication
 


Stanford University
 


With 

Hubert D. Jessup, President, Mediascope 

Julie Abdul-Wahid, Project Coordinator 

Stephanie Carbone, Research Manager 

Adele B. Wilson, Project Manager 

Bikki Johnson, Project Assistant 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos i 
Substance Use in Popular Music Videos
 


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................................................1
 

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................................4
 

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE ................................................................................................................................4
 

SUBSTANCE USE AND AMERICAN YOUTH..................................................................................................................5
 

ADOLESCENTS AND MUSIC VIDEOS ...........................................................................................................................6
 

PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON SUBSTANCE PORTRAYALS IN MUSIC VIDEOS.....................................................................8
 

METHODS...................................................................................................................................................................9
 

THE SAMPLE ..............................................................................................................................................................9
 

Sampling Procedure .............................................................................................................................................9
 

Overall sample ...................................................................................................................................9
 

Network Comparisons........................................................................................................................9
 

Music Genre Comparisons ...............................................................................................................11
 

Content Coding Procedures ...............................................................................................................................13
 

Coding Visual Content.....................................................................................................................13
 

Coding Lyric (Verbal) Content ........................................................................................................15
 

Coding Time Intervals......................................................................................................................16
 

RESULTS...................................................................................................................................................................18
 

FINAL COMMENTS:...............................................................................................................................................38
 

COMPARING SUBSTANCE PORTRAYALS IN MUSIC VIDEOS, TELEVISION AND MOVIES ............................................38
 

APPENDIX A......................................................................................................................................................... A-1 

WHAT IS A MUSIC VIDEO?.................................................................................................................................... A-1
 

WHAT IS MUSIC TELEVISION? .............................................................................................................................. A-2
 

APPENDIX B...........................................................................................................................................................B-1
 

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................B-1
 

CONTENT ANALYSES OF MUSIC VIDEOS................................................................................................................B-1
 

APPENDIX C.......................................................................................................................................................... C-1
 

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS OF NINE VIDEOS WITH VISUAL USE OR APPEARANCE OF ILLICIT DRUGS..........................C-1
 

APPENDIX D.......................................................................................................................................................... D-1 

MUSIC VIDEO SAMPLE......................................................................................................................................... D-1 
 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos ii
 
Executive Summary 

There is a good deal of concern that media depictions of illicit drugs, alcohol, or 

tobacco inaccurately portray the true nature of drug abuse and its negative 

consequences. A necessary first step in determining what role, if any, media may 

play in promoting substance use and abuse among young people is a careful 

examination of whether and how different media – particularly those popular with 

teens – portray substances. This study, the third in a series exploring substance 

portrayals in mass media popular among U.S. adolescents, examines the frequency 

and nature of portrayals of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco in music videos – a 

medium that appeals primarily to teenagers and young adults. The study examines 

how often and in what context illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco appear in music 

videos. 

The sample consists of 300 videos, comprising the first 100 different (that is, non-repeating) 

videos from each of three U.S. music television networks – BET, MTV, and VH-1 – broadcast 

during the six-week period beginning Oct. 30, 2000. Due to overlap among the three networks, the 

overall sample consisted of 258 videos programmed during this period. Because programming on 

BET, MTV, and VH-1 caters to audiences of different ages, genders, and music preferences, results 

are presented for the 100 videos from each network and for the overall sample. Analyses also 

consider five common music genres: Hot-100 (or Top-40), Rap/Hip-hop, Mainstream Rock, Modern 

(or Alternative Rock), and “Other” (typically so-called “oldies”). 

The substances considered in the study included illicit drugs (including inhalants), alcohol, 

tobacco, over-the-counter and prescription drugs (including unidentified pills), and smoke of 

unknown origin. This final category of “substance” is new to this particular study. It was included 

because smoke that was deemed “substance related” – typically exhaled smoke or a trail of smoke 

from where a performer’s hand rested outside the picture frame – was fairly common in some videos. 

(It is worth noting that although we maintained such smoke as a separate category, our college-age 

coders often inferred that the smoke emanated from either a marijuana cigarette or a dope pipe). The 

study examined what substances, if any, were visually depicted and/or verbally referred to; whether 

substance use was explicitly portrayed; and if so, who used, how often, and under what 

circumstances. It also asked whether substance use of any kind was a dominant theme of each video. 

Results show that substances of one kind or another (including smoke of unknown origin) 

appeared visually in 45 percent of the overall sample of 258 videos (N=116), and were referred to 

verbally in 33 percent (N=85). Illicit drugs were more likely to be referred to verbally than portrayed 

visually, while alcohol and tobacco were more likely to be portrayed visually than referred to 

verbally. Indeed, visual portrayal of illicit drugs was largely absent in music videos (three percent, or 

nine of 258 videos). Verbal references to illicit drugs, on the other hand, occurred in 20 percent of the 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 1 
258 videos (N=51). Conversely, alcohol appeared visually in 37 percent of the videos and was 

referred to verbally in 19 percent; tobacco appeared visually in 21 percent and was referred to 

verbally in 5 percent. Smoke of unknown origin, an exclusively visual phenomenon, appeared in 6 

percent of the videos, and visual allusions to illicit drugs (e.g., pantomiming rolling or smoking a 

joint) occurred in 11 of the 258 videos (four percent). 

When illicit drugs appeared visually, they were likely to be used; eight of the nine videos 

with visual depictions of illicit drugs portrayed consumption. Lead characters (members of the band 

or characters central to the video plot) used illicit drugs in five of the nine videos; secondary 

characters used illicit drugs in the remaining four. Marijuana was the illicit drug most commonly 

referred to in the lyrics. It was visually portrayed in three of the nine videos with visual illicit drug 

depictions, and was verbally referred to in 43 of the 51 videos (80 percent) that contained verbal 

references to illicit drugs. Although there was little difference among the three music video networks 

in the proportion of videos in which illicit drugs appeared, illicit substances were somewhat more 

likely to appear in videos classed by Billboard Magazine as Mainstream Rock (nine percent) and 

Modern Rock (eight percent) than Rap/Hip-hop, Hot-100, or Other. Of the nine videos visually 

portraying illicit drugs, five incorporated drug use or drug dealing as a major theme. One conveyed a 

clear anti-drug message; one made use seem positive; the remaining three conveyed ambiguous or 

mixed messages. 

Alcohol, the substance most frequently visually portrayed (37 percent of all 258 videos) was 

explicitly consumed in 32 percent; lead characters (or members of the band) drank alcohol in 17 

percent and secondary characters in 27 percent of all videos. Hard liquor was more likely to appear 

than wine/champagne or beer. Portrayals of alcohol were most likely in videos broadcast by BET 

(47 percent); alcohol appeared in a third of both MTV and VH-1 videos. Alcohol appeared most 

often in Rap/Hip-hop videos (49 percent), followed by Hot-100 (37 percent), Modern Rock (33 

percent) and Mainstream Rock (30 percent). Looking only at the 95 videos in which alcohol 

appeared, it was directly associated with sex in 11 percent, with operating a vehicle in 11 percent, 

with partying in 67 percent, and with violence in five percent. Finally, although only 15 percent of 

all 258 videos portrayed sex/eroticism as a dominant theme, sex/eroticism was more likely to be a 

dominant theme in videos that included portrayals of alcohol (25 percent) than in videos that did not 

include alcohol portrayals (nine percent). 

Tobacco, which was visually portrayed in 21 percent of all videos, was explicitly used in 18 

percent, with lead characters or members of the band smoking in nine percent of all videos, and 

secondary characters smoking in 13 percent. Cigarette smoking occurred most often (60 percent), 

but was closely followed by cigar smoking (51 percent). Tobacco was twice as likely to appear in 

videos broadcast on BET (32 percent) than in those found on VH-1 (16 percent) or MTV (11 

percent). Differences in the appearance of tobacco across music genres were minimal. Finally, 

although fewer than 15 percent of all videos included sex/eroticism, hostility, or violence as a 

dominant theme, a slightly higher proportion of videos in which tobacco appeared than those in 

which tobacco did not appear contained each of these themes. 

Compared to content in other media (e.g., television programs, motion pictures, popular song 

lyrics), relatively few music videos portray substances. Only 3 percent of music videos visually 

portrayed illicit drug use. Verbal references to illicit drugs (inherent in song lyrics independent of 

the video) occurred slightly more frequently. Additionally, a few videos contained either smoke of 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 2 
unknown origin (which our college-age coders typically inferred emanated from an illicit drug) 

and/or subtle visual allusions to illicit drug use. Portrayals of alcohol and alcohol consumption were 

relatively more frequent, appearing in over one third of popular music videos, with tobacco 

portrayals falling between. 

Still, when compared to the 98 percent of movies or 77 percent of television shows that 

earlier studies have found to portray alcohol (by far the most frequently depicted of any substance 

across all media), music videos seem low in substance portrayals of any kind. That said, when 

substances are portrayed, more often than not they seem to be common elements of everyday activity 

– what people naturally do when they socialize, seldom leading to consequences of any kind (either 

positive or negative), and frequently used by lead characters. 

Our tentative conclusion, then, is that although substance portrayals are less frequent in 

music videos than in other media, when substances are depicted visually, they are likely to be 

consumed. Moreover, when consumption is shown, it tends to be portrayed as pleasant and 

rewarding. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 3 
Introduction 

Background and Rationale 

This report is the third in a series of studies funded by the White House Office of 

National Drug Control Policy exploring the portrayal of substance use in media 

popular among adolescents. The specific purpose of these studies has been to 

determine the extent to which the media may or may not promote the use of illegal 

drugs, alcohol or tobacco among adolescents. The first

1

 and second2 studies 

examined the frequency and nature of illicit drug, alcohol and tobacco depictions 

in popular movies, music and television shows. The focus here is on music videos. 

There is substantial evidence that exposure to mass media messages influences young viewers’ 

attitudes, values and behavior in a number of areas.3,4,5,6 Consequently, there is also concern that 

media portrayals may influence young people’s attitudes and behavior toward substance use.7 Of all 

the media commanding the attention of American adolescents, music may be the most influential. In 

fact, listening to music is adolescents' number one non-school activity.

8 Although young people 

spend more time each day listening to music than they do watching music videos, videos are of 

special concern because, unlike lyrics alone, they contain visual portrayals that can be imitated and 

modeled. But what messages do music videos make available to young people about illicit drugs, 

alcohol and tobacco? The major aim of this study is to provide a systematic, detailed picture of how 

substances are portrayed in the music videos most popular among adolescents. [Note: Appendix A 

presents a brief history and description of music videos and music television.] 

Documenting the frequency and nature of substance portrayals is a necessary first step in exploring 

the role of music videos in forming young people’s substance use attitudes and behavior. The 

ultimate effects of any media information, whether from television, popular music, motion pictures 

or any other medium, depend on a variety of factors. These include individual differences in 

1 Roberts, D.F., Henriksen, L., and Christenson, P.G. (1999). Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music.
 


Washington, D.C.: Office of National Drug Control Policy and Department of Health and Human Services,
 


Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
 


2 Christenson, P.G., Henriksen, L., and Roberts, D.F. (2000). Substance Use in Popular Prime Time Television.
 


Washington, D.C.: Office of National Drug Control Policy.
 


3 Comstock, G., with Paik, H. (1991). Television and the American Child. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
 
 4 American Psychological Association. (1993). Violence and Youth: Psychology's Response. Washington, DC:
 


Author
 


5 Calvert, S. (1999). Children's Journeys Through the Information Age. Boston: McGraw-Hill 
 
 6 Roberts, D.F. (1993). Adolescents and the mass media: From "Leave It to Beaver" to "Beverly Hills, 90210."
 


Teachers College Record, 94 (3), 629-643.
 
 7 Strasburger, V. (1995) Adolescents and the mass media: Medical and psychological impact. Thousand Oaks, CA:
 


Sage.
 
 8 Christenson, P. G and Roberts, D. F. (1998). It's Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of Adolescents
 


Hampton Press, Inc.: New Jersey.
 


June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 4 
interpretation, the influence of competing information from parents or peers, and variations in social 

and cultural background. Examining media messages is essential to understanding the myriad 

processes that determine whether a young person will engage in illicit drug, alcohol or tobacco use. 

If substance use is depicted frequently and positively in the music videos young people watch, then it 

makes sense to raise questions about the role of these depictions in encouraging substance use. If, on 

the other hand, substance use is portrayed rarely and/or negatively, then it makes little sense to 

attribute adolescents’ substance use to the effects of music videos. Indeed, if substance use is 

presented as dangerous, unglamorous, or socially unacceptable, then the role of music videos may be 

positive, its messages working to discourage, rather than encourage, use. 

It is important to recognize that popular music is composed of many different genres, ranging from 

hard-edged heavy metal and rap to the softer ballads of mainstream pop. Moreover, different 

adolescents have distinct and differing music preferences, hence distinct and differing music video 

viewing patterns. Therefore, in order to capture the range of young people’s favorite music genres, 

such as rap/hip-hop, rock and pop, this study examines 258 music videos evenly distributed across 

the three major networks that show them: MTV, BET and VH-1. Since the three networks tend to 

program very different kinds of popular music, this strategy also captures a number of genres of 

music most popular among young people: Rap/Hip-hop, Hot-100, Mainstream Rock, and Modern (or 

Alternative) Rock. 

Researchers studied the frequency and nature of both audio and visual references to illicit drugs, 

alcohol, tobacco, and over-the-counter and prescription medicines, examining what substances 

appeared and under what circumstances. The context of actual substance use was also considered; 

that is, whether it was portrayed positively or negatively, whether substance use was associated with 

risky behaviors such as sex or violence, and what consequences, if any, were attached to it. 

