Posted in Music
Lady Gaga
I spent the morning watching Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball special on HBO. I had recorded it on my DVR when it first aired and let it sit there waiting for me to be in the mood to watch it. I am not a huge Lady Gaga fan. I like some of her music and really enjoy working out to a lot of her fast tracks. She is a little too poppy for me for the most part. I don’t hold this against her. I am just not a big pop fan.
After watching the two-hour special I was struck by one particular thought. If I was a kid today, I would be all over the Lady Gaga band wagon. Growing up I didn’t have a lot of variety of music. My choices were very limited for a lot of different reasons. It left me with a steady diet of The Beatles, whom I loved, but left me wanting someone who fit my particular feeling of being on the outside looking in.
It wasn’t until high school my music really started stretching out. I became a huge fan of David Bowie and Peter Gabriel. I sunk myself into alternative music and never looked back. I have to give Lady Gaga a lot of credit. I am really not sure how she pulled this off. She is one strange bird, a trait I love, and somehow she has forged ahead to an immensely successful pop career. It was no easy trick.
I love the message she sends to the kids who love her. Be yourself, accept people for who they are, don’t let the bullies write your script. I admit there is a small cynical part of me that wonders how much act is in her message. Ultimately, I don’t care. In a world dominated by Justin Bieber and his clones I am glad Lady Gaga exists. The best part of her concert was when they scanned the crowd and you could see all different types of people rocking out to her music.
I have heard a lot of comparisons to Madonna but in my opinion they don’t fit. Madonna was just another bad girl. A manufactured pop image. She pushed envelopes and she was immensely popular but she was never weird. I grew up in the Madonna era. I thought she was gorgeous. I didn’t know too many boys my age who didn’t. She still didn’t speak to the outsider in me. I didn’t listen to her music or watch her perform and think “she gets me.” I think I most definitely would have felt that way about Lady Gaga.
On a final note I have to say I would have no interest in seeing Lady Gaga perform her Monster Ball type concert. However, I would be the first in line to listen to her sing an acoustic concert. The woman can sing, she can play, she is very talented and someone has got to convince her to do an unplugged type concert. I will never be a huge fan of her music. I can tolerate it. I enjoy it in certain circumstances but mostly it isn’t on my playlist. I am still glad she is out there. In a world where American Idol rules and Bieber is a hit, I will take me some Lady Gaga any day.
