I was browsing through the 2011 record releases on Metacritic the other day. I don’t know why; maybe in desperate hope that 2011 will be a better year for music than 2010 (no offense to anyone who put out a good record in 2011, there were some jewels). A title that caught my eye for all the wrong reasons was the next Lady Gaga full-length which the record company (I stress, not HER) is dubbing “Born This Way“. A sad, sad title indeed for anyone who knows anything about the woman’s past. Her name is really Stefani. Stefani Germanotta, if you want to know the truth. She’s a New York chick. I always point to THIS video to explain to people where she came from, but THIS one could easily suffice as well. If you’re lazy, or didn’t realize those were links, I’ll explain: not more than 2 years before the release of her debut album, she was your run-of-the-mill college student/graduate searching for her sound behind a piano, a pretty face, and long locks. She wasn’t “born this way”, she adapted. She changed her look and sound because, as sad as it is to say, in 2006 the record companies couldn’t keep rolling out cute girls who sing pop love songs. They literally could not afford it. This wasn’t the late 90′s/early 2000′s anymore, we were well into the new millennium and the soul solicitors at the major labels — even via their smaller subsidiaries — needed to roll out something fresh and exciting (I ain’t talking sound, I’m talking looks) that the kids would go for. It was THEN, that what pop culture knows now as “Lady Gaga” was born. So the slap in the face to the ignorant bastards who actually think this woman is true to herself, the title “Born This Way“, is just that and more: a kick to the ballsack of her fans. And that… that is just not cool. (At least Brittany Spears had the wherewithal and/or guts to admit the fact that she was being manipulated by big business to make assloads of cash.)
It’s a sad state we’re in. Do kids under the age of 18 even use the term “sell-out” anymore? I recently realized that you don’t even KNOW Reel Big Fish unless you’re over the age of 22.
-Sonny
