Is Lady Gaga a hero?

[barnaclelapse]

I think she's a nitwit and a no-talent hack, but that's just me. Sorry I can't be clever about expressing that.

 

[Sci]

All images are manufactured. Any time you make a deliberate choice about how to present yourself in public, you are manufacturing an image. So what?

I find all the vitriol over Lady Gaga and whether or not she'll be an enduring act quite amusing. It's not like she's been going around proclaiming herself the second coming of Madonna and the Beatles. She's a woman who's expressing herself through her art (music, videos, fashion); we'll see how long she endures, but it's not like she's been trying to pass herself off as anything but herself.

 

[CaseNumber825]

I don't believe Lady Gaga is a hero if I'm honest. Plus her current 'I'm a rock bitch'-attitude is seriously annoying me. I just wanna scream 'SHUT UP GAGA, YOU MAKE POP MUSIC'

Also the nearly constant playing of Alejandro on the radio is annoying.

I used to like her, really I did.... but yeah, that liking soon faded. Bad Romance and a few other songs are still good... but not epically amazing.

An artist I would claim to be as close of a recent hero of popular music would be one that hardly anyone here would have heard of: Ayumi Hamasaki

The Evolution of Ayumi Hamasaki 1998-2009

Not as recent as I would have liked, it's missing:
Sunrise ~LOVE is ALL~
Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~
You were...
BALLAD
Sexy Little Things
Microphone
Don't Look Back
MOON

However, is show her diversity very well.
Plus, she's come from practically nothing to being the one of the most successful Japanese pop stars ever.
Even when she found out she had tinnitus in one ear, causing completel deafness in that year she hasn't stopped making music or putting on amazing performances.

She is far more worthy of the title 'hero' than Gaga is. Not that I really think she is either, but you get my meaning.

 

[Caligula]

I think the word "hero" gets thrown around WAY too much. However talented a performer she may or may not be, Lady Gaga so far has done nothing to warrant that title.

 

[Professor Zoom]

We don't know what will happen with Lady Gaga, she's only been on the scene for about a year or two. However, I bet, she'll still be around in 10 years.

Wow, 10 years? Really? I would absolutely take that bet. What would you like to wager, $500? $1000?

1. If I'm on this board in 10 years, shoot me.

2. Consider if this was 1998 and we were talking about Britney. Many thought she was a flash in the pan, or more accuratly hoped she was because they didn't like her music.

Sometimes you have to separate your taste from your predictions.

Gaga in 10 years will still be making music people will be buying.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if someone else asked this question. Regardless of how one feels about her talent, style, etc, how in the hell does one even ask the question "Is she a hero?"

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if someone else asked this question. Regardless of how one feels about her talent, style, etc, how in the hell does one even ask the question "Is she a hero?"

I believe such an inquiry is what those in the polling trade call a "loaded question." It's a question no reasonable person could answer "yes" to, but answering "no" seemingly impugns Lady GaGa.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Indeed. Well if someone wants to say I'm impugning her, then I guess that's their problem because I can unequivocably say she's not a "hero."

As for her talent, well I don't know because that's not my kind of music. But I certainly don't begrude those who do like her.

 

[Level 2 Diagnostic]

Yes, because they're exactly alike.

Well, the point I was replying to was that Alanis Morrisette is still "famous", and there are plenty of flash in the pan pop stars that are still "famous" ten years later. I would suggest Vanilla Ice is probably more famous than Alanis these days, because of his exposure on shows like Surreal Life. But that's not really something that can be objectively quantified.

2. Consider if this was 1998 and we were talking about Britney. Many thought she was a flash in the pan, or more accuratly hoped she was because they didn't like her music.

Sometimes you have to separate your taste from your predictions.

Gaga in 10 years will still be making music people will be buying.

Well, just because you find exceptions to the rule doesn't prove much, and even in the case of Britney Spears, her singles aren't the hits they used to be, and she's had about three or four "comebacks", so it's not like she's been going strong with hit albums for ten years straight.

Take a look at the number one singles of 2000. How many of those acts are still around? Sisqo? Savage Garden? Lonestar? Vertical Horizon? Only about a fourth of those acts could be described as being "still around", and that's generously including a couple of singers who went solo since then.

I don't really have anything against Lady Gaga, every generation needs its retro acts, but I would say trying to predict if she'll still be around in ten years is like trying to predict if it's going to rain in your city on Aug 23, 2020.

 

[Jetfire]

Sadly Aaliyah is not around.

Savage Garden like fell off the face of the earth...and Vertical Horizon sucked.

[edit] Avril Lavigne came out in 2002 with her debut album and I am pretty sure she will be around in 2012. Surprising she will only have 4 albums in a 10 year period...the 4th one will be out in 2011 I assume.

 

[Pingfah]

Savage Garden like fell off the face of the earth...

God, they were fucking shit.

 

[Professor Zoom]

Yes, because they're exactly alike.

Well, the point I was replying to was that Alanis Morrisette is still "famous", and there are plenty of flash in the pan pop stars that are still "famous" ten years later. I would suggest Vanilla Ice is probably more famous than Alanis these days, because of his exposure on shows like Surreal Life. But that's not really something that can be objectively quantified.

