I don't give a fuck about money.

July 19, 2011 7:55 PM

Howard Stern and Robin Quivers sat down for a 90 minute interview with Lady Gaga. In it, they talk about sex, drugs, music, success, personal history, trials and tribulations, and whether or not her parents call her Stephanie or Gaga. It was posted to Soundcloud, and you can listen to it here.
posted by hippybear (130 comments total)

Two people who'll basically blurt out whatever occurs to them without any self-editing? This has rollicking fun written all over it.
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:02 PM on July 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

(and thanks, hippybear)
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:04 PM on July 19, 2011

Troy Carter, Business Manager for Lady Gaga (part of Slate's Top Right 2011 series - "The most innovative and practical thinkers of our time")
posted by vidur at 8:12 PM on July 19, 2011

This nice piano piece notwithstanding, I don't like her music, but Gaga seems to be a class act. She came here to Japan for a charity benefit, and made the rounds on Japanese TV shows. She seemed to genuinely having a ball, goofing it up with the already goofy comedians on those shows. I predict Gaga will milk this music thing as much as she can for another decade, and then she'll have a second reincarnation as a comedic actress around 2020 or so.
posted by zardoz at 8:12 PM on July 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

Honestly, I don't really care for her music. But I think she gives some of the best interviews of anyone who has ever reached similar stature.

It's odd admiring an artist for who they present as rather than what they do for art. But that seems to be what interests me about Her Ladyness.
posted by hippybear at 8:17 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

It's time for Gaga Thread Bingo!

Award yourself one shot of vodka for each comment along the lines of:

- "Oh, great, more publicity for the shameless self-promoter!"
- "Is this something I'd need to like her music to care about?"
- "I don't get the hype"
- "She wears interesting outfits"
- "Don't we have enough Gaga posts on the blue already?"
- "I think she did one song, maybe, that I know"
- "Music reached its pinnacle in the 1970s with The Dictators"
posted by UbuRoivas at 8:17 PM on July 19, 2011 [31 favorites]

- "Music reached its pinnacle in the 1970s with The Dictators"

Can I accept this claim as true without dismissing this thread and/or drinking a shot of vodka?
posted by joe lisboa at 8:20 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

Ubu, she's a ubiquitous pop star. She's not some obscure singer songwriter who needs constant underground attention to pay the rent, or an underrated band who should be changing the world but isn't. She's one of the most popular people in the world. She claimed Town Hall from the emos and lads for a day. Every move is reported by millions of gossip sites. Why is she constantly plugged on MeFi?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:20 PM on July 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

Oh, great, more publicity for the shameless self-promoter! Is this something I'd need to like her music to care about? I don't get the hype. She wears interesting outfits. Don't we have enough Gaga posts on the blue already? I think she did one song, maybe, that I know. Music reached its pinnacle in the 1990s with Ace of Base.
posted by Nomyte at 8:20 PM on July 19, 2011 [19 favorites]

A shot of vodka? Seriously?

If you're expecting me to play your silly game, you're going to have to provide something actually interesting to consume. Vodka is about as boring a shot drink as I can possibly imagine.
posted by hippybear at 8:24 PM on July 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

Vodka is about as boring a shot drink as I can possibly imagine.

What if it was still vodka, but served in a boob shaped glass with flashing lights and that said 'True Original' on it?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:25 PM on July 19, 2011 [6 favorites]

Oh, wait, I did that wrong.

"Is this something I'd need to like vodka to care about? I don't get the hype. I guess vodka makes a good mixer, and there's that one drink, maybe, that I know. But drink truly reached a pinnacle with gin."
posted by hippybear at 8:25 PM on July 19, 2011 [29 favorites]

"Why is she constantly plugged on MeFi?"

Because she is Gaga.


Duh.
posted by oddman at 8:26 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

LIB: if you're expecting me to find "boob shaped glass" as something appealing, you haven't really been paying any kind of attention to me and my posting history here.

And no, not even then. Vodka is truly dull. Bourbon, Irish, Gin, hell, even Ta-kill-ya. But not vodka. The only thing it's really good for, when not being used to sterilize bandages, is to hide inside Mountain Berry Punch Kool-aid. And they stopped making MBP over a decade ago.
posted by hippybear at 8:27 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

"Is this something I'd need to like vodka to care about? I don't get the hype. I guess vodka makes a good mixer, and there's that one drink, maybe, that I know. But drink truly reached a pinnacle with gin."

Maybe if we had two, three, or four vodka posts a month everyone would love vodka!
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:27 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Would that all boob-shaped glasses were metaphorical.
posted by palomar at 8:30 PM on July 19, 2011

Bad Romance – My Little Pony AMV
posted by Nomyte at 8:30 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Maybe if we had two, three, or four vodka posts a month everyone would love vodka!

Your criticism is laughable, considering the last actual directly Lady Gaga post we had was made on May 10th, by Lovecraft In Brooklyn.
posted by hippybear at 8:31 PM on July 19, 2011 [15 favorites]

UbuRoivas, I'm 7 shots down with that comment of yours. That's how we play this game, right?
posted by vidur at 8:32 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I admire her taste in low-carb eveningwear.
posted by Afroblanco at 8:33 PM on July 19, 2011 [5 favorites]

You guys are missing the fact that LiB just loves vodka and is making these posts to take shots.
posted by mikeh at 8:38 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

I mean, seriously, his "criticism" is pandering to the vodka lobby.
posted by mikeh at 8:39 PM on July 19, 2011

Needs more Judas Priest.
posted by Decimask at 8:40 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Award yourself one shot of vodka for each comment along the lines o

How about two shots and a shot of water?
posted by Smedleyman at 8:41 PM on July 19, 2011

Sorry, meant to add: I would love to see Halford and Gaga actually realize that mash-up somewhere appropriate, like on a float for the NYC/London Pride Parade.
posted by Decimask at 8:43 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

[comments removed - quit threadshitting. I suggest taking a walk or flagging and moving on, thanks]
posted by jessamyn at 8:44 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

She sounds almost exactly like all the girls I performed with. I am super charmed.

