I don't write it very often, but I've got two daughters. One is 15, the other 11 in a few weeks. For all intents and purposes it means I've got two teenaged girls on my hands, and I only had brothers growing up. My cousins are both gals, but are alllllot younger than me (Hi, Kath and Kristen). Until I dated, I think I was 15 on my first date (Hi, Emily) my mom was the only female I saw on an everyday basis. This has scarred me, I'm sure (Hi, mom).
Anyway, this summer was - like alot of red hot American summers- full of music. The newspapers and other media tell us (stupidly, I think) that every summer has its' anthem. For us, this year's was a toss-up, Katy Perry's "California Gurls" and Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance."
I heard both alot, even in my middle-aged decidedly uncool life as I schlepped through shopping malls or cavorted in amusement parks or walked on Atlantic Ave. in Va. Beach. Both are catchy, even though I tend to dislike dance music. My younger daughter loved 'em both, my teenaged gal only likes The Gaga.
I'm with her. Gaga is full of pathos. I bought the album and have listened to it, and it's full of emotion - practically oozes it. Yeah, I find some of her bizarre outfits and behavior wacky (yes, I realize that's the point), but there's some substance to it. I really believe that, if you read the lyrics to some of her songs, it'd hold up as a Nine Inch Nails album. Yes, you could make a metal/rock version of just about every song on the album. And she's a freak bitch, baby. Gays in the military? Eh, eh, whatever darlin'.
Katy Perry, on the other hand, is a horse of a different feather. [I'm trying to create malaprops] I once used the word "vacuous" to describe someone I liked very much - and I truly wish I could take it back. But, if I could, I'd turn around and slap the tag on Katy Perry. Her songs are (like Fergie) borderline illiterate and empty. Yeah, we get it, you're hot. Her much-ballyhooed hit video is stupid fluff (again, I realize that's kind-of the point), and one of her other videos consist of her wearing different period outfits (as in "wouldn't I have looked hot in the '40's?"). It's all window-dressing without any substance, what Morrissey called candy-coated "popstar thicker than pigsh*t, nothing to convey." Katy Perry, to borrow Hunter Thompson's words, is what we get when the Nazis win the war. Dreadful.
---this shouldn't single her out, there are a ton of them, the music industry locates, chews up, and spits out these ingenues on a depressingly regular basis. And, we, the public, eat up our Soylent Green because it's catchy and the kids can dance to it. I have, however, seen the "Sesame Street" clip that's garnering so much attention today, and it's harmless. I have a 4-year old son, and I want him to be able to appreciate a good rack when he sees one.
But, for this dad, they can dance to something that's catchy and that has some meat to it. And it wails out, in anguished tones, "I want your love, I don't wanna be friends...."
No comments:
Post a Comment