Substance Use and American Youth 

The U.S. faces problematic rates of illicit drug, alcohol and tobacco use among youth. Forty-five 

percent of parents think their child will try an illegal drug in the future,9 and adolescents cite drugs as 

a bigger concern (23 percent) than any other problem including sex, social pressures and crime in 

school.10 In 2000, 54 percent of high school seniors reported having used an illegal drug at least 

once, as did 46 percent of tenth and 27 percent of eighth graders.11 Among youth, the average ages 

of first use of marijuana, cocaine, and heroin were 17, 19 and 19 years, respectively.

12 Youth 

tobacco smoking rates remain high. About 70 percent of U.S. high school students have tried 

9 The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Back to School 1999: CASA
 


National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse V: Teens and Their Parents. September 1999.
 
 10 The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. CASA National Survey of
 


American Attitudes on Substance Abuse VI: Teens, February 2001.
 
 11 Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., & Bachman, J. G. (2001). The Monitoring the Future National Survey Results
 


on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key Findings, 2000. Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
 
 12 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2001) Summary of Findings from the 2000
 


National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Office of Applied Studies, NHSDA Series H-13, DHHS Publication
 


No. (SMA) 01-3549. Rockville, MD.
 


June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 5 
cigarettes and one quarter (25.3 percent) currently smoke.13 Every day another 2,145 American 

children and teenagers become regular smokers.

14 

Alcohol consumption among adolescents also remains at high levels. Eighty-one percent of U.S. 

high school students have tried alcohol and 50 percent of students are current drinkers.15 In 2000, 

more than 30 percent of 12th graders, 26 percent of 10th graders, and 14 percent of 8th graders 

claimed to have consumed five or more alcoholic drinks in a row during the preceding two weeks.16 

Inhalants, such as glues, aerosols and solvents, are the most widely abused substances after tobacco 

and alcohol among 8th graders; 17 percent of this age group has used inhalants at least once and 12 

percent used inhalants in the past year.17 About 15 percent of 10th graders and 13 percent of 12th 

graders have used inhalants at least once, and 6.6 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively, used in the 

past month.18 

Adolescents and Music Videos 

Music is a major force in the lives of American adolescents.

19 “Music is probably the most 

influential and pervasive medium in teenage lives,” says Peter Zollo, President of Teenage Research 

Unlimited, a market research firm specializing in the teenage market. “Music not only reflects the 

teen experience, it also defines it.”20 When asked what medium they would take with them if 

stranded on a desert island, over 80 percent of a group of high school students elected music as one 

of their first three choices. 

21 Eighty-seven percent of 13- through 17-year-olds in one study reported 

listening to music after school, and two-thirds named music as a hobby. Overall, music was the 

students’ number one non-school activity.

22 On average, American adolescents spend between four 

13 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance--United States, 1999. (June 9, 2000). Atlanta, GA: Morbidity and Mortality
 


Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 49(SS05), 1-96. 
 
 14 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2001) Summary of Findings from the 2000
 


National Household Survey on Drug Abuse. Office of Applied Studies, NHSDA Series H-13, DHHS Publication
 


No. (SMA) 01-3549. Rockville, MD.
 
 15 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance--United States, 1999. (June 9, 2000). Atlanta, GA: Morbidity and Mortality
 


Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 49(SS05), 1-96. 
 
 16 Johnston, L. D., O'Malley, P. M., & Bachman, J. G. (2001). The Monitoring the Future National Survey Results
 


on Adolescent Drug Use: Overview of Key Findings, 2000. Bethesda, MD: National Institute on Drug Abuse.
 
 17 Johnson, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., & Bachman, J. G. (2002) Monitoring the Future national results on adolescent
 


drug use: Overview of key findings, 2001. (NIH Publication No. 02-5105). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on
 


Drug Abuse.
 
 18 Johnson, L. D., O’Malley, P. M., & Bachman, J. G. (2002) Monitoring the Future national results on adolescent
 


drug use: Overview of key findings, 2001. (NIH Publication No. 02-5105). Bethesda, MD: National Institute on
 


Drug Abuse.
 
 19 Christensen, P. G., and Roberts, D. F. (1998). It’s Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of
 


Adolescents. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, Inc., p. 11.
 
 20 Zollo, P. (1995). Wise Up to Teens: Insights into Marketing and Advertising to Teenagers. Ithaca, NY: New
 


Strategist Publications, Inc., p. 132.
 
 21 Roberts, D. F. and Henriksen, L. (1990, June). Music Listening vs. Television Viewing Among Older Adolescents.
 


Paper presented at the annual meetings of the International Communication Association, Dublin, Ireland.
 
 22 Horatio Alger Foundation. (1996). The Mood of American Youth. Alexandria, VA: Horatio Alger Foundation of
 


Distinguished Americans.
 


June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 6 
and five hours a day listening to music and watching music videos.23 “Music alters and intensifies 

their moods, furnishes much of their slang, dominates their conversations, and provides the ambiance 

at their social gatherings. Music styles define the crowds and cliques they run in. Music 

personalities provide models for how they act and dress.”24 Much of this information comes from 

music videos. Nineteen percent of all teens and 32 percent of African American teens name music 

videos as one of the two most influential sources for finding out about new trends.25 

Most young people have easy access to music videos. Seventy-four percent of homes with children 

2-18 have basic cable or satellite TV, and 44 percent have premium cable. Sixty-five percent of 8-

through 18-year-olds have television sets in their bedrooms, and 30 percent have basic cable in their 

bedrooms.26 Estimates of adolescent music video viewing vary from 15 minutes to 2 hours a day.

27,28 

According to recent research, teenagers watch an average of 5 hours of MTV weekly.

29 Girls 11 to 19 

watch MTV more than any other network,30 and African-American teens spend more time viewing 

BET (Black Entertainment Television), whose mix of music videos and other programming is similar 

to that of MTV.31 (VH-1 has an older audience, overlapping MTV’s 18-24 demographic, and is 

popular enough to be part of the study.) Finally, in 2000, youth between 10 and 19 years accounted 

for almost 22 percent of sales of all U.S. audio recordings, spending in excess of $3.1 billion.32 

A number of experiments conducted since the mid-1980s have demonstrated that exposure to music 

videos affects how teenagers and college students perceive, interpret, evaluate and respond to a 

variety of social stimuli. Different studies have reported that: videos with a high concentration of 

violent images made viewers more antagonistic in their orientation toward women and more likely to 

condone violence in themselves and others; antisocial videos increased acceptance of subsequently 

observed antisocial behavior; highly gender-stereotyped videos increased acceptance of genderstereotyped behavior; sexually charged videos led viewers to be more accepting of premarital sex; 

rap videos in general reduced academic aspirations among African American teens; politically 

radical rap videos caused white teenagers to become more racially tolerant. On the basis of their 

23 Greenberg, B., Ku, L., and Li, H. (1989, June). Young People and Their Orientation to the Mass Media: An
 


International Study. Study 2, United States. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University College of
 


Communication Arts.
 


24 Christenson, P. G and Roberts, D. F. (1998). It's Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of
 


Adolescents. Hampton Press, Inc.: Cresskill, NJ.
 
 25 Zollo, P. (1995). Wise Up to Teens: Insights into Marketing and Advertising to Teenagers. Ithaca, NY: New
 


Strategist Publications, Inc., p. 111.
 
 26 Roberts, D.F., Foehr, U.G., Rideout, V.J., and Brodie, M. (1999). Kids & Media @ the New Millennium. Menlo
 


Park, CA: Kaiser Family Foundation.
 
 27 Kubey, R., and Larson, R. (1990). The use and experience of the new media among children and adolescents:
 


Television viewing compared to the use of videocassettes, video games, and music videos. Communication
 


Research, 17, 107-130. 26. 
 
 28 Wartella, E., Heintz, K., Aidman, A., and Mazarella, S. (1990). Television and beyond: Children's video media in
 


one community. Communication Research, 17, 45-64.
 
 29 Zollo, P. (1995). Wise Up to Teens: Insights into Marketing and Advertising to Teenagers. Ithaca, NY: New
 


Strategist Publications, Inc. p. 78.
 
 30 “Tween and teen girls and TV.” Kidscreen, August 1998.
 
 31 Zollo, P. (1995). Wise Up to Teens: Insights into Marketing and Advertising to Teenagers. Ithaca, NY: New
 


Strategist Publications, Inc., p. 79.
 
 32 Recording Industry Association of America (2001). www.riaa.com/pdf/2000_consumer_profile3.pdf.
 


June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 7 
review of these studies, Christenson and Roberts have suggested that when music lyrics are 

illustrated by music videos, their potential impact may be amplified.34 

Previous Research on Substance Portrayals 

in Music Videos 

Of the nine published content analyses of music videos we have located (see Appendix B for an 

Annotated Bibliography), only three have made any attempt to code portrayals of substance use. The 

earliest (1985) reports that “narcotics, stimulants and other substances,” occurred in 24 percent of a 

random sample of 62 MTV videos.35 More recently (1997), music videos representing five music 

genres were analyzed for portrayals of tobacco and alcohol use and for portrayals of such behaviors 

in conjunction with sexuality.

36 The researchers concluded that even moderate levels of viewing may 

result in significant exposure to glamorized depictions of alcohol and tobacco use, and that alcohol 

use is often associated with sexuality. The third study looked at portrayals of illicit drugs, alcohol, 

and tobacco in 192 videos sampled from four music video networks (BET, MTV, VH-1, and CMT) 

in 1997. It found portrayals of alcohol and tobacco, but not illicit drug use, to be “quite prevalent.”37 

34 Christenson, P. G and Roberts, D. F. (1998). It's Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of
 


Adolescents. Hampton Press, Inc.: Cresskill, NJ.
 
 35 Baxter, R.L., De Riemer, C., Landini, A., Leslie, L, and Singletary, M.W. (1985). A content analysis of music
 


videos. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 29(3), 333-340.
 
 36 DuRant, R. H., Rome, E. S., Rich, M., Allred, E., Emans, S. J., and Woods, E. R. (1997). Tobacco and alcohol
 


use behaviors portrayed in music videos: A content analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 87(7), 1131-5.
 
 37 Hansen, C.H. and Hansen, R.D. (2000). Music and music videos. In D. Zillmann & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Media
 


entertainment: The psychology of its appeal. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates (pp. 175-196).
 


June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 8 
Methods
 

The Sample 

Sampling Procedure 

This study examined the frequency and nature of substance use portrayals in popular music videos 

from three different networks and five music genres. In fall 2000, music videos were taped off-air 

from Black Entertainment Television (BET), Music Television (MTV), and Video Hits-1 (VH-1) 

between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., Monday through Friday. Each tape was logged to keep track of 

video title and artist. From these tape logs, Mediascope constructed a sample of the first 100 videos 

without repetition from each of the three networks – a total of 300 videos. Because popular videos 

are often repeated, it was necessary to log more than 100 videos from each network in order to obtain 

samples of 100 without repetition: 148 videos from BET, 167 videos from MTV, and 190 videos 

from VH-1. Video representations of live performances are not “music videos,” thus were excluded 

from the sample. In addition, five music videos of contemporary religious songs broadcast on BET 

were excluded because they did not conform to Billboard’s music categories. Appendix D indicates 

the title and artist for each video in the final sample(s). 

Overall sample 

Videos sometimes receive play on more than one music network. Figure 1 shows that within the 

sample of 300 videos (100 from each of the three networks), 14 percent were shared by MTV and 

VH-1, 21 percent by MTV and BET, 1 percent by BET and VH-1, and 3 percent by all three outlets. 

Therefore, in order to make statements about music videos in general, an “overall sample” of 258 

different videos was constructed by eliminating all across-network repeats (i.e., keeping only one 

instance of each repeated video). This overall sample, then, comprises 75 videos that appeared only 

on BET, 62 videos that appeared only on MTV, 82 videos that appeared only on VH-1 and 39 videos 

that appeared on more than one network (see Figure 1). Because the different networks sometimes 

edit videos for length, in those instances when repeated videos (i.e., videos that appeared on more 

than one network) were of different lengths, the longer version is represented in the overall sample. 

Network Comparisons 

Because the programming on BET, MTV, and VH-1 caters to audiences of different ages, genders, 

and musical preferences, study results are presented for the 100 videos sampled from each network 

as well as for the overall sample of 258 different videos. No statistic describes the total sample of 

300 videos because, as noted above, some videos appear more than once in the total sample. It is 

important to note, then, that all between-network comparisons contain some proportion of repeated 

videos. That is, when MTV and BET are compared on any variable, there is a chance that the same 

video may contribute to percentages describing both networks. For example, both networks 

programmed Mystikal’s “Shake It Fast,” in which alcohol appears several times. As a result, that 

particular video contributes to the number of alcohol appearances on both networks. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 9 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 10 

Figure 1 

Music video crossover among BET, MTV, and VH-1 

82% 

62% 

75% 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 

MTV 

BET 

VH-1 

3% 

1% 

21% 

14% 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 

MTV and VH-1 

MTV and BET 

BET and VH-1 

All three 

Music videos that aired 

On only on network: 

Music videos that aired 

On more than one network: 

Percentages are based on 100 music videos from each network. 
Music Genre Comparisons 

The ability to compare substance use portrayals by music genre is important because different 

adolescents typically prefer particular types of music rather than being fans of "popular music" in 

general.

