I guess my point is that many points aimed against Gaga could be just as easily said for many of our favorite musicians.
1. That she isn't original and recycles old stuff: guess what, when David Bowie came up with Ziggy Stardust it wasn't a 100% original idea, it was based on Vince Taylor. Some of the best things in music have been "recycled". The Rolling Stones' Love in Vain, one of my favorite Stones' songs, is a cover. Music revisits old times all the time. M83's Saturdays = Youth is a tribute to 80's, featuring 80's drums and all. Planet Rock, Africa Bambaata's classic tune, samples Kraftwerk to a tee. In fact the whole rap genre samples and pays tribute to a multitude of genres. Revisiting and paying tribute to what you enjoy shouldn't be considered a criticism, because everyone does it and music sound is rarely ever 100% new. What about Janelle Monae? Like Gaga, she revisits the old and makes it feel new again. Artists do this on the regular and it is not, in any way, a valid critique; anyone who is convinced their favorite artists are 100% original are fooling themselves. Art is wonderful because art is ALWAYS (99% of the time) borrowed or evolved or influenced by something else. You look stupid even suggesting this idea.
2. That she's only mining what's popular: guess what, this is the equivalent of saying,"Michael Jackson only had Quincy Jones as producer on those albums because at the time, funk, jazz and disco were actually relevant". Pop music always follows the current trends. That's why it's fucking pop music. It's why Pat Benatar's early work features these fucking awesome 80's sounding drums, or why lots of 80's music follows a new wave trend. It's why in the early 70's rock and funk were what was in, while in the late 70's it was all about disco. It's why after The Beatles, every studio jumped on the band bandwagon. It's why Michael Jackson had music videos premiere after a new Simpsons episode, or why Jam features fucking Michael Jordan. Because -- and please don't convince yourself that even Michael was immune -- the pop hype PR machine rolls and rolls, always ticking and atune with what's in. Pop music has phases and it comes and goes. Of course, these days music is more homogenized than the past, but that doesn't change the fact that pop music is always will be pop music: influenced by what is currently in. So saying Gaga making supposedly "generic" electropop hits (note: most people who make this argument actually don't even listen to electronic music and cannot distinguish Daft Punk from Deadmau5, Aphex Twin from Boards of Canada, The Knife from M83, they are drones who just merely want to feel special) is silly. Sure, Gaga harkens back to vocal trance and vocal house, especially with artists like Moloko but that doesn't take away from the fact that Gaga does her own thing.
It ultimately just sounds like excuses to hate her for her popularity. I can see why someone doesn't like her, but those just sound like petty excuses to me. Lady Gaga is many things; she's egotistical in the way she conducts her music, she's very "shock" and manipulates audiences into embracing her through such shock, her music sometimes borders on trite, even eye-roll worthy, particularly in her lyrics. But I can think of just as many indie bands who act just like that without a tenth of her fame and none of this stops her from being one of the most hard-working individuals in pop music today (bitch has made three albums with what, 9-10 hits? in the course of two years while touring almost all of this time, and guest appearing on shows, to the point where she has passed out on stage).
So I can see why people don't like Gaga or even get her. But many arguments thrown at her aren't exclusive to Gaga.
I guess all I'm saying is that music is music (unless it's rap eeyuck) and making all of these arbitrary rules is dumb and makes you sound like a contrarian nerd whose music taste palette is the opposite of eclectic and more in the line of a narrow street path.
I listened to Gaga's new album all day while working, and tomorrow I'm going to a club that plays funk. Music rocks and has infinite uses. Stop being whiny bitches and limiting yourselves because of idiotic rules like "being manufactured to be popular" like some robot.
And that's all I have to say about that.