Also, she's pretty frank about drugs and unmeldodramatic about it. Refreshing.
posted by The Whelk at 9:01 PM on July 19, 2011

Decimask, she mentions listening to Judas Priest growing up so PERFECT CIRCLE.
posted by The Whelk at 9:02 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

(and yeah, accent, word choice, she sounds like someone backstage joking at Rififi, so yeah I'm totally in love now)
posted by The Whelk at 9:03 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Imma let you (all fight it out to the) finish, but I just want to say thanks for the post. I wouldn't have known about the interview otherwise, and I'm really looking forward to listening.
posted by treepour at 9:04 PM on July 19, 2011

Two people who'll basically blurt out whatever occurs to them without any self-editing? This has rollicking fun written all over it.

Yeah, except I count three people who'll...
posted by John Cohen at 9:05 PM on July 19, 2011

MetaFilter: Quit threadshitting. I suggest taking a walk or flagging and moving on, thanks.
posted by notion at 9:10 PM on July 19, 2011

Aren't we still pissed at Lady Gaga over her objections to Weird Al's Perform This Way?
posted by jeffburdges at 9:14 PM on July 19, 2011

That turned out to be a strange fake thing that got someone fired or something.


There is actually a fascinating conversation about costume and artifice and image at the end.
posted by The Whelk at 9:16 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

thanks for the links! gaga's a lot of fun in interviews. she comes across as incredibly engaged, personable, and genuine. i think she's kind of a model celebrity citizen.
posted by fallacy of the beard at 9:22 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Also, ha she's totally a David Bowie geek watching all the interviews on youtube heee
posted by The Whelk at 9:24 PM on July 19, 2011

She's not some obscure singer songwriter who needs constant underground attention to pay the rent, or an underrated band who should be changing the world but isn't. She's one of the most popular people in the world. She claimed Town Hall from the emos and lads for a day. Every move is reported by millions of gossip sites. Why is she constantly plugged on MeFi?

I don't think her threads are that common, but didn't you answer your own question? She's a big newsmaker, so she makes news and it ends up on the blue. Plus her long form interviews are really interesting. I havn't heard this one yet, but I saw her google talk and it was really interesting.

You always have the option of ignoring it.

Also I was just at the store. I could have picked up some vodka... if only I'd known!
posted by delmoi at 9:24 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Lady Gaga, Weird Al Find 'Happy Ending' After Parody Beef
posted by mek at 9:25 PM on July 19, 2011

Two people who'll basically blurt out whatever occurs to them without any self-editing? This has rollicking fun written all over it.

Yeah, except I count three people who'll...

I haven't heard Robin in quite a while, but she used to behave like a socially acceptable grown-up at least part of the time, so I let her off the hook.
posted by FelliniBlank at 9:31 PM on July 19, 2011

Also nice to hear a huge pop star playing an audio file off a blackberry "Oh yeah this is the first time I - should have kept that final part it's good , oh god I sound wasted"
posted by The Whelk at 9:31 PM on July 19, 2011

If they had a good record of giving interesting long-form interviews, sure.
posted by The Whelk at 9:38 PM on July 19, 2011

[Seriously, MetaTalk is your option. Go there, or take a walk. Do not debate whether this post should be here. It IS here.]
posted by jessamyn at 9:38 PM on July 19, 2011 [7 favorites]

I think the way Lady Gaga polarizes people makes me respect her maybe a little bit more on artistic terms. She was in the lobby of a friend's workplace the other day and animal rights people absolutely LOATH Lady Gaga for the meat dress thing. Some people on MetaFilter really just don't like being reminded she exists. Personally, I think she needs to keep innovating as she is with pop-surrealism and not coast like it appears she's doing. She set the spectacle bar so high she might not be able to top herself anymore.

But wow, so polarizing, the presence of such passionate hatred-on-principle is indicative that she's much more punk-rock and creative than any other artists out there. Haters can't ignore her because they can't look away either, and that's strong art.
posted by fuq at 9:41 PM on July 19, 2011 [4 favorites]

Haters can't ignore her because they can't look away either, and that's strong art.

I can't ignore her IRL because she literally took over the center of Sydney last week. I can't ignore her on MeFi because everyone keeps talking about her. That doesn't make her 'punk'.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:46 PM on July 19, 2011

I don't hate her or anything, but I can't shake this idea that she's basically Madonna II. She's got some shock value, a powerful stage persona, and music that is catchy but nothing special.

Also she's done a song that sounds just like "Express Yourself," so there's that, too.
posted by DoctorFedora at 9:51 PM on July 19, 2011

zardoz is corrent - gaga was fabulous in japan from what i've seen. she seemed to have a genuinely good time - take her smap smap appearance and her performance

re punk: she has said before that all her art house hipster friends were trying to go further and further underground with their musical tastes and performances and her and lady starlight decided the punkest response to that, the thing that would polarize and people would hate the most, would be to do pop music in the middle of all this arty circle jerking.

as lady sovereign said - love me or hate me, it's still an obsession.
posted by nadawi at 9:53 PM on July 19, 2011 [5 favorites]

Yeah the music is actually pretty normal. It's pretty good for pop music, but the songs themselves are not really unusual or artistically challenging. She's not Nirvana or Radiohead.
posted by delmoi at 9:54 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

That doesn't make her 'punk'.