38 Thus, the 258 different videos in the study sample were categorized according to four 

popular genres: Hot-100 (or Top-40), Rap/Hip-hop, Mainstream Rock, and Modern (or Alternative) 

rock. Year-end rankings (1998-2000) from Billboard magazine were used to assign videos to one or 

more of these categories. Any song that did not make a year-end chart was assigned to a category 

using its last position on the weekly charts. A fifth category ("Other") includes songs that had not 

“charted” since 1998 (so-called "oldies"), as well as songs that charted on other Billboard lists, such 

as Adult Contemporary, Dance, and so on. 

The overall sample of 258 videos was comprised of 52 percent Hot-100, 40 percent Hip-hop, 21 

percent Rap, 20 percent Modern Rock, 13 percent Mainstream Rock, and 21 percent Other songs. 

Recall that these percentages sum to more than 100 because many songs appear on more than one 

chart. This crossover between genres presented a considerable challenge. Indeed, the overlap 

between Rap and Hip-hop was so great (87 percent) that the two were combined into a single 

category incorporating songs that were included on the charts for either or both lists. Still, the genre 

categories are not mutually exclusive. For example, Billboard's Hot-100 chart represents mainstream 

or pop music as well as certain songs from other genres that become popular enough to break into the 

Hot-100. The following indicates the extent of the crossover between Hot-100 and the other genres: 

� 64 songs appeared on both the Hot-100 and Hip-hop lists (27 percent crossover) 

� 24 songs appeared on both the Hot-100 and Rap lists (13 percent crossover) 

� 21 songs appeared on both the Hot-100 and Mainstream Rock lists (13 percent crossover) 

� 32 songs appeared on both the Hot-100 and Modern Rock lists (17 percent crossover) 

There were substantial differences in the frequency with which the three networks aired videos from 

the various genres. Figure 2 shows that BET was substantially more likely than the other two 

networks to program Rap/Hip-hop videos, and that VH-1 was more likely to program videos in the 

“Other” category – typically “oldies” and some Adult Contemporary. Programming on BET 

consisted primarily of Rap/Hip-hop (81 percent) and Hot 100 (43 percent – because so many Rap 

and Hip-hop videos crossed over). MTV was also dominated by Hot-100 (63 percent) and Rap/Hiphop (46 percent), but substantial numbers of Modern Rock (27 percent) and some Mainstream Rock 

(15 percent) videos also appeared. VH-1 programmed the fewest Rap/Hip-hop videos (10 percent), 

with all other genres receiving fair attention: Hot-100 = 57 percent, Mainstream Rock = 20 percent, 

Modern Rock = 31 percent, and Other = 33 percent. As we shall see, the different genres do vary in 

the likelihood that they contain substance portrayals. 

38 Christenson, P.G. and Roberts, D.F. (1998). It’s Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of 

Adolescents. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 11 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 12

Figure 2

Percent of music videos from five genres on each network

0% 0%

57%

63%

43%

20%

15%

31%

27%

10%

46%

81%

33%

8%

15%

0%

80%60%40%20%

100% Hot 100

Mainstream RockModern Rock

Rap/Hip-hop

Other

Percentages are based on 100 music videos from each network. Categories sum

to more than 100% because songs appeared on multiple Billboard charts.

BET MTV VH1
Content Coding Procedures 

Content analyses are fundamentally concerned with counting and describing particular features of 

media content in a systematic way. In this study, teams of specially trained coders examined both the 

visual and the verbal content of music videos. The procedures employed for the two kinds of content 

necessarily differed. 

Coding Visual Content 

What was coded: The primary interest of this study was identification of the following substances in 

music videos: 

� illicit drugs (controlled substances such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, ecstacy, etc.) 

� other drugs 

- over-the-counter medications such as diet pills, cough syrup, etc. 

- prescription drugs such as sleeping pills, anti-depressants, etc. 

- unidentified pills, inhalers, etc. 

� alcohol (beer, wine, champagne, hard liquor, mixed drinks) 

� tobacco (cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco) 

�	 	 smoke of unknown origin (smoke that was deemed substance related; typically exhaled 

smoke not directly tied to tobacco or drugs, or a trail of smoke rising from where a 

performer’s hand rested outside the picture frame) 

This last category – smoke of unknown origin – was created after an initial review indicated the 

presence of such smoke in some videos. Although our coders inferred that the smoke emanated from 

either marijuana or a dope pipe, such smoke is reported as a separate category. 

Ultimately, the “illicit drug” and “other drug” categories were combined because a) there were 

relatively few appearances of drugs of either kind, and b) when “other drugs” did appear, they were 

usually portrayed in a manner indicating some kind of abuse or sensation seeking (e.g., ingesting 

unidentified pills led to hallucinations). 

Types of substance references: Distinctions were made among three kinds of substance “references:” 

� visual substance appearances: an on-screen image of any substance 

�	 	substance use: an on-screen depiction of a person using a substance (i.e., smoking, drinking, 

injecting, inhaling, or otherwise using a substance), or an implicit indication that a character 

can reasonably be inferred to be using even though actual consumption is not depicted. For 

example, a person holding a cigarette or ordering, accepting, or holding alcohol or other 

drugs typically indicates that person is using the substance. Similarly, people gathered 

around a table with drinks in front of them are considered to be using. Drug dealing was not 

coded as substance use. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 13 
�	 	verbal substance references: a verbal reference to any substance within the lyric (see Coding 

Verbal Content, below). 

Drug allusions: Drug allusions constituted yet another substance use variable. A number of videos 

depicted actions or objects that are generally understood by young viewers, members of the music 

industry, and/or members of the substance abuse treatment community to be allusions to drugs. Most 

typical among these were pantomiming rolling or smoking a joint, rolling money into a tube for the 

purposes of snorting cocaine, or the licking/sucking of lollipops not associated with sex (which a 

number of adolescents informed us was an allusion to a “dry mouth” phenomenon associated with 

the drug ecstasy). The presence of all such allusions was noted. 

Contextual Variables: In order to examine how portrayals of substances might influence viewers’ 

beliefs and attitudes, it was necessary to examine how they were portrayed – that is, such things as 

the context of appearance and use, the consequences of use, and other factors associated with use. 

To that end, the following variables were also included in the coding procedures. For each video, 

pairs of coders noted the presence or absence of: 

� people gathered in a nightclub or bar (coded yes or no) 

�	 	 guns or other weapons (coded yes or no). This category referred only to “conventional” 

weapons such as guns or knives; use of other objects as a weapon (e.g., hitting someone with 

a chair) was not counted 

�	 	 nudity (including both uncensored nudity and nudity that was “blurred out” [i.e., network 

censoring achieved by making a visual image indistinct]) 

These are all themes that were examined in earlier studies,

39 40 and all represent contextual variables 

that, when associated with substance use, have led to expressions of public concern. In addition, 

coders also indicated whether or not any of the following constituted a dominant theme in the video: 

substances of any kind, sex, hostility, or violence. For a topic to be coded as a dominant theme, the 

video had to be judged to be “explicitly about” that topic. That is, the plot or major action of the 

video revolved around the issue. 

Regardless of whether or not sex, hostility, or violence was rated as constituting a dominant theme, 

coders also rated each video on four-point scales (0 = none; 1 = incidental; 2 = moderate; 3 = high) 

for its level of: 

� sexual / erotic content
 

� hostility
 

� violence
 

39 Roberts, D. F., Henriksen, L., and Christenson, P.G. (1999). Substance Use in popular Movies and Music.
 


Washington, DC: Office of National Drug Control Policy and Departement of Health and Human Services,
 


Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
 
 40 Christenson, P.G., Henriksen, L., and Roberts, D.F. (2000). Substance Use in Popular Prime-Time Television.
 


Washington, DC: Office of National Drug Control Policy.
 


June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 14 
In other words, it was possible for a good deal of violence, or sex, or hostility to exist in a given 

video, even though none of those topics functioned as a dominant theme in the video. 

Finally, to ascertain the nature of portrayals for all videos in which substance use appeared, coders 

indicated whether substance use was directly associated with operating/being in a vehicle, sex, 

“partying,” violence, or property damage/vandalism (coded yes or no). To be “directly associated,” 

use of the substance had to appear at the same time as any of these actions, or had to be portrayed as 

leading directly to or following directly from any of these actions. 

Coding Procedures: Pairs of undergraduate and graduate students from two West Coast educational 

institutions conducted all coding. Each pair of coders consisted of a male and a female. Coders 

included African American, Hispanic, and white students, many of whom considered themselves 

highly knowledgeable about contemporary popular music. All coders took part in extensive training 

sessions designed to familiarize them with the variables, their definitions, and the various codes that 

had to be entered for each variable. “Refresher training” occurred several times throughout the 

course of the study. 

For each variable coded, a coder pair was required to agree on presence/absence and/or scale value of 

each type of content coded. Disagreements were resolved by one of the senior researchers. 

Coding Lyric (Verbal) Content 

The purposes of the lyric coding process were twofold: 

�	 	 to provide a direct measure of the frequency of substance references in the verbal content of the 

music videos in the sample; 

�	 	 to provide information about how such references were dealt with by the networks airing the 

videos—specifically, whether substance references were included in their original form or were 

edited out. 

The first step in the process was to locate the lyrics for the songs in the sample. This was 

accomplished primarily by searching certain Web sites devoted to posting lyrics for popular songs. 

Although previous research has shown some minor inaccuracies in Web-derived lyrics, the same 

research has shown that the Web sources are quite accurate in terms of the issues dealt with in this 

study. That is, when substance references are actually present in a song, they also appear in the lyrics 

downloaded from Web sites.41 

In the second phase, coders examined the printed lyrics for any and all references to illicit drugs, 

alcohol or tobacco in the full song lyrics as printed from the Web sources. Given the ever-changing 

slang surrounding substances, especially illicit drugs, coders relied when necessary on experts in the 

41 Roberts, D. F., Henriksen, L., and Christenson, P. G. (1999). Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music. 

Washington, D. C.: Office of National Drug Control Policy and Department of Health and Human Services, 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 15 
popular music industry and the substance abuse treatment community to identify, when possible, 

precisely what substances were being referenced. Coders did not examine the lyrics for contextual 

information, such as consequences or associations with violence or sex, because the focus of this 

study was primarily on visual portrayals. This sort of contextual information was studied and 

reported in our earlier companion piece on substance portrayals in music and movies.42 

The final phase involved “verifying” the full song lyrics to establish which substance references 

actually appeared in the music video versions of the songs. Procedurally, coders watched and 

listened to the music videos while reading the printed transcripts employed in the first phase of the 

coding. Two issues had to be addressed here. First, since many videos use shortened versions of 

songs, it was necessary to determine what segments, if any, of the original songs were entirely cut 

from the music video. When this occurred it was usually in the form of truncating the end; that is, 

the last few lines or verses of a song would simply be missing. In some cases the shortening 

occurred at the beginning, and in a few others sections of songs were cut from the middle. In all 

these cases, coders made note of the deletions, and further analysis ignored the content of any deleted 

sections. Thus, if a song contained a reference to marijuana use in the final few lines of the song but 

that section had been eliminated from the video version, the video was not “counted” as containing a 

reference unless the reference occurred elsewhere. 

The second and more important issue in the verification process concerned the treatment of the 

substance references in the videos. Essentially, coders noted any substance references in the verbal 

content, recording for each reference its time location (in a process parallel to the one-minute interval 

time-sampling method described below) as well as the specific type of illicit drug, alcohol or tobacco 

product referred to. In addition, however, it was necessary to make a distinction between references 

that appeared in uncensored form and those that were “blanked” out. Frequently networks delete 

references to drugs (and occasionally other substances) simply by erasing the reference from the 

audio track. It was deemed important to incorporate these into the analysis because, even though 

there may be silence at the relevant point in the audio track, many listeners know the songs quite well 

and thus may be aware of what is missing. Indeed, there is some reason to suspect that these 

deletions actually attract more attention to the deleted content than if it had been left intact. 

In sum, then, the audio coding process produced information on the frequency of verbal substance 

references, the specific type of substances referred to, and whether the references appeared in 

unedited form or were edited or blanked out. 

Coding Time Intervals 

Because music videos vary in length (the shortest video in the sample was 28 seconds long, and the 

longest almost 14 minutes), one-minute intervals were used to provide a standard, length-adjusted 

measure of the frequency of substance references. That is, the videos in the sample were divided into 

one-minute intervals, yielding a total of 999 such intervals for the complete sample of 258 videos. 

Within each network, the total number of intervals was: 406 for the 100 MTV videos, 361 for the 100 

42 Roberts, D. F., Henriksen, L., and Christenson, P. G. (1999). Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music. 

Washington, D. C.: Office of National Drug Control Policy and Department of Health and Human Services, 

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 16 
VH-1 videos, and 328 for the 100 BET videos. (These numbers add to more than 999 because of 

network crossover—that is, the same videos appearing on different channels.) 

Pairs of coders examined each one-minute interval for any reference to drugs, alcohol or tobacco. 

It should be noted that this method, because it distinguishes between videos with only a brief 

single reference and those with repeated references, also provides useful information on how 

concentrated substance references are within those videos that portray substances in some way. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 17 
Results
 


A. What proportion of the music videos depict substances of some kind? 

1.	 	 Substances of some kind (i.e., illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco, over-the-counter and 

prescription drugs, or smoke of unknown origin) appeared visually in 45 percent of the 

258 different videos comprising our sample. Verbal references occurred in 33 percent of 

the videos in the sample. (Figure 3) 

2.	 	 The visual appearance of illicit drugs was largely absent from music videos; images of 

illicit drugs appeared in only 9 of the 258 videos (3 percent). However, verbal references 

to illicit drugs (including references that were obviously censored via deletion of a word 

or phrase) occurred in 51 of the 258 videos (20%). Of these, 30 videos (12% of 258) 

contained one or more uncensored verbal references, and 41 (16%) contained one or 

more censored references. Note that the two numbers sum to more than 51 (20%) 

because 20 videos (8%) contained both types of references. (Figure 3) 

3.	 	 Alcohol appeared visually in 37 percent of the videos and was verbally referenced in 19 

percent. Tobacco appeared in 21 percent and was referred to verbally in 5 percent. 

