Althouse: Let's talk about Lady Gaga.

November 13, 2009

Let's talk about Lady Gaga.

This is great fun. Make sure you watch all the way to the end. It's funny. Great costume changes too.

Ooh, that really was a bad romance. Love the shoes.

62 comments:

Paddy O said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/13/09, 2:52 PM
Paddy O said...: Christopher Walken performs Lady Gaga's Poker Face.; 11/13/09, 2:53 PM
Triangle Man said...: That did not work out so well for the person with whom she was sharing a bed. The kind of song you would hear too many times during a night out in South Beach.; 11/13/09, 2:55 PM
Tom Spaulding said...: That is horrible "music". Don't be dull and disagree with me.; 11/13/09, 3:11 PM
TMink said...: Paddy beat me to it. Christopher Walken does it better.

Trey; 11/13/09, 3:14 PM
Bob_R said...: I'm in the middle of Terry Teachout's bio of Louis Armstrong. I can't imagine a worse frame of mind for watching that. The budget for that video would have paid for Armstrong's salary for how many years? Decades? What a waste.; 11/13/09, 3:15 PM
Tom Spaulding said...: Lady GaGa is dumb.; 11/13/09, 3:25 PM
BJK said...: That was certainly...

...something.

(There's an aspect of Lady Gaga's music that can only be described as performance art. While I'm not a fan, I at least have an appreciation for someone being so committed to whatever you want to call that.)

While Walken's dramatic reading of Poker face is funny, track down the Eric Cartman (South Park) version.; 11/13/09, 3:27 PM
john said...: I like the tune, I like her voice, and I like the video too, except for the anorexic look.; 11/13/09, 3:31 PM
ricpic said...: Let me guess: Lady Gaga is high maintenance.; 11/13/09, 3:31 PM
Palladian said...: Looks like she's stolen Marta Minujin's look.; 11/13/09, 3:42 PM
Julie C said...: Loved it! My first introduction to GaGa was her performance of Poker Face on American Idol. I thought it was fabulous!

My kids love her music. I appreciate her performance art, if you will. Those shoes near the end also come in an alligator version, by the way.; 11/13/09, 3:47 PM
Charlie Martin said...: You know, it struck me as I listened to this that honestly, I've liked every Lady Gaga cut I've heard. And she's damn pretty in the short intervals where they're showing her real face, more or less un-cosmeticked.

I'd really like to know how they did the giant anime-like eyes at about 1:20.; 11/13/09, 3:48 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Our beloved Althouse has been taken away and replaced by Perez Hilton.; 11/13/09, 3:49 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Oh, Looks like she has lost some weight.; 11/13/09, 3:55 PM
Cabbage said...: My wife made me watch her on SNL a few weeks back. I gotta say, I was pleasantly amused. I was expecting the same sort of shlock club music, but it really was performance art.

I mean, she busted out a Keytar during the first set, and then did a nifty little blues-piano-homage-to-New-York thing (all while wearing Saturn's rings) during the second. I was surprised, and I like when people surprise me.; 11/13/09, 3:57 PM
charley foster said...: Reminds me of the Eurythmics.; 11/13/09, 3:58 PM
PoNyman said...: Here is a fantastic Lady Gaga cover.
Right here that is.; 11/13/09, 4:01 PM
Patm said...: Kind of grotesque and fascinating in a retro 80's way; 11/13/09, 4:05 PM
Synova said...: So what was that at the end? An homage to Austin Powers?; 11/13/09, 4:06 PM
Chris Althouse Cohen said...: BJK said...
While Walken's dramatic reading of Poker face is funny, track down the Eric Cartman (South Park) version.

Lazy! Do it yourself!

Fine, here it is.; 11/13/09, 4:18 PM
Henry said...: This is really about Sarah Palin, isn't it.; 11/13/09, 4:28 PM
Joe M. said...: Lady GaGa is dumb.

Not at all. Her music may be dumb, but she knows exactly what she's doing (which of course isn't music), and is doing it well.

The Southpark rendition of "Poker Face" (very funny, and from a very funny episode).; 11/13/09, 4:39 PM
gregwithtwogs said...: Amazing, many evenings while reading Althouse, I have listened to Lady Gaga. I usually spin "Just Dance" a few times before dealing a few hands of "Pokerface". Performance art at its best. Perhaps I have been unknowingly channeling Gaga to Althouse. Now I will have a new romance to listen to while reading the musings of Althouse. Thanks Ann.; 11/13/09, 4:55 PM
gregwithtwogs said...: Now that I have read the lyrics, I find three Hitchcock films referenced. These are a few (three) of my favorite things; 11/13/09, 5:06 PM
KCFleming said...: Lady Gaga is a guilty pleasure.