Actually, if you give any credence to John Savage's definition of what constitutes 'Punk' - that it is a bricolage of all previous post-war youth subcultures that draws heavy inspiration from Modern Art - then Gaga is startlingly punk.
posted by Chipmazing at 9:55 PM on July 19, 2011 [8 favorites]

decided the punkest response to that, the thing that would polarize and people would hate the most, would be to do pop music in the middle of all this arty circle jerking

So she's sorta the Jonathan Franzen of pop music?
posted by villanelles at dawn at 9:55 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Haters can't ignore her because they can't look away either, and that's strong art.

You can't ignore her because she's the only halfway-outrageous performer The Media pays attention to. Just outrageous enough for shock value but knowing what lines NOT to cross. Safely Outrageous. And the rest of the "Pop Music" scene is so plastic and/or brain dead, The Media can't find anybody else to talk about. I'm happy that, along with the frequent Gaga threads, MetaFilter has even more frequent threads about OTHER musical stars, past and present. See: Billie Holliday, or don't, if you don't want to make the Gaga look lame by comparison.
posted by oneswellfoop at 9:56 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

I can't ignore her on MeFi because everyone keeps talking about her.

No. You can can ignore her here. It's so easy to ignore a mefi thread I don't even. You can't ignore her because she is so skilled at the art of spectacle that you will keep commenting in a thread even though it takes work and effort to type what you did. That's Lady Gaga's art. You can escape it, but you will choose not to.
posted by fuq at 9:57 PM on July 19, 2011 [14 favorites]

Also, Billie Holiday is dead and doesn't do interviews. If you don't like new things I'm sorry about the state of the world but there's nothing you can do.
posted by fuq at 9:59 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

So you're saying he's gaga?
posted by mek at 9:59 PM on July 19, 2011

Wow, time for one of my obligatory "Gaga is a Time Traveler" * comments AGAIN.

*so is Andrew WK & Chad Ochocinco/Johnson.
posted by KingEdRa at 10:02 PM on July 19, 2011

The people with loads and loads of money at present as well as loads and loads of money guaranteed in the future are always the ones who give the least of a fuck about it.
posted by tumid dahlia at 10:02 PM on July 19, 2011 [5 favorites]

Lovecraft In Brooklyn: What if it was still vodka, but served in a boob shaped glass with flashing lights and that said 'True Original' on it?

"I would like a single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man's hat."
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:08 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

People will say what they will about Lady Gaga, what I'm going to say is that that video of her doing a live performance in Howard's studio was amazing. What a voice and what a talent. My assumptions about her (never listened to her music before) were very wrong.
posted by rmmcclay at 10:09 PM on July 19, 2011 [3 favorites]

I suppose Howard Stern will forever be known as the "strippers and porn stars" guy, which is kind of a shame since he really deserves credit for being one of the absolute best interviewers around (his similar length interview with Billy Joel last year was fantastic as well).

Lady Gaga was a great sport here, and her performance of "The Edge of Glory" (and the story behind it) was breathtaking, but I did have to laugh at a youtube comment about this interview which was something along the lines of, "If Lady Gaga cares so little about money, why does it cost $120 to see her live?"
posted by The Gooch at 10:14 PM on July 19, 2011 [5 favorites]

the money thing is something the husband and i laugh about - we often invoke jessie j's pricetag, which we sing as it's not about the money, money, money, just make sure to buy the single, single, single - forget about the price tag, put it on credit"

although, in gaga's defense, in her show she says something like "besides money do you know what else i hate, i hate the truth - i'd take a pile of bullshit any day over the truth." she's been talking a lot about existing halfway between fiction and reality and i think all of her interviews should be seen as potentially not exactly indicative of her true feelings.
posted by nadawi at 10:20 PM on July 19, 2011

"I would like a single plum, floating in perfume, served in a man's hat."

Number eight… Number eight… Number eight…
posted by Nomyte at 10:22 PM on July 19, 2011

...she's been talking a lot about existing halfway between fiction and reality...

What a profoundly annoying thing to do.
posted by tumid dahlia at 10:28 PM on July 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

What a profoundly annoying thing to do.

It's a pretty accurate description of anyone in the public eye, though. Dylan had to keep shifting fictions every few years to throw off the jackals. The cycle seems quicker these days.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:51 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this! I look forward to listening to it tomorrow while I'm doing some dull but necessary cut-n-paste stuff for work.
posted by rtha at 10:53 PM on July 19, 2011

I used to not care about Gaga, used to roll my eyes at every new Gaga post on MeFi. But I clicked through, and read the articles and watched the videos and paid attention to the interviews, and now I like her.

I am only 5 minutes into this and I am liking it already.

I don't really like her music that much, but I wish more artists whose music I like were as smart, interesting and articulate as Gaga.

And hippybear, putting tequila at the bottom of your list? Calling it Te-kill-ya?!

If I ever meet you IRL I am going to give you some good small batch sipping tequila, or at least a decent mezcal.
posted by Ayn Rand and God at 10:59 PM on July 19, 2011 [2 favorites]

There is a tremendous shift going on in culture – and Gaga has managed to both tap into it and represent it within herself and her work.

