Here's a post that's guaranteed to get my brethren in the Killing Joke, Motorhead & Cop Shoot Cop communities concerned, but whatever. Ya can't make an omelette without crackin' a few eggs.
At first, I didn't really know -- much less care -- who she was (although I remember being sneerily derisive about her bold appropriation of the Aladdin Sane thunderbolt). As far as I was concerned, Lady Gaga was just another vacuous pop diva, ripe for my contempt & sniffy dismissal. Then my comrade-in-blogs EV Grieve started obsessing about her. Then I read an amusing piece about her purported ties to the sinister Illuminati. I started paying closer attention, but I couldn't help feeling that Gaga's music simply didn't match her endearingly freaky aesthetic.
Then I heard -- or, more to the point, saw the video for -- "Bad Romance." Now, I get it. It's official: I surrender. Sign me up.
While obviously an acolyte of pure pop royalty like Britney, Christina Aguilera, Kylie, Rihanna, Gwen Stefani and, obviously, Madonna, Gaga also seems to lift from references further afield, notably Bjork, Visage, vintage Annie Lennox and Grace Jones. I'd love to suggest Toyah Wilcox and Nina Hagen, but I'm probably just projecting. There's also a chilly, mechanized menace to her sound that evokes the same vibe of ruthless Teutonic efficiency as Sehnsucht-era Rammstein (with regrettably fewer power-chords). Regardless of the styles she's arguably pinched, however, I have suddenly become somewhat enamored of "Bad Romance," not least for its Kubrick-meets-Marilyn Manson visual dazzle, but put simply, because the lady can really fuckin' belt it out (which is inarguably more than can be said about most of her peers & influences -- and yes, that includes Madonna). It's just a great pop song. I don't like a lot of gratuitous pop, but a good song is a good song is a good song, etc. I'm sure I'll read something tomorrow about her that makes me shudder with newfound contempt, but I must confess to loving the hell out this single. Check out Slate's breakdown of the frankly disquieting video here (and be sure to watch it, while you're at it).
ADDENDUM: Check out this painstakingly detailed breakdown of the occult allusions evidently rife in the video for "Bad Romance."
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