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Lady Gaga Isn't so Bad

#41
martinmcfly said:
So she copied exactly what Madonna did 26 years earlier.
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Well, it's not like she's a messiah or anything... She's a pop singer that's performing in the pop world. Everything has been done before. She's just smart enough and has enough business/marketing sense enough to take a direction that she knew that would be successful.

The big difference with her then Madonna and some of the other pop stars is that Lady Gaga actually really knows music on a technical level, and pretty much single handedly crafted her persona. Madonna's wierdness was later in her career, and shaped a whole lot by suggestions of a marketing team. For the most part, Lady Gaga started out as more typical jazz/theater/rock singer as a music student, but then said 'screw it, I wanna shoot for the moon with something over the top.' She succeeded.
 
#44
Spectrum said:
It's fun trying to pick out the folks who actually watched the OP's video vs. those who think this is a thread about Lady Gaga.
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I know, huh? It was a joke cuz you have to admit they basically do look very similar what with their huge oompa shoes, long blond hair and lack of clothing. It's musicians and they are weird a lot of the time and she uses it to her advantage.
 
#46
Me too. Saw them back in the day. That was a show to be sure. Dancing girls wearing just innertubes, Quay Lude and his backless chaps, madness and mayhem for a high school kid in the mid 70's to be sure. If you notice, the Nina Hagen song I linked is her rendition of White Punks on Dope with different lyrics, in German. A buddy of mine did this version. He's playing the Ric in this song.
‪White Punks On Dope - Terry Blankenship w/ The Scandal (3-16-1983)‬‏ - YouTube
 
#47
SGD Lutherie said:
I'm a big Tubes fan. :D
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Saw them in their heyday at the Hollywood Paladium. My friends band used to cover White Punks and I remember once them playing it outside at a big party when Police Helicopter hovered above shining spotlights on the crowd of teenagers yelling through megaphones for party goers to disperse and everyone holding up their middle finger. We were laughing about it on FB awhile back. Great HS parties in the 70's but we mostly played for free cuz they were our friends. Polices always came too.
 
#49
Ubersheist said:
The big difference with her then Madonna and some of the other pop stars is that Lady Gaga actually really knows music on a technical level, and pretty much single handedly crafted her persona. Madonna's wierdness was later in her career, and shaped a whole lot by suggestions of a marketing team.
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I couldn't disagree with everything you say more. So she, 'singlehandedly' crafted her perona? By singing in super skimpy outfits and underwear? By wearing super high shoes like the singer for the Tubes I linked to, Kiss, etc. etc. etc. To act and dress outrageous in public. LOL. She crafted all that huh? BTW, Madonna turned weird after her, Borderline Album when SHE started the whole, 'Boy Toy' image. How many girls were wearing the torn at the shoulder top? Everyone of them. Madonna's has a ton of vocal talent and to put Ga Ga on such a high plateau above her just because she is (as is so constantly pointed out at naseum) a classically trained pianist is playing a card that has grown old. So what? Also, the point of this whole thread was to show she looks exactly like a leader singer from the mid-70's.
 
#50
Nina Hagen is a very strange person, but damn what a set of pipes on her! If she were less strange she could be way more famous.

Or entirely unknown.

Lady Gaga could also be virtually unknown if it weren't for her strangeness, and I'd respect her twice as much if she stopped hiding behind it and made some music I can enjoy. Do you know how I know I'm too old? All popular music sucks.
 
#51
Strangeness in itself isn't always bad, sometimes it's an important ingredient in some of the most interesting and memorable art, including music.
In my opinion David Bowie was strange, so was Kate Bush in her own way, and Iggy Pop. Tom Waits is certainly quite strange, but I think brilliant.

Of course, sometimes it's just trying (too hard) to be noticed by a jaded, cynical, and over-marketed world.
Give Gaga some time and she may come up with something memorable, who knows.

As far as The Tubes goes, I had heard 'She's a Beauty" on the radio in the 1980s.
A decent song, but I had no idea (nor do I care particularly) that they were as weird as they were/are.
 
#52
I always said people who act and dress strangge like Ozzie, Alice Cooper, Bowie, Kiss and Bands like that are only as good s their songs. I liked White Punks on Dope because it's a good song and had a great long Jam at the end. I never knew the singer was weird until I saw them live. I liked Detroit Rock City by Kiss because it's a good song
and in my opinion they're only good song. It doesn't matter to me that bands put on huge choreographed shows or eat bat heads. I just like good music and when I saw Deep Purple in 1973 I enjoyed Ritchie Blackmore tearing through fiery leads, tossing his guitar high in the air and catching it without missing a beat.
 
#57
Generally people don't 'get' Gaga at all.

She is most definitely an artist with something to say.. which is why people don't like her. They prefer popstars to be quite bland and stay in their little boxes.

There's a whole ton of references to pop music in her stuff - which she acknowledges. The Madonna comparisons are just lazy if you ask me. She also references other art movements, especially Dada and Surrealism. And there's lots of humor in there too. For now she's doing pop music, but I think that she may well branch out into other areas. There's already quite a lot of guitars on her music, so who knows.

Personally, I'm always interested in what she's up to. Most artists these days seem incredibly boring, but she's always doing something amazing.

As for being "beautiful" or "pretty".. I mean that's so shallow.
 
#58
Webtroll said:
Nina Hagen is a very strange person, but damn what a set of pipes on her! If she were less strange she could be way more famous.

Or entirely unknown.

Lady Gaga could also be virtually unknown if it weren't for her strangeness, and I'd respect her twice as much if she stopped hiding behind it and made some music I can enjoy. Do you know how I know I'm too old? All popular music sucks.
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Nina is well known in Europe. I saw her back in the 80s live, and she was great. Another one was Lene Lovich. None of these singers are mainstream, and that's the way it should stay!

mainstream these days is singers that all sound alike and sound like they are from American Idol. And they all use auto tune!

There's lots of good singers these days, and some of them are fairly well known, like Santigold, the Noisettes, St. Vincent, etc.

The problem with Gaga is her music does not match her image. She borrowed the look from Bowie, such as with the lighting bolt on her face, and Dale Bozzio, and she can sing and play, but the music she writes is nothing special.
 

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