There was an article in the New York Times (cannot find it at the moment) last year that had the thesis that for today's youth, the worst 'sin' and overall experience possible is 'not to be liked'. At the time, I remember reading that article and feeling a bit of disagreement. After all, I am more generation X than generation Y, harking from the twilight of American exceptionalism culture. Damn being liked, personal integrity is found in attaching one's self to a moral code and living by that moral code, regardless of whether anyone else agrees or not.

Subsequently, I have been investigating this concept of 'being liked' and beneath a surface veneer of ubiquitous social acceptance is a much larger paradigm shift of systems thinking. Rather than seeing the individual as wholly isolated from the society around them, the youth today see themselves as functional parts of an ecosystem – with a responsibility to contribute to the community at large and interface with the world around them. 'Being liked' is a very base metric and measurement for how they are doing in this pursuit.

This movement is embodied by online culture – Facebook, +1, consumer generated content – and Lady Gaga.

Music used to be about a guilded elite who held the responsibility for defining and directing popular culture. Metallica in the 80s was a good example. They played music that represented the highest personal expression and whilst stardom was perhaps a secondary hope, the real driver for them was a core expression of who the musicians were via their music. They played, culture discovered them, aligned around them, and they found tremendous success.

When Load arrived, it was a significant departure from their previous work and fans had strong reactions – often negatively – for Load was not a traditional Metallica sound or record. In the end, Metallica, reeling from being disliked, returned to their previous sensibilities.

Gaga's focus on the fans, represents the evolution of thinking. She is not a self-annointed leader of culture but rather an interactive participant in it.

Metallica said 'fuck you, this is what we play, if you like it, then you get it. If you don't, then fuck you.'

Gaga says much more that it's important for her to play what people want to hear and what they can relate to. Granted, she still plays from the heart and plays music that she believes in, but there's not the hard edge that you have to go to her.

In a larger sense, this is the new social movement in youth society – caring about things like social engagement, the environment, and the future of the planet. They recognise that the world is less individualistic and they have a responsibility both for self-expression as well as building a common culture and society.

The more I listen to Gaga interviews (like the fantastic Google interview with the obviously gaga Marissa Mayer) and get a sense of her a person, she is really the vanguard of the next generation. Basically, you have a responsibility to be who you are and it is key to be individualistic and have a strong sense of self and self-beliefs. And it is equally as important to be part of the context, to contribute things of meaning, and to share yourself with others.

Overall, it's a brilliant shift in society and I have tremendous respect for her.

That being said, I haven't listened to Howard Stern in a fifteen years and it's amazing how he himself went from defining the very edge of talk radio to being relatively pedestrian and safe.
posted by nickrussell at 11:36 PM on July 19, 2011 [18 favorites]

Lady Gaga + Government Hooker at Paris Fashion Week.
posted by metaplectic at 12:40 AM on July 20, 2011

I've never hated Gaga because it seems so stupid to hate musicians. You really can pretty much ignore them, if you want, so why go hating on 'em? Just makes your world a little more unpleasant, is all.

So, ignoring is pretty much what I've done with Gaga, and that's largely because what music of hers that I'd heard just didn't move me. Seemed like just another electro-disco-whatevero rehash of one sort or another, with nothing particularly original or special to recommend it, and her voice struck me as utterly unremarkable in the tracks I'd heard.

However, just yesterday a friend sent me a link to her performance of a song from this same Howard Stern show: the Edge of Glory. The lyrics didn't knock me out, exactly, but they weren't terrible either (and that's saying a lot, really, when you consider the pop lyrics landscape of today). Actually, there were a few agreeable turns of phrase here and there. But, damn, the performance was really fucking good. I mean, hello, this gal can sing, no two ways about it. Furthermore, she seemed genuinely invested in the performance, really there in the moment, in a way that is hard to, well, deny the reality of. In other words, not just show biz.

Matter of fact, I was so impressed with the performance, that I was going to post the clip here as an FPP last night, but my 24 hours weren't up yet, from my last (hoodoo/voodoo) post to the blue. But I went to bed assured in the knowledge that someone would post it.

Anyway, I used to lump Gaga squarely into the same category as Madonna, that is: very smart, very image-conscious and media-savvy women with undeniable business acumen and a certain flair for performance and "media controversy". But Gaga doesn't belong only to that category. She's left Madonna behind. She is in fact genuinely talented, as a singer, and Madonna never once in her wildest dreams ever came anywhere close to the vocal performance that Gaga delivered on the Howard Stern show the other day. gaga has shown herself to be in another league altogether.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:41 AM on July 20, 2011 [14 favorites]

She is in fact genuinely talented, as a singer

Than why all the weird effects and production and Autotune and confusing remixing and editing?
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 1:46 AM on July 20, 2011

Than why all the weird effects and production and Autotune and confusing remixing and editing?

I dunno. Cause it sells? cause it's *what the kids want*? Because she and her producers like the sound of it? Whatever it is, it doesn't matter. That is to say, it's not a cover-up of some kind or other, hiding a feeble voice. Because the fact is, she really can sing. The proof is in the performance I linked to.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 1:49 AM on July 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

Yeah, and John Frusicante can really play guitar. Doesn't make Red Hot Chilli Peppers a good band.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 1:56 AM on July 20, 2011

Metafilter: You can escape it, but you will choose not to.
posted by chavenet at 2:14 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, and John Frusicante can really play guitar. Doesn't make Red Hot Chilli Peppers a good band.