Smoke of unknown origin (usually exhalations from marijuana, crack-cocaine, or a 

cigarette) appeared in 6 percent of the videos. (If we eliminate all videos in which all 

verbal references to alcohol or tobacco are censored, 18 percent contain verbal references 

to alcohol and 4 percent contain verbal references to tobacco.) (Figure 3) 

4.	 	 Videos differ in how they referred to the different substances. Illicit drugs were more 

likely to be referred to verbally; alcohol and tobacco were more likely to be portrayed 

visually. Nineteen percent of videos with illicit drug references contained only verbal 

references; 1 percent contained both verbal and visual references; 2 percent contained 

only visual references. Seven percent of videos with alcohol references contained only 

verbal references; 11 percent contained both verbal and visual references; 26 percent 

contained only visual references. Two percent of videos with tobacco references 

contained only verbal mentions and 3 percent contained both verbal mentions and visual 

portrayals; 18 percent portrayed tobacco only visually. (Figure 4) 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 18 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 19 

Figure 3 

Proportion of music videos containing verbal and visual 

substance references 

20% 

3% 

37% 

19% 

21% 

5% 6% 

33% 

45% 

0% 

4

20% 

0% 

80% 60% 

100% 

Visual References Verbal References 

Illicit Drugs Alcohol 

Tobacco 

Unidentified Smoke Any Substance 

Percentages are based on 258 music videos in which substances were seen or heard, 

whether or not they were used. 

N/A 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 20 

Figure 4 

Verbal and visual references to illicit drugs, alcohol and 

tobacco in music videos 

2% 

7% 

19% 

2% 

18% 

26% 

1% 3% 

11% 

0% 

80% 60% 40% 20% 

100% 

Illicit Drugs Alcohol Tobacco 

Lyrics Only 

Video Only 

Lyrics and Video 

Figure shows the percentage of 258 music videos in which substances were seen 

or heard, whether or not they were used. 
B. How frequently do the music videos portray substances? 

In order to provide a sense of how frequently substances appear in videos of dramatically 

different lengths (ranging from :28 to 13:40), the 258 videos were divided into 1-minute 

segments (a total of 999 intervals). The presence or absence of each substance was then 

recorded for every interval. The proportion of 1-minute intervals in which each substance 

appeared at least once was then calculated. This enables calculation of the likelihood of 

seeing each kind of substance in any given minute of music video viewing. 

5.	 	 Illicit drugs appeared infrequently – in 2 percent of all 1-minute intervals. Thus, one’s 

chances of seeing an illicit drug in any given minute of viewing a video from the overall 

sample was 2 in 100. (Figure 5) 

6.	 	 Alcohol appeared in 20 percent of all 1-minute intervals, tobacco in 8 percent and 

unidentified smoke in 2 percent. (Figure 5) 

C. How likely are different popular music genres to portray substances? 

7.	 	 Substances of any kind were most likely to appear visually in Rap/Hip-hop videos (55 

percent). The other music genres were about equally likely to contain portrayals of 

substances: Other = 43 percent, Mainstream Rock = 42 percent, Hot-100 = 41 percent, 

and Modern Rock = 38 percent. 

8.	 	 Visual appearance of illicit drugs was most likely in Mainstream Rock (9 percent) and 

Modern Rock (8 percent) videos. Illicit drugs were least likely to appear in Rap/Hip-hop 

(2 percent), Hot-100 videos (3 percent), and in the Other category (5 percent). (Figure 6) 

9.	 	 Visual appearance of alcohol was most likely in Rap/Hip-hop videos (49 percent), 

followed by Hot-100 (37 percent), Modern Rock (33 percent), Mainstream Rock (30 

percent), and Other (26 percent). (Figure 6) 

10.	 	 Tobacco appeared in 26 percent of Other videos, 23 percent of Rap/Hip-hop videos, 18 

percent of Mainstream Rock videos, and 17 percent of both Hot-100 and Modern Rock 

videos. (Figure 6) 

11.	 	 Unidentified smoke appeared in 8 percent of Rap/Hip-hop videos, 7 percent of Other 

videos, 3 percent of Hot-100 videos, 2 percent of Modern Rock videos, and not at all in 

Mainstream Rock videos. (Figure 6) 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 21 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 22 

Figure 5 

Substance appearances in 1-minute music video segments 

2% 

8% 

20% 

2% 

0% 

100% 

80% 

60% 

40% 

20% 

Alcohol Tobacco Unidentified 

Smoke 

The column heights represent the percentage of all 1-minute video segments (998.80) that contained 

a substance appearance. For example, illicit drugs appeared one or more times in approximately 2% 

of all video segments. The percentages refer to intervals, not the number of appearances. 

Illicit Drugs 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 23

Figure 6

Substance appearances among 5 music genres

3%

9%

0%

8%

2%

8% 7%

17%

37%

3%

18%

30%

17%

33%

23%

49%

2%

26% 26%

5%

80%60%40%20%

0%

100%

Illicit Drugs Alcohol Tobacco Unidentified

Smoke

Hot 100

Mainstream RockModern RockRap/Hip-hop

Other

Based on 133 Hot 100 videos, 33 Mainstream Rock videos, 52 Modern Rock videos, 111 

Rap/Hip Hop videos, and 58 Other genre videos. Because songs appeared on multiple

Billboard charts, categories sum to more than 100% and videos total to more than 258.
D. How do popular music videos depict illicit drugs? 

12.	 	 Although few music videos portrayed illicit drugs (3 percent), when drugs did appear 

they were likely to be used. Illicit drugs were shown being used in 8 of the 9 videos in 

which they appeared (89 percent). (Figure 7) 

13.	 	 Lead characters (members of the band or anyone central to the plot) and secondary 

characters were equally likely to be shown using illicit drugs; each type of character was 

portrayed using in 2 percent of all videos. Lead characters used illicit drugs in 5 of the 9 

videos in which illicit drugs appeared; secondary characters used illicit drugs in 4 of the 9 

videos in which illicit drugs appeared. (Figure 7) 

14.	 	 Marijuana was portrayed visually in 3 of the 9 videos in which illicit drugs appeared; 

powder cocaine and crack cocaine appeared in one, unidentified pills in two, unidentified 

hallucinogens in two, and codeine cough syrup mixed with alcohol in one (see page C-2 

for a detailed explanation). 

15.	 	 Verbal references to illicit drugs were much more frequent than visual portrayals. 

Overall, 51 videos (20 percent of the total sample) contained a verbal reference to illicit 

drugs, versus nine videos (three percent) that contained a visual reference. 

16.	 	 Visual allusions to drugs also appeared, generally in the form of pantomiming the rolling 

and/or smoking of a joint. Two of the videos in which illicit drugs explicitly appeared 

also contained visual allusions to illicit drugs. Additionally, nine videos in which no 

illicit drugs explicitly appeared contained visual allusions to illicit drugs. 

17.	 	 Smoke of unknown origin – that is, smoke that might originate either from illicit drugs or 

tobacco (e.g., exhaled smoke; a wisp of smoke rising from where a performer’s hand 

rested outside the picture frame) – appeared in 6 percent of the 258 music videos. 

E. Do music video networks differ in their portrayal of illicit drugs? 

18.	 	 Comparisons among the three music video networks revealed that illicit drugs appeared 

in 4 percent of the videos sampled from both BET and VH-1 (i.e., in 4 of 100 videos 

taken from each network); illicit drugs appeared in 1 percent of the videos broadcast by 

MTV (1 of 100). (Figure 9) 

19.	 	 Smoke of unknown origin was more likely to appear in a video on BET (13 percent) than 

on either MTV (2 percent) or VH-1 (3 percent). (Figure 9) 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 24 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 25 

Figure 7 

Substance appearance and use by lead or other characters in music videos 

6% 

3% 3% 

21% 

37% 

3% 3% 

9% 

17% 

2% 

13% 

27% 

0% 

80% 60% 40% 20% 

100% 

Illicit Drugs Alcohol Tobacco Unidentified 

Smoke 

Appearance Lead Use Other Use 

Figure shows the percentage of 258 music videos in which substances appeared and were 

used by either a lead or other character. 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 26 

Figure 8 

Types of illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco in music videos 

83% 

33% 

20% 

6% 6% 

2% 2% 2% 

0% 

80% 60% 40% 20% 

100% 

Illicit Drugs 

45% 46% 

59% 

0% 

80% 60% 40% 20% 

100% 

Alcohol 

60% 

51% 

6% 

0% 

80% 60% 40% 20% 

100% 

Tobacco 

Beer 

Wine or Champagne 

Hard Liquor or Mixed 

Drinks 

Cigarettes 

Cigars 

Pipes 

Powder Cocaine 

Crack Cocaine 

Heroin 

Ecstasy 

LSD 

Crystal Meth 

Opium 

Marijuana 

Based on the lyrics of 51 music videos in which illicit drugs were mentioned, and on 95 music videos in which 

alcohol appeared, and 53 music videos in which tobacco appeared. ategories sum to more than 100% 

because multiple substances appeared in the same music video. 

C 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 27 

Figure 9 

Substance appearances in music videos by network 

62% 

13% 

32% 

47% 

4% 

35% 

2% 1% 

11% 

33% 

39% 

3% 4% 

16% 

33% 

0% 

80% 60% 40% 20% 

100% 

Illicit Drugs Alcohol Tobacco Unidentified 

Smoke 

Any Substance 

BET 

MTV VH1 

Percentages are based on 100 music videos from each network 
20.	 	 Examination of 1-minute intervals of just those videos containing drug visuals revealed 

that when drugs did appear, they were roughly as likely to occur in a 1-minute interval on 

any of the three networks. Drug images were encountered in 52 percent of the 1-minute 

intervals in the 4 BET videos with illicit drugs. They were encountered in 44 percent of 

the 1-minute intervals in the 1 MTV video with illicit drugs and in 44 percent of the 1-

minute intervals in the 4 VH-1 videos with illicit drugs. (Table 1) 

21.	 	 Verbal illicit drug references were more likely to occur on BET (21 percent of 1-minute 

intervals) than on MTV (5 percent of 1-minute intervals) or VH-1 (2 percent of 1-minute 

intervals). (Figure 10) 

22.	 	 When verbal illicit drug references did occur, BET censored (via deletion of a word or 

phrase) 67 percent of the 69 1-minute intervals containing an illicit drug reference; MTV 

censored 61 percent of the 18 1-minute intervals containing an illicit drug reference; and 

VH-1 censored 50 percent of the 8 1-minute intervals containing an illicit drug reference. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 28 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 29 Table 1 conveys information about the frequency with which illicit drugs, alcohol, and tobacco appeared in 1-minute video segments. N indicates the number of music videos in which a substance appeared at least once. The average indicates the likelihood of seeing a substance in any 1-minute interval. The maximum describes the most pervasive case - the music video in which a substance appeared most often. For example, the numbers in the far right column show that in 9 music videos in which illicit drugs appeared, the probability of seeing an illicit drug in any 1-minute segment was 47 percent; in the worst case, illicit drugs appeared in every interval (100 percent).

Network

BET MTV VH1 Overall

Illicit Drugs

N 4 1 4 9

Average 52% 44% 44% 47%

Maximum 99% 44% 100% 100%

Alcohol

N 47 33 34 96

Average 55% 58% 51% 52%

Maximum 100% 100% 100% 100%

Tobacco

N 32 11 16 53

Average 34% 39% 41% 37%

Maximum 100% 73% 100% 100%

Unidentified Smoke

N 13 2 3 15Average 26% 19% 26% 25%Maximum 44% 25% 28% 44%

Table 1

Frequency of substance appearance in 1-minute video segments
F. What is the nature of portrayals of illicit drugs in music videos? 

Because so few music videos portrayed illicit drugs, most percentages calculated to describe those 

appearances have the disadvantage of being highly unstable. For example, our quantitative analysis 

indicated that drug use was associated with operating a vehicle in three of nine videos and with 

“partying” in three of nine videos (33 percent in each instance). However, percentages based on such 

a small denominator preclude broad inferences. Fortunately, the disadvantage of such a small base 

can also be an advantage. So few videos make it possible to conduct a relatively detailed qualitative 

analysis of music videos in which illicit drugs appeared. 

Of the nine videos visually portraying drugs (including codeine and an unidentified “sedative”), five 

incorporated drug use or drug dealing as a major theme. One of these five conveyed a clear anti-drug 

message about crack cocaine and powder cocaine use. One portrayed the use of "syrup" (a beverage 

whose active ingredient is codeine – see page C-2), and to a lesser extent marijuana, in a very 

positive way. The other three conveyed ambiguous or mixed messages, incorporating both positive 

and negative aspects of substance use or drug dealing. 

Four videos contained only brief or peripheral depictions of drugs. One of these associated pill 

taking with depression and an abusive family situation, and was judged to be a negative portrayal of 

substance use. The other three showed drug use (marijuana in two cases, pill taking in the other) as 

neither positive nor negative, but more or less as part of the "wallpaper of life." 

More detailed descriptions of each individual video in which drugs appeared are presented in 

Appendix C. 

G. How do popular music videos depict alcohol and tobacco? 

23.	 	 As was the case for illicit drugs, when alcohol and tobacco appeared in music videos, 

they tended to be consumed. Alcohol, which appeared in 37 percent of the 258 videos 

comprising the primary sample, was explicitly consumed in 32 percent of the 258. 