Her songs all sound very similar. She's got an art-rock-Weimar-Warhol-glitter-decadent-dystopian future schlock thing going that gives me simultaneous leg tingles and a fear-of-Lohan response.

Makes me wanna dance with her, but take a handful of antibiotics first.; 11/13/09, 5:23 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Lady Gaga is a tramp.; 11/13/09, 5:39 PM
reader_iam said...: **Smile!**; 11/13/09, 5:39 PM
Pastafarian said...: I watched and listened to perhaps 15 seconds of this Euro-disco tranny nightmare, and my penis actually retreated into my abdomen like the head of a startled turtle.

I hope it comes back out soon.; 11/13/09, 6:03 PM
John Burgess said...: So Lady Gaga is now the de facto leader of hermaphrodite liberation. That will ensure a career, regardless of talent.

But talent she has. I just love the video, heavy-handed though it may be. Commenters above are absolutely correct: this is performance art.

WV: carti... Blogger watches South Park, too!; 11/13/09, 6:12 PM
Dark Eden said...: I watched and listened to perhaps 15 seconds of this Euro-disco tranny nightmare, and my penis actually retreated into my abdomen like the head of a startled turtle.

I hope it comes back out soon.
>>>>>

I'm glad I'm not the only one who isn't feeling what the Gaga is cooking.; 11/13/09, 6:16 PM
Sprezzatura said...: Thanks to internet anonymity I can admit that I bought her album a while back.

Even though many of my friends know that I have a demographically unanticipated interest in dumb pop music, it's never been worth the effort required to explain why I sometimes listen pop to my professional colleagues, especially subordinates.; 11/13/09, 6:18 PM
Will Cate said...: Well that's 5 minutes of my life I'm never getting back...; 11/13/09, 6:34 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Madonna can kick her ass everyday of the week.

Or are we dumping her for the younger model?

Shame.

wv - rualigre - happy ritual; 11/13/09, 6:43 PM
Hector Owen said...: Dumping for the younger model, yes. Oh, wait — I never found Madonna appealing in the first place, so not dumping, exactly.

I wonder if, five or ten years from now, she'll want to make an album of standards? Evening gown and "Lush Life," or something like that.; 11/13/09, 6:57 PM
kentuckyliz said...: i saw a pic of her on vaca in hawaii with her bf--she ugly and her bf is too

methinks the heavy makeup wigs n costumes are necessary

she was pudgy on vaca--must have been starving herself

she has a nose/lip area like streisand

waiting for c'ford jooooooooooooessssssssssssssss comment; 11/13/09, 7:27 PM
kentuckyliz said...: does the white get-up where only her lips and chin show count as a burka?

if so, the islamic world could get very interesting.; 11/13/09, 7:46 PM
DrSquid said...: Well, she's better than Madonna. I guess.; 11/13/09, 8:28 PM
gregwithtwogs said...: Boy, we sure do miss the point of her success. Not only does this video do an outstanding job of selling her new 8 (count'em 8) song CD, but it has 4 commercial product placements.

The girl (who is not pudgy but quite cute) is a marketing genius.; 11/13/09, 8:47 PM
Titus said...: Love it and her, natch.

Fab.; 11/13/09, 9:04 PM
Titus said...: She is no Madonna though, not by a mile.

Madonna is god, loveher.; 11/13/09, 9:11 PM
reader_iam said...: Titus: Up your game, for Gaia's sake!;--the Madonna is not God:

She's the *mother* of God.

Puh-leeze, dude. You're slipping.; 11/13/09, 9:42 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: That is really, really bad music. Thank goodness she's got the fashion thing down because she ain't gonna last long in America's beatworld, coming with that lousy four-on-the-floor Eurodisco crap.

Jesus, Ann, it's your artistic side that keeps me respecting you but, damn, you can really test a guy,...have you no taste? Or is it all about shock value?

Art has standards, Honey.; 11/13/09, 9:46 PM
reader_iam said...: Honey, art has standards!

Meanwhile, if Althouse would like to actually have an impact and would like to show his [sic] readers... .; 11/13/09, 10:06 PM
reader_iam said...: Alternatively:

Honey, Art has Standards!

Meanwhile, if Althouse would like to actually have an impact and would like to show his [sic] readers... .; 11/13/09, 10:08 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "have you no taste?"

I'll concede it's in bad taste.

I find the visuals amusing.

I don't care about the music.; 11/13/09, 11:05 PM
Republican said...: Love it, enough to see her upcoming concert.; 11/13/09, 11:41 PM
AST said...: Boy, the Mickey Mouse Club sure has changed since I had a crush on Annette.