Hey, fine, man. If you don't feel Lady Gaga is worthy of the Holy Annointed Mantle of Lovecraft In Brooklyn's Approval, that's really just peaches with me! I mean, not only is it peaches, it's also a point of absolutely no relevance or interest to me ion any way. Personally I don't give a half a rat's ass whether you think she (or anyone else) is good or bad or in between or what the fuck ever.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:20 AM on July 20, 2011 [9 favorites]

Is there a good pop-punk cover of Bad Romance yet? There's a decent song buried somewhere in that mess.

FTFY.
posted by chronic sublime at 3:28 AM on July 20, 2011

She is in fact genuinely talented, as a singer

Than why all the weird effects and production and Autotune and confusing remixing and editing?

Because those kids, they are on your lawn, and they are doing stuff that is disturbing and they should just leave.
posted by Sebmojo at 3:33 AM on July 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

But, damn, the performance was really fucking good. I mean, hello, this gal can sing, no two ways about it. Furthermore, she seemed genuinely invested in the performance, really there in the moment, in a way that is hard to, well, deny the reality of. In other words, not just show biz.

flapjax: if you haven't listened to the interview, there's a quite lengthy build-up into that performance where she relates a story about her grandfather which lends quite a bit more emotional context and impact to her singing of that song. The interview is probably worth the time investment simply for that story, that song, and Howard's reaction to the entire thing.
posted by hippybear at 4:18 AM on July 20, 2011

Thanks for the tip, hippybear. Indeed, I haven't listened to the interview yet. I plan to do that.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:33 AM on July 20, 2011

I suppose Howard Stern will forever be known as the "strippers and porn stars" guy

You know, when I think of Stern, "strippers and porn stars" aren't necessarily the first things to come to mind. I think of the fat-shaming comments he made about Gabourey Sidibe. I think about the awful things about Columbine, in which he said he would want to rape the girls before he hypothetically murdered them. Oh, and for such an incredible, ground-breaking interviewer, he sure gave an insightful one-on-one with Liz Phair.

If you don't want people to think of you as "the strippers and porn stars guy", don't mock an Oscar-nominated actress for her weight, and don't make jokes about rape. This isn't rocket science.
posted by pxe2000 at 4:51 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Actually here's a video of the Edge of Glory performance I just found on you-tube. The idea that she's only good because of auto-tune or whatever is pretty ridiculous.
posted by delmoi at 5:13 AM on July 20, 2011

If you don't want people to think of you as "the strippers and porn stars guy", don't mock an Oscar-nominated actress for her weight, and don't make jokes about rape. This isn't rocket science.

C'mon, that's like saying "If you don't want people to think you're a hack who can't sing, don't wear meat dresses." Just because someone does outrageous things doesn't mean people won't find them talented in in other areas.
posted by 23skidoo at 5:19 AM on July 20, 2011

You know, when I think of Stern, "strippers and porn stars" aren't necessarily the first things to come to mind. I think of the fat-shaming comments he made about Gabourey Sidibe. I think about the awful things about Columbine, in which he said he would want to rape the girls before he hypothetically murdered them. Oh, and for such an incredible, ground-breaking interviewer, he sure gave an insightful one-on-one with Liz Phair.

You completely misunderstand the point he was making about Gabourey Sidibe, which is easy to do when you see a few quotes taken out of context and don't actually listen to his show directly. He was talking about how Hollywood is obsessed with appearance and that all of them were full of crap pretending that Gabourey was going to continue to get roles and perform among all of the size 2 Hollywood starlets. He was criticizing the entertainment industry, not Gabourey.

The Columbine comment was also taken out of context. He was trying to understand the motives of the shooters and talking about what they could possibly have been. He wasn't suggesting that they should have raped students.

And that Liz Phair thing - is that even real? I don't remember it and it looks like it would have been about a 5-minute interview, based on that.
posted by amro at 5:44 AM on July 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

I think about the awful things about Columbine, in which he said he would want to rape the girls before he hypothetically murdered them.

This strikes me as a very ungenerous reading of what he said. I think it's pretty clear that, in context, he was wondering why they didn't rape anybody.

This doesn't actually seem to me to be a strange thing to wonder about (although it's certainly not exactly proprietous to bring it up): These kids intentionally transgressed far, far beyond the ultimate social boundary. People, generally speaking, and teenage boys in particular, really really want sex. Why wouldn't they have taken some, given how far beyond the line they intentionally went?

To frame this as Stern condoning Columbine and in fact suggesting that they didn't go far enough doesn't strike me as terribly fair.
posted by Flunkie at 5:52 AM on July 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

And that Liz Phair thing - is that even real? I don't remember it and it looks like it would have been about a 5-minute interview, based on that.

And it seems like the author of the post is writing what they imagine and interview between Stern and Phair would be like. S/he says:

Long ago, a member named sav127 posted this to the LPF:

Subject: I wish Liz Phair would go on the Howard Stern Show

Howard is such a great interviewer, I know there are things he could get out of her that would blow our minds. Maybe I'm biased because I'm a big Howard Fan but I think it would be great if she went on there and I'm kind of surprised she never did in the 90's, maybe it was her stage fright?

While I'm not much of a Howard Stern fan, it did seem like a provocative suggestion. So after thinking about if for a bit, I posted the following response:
posted by amro at 6:08 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you don't want people to think of you as "the strippers and porn stars guy", don't mock an Oscar-nominated actress for her weight, and don't make jokes about rape. This isn't rocket science.
posted by pxe2000 at 7:51 AM on July 20 [+] [!]