(Figure 7) 

24.	 	 Lead characters consumed alcohol in 17 percent of all videos; other characters consumed 

alcohol in 27 percent of all videos. (Figure 7). 

25.	 	 Hard liquor or mixed drinks were slightly more likely than wine or beer to appear in the 

95 videos that portrayed alcohol. Fifty-nine percent of these videos portrayed hard liquor 

or mixed drinks, 46 percent portrayed wine or champagne, and 45 percent portrayed beer. 

(Figure 8) 

26.	 	 Tobacco, which appeared in 21 percent of the 258 videos comprising our primary sample, 

was explicitly consumed in 18 percent. (Figure 7) 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 30 
June 2002 Substanc

e Use in Popular Music Videos 31 

Figure 10 

Frequency of illicit drug references in music lyrics on each network 

1% 3% 

14% 

9% 

1% 2% 

21% 

2% 

5% 

0% 

80% 60% 40% 20% 

100% 

BET MTV VH1 

Censored Reference Uncensored Reference Any Reference 

Based on 1-minute segments from 100 music videos on BET (328.13 segments), MTV (361.40 

segments), and VH1 (406.20 segments). 

< < 

Percent of 1-minute segments with: 
27.	 	 Lead characters were portrayed using tobacco in 9 percent of the videos; other characters 

used tobacco in 13 percent of the videos. (Figure 7) 

28.	 	 Cigarettes appeared in 60 percent of the 53 videos in which tobacco was portrayed, cigars 

appeared in 51 percent, and pipes in 6 percent. (Figure 8) 

H. Do music video networks differ in their portrayal of alcohol or tobacco? 

29.	 	 Alcohol appeared in 47 percent of BET videos, 33 percent of MTV videos, and 33 

percent of VH-1 videos. (Figure 9) 

30.	 	 Tobacco appeared in 32 percent of BET videos, 11 percent of MTV videos, and 16 

percent of VH-1 videos. (Figure 9) 

31.	 	 Examination of 1-minute intervals of just those videos containing alcohol visuals or 

tobacco visuals revealed that when they appeared, both substances were roughly as likely 

to occur in any 1-minute interval regardless of network. Alcohol images were 

encountered in 55 percent of the 1-minute intervals in the 47 BET videos with alcohol, in 

58 percent of the 1-minute intervals in the 33 MTV videos with alcohol, and in 51 

percent of the 1-minute intervals in the 34 VH-1 videos with alcohol. (Table 1) 

32.	 	 In the 32 BET videos with tobacco visuals, tobacco images were encountered in 34 

percent of the 1-minute intervals. In the 11 MTV videos with tobacco visuals, tobacco 

appeared in 39 percent of the 1-minute intervals. In the 16 VH-1 videos with tobacco 

visuals, tobacco appeared in 41 percent of the 1-minute intervals. (Table 1) 

I. What is the context of alcohol and tobacco references in music videos? 

33. In the 95 videos in which alcohol appeared, it was directly associated with: 

...sex in 11% 

...operating a vehicle in 11% 

...partying in 67% 

...violence in 5% 

...property damage in 2% 

34.	 	 Although fewer than a quarter of all videos portrayed high levels of sex/eroticism, high 

levels were more likely to be portrayed in videos in which alcohol appeared (39%) than 

in videos in which alcohol did not appear (12%). Relatively few videos portrayed high 

levels of either hostility or violence, and whether or not the video contained alcohol made 

little difference. (Table 2) 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 32 
 Table 2 

Proportion of videos with and without alcohol scoring

moderate or high for levels of sex, hostility, and violence.

All Videos 

N = 258 

22% 

10% 

3% 

No Alcohol 

N = 163 

12% 

10% 

2% 

With Alcohol 

N = 95 

39% 

9% 

5% 

Scale 

Sex 

Hostility 

Violence 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 33 
Table 3 

Dominant theme in videos with and without alcohol appearances

All Videos 

N = 258 

15% 10% 

3% 

No Alcohol 

N = 163 

9% 

10% 

2% 

With Alcohol 

N = 95 

25% 

9% 

5% 

Dominant 

Theme 

Sex 

Hostility 

Violence 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 34 
35.	 	 Although fewer than 20% of all videos included sex/eroticism, hostility, or violence as a 

dominant theme, sex was more likely to be a dominant theme in videos that included 

alcohol (25%) than in videos that did not include alcohol (9%). There was little 

difference between videos with and without alcohol in their likelihood of including 

hostility or violence as a dominant theme. (Table 3) 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 35 
 Table 4 

Proportion of videos with and without tobacco scoring

moderate or high for levels of sex, hostility, and violence

All Videos 

N = 258 

22% 

14% 

11% 

No Tobacco 

N = 205 

20% 

13% 

10% 

With Tobacco 

N = 53 

28% 

19% 

17% 

Scale 

Sex 

Hostility 

Violence 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 36 
Table 5 

Dominant theme in videos with or without tobacco appearances

All Videos 

N = 258 

15% 

10% 

3% 

No Tobacco 

N = 205 

13% 

9% 

2% 

With Tobacco 

N = 53 

23% 

11% 

8% 

Scale 

Sex 

Hostility 

Violence 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 37 
Final Comments:
 


Comparing Substance Portrayals in Music 

Videos, Television and Movies 

This study of music videos is the third in a series of examinations of substance portrayals in 

contemporary American media. As noted in the introduction to this report, earlier research reports 

have examined substance portrayals in movies, television, and popular music lyrics.43,44 This allows 

at least rough comparisons of how the different media depict substances and substance use. 

However, it is important to note that such comparisons should be approached with caution. 

Fundamental differences in the audiences for television, movies, and music videos, and the different 

regulatory and economic constraints under which content for each is developed, give rise to 

differences among the media in terms of which topics are addressed, and how any given topic is 

handled. 

Moreover, as we noted in an earlier report,45 at the most basic level, for each of the media, the units 

of analysis vary greatly in length. A 2-hour motion picture, a 26-minute situation comedy, and a 

roughly three to five-minute music video are not equivalent. Other obvious differences that 

distinguish the content of these three media include: the number of characters that can be depicted, 

how familiar the characters/performers become to the audience, the depth in which any topic or 

behavior can be portrayed, the length of time any given behavior can appear, and when music videos 

are included in the mix, even whether or not there is any attempt to tell a coherent story. That said, it 

is nevertheless interesting to make a few broad comparisons of the extent to which the three media 

portray substances. 

Relative to movies and television, one of the more striking findings in this examination of music 

videos is how seldom substances of any kind appear. Our earlier research found that illicit drugs 

appeared visually in 22 percent of a sample of 200 movies and 20 percent of a sample of 168 

episodes of prime-time television programs. The corresponding number for music videos is 3 

percent. That is, illicit drugs appeared in 9 of 258 videos. The pattern is similar for alcohol, which 

appeared in 93 percent of movies and 77 percent of television episodes, but in only 37 percent of 

music videos. Tobacco appeared in 89 percent of movies, but in only 22 percent of television 

episodes and 21 percent of music videos. 

43 Christenson, P. G., Henriksen, L., and Roberts, D. F. (2000). Substance Use in Popular Prime-Time Television. 

44 Roberts, D. F., Henriksen, L., and Christenson, P. G. (1999). Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music. 

45 Christenson, P. G., Henriksen, L., and Roberts, D. F. (2000). Substance Use in Popular Prime-Time Television. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 38 
Television differs from both movies and music videos in that when illicit drugs are portrayed, TV 

shows are much more likely to make negative statements about drugs, drug use or drug users (in 41 

percent of episodes portraying drugs),46 than are movies (9 percent of relevant movies contain an 

anti-use statement),

47 or music videos (in 1 of 9 portrayals). Music videos are also similar to movies 

in that, more often than not, there are relatively few consequences of illicit drug use depicted in 

either. Our research on television showed that two-thirds of the television episodes portraying illicit 

drugs mentioned some kind of negative consequence. 

Even though music videos are less likely than movies or prime-time television episodes to portray 

substances, they are also less likely to contain negative references to drugs in those instances when 

substances do appear. For example, in the earlier studies about a fifth of all movies (22 percent) and 

television episodes (23 percent) in which smoking was portrayed contained negative statements 

about smoking. Similarly, just under 10 percent of movies (9 percent) and television episodes (8 

percent) in which alcohol use was portrayed contained anti-use statements. Anti-use messages of any 

kind were almost nonexistent in music videos. Only one of the nine videos portraying illicit drug use 

was judged by coders to present an anti-drug message. We found no videos that presented explicit 

anti-use messages regarding tobacco or alcohol use. 

In general, then, relatively few music videos portray substances of any kind. However, in those 

instances when illicit drugs, alcohol, or tobacco do appear, more often than not they are neither 

condemned nor praised. Rather, substances of any kind seem to function as a part of the background, 

simply a part of “normal” life. 

In sum, fewer than half of the 258 videos in our sample contained a direct visual reference to any 

substance, and only a third contained a verbal reference. Given the frequent “sex, drugs and rock-n’­

roll” characterization with which much public comment tags popular music, the low rate of illicit 

drug portrayals in music videos is particularly striking. Only 3 percent of our sample of 258 videos 

visually portrayed illicit drugs. Even when verbal references and drug allusions (i.e., the 

pantomiming of rolling a marijuana cigarette) are included, the proportion of videos with any kind of 

illicit drug-related content never reaches 20 percent. And while the proportions are substantially 

higher for alcohol and tobacco, even these substances appear relatively infrequently. Indeed, fewer 

than half of the videos in our sample (45 percent) contained a substance reference of any kind. 

Music fans may be more or less likely to encounter different substances depending on whether they 

attend to a particular network or music genre. Fans of Mainstream Rock and Modern Rock are more 

likely than fans of Rap/Hip-hop to encounter videos with illicit drug references. Conversely, 

Rap/Hip-hop fans view substantially more alcohol portrayals than do fans of Mainstream or Modern 

Rock. And not surprisingly, since each of the three networks is characterized by its focus on just one 

or two of the music genres examined here, similar differences occur for networks. That is, BET fans 

see more alcohol portrayals than do MTV or VH-1 fans, while BET and VH-1 fans see more illicit 

drug portrayals than do MTV fans (although the proportions for illicit drugs are very small, no matter 

what the network). 

46 Christenson, P. G., Henriksen, L., and Roberts, D. F. (2000). Substance Use in Popular Prime-Time Television. 

47 Roberts, D. F., Henriksen, L., and Christenson, P. G. (1999). Substance Use in Popular Movies and Music. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 39 
We also sensed that the higher level of alcohol appearances in Rap/Hip-Hop videos often had less to 

do with substance use per se than with status. That is, when alcohol appeared in Rap/Hip-Hop 

videos, it tended to be highly expensive brands (e.g., Cristal champagne or Rémy Martin brandy) and 

to function as a status symbol signifying that the user was "a player," a "high rolling" participant in 

"the life." 

It is also noteworthy how seldom music videos contain any kind of evaluative message – either pro 

or con – about substance use. This is not to say that music videos offer pro-substance statements. 

Although alcohol and tobacco use are sometimes cast in a positive light because they are often 

consumed at parties or other events associated with a good time, we found no videos containing prouse statements. When smoking, drinking, and illicit drug use are portrayed or alluded to, they are 

shown in the context of socializing and interacting. The substances are simply there, common 

elements of everyday activity. Unfortunately, it is this characterization that may function to 

normalize substance use among young viewers, thus making it seem like an accepted part of 

adolescent life. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos 40 
Appendix A 

What is a Music Video? 

Stephanie Carbone 

Much of the following summarizes the work of Tom McGrath,
 


MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, 1996.
 


The focus of this discussion has been on MTV, because that network pioneered 

and defined the music video genre. Music videos, however, can be found on other 

music programs and cable networks, as well as in dance clubs, clothing stores and 

a variety of other public locations. Just as commercials are used to increase brand 

awareness, music videos portray the artist’s image to the consumer. Music videos 

transport an artist’s persona, style, attitude and fashion into the home, fostering a 

closer connection between audience and artist and encouraging recognition of a 

particular song or act. No longer just a disembodied voice on the radio, a song 

takes on a whole new meaning when associated with a music video and the art of 

music is transformed into both a visual and aural experience. 

Visual interpretations of music have existed for decades. Motion pictures have for years contained 

songs with visuals, such as in old Hollywood musicals, and music played a central role in the teen 

movies of the 1950s and 1960s.48 In the late 1940s, the Panoram Soundie, a jukebox with pictures, 

appeared in America, and for a couple of years several top singers created short film versions of their 

songs to be shown on it. These “soundies” had a brief period of popularity, but died out by the early 

1950s. A decade later, a French company came up with another video jukebox, the Scopitone. 

Although it was popular among European music fans and artists, few American acts made Scopitone 

films and the machine never caught on.49 

The forerunners of today’s music videos were the promotional films that record companies had 

started to make in the mid-1960s. After “Beatlemania” began in Britain in 1963 and America the 

following year, television executives sensed there was a demand for rock and roll music on 

television. In England, where the weekly chart countdown program Top of the Pops was already 

airing, shows like Ready Steady Go! and Oh Boy were introduced, while in America, which already 

had American Bandstand, programs such as Shindig! and Hullabaloo debuted. 

48 Christensen, P. G., and Roberts, D. F. (1998). It’s Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of
 


Adolescents.
 
 49 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 36.
 


