The world vs lady gaga

So lately, there's been a lot of jousting and discussion of the infamous Lady G. She was named one of Time Mag's most influential people (on the cover along side Bill Clinton), and just by sheer nature of being famous, has pissed off a lot of people lately. I mean, if people can get ridiculously famous just by covering her, the floodgates of anger will open from the indie scene. On one hand, the girl has crazy awesome style. She wears crazy clothes (or things that we wouldn't normally think of as clothing) and challenges our perceptions of style, design, and aesthetic. At the same point, her songs mostly suck. I got the fame monster from the library, just for kicks, and pretty much everything but "bad romance," "telephone" and maybe one other song suck. "Speechless" is pretty epic, in the worst way. It's like a country music style ballad, but worse, because it's basically being done by a drag queen. (woman dressed like a man impersonating a woman). So, I can understand this comment by Joanna Newsom, whose February album is most excellent. Just take a gander at this recent Joanna Newsom ragefest: http://pitchfork.com/news/38738-newsom-takes-on-gaga-madonna/ What I like about it is that she's quite articulate, and it's rather entertaining. Here are some of my favorite lines:

"Lady Gaga is Arty Spice"

"Her approach to image is really interesting, but you listen to the music and you just hear glow sticks. Smart outlets for musical journalism give her all this credit, like she's the new Madonna...I'm like, fair enough: she is the new Madonna, but Madonna's a dumb-ass!"

(I love that last bit, because it's true, most everything Madonna's done in the last 12 years is really suspect. And the chick has weird muscles, like Janet Jackson.) Here's the more eloquent comment later:

"My problem isn't actually with Lady Gaga. But there's not much in her music to distinguish it from other glossy, formulaic pop. She just happens to wear slightly weirder outfits than Britney Spears..."

Love it.

And on a small note, M.I.A. also thinks she sucks, with these winning lines:

"People say we're similar, that we both mix all these thing in the pot and spit them out differently, but she spits it out exactly the same. None of her music's reflective of how weird she wants to be or thinks she is. She models herself on Grace Jones and Madonna, but the music sounds like 20-Year-Old Ibiza disco, you know? She's not progressive, but she's a good mimic. She sounds more like me than I fucking do!"

Still love it.

When Did Being Weird Become Mainstream?

Inspired by a recent issue of Bust magazine, I ask the question-when did being weird become the norm? Case in point: the article was called "Weird Sister: Why Lady Gaga is a Superstar for our Time." Let me just give you some of the salient details of the article. Here's the opening line:

It's 2010, and we still haven't gotten our flying cars or robot servants, but by God, we have Lady Gaga as proof that the future has arrived...The world of the past thought Bjork's swan dress at the 2001 Oscars was a fashion "faux pas," but now we live in the FUTURE, we can accept someone like Lady Gaga for who she is: a weirdo. That's right, the former Stefani Germanotta is the first weirdo-American woman to achieve major pop-star success.

So when did our tolerance for weird change? In the past, ladies like Cyndi Lauper and Courtney Love were seen as crazy and creepy and weird, either because of their raging drug habits combined with overly depressing lyrics, or just their bizarre fashion sense. But lately, it seems that celebrities everywhere are getting weird, and people are loving it. Let's just take a quick look at some of the "weird" and crazy folks and occurrences of the last few years:

*the hipster movement- more on this another time, but basically, the idea is to be as invididual and unique as possible, while shopping from the Goodwill chiffarobe and drinking espresso. (Yes, tights with shorts are a brilliant idea, as long as the shorts are high waist, ripped, and the tights are slightly see-through.)

*Crazy ass celebrities with bizarre lives-scientology as a mainstream actor religion? Seriously? (Created by a sci-fi writer?)

*Strangely Morbid Television Shows: Dexter, True Blood...apparently being into death is no longer goth, it's mainstream! Thanks, Twilight!

*High profile crimes as comedy: Dexter, Weeds, Breaking Bad. Selling weed, making Meth, and being a serial killer is mainstream these days, apparently.

*the death of Michael Jackson-the king of weird has passed. lady gaga has taken the baton.

(misshapen plastic surgery people populating this earth freak me out as well).

*Geek as mainstream cultural icon. Seriously.

*American Idol is still syndicated on television, and people still watch it. Didn't that show pretty much kill music as we know it?

*Gagaism #5000: "I hope when I'm dead, I'll be considered an icon."

While this is not by any means all encompassing, it seems that being weird is the way to go these days. Granted, the youth have been apportioning unfortunate style choices for decades, so that, in itself, is not so strange. Weird and crazy has always been around-it just seems that mainstream america is embracing it, right after they finish watching glee. is that so strange? either way, it makes me feel better about occasionally being awkward. I'm just trying to make it big.

Lady Gaga and why she amuses me

I can't explain it. I don't usually like mainstream pop female vocals- usually the songs are bad (there's only so much American Idol shit I can take) and Miley Cyrus type videos and it's just bad. But sometimes, what's proportedly bad is really really effing weird. Like Lady Gaga. It's like Of Montreal on crack, in terms of the music videos. And I love it. The tunes are like a cross between Cher, Madonna, and Gwen Stefani (all Italian NY woman who died their hair, just like Lady Gaga.) And the tunes aren't great. But the videos and the weird fashion and sci-fi details and Blade Runner stuff is freaking amazing!

Take Bad Romance, for example. What the hell??? So many weird and fabulous things- the opening with the weird glasses, the creepy tombs with plastic sheeted bodies (remind me of Pan's Labyrinth and that character with the eyeballs) So many amazingly odd effects: the vertebrae popping out of her back, the crazy 12-inch heels, the bearskin dress...it's just ridiculous all over the place. It's everything weird that popular music should be...only stranger and less predictable. If only her songs didn't remind me of Cher's "Do you Believe in Life after love." It's that autotune stuff that kills it everytime, and that gemstone ensemble. Overall, it's amazing.

I also really enjoy Paparazzi, because of the ridiculous yellow outfit she wears in the end with the Mickey Mouse shit. It's so eighties and I just want it, but I'd never wear it.

I mean, gosh, I wouldn't wear any of this shit to school...ruffles aren't really practical to play viola in, but sheesh! I always wondered who paid attention to high fashion, and now I know! It's great to see clothing as art, rather than as brand names and prices and "in" looks. Everything she wears is so out there it's not even wearable. So anyway, I'm intrigued. And I think she's spoken for gay rights, so ha! She knows her fan base well.

Listening to: the new ANIMAL COLLECTIVE EP