He was commenting on Hollywood, and the fact that there are no roles for "women of size". That Gabby hasn't had a starring role since Precious says it all.
Someone above commented on the rape comment.
posted by Gungho at 6:08 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

She is in fact genuinely talented, as a singer

Than why all the weird effects and production and Autotune and confusing remixing and editing?

Because pop records have rarely been about a true recording of physical ability the perform and have usually been more about a true expression of a musical idea.

And I'm not talking recently. You can go back to the accidental invention of the flanger, and double-tracking, and reverb, and filtering, and editing in various takes of guitar solos, all the way back to the beginnings of recorded music.

Forget singing for a second, and just look at guitar playing. There's a great scene in It Might Get Loud where The Edge plays the gloriously rich guitar part from the beginning of When The Straights Have No Name, and then he turns off the effects chain, and it's suddenly just him just plonking 3 notes on a guitar.

Which is the truer sound?

The singer's voice, like a guitar, can be just another sound source for the producer to use to explore sonic texture.
posted by empath at 6:16 AM on July 20, 2011 [7 favorites]

Jesus, how can she play the piano with those giant nails?

That said, she really can sing. I had no idea.
posted by 8dot3 at 6:35 AM on July 20, 2011

I don't hate her or anything, but I can't shake this idea that she's basically Madonna II. She's got some shock value, a powerful stage persona, and music that is catchy but nothing special.

Madonna:Gaga::GTA IV:Saint's Row 2 ?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:01 AM on July 20, 2011

Is this something I'd need to own a radio to care about?
posted by biochemist at 7:05 AM on July 20, 2011

Is this something I'd need to own a radio to care about?

Actually, you could own a radio (even several!) and still not care about it.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:10 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's true! You could own ten radios, be on pandora and spotify and lastfm and have random people send you mixtapes in the mail, and you would *still* be allowed to not care about it!
posted by rtha at 7:32 AM on July 20, 2011 [3 favorites]

Lady Gaga interview at Paris Fashion Week.
posted by metaplectic at 7:38 AM on July 20, 2011

“You should wait as long as you can to have sex, because as a woman, you don’t even begin to enjoy it until your mid-twenties. When you’re 17, you don’t even know how to operate what’s going on down there and you shouldn’t try.”

Wow, after her awful actions in blackface, and then her appropriation of wheelchair use, and then her transphobia, the last thing I figured I'd do after listening to a Lady Gaga interview was laugh.
posted by ShawnStruck at 7:53 AM on July 20, 2011

fuck, did i really say "Where the straights have no name?"

I need to not post before coffee.
posted by empath at 7:55 AM on July 20, 2011

I'm not really a Gaga or Stern fan, but I'm not a hater, either. I see the artistic merit in what they both do, it's just not really my thing.

That being said, I was late for work because my roommate was listening to this interview and I was totally captivated.
posted by brand-gnu at 7:58 AM on July 20, 2011

Her appropriation of wheelchair use? Dude, she was appropriating a thirty-year-old Bette Midler act. (And she's been appropriating disability chic for years already, so you're a bit late to the outrage party.)

My favorite part of the interview (we caught bits of it in the car) was when Howard was trying to be all "dirty radio guy," talking about how she soaps up her body in the shower, ooh yeah, baby, and he bets she cleans certain parts very sexily.

She responded, very matter-of-factly, "Oh, I have an electronic vagina. It cleans itself."
posted by Madamina at 8:38 AM on July 20, 2011 [4 favorites]

well and bette was doing that act like years before gaga was born; remember, gaga grew up with the from a distance bette. but also, if you're going to do a self-propelled on-stage mermaid thing, a wheelchair is the first and most practical thing that comes to mind.
posted by fallacy of the beard at 8:49 AM on July 20, 2011

Yeah, and Bette didn't exactly invent it, either.
posted by FAMOUS MONSTER at 9:01 AM on July 20, 2011

man, lady gaga ain't about inventing stuff she is about excellent pastiche and asymmetrical costumes. you're going to make me do the whole "you're missing the point, ooooold maannnnnnnnnn" thing and that's straight unseemly
posted by beefetish at 9:07 AM on July 20, 2011

I mostly like Lady Gaga because Camille Paglia hates her guts.
posted by blucevalo at 9:13 AM on July 20, 2011 [5 favorites]

My objection with the pop-music processing I hear these days is that it flattens both the dynamic range and the vocal inflections of the performance. I was impressed by Gaga's television performances, which are usually better arrangements of the song, and disappointed in her official studio tracks.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 9:42 AM on July 20, 2011

Rockism is not about music at all.
posted by clockzero at 9:51 AM on July 20, 2011

ShawnStruck: her transphobia

Blink, blink... ? She's about as TG/TS friendly as she can get.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:03 AM on July 20, 2011

You know how I know Lady Gaga has talent?

She can induce all these disparate haters to spend energy hating her - posting in threads about how little they care about her, loudly declaring how they don't listen to her music whenever her name comes up in someone else's conversation - and yet she hasn't burnt out in a bulimic, drug-fueled stupidfest of self-pity.

She's still going.

That takes an artist, to intentionally create waves that high, and not wash out.
posted by IAmBroom at 10:06 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Also, how does one "appropriate" wheelchair use? She starred in a music video that portrayed her recovering from a serious injury. A wheelchair and crutches were worked into the choreography.
posted by hermitosis at 10:06 AM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

fuck, did i really say "Where the straights have no name?"