June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos A-1 
Each week a few of the most popular acts would appear on the shows and play their songs. Because 

the most popular bands were often too busy to make a personal appearance, record companies began 

creating short films and sending them to the shows. Most were simple, in which a band would lipsynch their song on film, but others were more inventive. The Beatles, whose films A Hard Day’s 

Night (1964) and Help! (1965) “foreshadowed the frenetic style of later videos,” shot several 

promotional clips that went “beyond the band-in-the-studio concept,” as did The Who and the 

Rolling Stones. Over the next decade, these promo clips were mostly used to increase exposure 

around the world. Once record companies realized these clips could boost record sales, a growing 

number of European acts made them for their songs. By 1977, Top of the Pops was playing clips 

more than ever, and a small music video industry started to form in London. By 1978 video was so 

popular in Britain that a television show debuted featuring both in-studio performances and music 

videos. In America the music video scene was not nearly as active, but some labels were starting to 

recognize the promotional potential. 

A number of musicians expressed interest in music videos, recognizing the creative possibilities of 

this art form. By 1979, a music network called Video Concert Hall appeared on several cable 

systems in the South and featured many of these early videos. Deejay Casey Kasem had recently 

launched a half-hour syndicated video show called America’s Top Ten. By early 1981, a growing 

number of people were starting to see the potential of video clips. Music video shows such as HBO’s 

Video Jukebox and USA network’s Night Flight were starting to air, and several all-video networks 

were in the planning stages.50 

In 1979, Mike Nesmith, best known as a member of the band the Monkees, met with John Lack at 

Warner Cable and outlined his idea for a “video radio station.” The executives at Warner liked the 

idea of a network dedicated to rock and roll, and in 1980 debuted Nesmith’s half-hour music video 

program Popclips on Nickelodeon, their new kids’ network. Although Popclips was a hit, Nesmith 

decided not to remain involved with the new music network, later known as MTV. His vision was 

not in sync with theirs; he felt the executives were more interested in creating commercials for 

records, while he was more interested in creating an art form.51 

What is Music Television? 

Music Television (MTV) was launched in 1981 as the first cable network dedicated exclusively to 

music. The new network was radically different from the rest of television, both in form and in 

attitude. Unlike most TV programming, MTV had few regularly scheduled programs, just a constant 

stream of sounds and images. MTV broke the rules. The images were “fast-paced, crazy and 

colorful,” with compelling music videos, animated network IDs and promotional spots. “Television 

had never looked or sounded this way before,” writes Tom McGrath in MTV: The Making of a 

Revolution. MTV featured acts that “seemed to quench this generation’s thirst for new music” and 

brought musicians closer to the audience. 

50 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 36-38, 45. 51 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 28-29. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos A-2 
The response, particularly from the target demographic—kids—was passionate. Because not 

everyone had cable, young people were going over to friends’ houses to watch MTV, just as people 

had done in the early days of television. Kids “were spending whole afternoons and evenings staring 

bug-eyed at the TV,” writes McGrath. They were mesmerized. The network was influencing 

everything from the records kids bought to what they talked about at school and how they looked. 

Barbers reported teenage boys asking to have their hair cut like singer Rod Stewart. And, of course, 

MTV was affecting both record sales and radio playlists. At this point the network was available in 

only a handful of markets around America. By 1982, MTV had the highest name recognition of any 

cable service. 

52 

MTV’s popularity continued to grow and most of the record companies started to view video as an 

increasingly important part of promotion. Although music videos were not created for every artist or 

for every release, the music video scene was growing rapidly. TV shows like Night Flight and Video 

Jukebox were still on the air, and more clubs were beginning to show music videos. Young directors 

were drawn to the medium as a way to be experimental and creative. Soon video production budgets 

increased and straight performance videos became more rare. Directors grew more creative with 

surreal images and rough story lines. Many directors also started to push the envelope with more and 

more racy images. 

53 

This was clearly television for kids—and kids were captivated by MTV. So were the record 

companies. Radio stations started playing new artists that kids requested after seeing them on MTV, 

and across the country local TV stations started their own video music programs. Some songs started 

to scale the charts almost exclusively due to the exposure they were gaining on MTV, and records 

sold out in stores located in the parts of town wired for cable. Videos were having a great impact on 

the music business, and a number of new artists’ careers skyrocketed. 

Because MTV was still absent from several key markets, including Manhattan, the network kicked 

off a now-famous advertising campaign in 1982. They persuaded rock stars like Mick Jagger, Pete 

Townsend, Adam Ant, Stevie Nicks and Pat Benatar to proclaim, “I Want My MTV!” and encourage 

kids to call up their cable operators and demand the network. The campaign captured the spirit and 

attitude of rock and roll—and the network. It also reflected the uniqueness of MTV’s focus. 

Whereas television networks had always tried to appeal to mass audiences, MTV cared only about 

one: youth. “It’s not their MTV, the ads told young people—it’s yours.”54 

By 1983 MTV had become “a full-fledged cultural phenomenon.” The press wrote about the new 

video craze, advertisers started to make commercials just for MTV, and the music industry emerged 

from a three-and-a-half-year slump. A number of journalists, critics and black artists, however, 

criticized the network for featuring very few black acts. MTV responded that they were simply 

trying to remain faithful to their rock and roll format. One artist who broke through was Michael 

Jackson. After his videos for “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” were shown on MTV, everything changed. 

Jackson became the biggest pop star in the world, and the MTV obsession escalated. After “Billie 

Jean,” the network shifted from an album rock format to a “hits” format. 

52 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 77. 53 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 88. 54 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 80-81. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos A-3 
By 1984, there were more than 200 video clip shows on the air in the U.S. Places like bowling alleys 

and hair salons started installing video screens, and video clips were sold in stores. In November 

MTV debuted Jackson’s groundbreaking, $1.1 million “Thriller” video. A full year after its release, 

Thriller was selling six hundred thousand copies per week. Michael Jackson and MTV were credited 

with what Time magazine called “a musical revolution.”55 

Not surprisingly, a backlash started to develop. First, a growing number of people wondered what 

effects music videos might be having on young people, who were exposed to its numerous racy 

images. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop suggested that the combination of sexual and violent 

imagery in some of the videos could be detrimental to healthy relationships between young men and 

women. Some even maintained that videos were shortening young people’s attention spans. There 

were also voices of criticism from the music industry. Some viewed MTV as an overly commercial 

sell-out. “‘[Video] has become a shallow, tasteless, and formularized way of selling music’,” wrote 

singer/songwriter Joe Jackson in Billboard. 

Nevertheless, the video craze raged on. “Simply put,” writes Tom McGrath, “the network was so 

successful that it defined, merely by what it played, what was hot and what was not when it came to 

music.”

56 

What originated as an irreverent, cutting-edge rock and roll network has become a mainstream pop 

culture institution. Its impact is enormous. Not only has MTV influenced the way the music 

business operates, but it has virtually transformed advertising, film and television. The “MTV 

look”—fast-moving images, loud music, quick cutting and other stylistic devices popularized by 

music video—has been imitated by advertising and virtually all other media. Just as significant is its 

impact on almost all aspects of youth culture. Some have even argued that MTV and its visual style 

“started to change the very way young people’s minds worked.”57 In a Washington Post feature 

about the 1980s, MTV was considered “‘perhaps the most influential single cultural product of the 

decade’.”

58 

This marriage of art and commerce was targeted to the demographic most passionate about music: 

young people. One of the first television stations to pursue the vast youth market, MTV was also the 

most thoroughly researched cable TV network in the U.S. Its founders conducted hundreds of 

interviews with potential viewers in the 14 to 34 age range before transmitting its first program.59 

Not surprisingly, MTV is the most-watched cable network by teenagers. 60 Its embrace of, reflection 

of, and influence over youth culture continues two decades after its inception. It remains a global 

marketing empire, attracting advertisers’ most sought-after demographic. Currently, MTV reaches 

55 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 108-111.
 
 56 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 117.
 
 57 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 8.
 
 58 McGrath, T. (1996). MTV: The Making of a Revolution. Philadelphia: Running Press, p. 8.
 
 59 Christensen, P. G., and Roberts, D. F. (1998). It’s Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of
 


Adolescents.
 
 60 Zollo, P. (1995). Wise Up to Teens: Insights into Marketing and Advertising to Teenagers. Ithaca, NY: New
 


Strategist Publications, Inc., p. 111.
 


June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos A-4 
80 million subscriber homes.61 Although music videos have become almost synonymous with MTV, 

they can also be found on other music programs, cable networks such as VH-1, MTV2, CMT and 

BET, as well as in dance clubs, clothing stores and other public venues. They are also now common 

in music and home video retail outlets. 

MTV has evolved from its origins as a network devoted exclusively to music, and now reigns as the 

premier youth lifestyle network. These days there is less music on Music Television and more 

traditional television, with a schedule that includes news, sports, comedy, drama and other original 

programming. “It’s often on the cutting edge of what’s popular not only in music but also in teen 

and young adult culture and lifestyle,” writes Peter Zollo. “The current format ...has made MTV 

more important as a cultural touchstone for teens and young adults.” While MTV began as a rock 

and roll network, it now reflects teens’ increasingly varied musical tastes, rotating between such 

genres as mainstream rock, rap, pop, metal, and R&B.62 Many within the music industry now 

assume that no song or album can become a hit without considerable MTV exposure.63 

Twenty years later the controversy remains. Parents in a 2000 survey were asked to list the programs 

or programming environments they discouraged their children from watching; MTV was the second 

most discouraged in a list of 10.64 

61 Lieberman, D., “MTV Networks chief juggles expectations: Heat is on to grow despite falling ad sales, mounting
 


competition,” USA Today, June 11, 2001.
 
 62 Zollo, P. (1995). Wise Up to Teens: Insights into Marketing and Advertising to Teenagers. Ithaca, NY: New
 


Strategist Publications, Inc., p. 77.
 
 63 Christensen, P. G., and Roberts, D. F. (1998). It’s Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of
 


Adolescents.
 
 64 Media in the Home 2000: The Fifth Annual Survey of Parents and Children. The Annenberg Public Policy Center
 


of the University of Pennsylvania, 2000.
 


June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos A-5 
Appendix B 

Annotated Bibliography 

Content Analyses of Music Videos 

Baxter, R.L., De Riemer, C., Landini, A. Leslie, L., & Singletary, M.W. (1985). A content analysis 

of music videos. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 29(3), 333-340. 

Substance(s)/content of interest: "Artificial substances"-- narcotics, stimulants and 

other substances. Sample: Seven hours of MTV videos aired in 1984. Unit(s) of Analysis: 

Music video. Selected findings: Of the 62 videos, 24 percent contained at least 1 visual 

reference to substances. Sixty percent of the videos portrayed sex and 53 percent portrayed 

violence and/or crime. 

Brown, J.D., & Campbell, K. (1986). Race and gender in music videos: The same beat but a different 

drummer. Journal of Communication, Winter, 94-106. 

Substance(s)/content of interest: No substances; racial and gender stereotyping. 

Sample: BET and MTV videos aired in 1984. Unit(s) of Analysis: Music video; lead 

characters. Selected findings: Love/sex was the predominant theme in 36 percent of the 

videos. White males were most likely to engage in antisocial behaviors (60 percent). Black 

males were most likely to engage in pro-social behaviors (50 percent). 

Caplan, R.E. (1985). Violent program content in music video. Journalism Quarterly, 62, 144-147. 

Substance(s)/content of interest: No substances; violence. Sample: Fifteen hours of 

MTV videos aired in 1983. Unit(s) of Analysis: Music video; lead characters. Selected 

findings: On average, there were 10.18 acts of violence per hour in music videos. Women 

were no more likely than men to be the victims of violence. 

DuRant, R.H., Rome, E.S., Rich, M., Allred, E., Emans, S.J., & Woods, E.R. (1997). Tobacco and 

alcohol use behaviors portrayed in music videos: A content analysis. American Journal of Public 

Health, 87(7), 1131-1135. 

Substance(s)/content of interest: Alcohol and tobacco; violence; sex/eroticism. 

Sample: BET, CMT, MTV and VH-1 videos aired over one month in 1994. Unit(s) of 

Analysis: Music video; scene. Selected findings: On average, there were 10.18 acts of 

violence per hour in music videos. More MTV videos (26 percent) contained smoking-related 

behaviors than videos on the other networks. Other substance use did not differ significantly 

across networks. By genre, Rap videos contained the most smoking behavior (30 percent). 

Videos with sexual content were significantly more likely to portray alcohol use than videos 

with no sexual content. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos B-1 
Hansen, C.H., & Hansen, R.D. (2000). Music and music videos. In D. Zillmann & P. Vorderer, 

(Eds.), Media entertainment: The psychology of its appeal, pp. 175-196. 

Substance(s)/content of interest: Drugs, alcohol and tobacco; sex and sex role 

stereotypes. Sample: BET, CMT, MTV and VH-1 videos aired in 1997. Unit(s) of Analysis: 

Music video. Selected findings: Rates of alcohol and tobacco use were high on BET, MTV 

and VH-1. These behaviors were almost always social. Across networks, women were much 

more likely than men to be portrayed as sex objects and to be dressed provocatively. 

Sherman, B.L., & Dominick, J.R. (1986). Violence and sex in music videos: TV and rock ‘n’ roll. 

Journal of Communication, Winter, 79-93. 

Substance(s)/content of interest: No substances; violence and sex. Sample: MTV 

videos, WTBS "Night Tracks," NBC "Friday Night Videos" aired in 1984. Unit(s)of 

Analysis: Music video, character, violent or sexual act. Selected findings: More than half (56 

percent) of the videos contained violence. Of the videos portraying violence, 81 percent also 

contained sexual content. 

Sommers-Flanagan, R., Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Davis, B. (1993). What’s happening on music 

television? A gender role content analysis. Sex Roles, 28, 745-753. 

