Lady Gaga — The Fame Monster

[EricMontreal22]

Oh I'm in agreement with you. Ke$ha is a cynical, low rent version of Gaga emphasizing all the elements of Gaga I don't like. But the US radio marketplace HAS slowly moved from the dominance R&B/hip hop and derivatives of it that the last decade+ have driven into the ground. We won't be hearing Girls Aloud on the radio anytime soon, but it's a welcome switch IMHO.

[EricMontreal22]

I can agree with all that, yet disagree lol. You raise great and smart points--I guess it just doesn't bother me. I don't need or care if my pop music is organic or authentic or anything else. I want it catchy, and memorable and Gaga provides that for me. She also has an interesting image--like it or not (remember back when pop stars felt they should make a visual impression and be different?? what happened with the boring, non memorable pop stars we've been sutck with? I don't mean they all have to be campy messes like Gaga, but Jesus, do *something*). Having a "dangerous:" look but mixing it with very accessible music has been Gaga's genius. No, she's not remotely like that in her weird interviews (where she seems to be channeling Madonna's horrid British accent era), but her perforamnces, good or bad are *interesting*, I like a lot fo her music, and her concert was exactl what a pop concert IMHO should be--outrageous and fun.

Yeah being thepatehtic fanboy Iam I still paid way too much for her tour and bougth all the singles for my collection, but agreed. It just felt soo cynical, and it was sad to see Madonna suddenly appearing desperate and old, something I felt she had managed to avoid before. The fact that I saw Gaga and Kylie on tour (not to mention a surprisingly theatrical Pet Shop Boys concert) andpaid under 40 bucks for each show, and then had worse seats for Madonna and paid 250 or so (she even increased the price from her Confessions tour a few years back) does leave me grumpy. She's complained to the media that her shows often tend to have too many corporate and old, not big fans audiences--well maybe if she charged less she could get more of the audience she desires? I thought Confessions was an amazing show--Madonna isstill an awesome performer and gives her all but as a show I found Sticky and Sweet an underwhelming, underthought out, mess. And from a clearly practical POV the fact that Kylie and Gaga's shows were far more visually spectacular makes me wonder where all the money for Madonna went--certainly not on stage. (She needs to work with a new show director other than the stretched toothin Jamie King).

[EricMontreal22]

HAHA those are awful. To be fair she's been careful to state that she felt like an outsider even when in appearances she ddin't seem one. I do agree that the RedOne sound is already getting played out, but whatever.

She dropped out of schoolcuz it wasn't what she wanted--it's obviously been a smart decision. The fact that the people who don't liek her seem to dislike her with a passion proves her success--no one's indifferent.

(Yeah two years may be a bit soon but many thougth she wouldn't even have a successful second album--she's constantlyc ompared to Madonna, but Madonna's first album wasn't a similar size hit in any level--it wasn't till she teamedup with Nile Rodgers for Like a Virgin)

It makes me think a bit of people who dislike The Killers and get mad at them for pretention they see when they've made no claims to be anything other than a catchy pop band.

[alphanguy74]

I don't know, I'm kind of indifferent about her. But then, I'm indifferent about most anything released in the last 15 years, so who am I to talk! From my perspective, she has great talent, some things she's done I like... it's not RAP, so that's a plus right there. but I also think she takes herself and her music WAY WAY too seriously. That's just from someone who thinks she's OK in a passive kind of way. I'm not enough of a fan to buy a CD or anything. But that gives you an "outsiders" perspective. And Eric, you paid 250 smackers to see Madonna? The bitch should have given you a tour of her home for that kind of money!

[EricMontreal22]

That's what Madonna's been charging. It's a joke.

Fair enough (I was gonna make a mean joke about of course you don't like her cuz she's not from the 70s ) I don't think she takes herself too seriously at all--that's part of her ridiculous act, but it does turn a lot of people odd, I agree.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Gaga's debut album similarly took a while to catch on like Madonna's. While Like A Virgin and True Blue would outsell her debut, her debut album had a longer life span on the album charts than any of Madonna's studio albums.

It's comparing different eras, though she didn't start scoring #1 singles until Like A Virgin, I think the singles off Madonna's debut album are better remembered than a lot of Madonna's general hits. Holiday, for example, though it only peaked at #16 in the US, it's become a modern pop standard and one of her definitive songs. And because of the bad albums sales these days, Gaga's debut will not sell the 5 million units that Madonna's debut album sold in the US.

Let's not forget that Freddy DeMann, who was Michael Jackson's manager until their fall out after the Thriller era, took over management of Madonna's career starting with Like A Virgin. Freddy and Madonna were one of the most successful manager/artist collaborations ever. Freddy knew the music industry and how to market pop acts, and made a lot of Madonna's seemingly bizarre ideas come alive and successful.

[alphanguy74]

That's fine, honey... I know I live in the past, i'm ok with the ribbing! But I actually have a "lukewarm" opinion of Ga ga.... I don't dislike her at all. Now, I LOVE Madonna, but not enough to pay 250 bucks to see her. I don't think I'd pay that much to see ANYBODY. but I think ga ga won't last a long time. The real artsy fartsy or gimmicky acts tend not to. Am I wrong to call her gimmicky? I think she'll last about as long as the village people.

[EricMontreal22]

No, she definitely is gimmicky. I just think she has enough talent thee (performance and writing) that she'll stick around--add to that she has insane drive--her schedule the past year of endless promotion, two tours, etc, is *insane* (And I'm the only one my age among my friends who is obsessed with Eurodisco and 60s pop, so... )

[EricMontreal22]

You're right, I meant more in terms of singles charting and public appearances, etc. That all really took off with Virgin. Gaga's debut was a bit of a slow burn (the original slightly different version of the album was released, oddly, first here in Canada, and Justr Dance was a top hit prob about 10 months before it took off in the US, so it's seemed a bit different from my perspective).

It's a great point about Freddy.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Gaga won two Grammy's, btw, though they weren't presented on television.

BEST DANCE RECORDING: "Poker Face," Lady Gaga

BEST ELECTRONIC/DANCE ALBUM: "The Fame," Lady Gaga

[EricMontreal22]

She's in fine company then since those are the only categories that ever aknowledge Kylie

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Madonna too, in recent years.

And let's not forget Britney's only Grammy comes from the Dance category too.

They typically award pop acts doing dance driven music, or dance acts who've scored the the only big dance hit in a calendar year. There's still such a stigma attached to dance music in the US, so I don't think they generally care about awarding genuine dance acts, sadly.

[EricMontreal22]

Pet Shop Boys too lol

Yeah, I get the feeling they just pick the name they recognize--you're spot on that it's usually dance/pop and not really true dance. The disco sucks stigma seems to have never quite left the US industry.

[All My Shadows]

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I don't care if it's been done before or if she takes it too seriously or if she's an overproduced copy of whoever. I like the [!@#$%^&*] song and it fits in perfectly with the old school disco on my iPod.

[Soapsuds]

I'm a Lady Gaga fan. I don't own her CD but do have her singles via Itunes or Now that music collections. My favorite song of hers has to be her current one..Bad Romance. My fav use to be Just dance but the remis version with redbone which I could never find on Itunes but a friend got me a copy of it. Poker face is another catchy song which was played over and over at my school...lol. I think she'll be around for a while.

As for 250 for Madonna??...nah.....thats way too much to spend.

I wonder if anyone has all of Madge's singles? Good thing I have most of hers just missing a few. I think the hardest one to get was Get into the groove.