This would be a much, much better song.
posted by FelliniBlank at 10:58 AM on July 20, 2011

Than why all the weird effects and production and Autotune and confusing remixing and editing

I'm not the biggest fan of that style of music but I can at least recognize that this is a personal taste. I mean, your comment is exactly equivalent to a middle aged white guy in the late 80s complaining about how that rap stuff isn't even singing! It's just talking fast!

Gaga may or may not be to someone's personal taste but to deny that she is a massive talent is all sorts of get-off-my-lawnism.
posted by Justinian at 11:55 AM on July 20, 2011

Howard Stern is still around?!?!
posted by mrgrimm at 11:55 AM on July 20, 2011

Lady Gaga is still around?!?!
posted by mrgrimm at 11:56 AM on July 20, 2011

As far as the Liz Phair interview...I went back and reread the interview after I had my first cup of coffee, only to realize that I'd been duped. I should have read the links more carefully. I apologize for that.

He was commenting on Hollywood, and the fact that there are no roles for "women of size". That Gabby hasn't had a starring role since Precious says it all. -- Gungho

She's been a regular on The Big C, so saying that she hasn't had a starring role (in a movie, I assume?) since Precious is a little like saying that Mary Louise Parker hasn't had a starring role since before Weeds was first broadcast. If his comments were directed at Hollywood, I would have cut him some slack, but they were instead directed at Gabby herself.

I can't say I'm surprised that someone would accuse me of taking his comments out of context on the subject of Columbine. (In this case, I'm not really sure what "context" refers to...getting B-list actresses to divulge their lesbian experiences?) There may be a time to ask that question, but the time is not in the weeks following it, and the place is not a raunchy talk show. His non-apology for engaging in this kind of speculation went beyond the "I'm sorry if you were offended" BSing and straight into some kind of bizarre, trigger-y equivocation.

You want to defend him, that's your right, but let's be honest about the kind of guy he is.
posted by pxe2000 at 1:22 PM on July 20, 2011

mrgrimm is still around?!?!
posted by Justinian at 1:30 PM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

You want to defend him, that's your right, but let's be honest about the kind of guy he is.


One of the most successful and groundbreaking broadcasters of all time who's made an epic media-dominating career out of controversy and titillation?
posted by FeralHat at 2:01 PM on July 20, 2011

mrgrimm is still around?!?!

Rarely but occasionally.
posted by mrgrimm at 2:10 PM on July 20, 2011

You want to defend him, that's your right, but let's be honest about the kind of guy he is.


One of the most successful and groundbreaking broadcasters of all time who's made an epic media-dominating career out of controversy and titillation?

I think you can hold both these viewpoints. I love the Stern show. As a person, with his occasional blathering about his hot model girlfriend, well, I find him nauseating. There is no better celebrity interviewer, however.
posted by nimmpau at 2:24 PM on July 20, 2011

That's straight up a great interview.

I'll freely admit to not thinking very much of Howard Stern. Then I started hearing radio people from all over (including Ira Glass) speak very highly of what he does. Listening to him again, there's no denying he's a good interview. I'd rather he be less crass, but he gives the impressions of being (or might very well really be) real.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 2:28 PM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I can't say I'm surprised that someone would accuse me of taking his comments out of context on the subject of Columbine. (In this case, I'm not really sure what "context" refers to

It's the stuff that he said near and in relation to the single sentence that you summed up as "the awful things about Columbine, in which he said he would want to rape the girls before he hypothetically murdered them".
posted by Flunkie at 2:32 PM on July 20, 2011

You want to defend him, that's your right, but let's be honest about the kind of guy he is.

I've been listening to him daily for 15 years, so I think I can say with some authority that he's a really, really good person.
posted by amro at 3:10 PM on July 20, 2011

Bababooey
posted by cell divide at 3:50 PM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

I figured everyone knew Howard Stern was basically a decent guy after Private Parts. I thought he lost his "asshole persona" oh 15 years ago.

I haven't listened to the interview, but I am curious: how much money has Lady Gaga given away this year and to whom?
posted by mrgrimm at 4:06 PM on July 20, 2011

I mean, your comment is exactly equivalent to a middle aged white guy in the late 80s complaining about how that rap stuff isn't even singing! It's just talking fast!

I thought this until I heard Aesop Rock, and sometimes I still do. I think authenticity still has a place in music.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 4:11 PM on July 20, 2011

You get five people in a room who all like music and I bet you get six opinions on what "authentic" means.
posted by rtha at 4:13 PM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

IAmBroom: "ShawnStruck: her transphobia

Blink, blink... ? She's about as TG/TS friendly as she can get"

“I just don’t feel that it’s all that sexy. It’s weird. And uncomfortable. I look at photos of myself, and I look like such a tranny! It’s amazing!”

"Lady Gaga was interviewed for a radio station and of course, she was asked about the rumors of her having a penis... 'My beautiful vagina is very offended. I’m not offended, my vagina is offended.'"

So... not very?
posted by ShawnStruck at 5:43 PM on July 20, 2011

I am the farthest possible thing from an expert on Lady Gaga. But reading the whole thing from the first link gives me a bit of a different take on it:

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the singer says she can't understand why people think her outrageous fashion sense gives her sex appeal.

"I just don't feel that it's all that sexy. It's weird. And uncomfortable. I look at photos of myself, and I look like such a tranny! It's amazing!

"I look like Grace Jones, androgynous, robo, future fashion queen. It's not what is sexy. It's graphic and it's art.

"I don't really think anybody's d*** is hard, looking at that. I think they're just confused and maybe a little scared."