Substance(s)/content of interest: No substances; sex role behaviors. Sample: MTV 

videos aired in 1990. Unit(s) of Analysis: 30-second intervals. Selected findings: Portrayals of 

implicit sexuality occurred in nearly all (90 percent) intervals, followed by objectification 

(camera focus on individual body parts) in 44 percent, and depictions of dominance and/or 

subservience in 30 percent. 

Tapper, J., Thorson, E., & Black, D. (1994). Sexism on MTV: The portrayal of women in rock 

videos. Journalism Quarterly, 64, 750-755, 941. 

Substance(s)/content of interest: No substances; content and formal feature 

differences across genres. Sample: BET, MTV, VH-1, and TNN videos aired in 1992. Unit(s) 

of Analysis: Music video. Selected findings: The formal features and content of music videos 

varied across genre. Rap (46 percent), Soul (50 percent) and Pop (45 percent) contained the 

most portrayals of sex appeal. Alternative Rock used more digital video effects (61 percent) 

and illogical scene ordering (92 percent) than the other genres. 

Vincent, R.C., Davis, D.K., & Boruszkowski, L.A. (1987). Sexism on MTV: The portrayal of women 

in rock videos. Journalism Quarterly, 64, 750-755, 941. 

Substance(s)/content of interest: No substances; sexism and portrayals of women. 

Sample: MTV videos aired in 1985. Unit(s) of Analysis: Music video; violent act. Selected 

findings: Of the videos in which women appeared, 57 percent were rated “Condescending” 

on a sexism scale. Violence was portrayed in 34 percent of the videos. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos B-2 
Appendix C 

Detailed descriptions of nine videos with visual use or 

appearance of illicit drugs 

Broken Home, by Papa Roach (MTV) 

This is a rock video in which the singer-guitarist expresses outrage about his father’s abuse of his 

mother and abandonment of the family. A montage at the beginning depicts a great deal of conflict 

and anger between the parents after a baby (the singer) comes home. Unidentified pills are shown in 

a close-up, then the mother is shown taking them. The same pills are also shown in a similar 

montage at the end of the video. Alcohol is also involved; the father is seen drinking several times, 

and is arrested for drunk driving toward the end of the video. The father abandons the family in the 

end. Interwoven with the narrative of the parents’ troubles are shots of the singer as a boy outside in 

his back yard, depressed and frightened. The musicians are set in the house, too, and at the end of 

the video they break up the house quite literally. Overall, then, this video paints a very negative 

picture of substance use, both drinking and pill-taking. Alcohol is portrayed as the cause of trouble, 

pill-taking as the result of depression or stress. In any case, substances are clearly implicated in the 

dysfunctional family relationship. The lyrics parallel the visual story. All characters are white. 

This or That (The Choice is Yours), by Black Sheep (BET) 

The basic visual structure involves the two main artists rapping in the foreground surrounded by a 

large group of people jumping up and down to the beat. Most of the characters, including the artists, 

are African-American males. There is a brief shot (but very clear and up-close) of a crack pipe 

being lit, followed soon by a shot of two vials containing a white substance. Next to the vials are two 

white rocks, presumably of cocaine. Later in the video the cocaine is shown chopped into lines next 

to a rolled-up bill. Two rocks of cocaine also appear in this shot. The key to understanding the video 

is its juxtaposition of the drugs and other negative images (e.g., of a gun being shot into the camera, a 

Ku Klux Klansman, a close-up of George Bush senior) with the phrase “You can get with that,” and 

the association of the phrase “You can get with this” with more positive visual images, such as the 

artists rapping or scratching a record. The message seems to be that you can do the positive stuff or 

the negative, “the choice is yours.” The song is clear, though, on what’s better: “I think you’ll get 

with this, for this is where it’s at.” The lyrics don’t refer to substances, but do criticize certain 

negative elements of the gangsta image with lines such as “Never was fool, so we finished school,” 

and the phrase “Don’t punch girls.” So this is generally a positive song and video, containing a clear 

condemnation of drugs. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos D-1 
That’s Gangsta, by Shyne (BET) 

This video features one main character, the lead rapper, along with many shots of the gangsta 

lifestyle, including expensive cars, men being busted by police, drinking beer, gambling, and so on. 

The narrative revolves around a drug transaction, in which the lead rapper first delivers a black 

plastic garbage bag full of cash to a laundromat, where he pours the money into a shopping cart. 

Later another character hands him a brown paper package, which he then delivers to some men 

sitting around a table, apparently playing dominoes. Characters are almost all tough-looking males, 

with none of the sexy women that surround the performers in many rap videos. There is no smiling 

or levity, and very few images that could be described as positive. The lyrics parallel the video—that 

is, a detailed description of the tough gangsta lifestyle—without any clear condemnation or praise of 

it. The lyrics also contain a number of references to drugs, almost all of which were blanked out by 

BET. For example, in the lines “I never had no hope until I sold dope/ Drug game is infectious, got 

me livin’ reckless,” the words “dope” and “drug” were deleted. The negative consequences of the 

gangsta lifestyle are here (violence, getting busted) but so are the positive ones, such as power, 

money, and so on. Thus, the substance portrayal was judged to be neutral. If anything, this video is 

simply a “day in the life” of the gangsta, and the drug transaction is just seen as a part of it. All 

characters are African American, and almost all are male. 

Sippin’ on Some Syrup, by Three-Six Mafia featuring UGK (BET) 

This is a standard rap video in what might be called the “sensual” style, with alternate shots of male 

rappers at a party surrounded by beautiful bikini- and thong-clad women, and separate shots of 

women alone, the most provocative being a sequence with two women in thongs lying on a beach. In 

addition to the rappers and the women, one other thing is featured: throughout the video many 

characters (especially the females) are depicted drinking a reddish liquid from baby bottles. This 

occurs in the party setting, on the beach, while in-line skating, sitting at restaurant tables, and in other 

settings as well. Near the end of the video there are several shots of one of the rappers with what 

appears to be a large marijuana cigarette ("blunt") tucked behind his ear. The lyrics are heavily 

laced with references to several types of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, and ecstasy. All of 

these references were deleted in the music video, along with some explicit sexual language. The 

chorus, which is not edited and repeats several times, consists simply of the words “Sippin’ on some 

sizz-urp.” The lyrics and the video are both essentially about getting high, and the treatment is 

positive: people are clearly having a good time. The video almost looks like an advertisement for 

“syrup,” which, according to authorities we have consulted, is a drink whose active ingredient is 

codeine cough syrup. 

In the Club, by DJ Clue featuring Beanie Sigel (BET) 

Another rap video in the sensual style, this one consists entirely of the rappers surrounded by 

revelers gathered in a club. There are many close-ups of women shaking their breasts, bumping and 

grinding, and so on. The video is all about the party, and the featured activity at the party, other than 

dancing and sex, is drinking and getting high. There are repeated shots of a rapper holding a bottle of 

expensive vodka, sometimes drinking directly from the bottle. The lead rapper is shown briefly 

holding what appears to be a "blunt" (small marijuana "cigar"), and the video also shows three shots 

in close-up of males exhaling smoke, which in the context of the lyrics was judged to be a reference 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos D-2 
to marijuana. (For instance, the words “We came to get high” are juxtaposed almost precisely with 

one of these smoke shots.) The tone of the video is a bit less upbeat than “Sippin’ on Some Syrup,” 

but only because the women don’t smile quite as much. The male attitude is uniformly tough and 

aggressive. The lyrics reinforce the video, but focus about equally on drugs (marijuana and cocaine) 

and alcohol. Most of the verbal references to drugs were edited out by BET. In sum, the central 

theme of the lyrics is getting high, and the main association is with sex, although the lyrics also 

contain a fair number of references to violence. No negative consequences of substance use are 

portrayed, and the overall portrayal of substance use was judged by coders as positive. Almost all 

characters are African American, with about equal numbers of males and females. 

Carnival, by Natalie Merchant (VH-1) 

A reasonably upbeat video in which the lead singer (Merchant) is depicted as a photographer drifting 

through urban streets, taking shots of interesting and at times bizarre people and places, the sorts of 

images one might associate with the Times Square area in New York City. The drug references are 

brief and incidental. In two shots two white male background characters are shown for a second or 

two smoking what appears to be marijuana, based on the hand-rolled appearance of the “cigarette” 

and the characteristic thumb-and-forefinger way in which it is held. Another brief shot shows an 

African-American male holding a marijuana cigarette. No consequences of use are shown and there 

are no associations between substance use and either sex or violence. The smokers are two white 

males, dressed casually but not badly. The lyrics are only loosely associated with the video imagery. 

The overall portrayal of substance used was coded as neither positive nor negative. 

Otherside, by Red Hot Chili Peppers (VH-1) 

This is a highly abstract alternative rock video in which human characters, including the band 

members, are placed in surreal, computer-generated settings. The substance use occurs when a 

young man is wheeled into an operating room and administered some sort of inhalant, presumably a 

sedative, through a face mask, after which the ceiling begins to spin, thus beginning what could 

reasonably be interpreted as a drug-induced dream state. He is seen fighting with a computergenerated dragon, then fighting with his own shadow, then escaping from the shadow when he dons a 

pair of red lips painted into a wall and flies away as the lips transform into wings. His escape is 

short-lived, however, as a huge raven pecks at him, forcing him, lip-wings and all, into an abyss. At 

the end of the video he is seen flat and motionless on the ground, still wearing the now-broken lipwings, presumably dead. On its face this seems like a bad dream and thus a negative consequence of 

substance use, but given the highly unreal surroundings and the fact that it was only a dream (and a 

pretty exciting one at that), coders scored the overall substance portrayal as neutral. In addition, it 

must be noted that the substance is administered involuntarily. The lyrics contain no substance 

references other than the ambiguous line "Turn me on," and have little direct or literal connection to 

the visual treatment. All characters in the video are white males. 

Learn to Fly, by Foo Fighters (VH-1) 

Essentially a video comedy, this music video begins as two airline maintenance workers stash a 

packet of drugs in an airplane coffee maker just prior to departure. After the plane takes off, coffee is 

served and several passengers (some played by band members), the flight attendants (also played by 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos D-3 
band members) and eventually the pilots (also played by band members), get stoned and go happily 

out of control. The drug involved is presumably a hallucinogen, because one passenger sees the 

head of the person in the next seat changed into a hamburger. After the plane nearly crashes, the 

only passengers who have been drinking alcohol instead of the drug-laced coffee, take over the 

airplane controls from the stoned pilots and land the plane safely. At the end, the two maintenance 

workers are seen being taken away by a policeman, thus implying a negative consequence of dealing 

or possessing drugs, though the absurdly comedic nature of the video may cancel out the impact of 

this negative consequence. More important, the passengers who ingested the drugs are shown having 

quite a good (if goofy) time. At the end when the maintenance workers are being taken away, the 

pilots are shown laughing and joking. Overall, then, this suggests positive consequences for drugtaking, and (qualifiedly) bad consequences for dealing. The lyrics are abstruse, dealing loosely with 

the search for meaning in life, e.g., "Looking for the sky to save me/ Looking for a sign of life/ 

Looking for something to help me burn out bright." The lyrics contain no clear references to 

substances, the only connection to the video seeming to be the repetition of "looking to the sky to 

save me." All characters are white males, though some are in drag. The overall portrayal of 

substance use was judged to be neutral. 

Fly Away, by Lenny Kravitz (VH-1) 

The structure of this video is simple, consisting almost entirely of shots of Kravitz and his band in a 

club or party setting. At various times the action cuts away to revelers in side rooms. The 

predominant activity other than the performance of the music is dancing, which at times is highly 

sexual in nature. The drug appearance emerges in the form of a very brief shot during which a bottle 

of unidentified pills is shown next to a white female who has passed out. It is necessary to look very 

carefully to see this, and it is likely many viewers would miss it. The lyrics are devoid of drug 

references, unless the general theme "I want to fly away" is interpreted as a symbolic reference to 

being high. Kravitz is African American, the other characters are mostly white, but other racial 

groups are represented. Males and females are represented about equally. Assuming that being 

passed out is a negative consequence, there is a negative consequence here, although this may be 

counteracted by the extremely brief duration of the shot and by the generally positive and stimulating 

tone associated with the party. Thus, coders scored the overall portrayal as neutral. 

June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos D-4 
June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos D-1 

Appendix D 

Music Video Sample 

Network(s) Artist(s) Video / Song Title 

MTV 2Gether Awsum LovR 

MTV 2Pac To Live And Die In LA 

VH-1 3 Doors Down Kryptonite 

MTV 3 Doors Down Loser 

MTV, BET 3LW No More (Baby I'ma Do Right) 

BET 504 Boys Whodi 

MTV 98 Degrees My Everything 

MTV A Perfect Circle 3 Libras 

MTV Aaliyah Are You That Somebody 

VH-1 Aerosmith Crazy 

VH-1 Alanis Morissette Ironic 

VH-1 Alanis Morissette One Hand in My Pocket 

VJ-1 Alanis Morissette You Learn 

VH-I Alanis Morissette You Oughta Know 

MTV At The Drive In One Armed Scissor 

BET Avant Featuring Kitara 

Wyatt My First Love 

VH-1 B-52's Love Shack 

MTV, VH-1 Backstreet Boys Shape Of My Heart 

ALL Baha Men Who Let The Dogs Out 

MTV, VH-1 Barenaked Ladies One Week 

VH-1 Barenaked Ladies Pinch Me 

MTV BB Mak Still On Your Side 

MTV, BET Beanie Man Featuring 

Mya Girls Dem Sugar 

BET Big L Holdin' it Down 

BET Big Tymers Numba One Stunna 

MTV, BET Bilal Soul Sista 

BET Black Sheep This Or That 

MTV Blink 182 Man Overboard 

VH-1 Blues Traveler Run Around 

VH-1 Bon Jovi It's My Life 

BET Brian McKnight Win 

MTV Britney Spears Stronger 

VH-1 Bruce Springsteen Streets of Philadelphia 

MTV, BET Cam'Ron What Mean the World To You 

BET Capone-N-Noreaga Phone Time 

BET Cash Money Millionaires Baller Blockin' 

VH-1 Celine Dion That's The Way It Is 

MTV Changing Faces That Other Woman 

BET Channel Live Wild Out 2K 

BET Chante Moore Straight Up 

MTV, VH-1 Christina Aguilera Come On Over Baby 

BET City High What Would You Do 

BET C-Murder Down For My N's 

MTV Coldplay Yellow 

VH-1 Collective Soul Why Part 2 

BET Common The Light 

VH-1 Creed Higher 

VH-1 Creed With Arms Wide Open 

BET Dave Hollister One Woman Man 

MTV, VH-1 David Gray Babylon 

VH-1 David Gray Babylon - Version 2 

BET De La Soul Stakes Is High 

BET De La Soul Featuring 

Chaka Khan All Good? 