2. Consider if this was 1998 and we were talking about Britney. Many thought she was a flash in the pan, or more accuratly hoped she was because they didn't like her music.

Sometimes you have to separate your taste from your predictions.

Gaga in 10 years will still be making music people will be buying.

Well, just because you find exceptions to the rule doesn't prove much, and even in the case of Britney Spears, her singles aren't the hits they used to be, and she's had about three or four "comebacks", so it's not like she's been going strong with hit albums for ten years straight.

Take a look at the number one singles of 2000. How many of those acts are still around? Sisqo? Savage Garden? Lonestar? Vertical Horizon? Only about a fourth of those acts could be described as being "still around", and that's generously including a couple of singers who went solo since then.

I don't really have anything against Lady Gaga, every generation needs its retro acts, but I would say trying to predict if she'll still be around in ten years is like trying to predict if it's going to rain in your city on Aug 23, 2020.

Um. Yes. That's exactly what I mean when I say I think.

And predicting which artist might be around is NOTHING like predicting rain on Aug 23, 2020.

And consider how many of those acts had more than 1 number 1, how many grammys, awards, etc. that has disappeared.

Find me someone who has been as successful as Gaga in the past year or so, that ISN'T around. That's why I think she'll be around in 10 years. She has been consistently successful not had ONE hit song, like Savage Garden.

 

[Jetfire]

Savage Garden like fell off the face of the earth...

God, they were fucking shit.

Truly madly deeply | Savage Garden

I always confused that song with being done by *NSYNC.

 

[Jetfire]

Singles in 2009 that went to #1 with Lady Gaga "Poker Face" & "Just Dance" from 2008...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_top_10_singles_in_2009

Kelly Clarkson "My Life Would Suck Without You"
Eminem featuring Dr. Dre and 50 Cent "Crack a Bottle"
Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha "Right Round"
Black Eyed Peas "Boom Boom Pow"
Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling"
Jay Sean featuring Lil Wayne "Down"
Jason Derülo "Whatcha Say"
Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys "Empire State of Mind"
Britney Spears "3"
Owl City "Fireflies"

Britney Spears had a #1 single in 2009!? 11 weeks in the top 10!?

By the way I haven't heard any of these songs.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Right Round, Boom Boom Pow, I Gotta Feeling, and even 3 were ubiquitous in any kind of club or bar that played club music. (EDIT: I think Empire State of Mind is on that list, but I have to doublecheck which song it is. I only realized 3 was Brittany Spears after I did one of those "what's Brittany done lately" searches).

Owl City's Fireflies is an entirely different song. Not sure if I would consider it pop or rock. I used to say that they were what Death Cab would be if Death Cab wrote for the Disney channel. They basically play music with an almost childlike inoffensiveness about it. It can be catchy if you don't take it for more than what it is.

 

[Amaris]

Right Round, Boom Boom Pow, I Gotta Feeling, and even 3 were ubiquitous in any kind of club or bar that played club music. (EDIT: I think Empire State of Mind is on that list, but I have to doublecheck which song it is. I only realized 3 was Brittany Spears after I did one of those "what's Brittany done lately" searches).

Owl City's Fireflies is an entirely different song. Not sure if I would consider it pop or rock. I used to say that they were what Death Cab would be if Death Cab wrote for the Disney channel. They basically play music with an almost childlike inoffensiveness about it. It can be catchy if you don't take it for more than what it is.

That's what I like about their music, is that childlike quality to it.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

BTW, Empire State of Mind is the song that goes "NEW YOOOOOORK"

That's really all I know about it. But, yeah, it gets a lot of play.

 

[Joy]

Considering Lady Gaga's devotion to supporting the gay community, I suppose one could call her a "folk hero." The gay community is a folk group (as is a family, a class, just about any group, really), so while maybe Gaga isn't a hero to a wide range of people, she can be considered one to a specific folk group.

Can you tell I was a Folklore minor? (until I switched to Ozark Studies, lol)

 

[gh4chiefs]

Considering Lady Gaga's devotion to supporting the gay community, I suppose one could call her a "folk hero." The gay community is a folk group (as is a family, a class, just about any group, really), so while maybe Gaga isn't a hero to a wide range of people, she can be considered one to a specific folk group.

Well that's not exactly what I would think of when thinking of the term "hero" but I suppose who am I to argue with a "Folklore minor?"

Can you tell I was a Folklore minor? (until I switched to Ozark Studies, lol)

So that would entail what, a study of the history of the people of the Ozarks? Actually sounds interesting to me, but then my family comes from what some people might consider the Ozarks (they live about 40 miles east of the Lake of the Ozarks) but I can't say I know what the technical definition of the Ozarks is.

 

[Rett Mikhal]

Yes, because people who give up doing what they love (classical piano and concert hall singing) and sell out their life to an image specialist defiantly fall in the 'hero' category.

We throw around words far too often. Heroes... are heroes. People who sacrifice for the good of humanity, like Florence Nightingale or Charlemagne.

Modern celebrities will never be considered heroes.