Why does Lady Gaga get a free pass from hipsters?

We’re slap-bang in the middle of a pop era which is seeing singers knowingly redefining themselves and creating personas. Every single one of them is aping GaGa’s moves. Beyonce wanted a piece of the GaGa action and Rihanna went from being the archetypal ghetto hustler to someone between the two.

yessir

gaga is awesome

I dunno about Rihanna -- her image kinda is what it is since before Gaga hit, and the changes she have made seem far more tied to the Chris Brown thing than any attempt to respond to passing trends

sry yeah that was a sarcastic yessir

look at that writer! look at them! everyone quick look at them! be outraged! QUICK PLEASE LOOK AT THEM!

haha -- well Beyonce I would actually agree with, she wasn't doing anything remotely like the "Videophone" vid before Gaga, but Rihanna's new videos are totally of a piece with "Disturbia," "Shut Up And Drive," various award show performances, etc.

so glad lady gaga invented being weird and arty--really hope this catches on!

nina who? klaus what?

it seems like the quietes runs a lot of terrible articles not about indie music

http://ichlugebullets.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/mof-gimmers-white-man-be-listening-to-lady-gaga-like-this-black-man-be-listening-to-lady-gaga-like-this/

weird thing about this quietus thing is i'm pretty sure everyone including rock critics have pretty fully embraced lady gaga by now. who is he even talking about?

<3 dom

such a sad loss

being called mof gimmers really is about as british as it gets isn't it?

Can we bring Dom back?

this sentence

Beyonce wanted a piece of the GaGa action and Rihanna went from being the archetypal ghetto hustler to someone between the two.

kind of invalidates the whole idea that mof gimmers is qualified to talk abt contemporary pop music

Can we bring Dom back?

― ksh, Sunday, February 28, 2010 9:00 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

the question that had to be asked

The most obviously stupid thing about it is that all of the Gaga fans I know are white. Very white.
Is 'the ghetto' currently full of black folks who really 'get it' and are rollin with Just Dance pumping out of their car stereos, laughing at all of us whities who only get down to Tom Petty and Joanna Newsom? :-(

black people = cultural legitimacy, white people = thieves and colonizers, dorks. Same old stuff.

As in, argument tropes white people make to assert points.

dom was an unpleasant bro iirc, also crepey

Suggest this user to be banned.

Confirm

aw it's cute that you're still holding a torch, hope he appreciates it.

i don't want to give the quietus my custom by clicking the link again but wtf was with john doran's defensive comment frenzy? nagl.

he genuinely doesn't realize that describing Rihanna as the archetypal ghetto hustler should disqualify you from writing about popular music.

aw it's cute that you're still holding a torch, hope he appreciates it.

o no u dint

"i don't want to give the quietus my custom by clicking the link again but wtf was with john doran's defensive comment frenzy? nagl."

Best bit about that was how, when his argument got completely dismantled by fellow commenters he went into panic mode and resorted to ad hom-ish "LOL U CAN'T SPELL 'AVANT GARDE' LOL" tricks.

Generally I find this whole discussion about what black and white people listen to boring (why do they have to listen to different stuff in the first place?), but I still find that black people don't deserve to be underrated in that one believes they are only interested in manufactored and mass produced corporate pop. I would choose to believe black people are also able to understand artistic value in pop music, and pop music as having actual artistic merit rather than just business.

And Lady Gaga's fans are probably mostly white anyway.

And btw I also hope the same goes for white middle class people. That they don't let the upper class moneymen steal all their money with manufactured plastic pop, and that the middle class aren't alone in actually preferring more artistically thought out music.

I'm still laughing/offended at the term 'archetypal ghetto hustler' that's some bullshit...
The argument that black people do not really appreciate music with actual merit is totally false, you just have to look at the history of black culture and music to see that.
As for Rihanna, she is only able to be 'weird and edgy' because she's been so successful and has such an aggressive and smart marketing, production team etc. Plus other artists clearly paved the way like Grace Jones, Kelis, M.I.A and if anyone is aping Lady GaGa it is only because that is what is selling right now. If you don't really write your own lyrics (LIKE BEYONCE) or generally have any creative input into your music/style/image/personality (like Rihanna) then clearly you're only going to be about what will make you lots of dollar. It really just comes down to money imo.

The argument that black people do not really appreciate music with actual merit is totally false, you just have to look at the history of black culture and music to see that.

good to know

Lol sorry if I sound patronising

nah u jus sound dumb

"dance like there’s no-one watching, sing like there’s no-one listening and fuck like you’re being filmed" Ewwww.

Good to see that people are still writing pieces with the subtext: "In your face, lame-o indie strawman, I am a rock critic who enjoys an enormously popular and widely praised pop star. Please give me a fucking medal."

Rude

If you don't really write your own lyrics (LIKE BEYONCE) or generally have any creative input into your music/style/image/personality (like Rihanna) then clearly you're only going to be about what will make you lots of dollar. It really just comes down to money imo.

Alternatively, it is a take it or leave it from the big A&R guys at the record companies: "Either you perform the manufactured stuff that we have made for you to top the charts with, or just forget about the entire deal".

Wow. Those John Doran comments: Doctor Dre a pre-gangsta electro star in a homo-erotic health care themed electro dance act)

How would you describe World Class Wrekcing Kru if you had your tongue in your cheek? Have you heard the music/seen the photos?

Anyway, I'd just like to register my annoyance at The Quietus being called an indie site. Getting wound up by opinion pieces on the internet is your privilege. (For the extremely slow witted: we publish pieces designed to kick up a fuss about four times a year. The last one was on Florence and the Machine. The Guardian does it many, many, many times a day.) I didn't really think that much of the Mof piece, it just made me laugh out loud so I published it. If I were you I'd probably want to exercise my right by not clicking on my site. I'll really be suffering that 0.00001 pence pinch in my wallet until you and Dom Pass "accidentally" find yourself reading my us again.

But. We're not an indie site. We barely cover any compared to what we do (features wise) on leftfield music, post punk, synth pop, dubstep, metal, electronica. In comparison we barely cover it.

That's all.

"nah u jus sound dumb"

pots be calling kettle's, man.

haha ok "spinspin sugah"

leftfield music, post punk, synth pop, dubstep, metal, electronica

?O_o?, indie, indie, indie, not indie, indie

My name is Kevin.

looooooool xp

doran collabed with someone who wasn't indie or clueless or racist once. the quietus is the archetypal non-indie non-racist non-clueless website.

For the extremely slow witted: we publish pieces designed to kick up a fuss about four times a year.

So I guess we can expect to find you here being defensive 3 more times this year after your hoped for fusses get kicked up.

lol when will people realize coming to defend your shitty thinkpiece on a message board only makes you look more dum

Um tbf he is a regular poster here, it would kind of be more incongruous to just pretend not to have seen it

oh, my bad.

The argument that black people do not really appreciate music with actual merit is totally false, you just have to look at the history of black culture and music to see that.

*opens 'history of black culture and music' textbook*

lol I did sound like a arse! but in my defense I was hungover and not really reading the post....not that that is really an excuse urgh.
I liked the argument between the owner of the site and one of the commenters, that was the best part about the article.

wow. [nabisco] should have saved his "using black ppl as pawns in games of music nerd one-upsmanship" for this maybe