This Week's column

The problem with Gaga
I know some people have gone gaga over Lady Gaga, but I think it’s time to get real here. Despite the dramatic overtones of everything she does, is there any talent there?
I won’t approach this from a moral or ethical standpoint, but there are issues to discuss there. I mean, come on, she did an interview on “Good Morning America” in an outfit she said was inspired by a condom.
I want to look at her from a musical standpoint.
Is her flair for the dramatic masking the fact that she lacks musical talent?
There have been many musicians who have had outrageous productions, but they had the talent to back it up.
John Lennon, for example. In the Yoko years, he seemed to live on another planet at times, but musically he was a genius.
Elton John. The man wore sequence, feathers and platform shoes in the “Crocodile Rock” days. But no one would ever question his talent as a musician.
Prince, or the artist formally known as. He went through some pretty “Let’s Get Crazy” moments himself but the drama didn’t drown out his artistry in music.
And let’s not forget Michael Jackson, the king of weird himself. No matter what he did or how strange it seemed, his music never came into question.
I’m not defending any these individuals, but their musical talent cannot be questioned.
That brings me back to Gaga.
If you take away all the costumes, make up, staging and eggs, is the music good enough to stand up to her hype and does she even live up to her own hype?
Has anyone noticed most of her music has the same backbeat only sped up or slowed down depending on the song? Think about it. “Bad Romance” and “Poker Face” are pretty much the same song with different lyrics.
If she’s supposed to be such an accomplished piano player, why are her songs all electronic pop in sound? It would be nice to see some of her piano skills expressed in her music rather than in short bursts during a Grammy performance.
For some reason she’s being praised for lyrics like “rah rah ah ah ah, roma roma ma, gaga ooh la la.” Seriously? My friend’s 1-year-old can come up with a line like that.
And let’s not forget a lot of what she does is just an act. It’s not coincidence that her behavior has become more and more outlandish since her release of the “Just Dance” single. When her outlandish live productions got some attention, they kept getting crazier. That’s not by accident. She’s using the attention to promote substandard music.
She preaches self-esteem and being who you are, but in reality she lives behind a mask. She’ll don horns, hats and crazy costumes to cover whatever it is she doesn’t like about herself. If she wants people to be themselves so badly, why does she constantly contradict that message by having to recreate herself so often?
I think sometimes we, including me (I did grow up in the 1980s which was full of all sorts of craziness), forgo all sense of musical taste to fall all into something because it’s popular or because it has a beat we can dance to. I think we sometimes should look at things more seriously and evaluate why we like things or if we even should.
In reality, without the costumes, antics and outlandish behavior, Gaga’s music would have just faded into the background of pop music. It’s the image that drives her, not the music.
If you want to hear true musical coolness, check out the “Dueling Cellists Play ’Smooth Criminal’” YouTube video attached to this story on http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/. That’s talent.
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/problem-gaga