BET De La Soul Featuring 

Redman Oooh 

BET Dead Prez Mind Sex 

MTV Debelah Morgan Dance With Me 

MTV Deftones Back To School 

ALL THREE Destiny's Child Independent Women Part I 

VH-1 Dido Here With Me 

BET Digital Underground Humpty Dance 

MTV Dilated Peoples Featuring 

B-Real No Retreat 

Network(s) Artist(s) Video / Song Title 

BET DJ Clue Featuring Beanie 

Sigel In The Club 

BET DJ Clue Featuring 

Memphis Bleek Mind Right 

BET 

DJ Hurricane Featuring 

Xzibit, Big Gipp & Pharoah 

Monche 

Connect 

BET DMX Featuring Sisqo What You Want 

BET Do Or Die Make It Hot Like This 

BET Do Or Die VIP 

VH-1 Don Henley Taking You Home 

MTV Dream He Loves You Not 

BET E-40 Nah, Nah... 

VH-1 Eagle Eye Cherry Save Tonight 

MTV Eminem My Name Is 

MTV Eminem Stan 

VH-1 Eminem The Way I Am 

VH-1 Enrique Iglesias Bailiamos 

BET Eric B and Rakim I Aint No Joke 

BET Erykah Badu Bag Lady 

MTV, VH-1 Evan & Jaron Crazy For This Girl 

MTV Everclear AM Radio 

MTV Everlast Black Jesus 

VH-1 Everlast What It's Like 

VH-1 Faith Hill The Way You Love Me 

VH-1 Fatboy Slim The Rockafeller Skank 

VH-1 Filter Take A Picture 

VH-1 Foo Fighters Learn To Fly 

MTV Fuel Hemmorhage (In My Hands) 

MTV, BET Funkmaster Flex Featuring 

DMX Do You 

MTV Gangstarr Words I Manifest 

BET Gerald Levert Mr. Too Damn Good 

MTV Godsmack Awake 

VH-1 Goo Goo Dolls Slide 

MTV Good Charlotte Little Things 

MTV Green Day Minority 

VH-1 Green Day The Time of Your Life 

MTV Guru Featuring Angie 

Stone Keep Your Worries 

MTV Shaggy Featuring Rikk 

Rokk It Wasn't Me 

VH-1 J. Geils Band Centerfold 

MTV, BET Ja Rule Featuring 

Christina Milian Between Me and You 

VH-1 Janet Jackson Doesn't Really Matter 

VH-1 Janet Jackson Love Will Never Do Without You 

MTV, BET Jay-Z I Just Wanna Love You (Give It 

To Me) 

BET Jay-Z Featuring Memphis 

Bleek Hey Papi 

MTV Jennifer Lopez Feelin So Good 

VH-1 Jennifer Lopez Waiting For Tonight 

BET Jesse Powell You 

ALL Jill Scott Gettin' in the Way 

MTV Jurassic 5 Quality Control 

MTV Kandi Don't Think I'm Not 

BET Kane & Abel Shake It Like A Dog 

MTV K-Ci & JoJo Crazy 

BET Keith Sweat Featuring 

Trina I'll Trade (A Million Bucks) 

BET Kelly Price You Should've Told Me 

VH-1 Kid Rock Only God Knows Why 

BET Kriss Kross Jump 

VH-1 Lauryn Hill Doo Wop (That Thing) 

VH-1 Leigh Nash Need To Be Next To You 
June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos D-2 

Network(s) Artist(s) Video / Song Title 

MTV-VH-1 Lenny Kravitz Again 

VH-1 Lenny Kravitz Fly Away 

BET Lil Bow Wow Bounce Wit Me 

MTV, BET Lil Bow Wow Bow Wow (That's My Name) 

MTV, BET Lil Kim How Many Licks 

BET Lil Zane Featuring 112 Callin Me 

MTV Limp Bizkit Rollin 

MTV Linkin Park One Step Closer 

VH-1 Live Lightning Crashes 

BET LL Cool J Imagine That 

BET LL Cool J Featuring Kelly 

Price You And Me 

MTV, BET Ludacris Featuring 

Shawna What's Your Fantasy 

BET Mack 10 Featuring T-Boz Tight To Def 

VH-1 Macy Gray I Try 

ALL Macy Gray Still 

VH-1 Macy Gray Why Didn't You Call Me 

VH-1 Madonna Beautiful Stranger 

MTV, VH-1 Madonna Music 

MTV Mandy Moore Walk Me Home 

VH-1 Marcy Playground Sex And Candy 

MTV Mariah Carey Heartbreaker 

MTV Marilyn Manson Disposable Teens 

BET Master P Souljas 

MTV, VH-1 Matchbox Twenty If You're Gone 

VH-1 Matchbox Twenty Push 

BET Mau Maus Blak Iz Blak 

MTV, VH-1 Memphis Bleek Featuring 

Jay Z, Missy Elliot Is that Your Chick 

VH-1 Michael Jackson Thriller 

MTV, VH-1 Moby Featuring Gwen 

Stefani Southside 

BET Monifah I Can Tell 

BET MOP Ante Up 

BET Mr. Marcelo How You Like It 

MTV, BET Musiq Soulchild Just Friends (Sunny) 

MTV Mya Case Of The Ex 

MTV Mya Free 

MTV Mya Featuring Jay-Z Best Part Of Me - Part 2 

MTV, BET Mystikal Shake It Fast 

MTV N’ Sync This I Promise You 

VH-1 Natalie Imbruglia Torn 

VH-1 Natalie Merchant Carnival 

VH-1 Natalie Merchant Kind And Generous 

BET Nelly Country Grammar 

MTV, BET Nelly EI 

MTV Nelly Furtado I'm Like A Bird 

BET New Edition Can You Stand The Rain 

VH-1 Nine Days If I Am 

VH-1 No Doubt Simple Kind of Life 

MTV, VH-1 No Doubt Bathwater 

MTV Offspring Featuring 

Redman Original Prankster 

MTV Orgy Fiction (Dreams In Digital) 

BET Original Flava Can I Get Open 

MTV, BET Outkast BOB 

MTV, BET Outkast Ms. Jackson 

MTV Papa Roach Broken Home 

VH-1 Peter Gabriel Sledgehammer 

BET Phife Flawless 

MTV Pink Most Girls 

MTV POD School Of Hard Knocks 

MTV, BET Prodigy Keep It Thoro 

MTV, BET Profyle Liar 

BET Public Announcement Mamacita 

BET R. Kelly Bump-N-Grind 

MTV, BET R. Kelly I Wish 

BET R. Kelly 

To The Homies That Were Lost 

(I Wish Re-mix) 

MTV Radiohead Bear Witch 

MTV Radiohead White Mountains 

MTV Rage Against The Machine Testify 

VH-1 Red Hot Chili Peppers Otherside 

VH-1 REM Losing My Religion 

Network(s) Artist(s) Video / Song Title 

VH-1 REM This One Goes Out To The One 

I Love 

VH-1 REM Everybody Hurts 

VH-1 Richard Ashcroft C'mon People (We're Making It 

Now) 

MTV, VH-1 Ricky Martin She Bangs 

MTV Robbie Williams Rock DJ 

MTV Ruff Endz No More 

BET Ruff Ryders World War III 

VH-1, BET Sade By Your Side 

MTV Samantha Mumba Gotta Tell You 

VH-1 Santana Featuring Rob 

Thomas Smooth 

VH-1 Santana Featuring the 

Project G&B Maria Maria 

VH-1 Sarah McLachlain Building A Mystery 

BET Scarface It Aint 

BET Shade Shiest Featuring 

Nate Dogg and Kurupt Where I Wanna Be 

VH-1 Shania Twain You're Still The One 

VH-1 Shawn Mullins Everywhere I Go 

VH-1 Sheryl Crow Anything But Down 

VH-1 Sheryl Crow All I Wanna Do 

VH-1 Sheryl Crow Strong Enough 

BET Shyne That's Gangsta 

BET Shyne Featuring Barrington 

Levy 

Bad Boyz 

MTV, BET Silkk The Shocker He Did That 

BET Sisqo Incomplete 

VH-1 Sixpence None the Richer Kiss Me 

BET Slim Cutta Calhoun It's OK 

VH-1 Smashing Pumpkins 1979 

VH-1 Smashmouth Walking on the Sun 

BET Snoop Dogg Featuring 

Eastsidaz G'd Up 

BET Snoop Dogg Presents 

Doggy's Angels Baby If You're Ready 

MTV SoulDecision Faded 

BET Sparkle It's A Fact 

MTV Spice Girls Holler 

BET Steven Simmonds I Can't Do That 

VH-1 Sting Desert Rose 

MTV Strait Up Featuring 

Sevendust Angel's Son 

VH-1 Sugar Ray Someday 

VH-1 Sugar Ray Featuring Super 

Cat Fly 

BET Talib Kweli Featuring HiTek Move Somethin' 

BET Tamia Stranger In My House 

MTV T-Boz My Getaway 

BET Tela Tela 

VH-1 The Corrs Breathless 

VH-1 The Cranberries Dreams 

MTV, VH-1 The Field Mob Project Dreamz 

VH-1 Third Eye Blind Deep Inside of You 

VH-1 Third Eye Blind Jumper 

VH-1 Third Eye Blind Semi-Charmed Life 

BET Three-Six Mafia Tongue Ring 

BET Three-Six Mafia Featuring 

UGK Sippin on Da Syrup 

VH-1 Toni Braxton He Wasn't Man Enough 

BET Toni Braxton Spanish Guitar 

BET Toni Braxton Featuring Dr. 

Dre Just Be A Man About It 

BET Trick Daddy Featuring Trina Nann 

BET Trina Pull Over 

VH-1 U2 Pride (In the Name of Love) 

VH-1 U2 Where the Streets Have No 

Name 

VH-1 U2 I Still Haven't Found What I'm 

Looking For 

MTV, VH-1 U2 Beautiful Day 

VH-1 U2 With Or Without You 

VH-1 U2 Sweetest Thing 
June 2002 Substance Use in Popular Music Videos D-3 

Network(s) Artist(s) Video / Song Title 

VH-1 Van Halen Panama 

MTV, VH-1 Vertical Horizon You're A God 

MTV Vitamin C The Itch 

MTV, VH-1 Wallflowers Sleepwalker 

VH-1 Wallflowers 6th Avenue Heartache 

BET Whitney Houston Featuring 

Kelly Price, Faith Evans Heartbreak Hotel 

VH-1 Will Smith Miami 

Network(s) Artist(s) Video / Song Title 

VH-1 Will Smith Just The Two Of Us 

MTV Wu-Tang Clan Gravel Pit 

MTV, BET Wu-Tang Clan Protect Ya Neck (The Jump Off) 

MTV, BET Wyclef Featuring Mary J. 

Blige 911 

MTV Xzibit X 

BET Xzibit Year 2000 
Past Studies of Substance Abuse Portrayals 
 


in Entertainment Media 
 


APRIL 1999 

This study examined the most popular 

movie rentals from 1996 and 1997. It was 

the first national study of its kind to 

quantify the frequency and nature of 

substance use in entertainment media. 

JANUARY 2000 

This study examined the frequency 

and nature of substance use portrayals 

in the top-rated prime-time shows 

of the fall 1998 – 1999 season. 

Please go to 

www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov 

to read the full content of each study. 

THIS STUDY WAS CONDUCTED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE NATIONAL YOUTH ANTI-DRUG MEDIA CAMPAIGN, WHICH IS FUNDED BY 

THE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY (ONDCP). Within the Executive Office of the President, ONDCP oversees 

development of the National Drug Control Strategy and advises the President on the organization, management and budgeting of 

anti-drug efforts by executive-branch agencies. ONDCP is conducting a national media campaign to help parents and youth prevent 

youth drug use, especially among those in their early teens, and to encourage young drug users to stop. 

Further information about these activities can be found at: 

OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY MEDIASCOPE NATIONAL YOUTH ANTI-DRUG MEDIA CAMPAIGN 

http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov http://www.mediascope.org http://www.mediacampaign.org 
More Information on the Web
 


www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov 

The President’s National Drug Control Strategy
 


Data on drug use
 


Prevention, treatment and enforcement programs
 


ONDCP initiatives, news and testimony
 


www.mediacampaign.org 

Information for campaign stakeholders — 
 


anti-drug leaders, media executives and policy-makers
 


Communications strategy and integrated 
 


communications plan
 


News, testimony and initiatives
 


Ad samples