A Scandal Aboard the Ship: Why was the music video for Cher’s ‘Turn Back Time’ banned by MTV?
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Cher stirred up quite the storm. With songs and videos that drew from varying genres, themes, and even cultures, the singer’s penchant for disrupting the space reached an all-time high. People either embraced and celebrated her audacity or branded it artistically inappropriate. Among these standout moments was when audiences condemned her hit ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’.
When listening to the song today, or as it appears on radio stations in an endlessly heavy rotation, the last thing that might come to mind is its controversy. After all, on the surface, it seems like any other popular Cher hit with a driving rhythm and even catchier hook. However, when it was first released in 1989 as the lead single from her record Heart of Stone, some audiences found it offensive.
Actually, it wasn’t necessarily the song that people took issue with; it was the music video, specifically the clothes Cher wore. In the video, the singer appears aboard the battleship USS Missouri, performing for 200 of the ship’s crew. Her fashion designer for the project, Bob Mackie, had her wear a black bathing suit that exposed much of her backside, leading many to claim it was too sexual for mainstream broadcasting.
While the Navy hadn’t approved or even known that this would happen prior to shooting, opting for something off-kilter was on the cards early on, with the director, Marty Callner, reportedly telling Cher she should wear something “outrageous”, only to watch members of the Navy gawk in surprise when they first caught a glimpse of her on set. Callner allegedly told one of them to take it up with Cher when he urged him to put a stop to it, to which he refrained.
Of course, when the video actually began airing, the Navy was pressed for damage control, especially after other industry figures shared opinions about it tarnishing their reputation or being an embarrassing project to have their stamp of approval on. And MTV, which initially broadcasted the video, eventually admitted they felt it was “borderline” when they first received it before pushing it to air only after the 9pm watershed.
“When we accepted it, we felt it was borderline,” the network’s then-VP Abbey Konowitch explained at the time, adding, “We received a great deal of negative feedback from the audience.” Not only this, but certain communities in America campaigned to remove MTV from their channel of networks entirely after becoming so utterly disgusted by how such a reputable broadcaster would greenlight such a controversial project.
Of course, all of this seems entirely overreactive now, especially considering how far the music industry has come with female censorship and how art is perceived when it crosses over with institutions it seems far removed from. After all, Cher was never one to take risks, and if appearing in starkly un-Naval dress code was anything to go by, she was merely doing what earns praise today and going against the conventions of her time.