I'm now pretty sure of two things:

1. Lady Gaga is a lady.

2. We have a replacement when Cher kicks it.

Her next hit: "dygmyo" You verified it here first.; 11/14/09, 12:18 AM
AST said...: Would you care to explain, who is the gaucho amiga? Why is she standing there in her spangled leather poncho and her elevator shoes?; 11/14/09, 12:26 AM
Blue@9 said...: Very 80s, but I liked it a lot. Sometimes videos are about the music, and sometimes they're about very cool visual art. I didn't care for the song much, but the imagery was fantastic. Does make you appreciate just how original and important Madonna was to modern pop.; 11/14/09, 12:36 AM
essaybee said...: That is totally awesome and if you don't like it you're a poopy head.

It's got a weird slavic flavor?

Very Madonna-influenced, but better. Madonna has been boring for 20 years.; 11/14/09, 3:46 AM
LoafingOaf said...: I've been resisting Lady GaGa, but an online acquaintance forced me to watch this video a couple days ago...and I watched it like 8 times in a row. And I just watched it two more times here.

It's the fiercest video I've seen in a long time!

I'll even let the polar bear slide. I'm pretty anti-fur (including fake fur) but the video's so cool, and I don't think anyone's gonna think it's a real polar bear.; 11/14/09, 7:42 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: I've tried watching it twice now and still can't get past 1 minute of that awful music. Within a minute of it starting, I still haven't seen anything visually arresting enough for this group hug you guys are having over it ("It's the fiercest video I've seen in a long time!") and, goodness, there's no way I'd be caught dead within a mile of a Gaga concert.

I'll try again when I get back from work - with the sound down.

But that statement alone should tell you how much damage you guys are doing music by slobbering over these art whores like this. You have no standards, revel in the gutter (unless of course, Ann has her lens aimed at "nature", which worked so hard to be worth a shot), and you (of course) defend dragging society down with you as being "open-minded" when you're really nothing more than selfish defenders of talentless fashion hacks, one and all.

I'm sorry, y'all, but you make me hate all of you some times. This is gross. Not worth watching - definitely not worth hearing - and totally unworthy of the celebrity you're determined to bring to it. Make no doubt about it:

You ARE the problem.; 11/14/09, 9:06 AM
Robert Cook said...: I am by no means a member of Lady Gaga's presumed demographic, but I think this this song and video are terrific, and most of her other material I've heard--about 5 other songs--is tuneful, catchy, pleasurable--in short, great pop music!

Those here who went out of their way to be insulting to her are snobs and stiffs.

As to whether she or her work are in "bad taste," who ever said art, low or high, must adhere to accepted standards of taste? Fuck that!; 11/14/09, 11:56 AM
Synova said...: Crack, I've never seen the point of simply declaring that everything you don't like is garbage.

I come from it from the direction of books, not music, but it seems to me that the more thoughtful response to popularity isn't scorn but looking for what about the garbage is appealing. Because reaching people is proof that a novel (or artist, for that matter) is touching something universal about the human spirit. And frankly, the unwashed masses are probably closer to that than those who believe themselves sophisticated.

I'm not even beginning to suggest that everyone ought to like or appreciate the same things or that some art might not be objectively "better" than other art.

That Kinkaid person that was so scorned might not have been a great artist, but his pretty pictures touched something in the lives of a whole lot of people. That I look at those pictures and think that, well, they just aren't very good art misses that ability to connect to people.

Some people think that "good" art is what *isn't* accessible to the unwashed masses.

I think that is essentially a way to assert that because they appreciate what the unwashed masses scorn, that it's proof they are a better person. And I reject that.

I thought the Lady Gaga video had a very dystopian sci-fi vibe which I enjoyed. I didn't watch it over again, looked up some of her other videos that I didn't like as well. And made a couple of "cool parent" points by mentioning her and the sparking boobies of fiery death at the end to my 17 year old who hadn't seen it yet.

And lastly... there is dangerous stupidity and innocuous stupidity... understanding the difference and understanding that the best part about life is that it doesn't depend on us to be smart or even right about it... that goes a long way to not being angry all the time.; 11/14/09, 12:58 PM
Jennifer said...: All the shoes? If anyone can rock Alexander McQueen off the runway, it's certainly Lady Gaga.; 11/14/09, 5:45 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Synova,

"I thought the Lady Gaga video had a very dystopian sci-fi vibe which I enjoyed."

I read your whole response - I hear you - but I think (other than the music, which is awful) this quote sums up exactly why i'd diss it so vehemently:

When was the last time you saw a positive sci-fi vibe presented? You know, a picture of the future where things were actually better - which is where we are today (in "the future")? So where's the novelty here? Lady Gaga is just another dark spot presenting mindless garbage as the epitome of our imaginations. Sorry but with the stature she's attained, I want more, and applauding this nonsense - bad music accompanying a(nother) "dystopian" viewpoint - ain't gonna cut it. Where the fuck, really, is the vision?