Funnily enough, this isn't the first time there's been confusion over Lady Gaga's gender. Though it is the first time she's said it herself!

Last year Christina Aguilera responded to accusations that she was copying Gaga's style, saying, "This person [Lady Gaga] was just brought to my attention not too long ago. I'm not quite sure who this person is, to be honest. I don't know if it is a man or a woman. I just wasn't sure."

I am aware of misogynistic stuff that's been said about her because she isn't/won't play up the traditional "pretty female pop star" look that's expected of her. She isn't/won't act "pretty" and therefore she must be a man.

To me, it sounds more like she's happy to be a woman, and wants it known that women - even pop star women - can look all kinds of different ways. That some choose to not play the "pretty/sexy girl" role doesn't make them male.

I could be wrong. Maybe she's hugely transphobic. But the full text of those two links don't prove it to me.
posted by rtha at 8:03 PM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Yeah, the whole "she's transphobic" thing seems like reaching for outrage to me. I'd look for actual statements by her about trans status people and what she thinks of them rather than taking statements about her own understanding of her outrageous dress or her reactions about others saying she has a penis by stating that she has a vagina as evidence of whether she's afraid of people who are working to match their outer appearance with their inner gender. Claiming that she has negative feelings about those people based on those transitory and contextually-complex statements feels a bit like a person or a group is hoping to manufacture attention based on nothing.
posted by hippybear at 8:13 PM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

My respect for Gaga just went way up. I mean, I wasn’t paying much attention before, her music is just something I’m not into with no judgment either way. I watched the HBO special and enjoyed the spectacle but not enough to pay more attention to her otherwise. This is the first time I’ve heard her speak at length (or at all, besides her activist sound-bites) and I like the way she thinks, the way she is frank about herself and her life, her appreciation of her fans and all that. I sense real integrity in that there pop star. And yeah, she can sing.

I’m not gonna run out and buy any Gaga. I’ll watch and listen when she crosses my path. What I’m interested in is how she develops as a pop star and what she might be up to in a few, or in ten years. I sense this woman is capable of anything.

I haven’t heard a Stern interview in years. It’d be nice if he let someone finish a sentence.
posted by wallabear at 8:53 PM on July 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

hippybear: "Yeah, the whole "she's transphobic" thing seems like reaching for outrage to me. I'd look for actual statements by her about trans status people and what she thinks of them rather than taking statements about her own understanding of her outrageous dress or her reactions about others saying she has a penis by stating that she has a vagina as evidence of whether she's afraid of people who are working to match their outer appearance with their inner gender. Claiming that she has negative feelings about those people based on those transitory and contextually-complex statements feels a bit like a person or a group is hoping to manufacture attention based on nothing"

"Tranny" is a bigoted slur towards transgender people, particularly trans women. Saying that someone “looks like a tranny” is being painted as not just an insult to the not-transperson who is being “insulted,” but to actual transgender people. It reinforces the whole tereotype of all transgender people looking alike, there is something wrong with looking like they supposedly do, etc. Transgender people do not all look alike. So, you can't really "look like" a transgender person. There isn't anything wrong with being transgender. There isn't anything wrong with someone looking like whatever she thinks that transgender people look like.

The same idea of something being funny or wrong with being transgender or even just looking transgengender is part of a hostile culture of attitudes that also lead to the frequent murder of transgender people, especially trans women.
posted by ShawnStruck at 9:13 PM on July 20, 2011

It’d be nice if he let someone finish a sentence.

Now this criticism of him I agree with wholeheartedly.
posted by amro at 9:23 PM on July 20, 2011 [2 favorites]

ShawnStruck: while I agree with what you say about transgender people and their appearance, I seriously doubt that Gaga's intent behind her words was to illustrate her deep loathing of that group of people and communicate that they all look alike and should be killed. It's undoubtedly an unfortunate word choice being made by someone who isn't as sensitive to the issues of a culture of which she isn't a part, and doesn't carry with it nearly the weight you assign it.

It's nice to pick apart someone's words to find deep meaning and hatred within them, but in this particular case, I'm positive that you're reaching for outrage, and that Gaga would use that interview and her word choice as a teachable moment for herself if given the chance.

Anyway, I'm done defending her to you. You can continue in your anger if you wish, or you can give her a bit of charity. Her actions and words in other contexts suggest that you're entirely wrong in your assessment, but what your views are will be your choice and I cannot do anything about that.
posted by hippybear at 3:43 AM on July 21, 2011 [4 favorites]

God knows ShawnStruck would judge me harshly when in conversation I reached for a word and grabbed the wrong one. I've accidentally used tranny when trying to say someone looks very transvestititeish. I use the wrong word, back up, apologize if I need to, and hope that people take my mistaken words with grace.
posted by Lord Chancellor at 6:05 AM on July 21, 2011 [1 favorite]

seriously, how many pop artists have had hit songs with lyrics specifically celebrating transgendered people? at least wait until we run out of enemies before you start going after our friends.
posted by fallacy of the beard at 8:24 AM on July 21, 2011 [4 favorites]

"Then I started hearing radio people from all over (including Ira Glass) speak very highly of what he does."

There are many reasons to like Howard Stern, if you love radio in general, but the most solid reason is an endorsement by Mr. Glass.
posted by JLovebomb at 4:29 AM on July 22, 2011

at least wait until we run out of enemies before you start going after our friends.

Exactly. If Gaga is an enemy of LGBT people, they've got like six friends. Five of whom are dead.
posted by Justinian at 10:58 AM on July 22, 2011 [3 favorites]