Look, I know how I may look to y'all sometimes, but eventually you're gonna have to make a distinction between the good guys and the bad and, in the battle of ideas, decide not to hamstring the good guys merely because we're more comfortable getting dirty when clearing the air. Remember the phrase, ''He doesn't suffer fools gladly. ''? That's me, and the only people that get truly upset by that approach are - wait for it - fools. Mostly because they're cowards, looking for cover. I'm not. I'm willing to risk looking foolish, stupid, ugly, crazy, whatever, by forcefully putting my ideas out there and standing them up against the world's delusions. Go on - knock me, puzzle over me - but don't forget I'm right about the themes I promote (You wanna hurt the Left? Go after their kooky murderous spiritual movement with the same ferocity they've gone after the Christian Right) without much in the way of visible support out there because, I can only guess, I've got (as a Mormon friend described it) a "pottymouth".

Where's the discussion? On my personality. I say if conservatives would go after the dangerously-low-hanging fruit of Leftist nutjobs - the Jim Carrey's and Oprah's and Deepak Chopra's - who supported (for instance) The Secret and (for instance) Obama, you'd definitely then hear another tune out of me, about art and everything else, because I also know, with critical thinking, the Lady Gaga's of the world would start presenting the potential of a different future (not another "dystopian" one) something more realistic, and artistic, like how about - rather than us admiring the umpteenth Madonna-inspired untrustworthy "underground" bitch caught in a "Bad Romance" - we find a compelling good guy getting bowled over with Punch-Drunk Love? How 'bout that?

We don't see waaay enough of that.

Lady Gaga can kiss my ass.; 11/14/09, 10:54 PM
Synova said...: I honestly don't disagree with anything you said, Crack.

I like to see more positive futures, too.

And yes, I'd also like to see people who claim to support reason be willing to speak out about the prevalence of this new, and often dangerous, mysticism, (write Scooby-Doo again as it originally was... reason vs. superstition and reason wins.); 11/15/09, 12:59 AM
holdfast said...: There's also the mashup with Walken and Eric Cartman. I think this is best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4T_QtiepG8&feature=related

I blame Glee.; 11/15/09, 1:24 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: I just watched it with the sound down and, still, didn't see anything worth mentioning. Still, I promised you some observations:

A bunch of dancers wearing headdresses that made me think they were all gonna scream, "Step into a Slim Jim!"

Those same dancers doing the equivalent of Prince's Bat Dance. (And, seriously, isn't the predictably-choreographed dance schtick played out? Couldn't this "artist" think to hire an experimental dance company, maybe - anyone other than admirers of Paula Abdul - to give her some moves?)

And what's that metal thing the guy's got on his chin? Is that how you have your jaw wired shut in the future? Brutal.

Oooh, look: fire.

The shoes with the green outfit are pretty tight (the green outfit is pretty tight) but the green segment goes by so fast you can't really admire them, and, my god, the rest of the fashion is so eighties it's embarrassing. Is the guy wearing leather pants? Doubly-brutal.

This video doesn't tell a story, have a theme, provide compelling imagery, or (ahem) sell the song - it just exists, like a bad midwestern garage band.

How much would you like to bet that, if "Bad Romance" is based on anything real, it started with someone mentioning how shallow her work is? Oh no - it's OVER for you, Mr. Challenge-My-Aesthetic!

I think "Gaga" is a great name for her because it clearly indicates the necessary level of intellectual, and artistic, development for her to be successful in today's equally-shallow, non-discriminating, "Let's Go Crazy" market. She is the perfect symbol of how bad things are - and why we're in the mess we're in. Her fans are too stupid to consider the possibility there could be anything more - and demand it - which, if you think about it, is possibly an even more damning statement on how little they respect themselves.

It's enough to make me wanna scream.

wv: "bulsista" - guess who that made me think of?; 11/15/09, 2:56 PM
Blue@9 said...: "When was the last time you saw a positive sci-fi vibe presented? You know, a picture of the future where things were actually better - which is where we are today (in "the future")? So where's the novelty here?"

Well gee, that would be boring. "Oh look, in the future we've cured cancer and everyone is happy." Yeah, fun music video that would be.; 11/15/09, 9:13 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Blue,

Bullshit, and your response is a perfect example of the limited imagination I spoke of. Only dingbats like you think we have to strap on devil horns to find excitement out there. You think, after curing cancer, say, there won't still be human foibles to deal with? I mean, shit, you're here - that alone makes it pretty obvious everyone won't be thinking clearly.

Please, go shoot yourself for a really good time.; 11/16/09, 8:36 AM