Brian reviews Lady Gaga

When I was doing my "I hate Beyonce" post, I was thinking to myself, "I should add a link for Brian because he won't know who she is." this set the hamster wheels in my brain in motion because I know his taste in music. He's more of a sophisticated guy who appreciates the drama in music. He likes songs to have some sort of story which made me doubt he was getting jiggy wit it along with the rest of us back in the 90s.

I thought it would be fun to view the everyday music we listen to with fresh eyes so I asked him to give us his opinion on some of the top 10s being played on our radio. I might also throw in some 80s music because THOSE WERE MY JAMS, MAN!

The first one I selected for him to review was Lady Gaga with "Just Dance" Remember, he's British so don't try and correct his mis-spellins!

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When Bee asked me to review some music for her, I didn't even think about it before I agreed. On further consideration I was even more enthusiastic - after all, this would be a chance for me to find out what's been happening on the music scene in the last 200 years or so.

She chose Lady Gaga's Just Dance, which is apparently getting a lot of airtime at the moment.

Lady Gaga is a young singer/songwriter/fashion pioneer who specialises in slightly poppy dance music (according to Wikipedia). I think this means that her songs actually contain a certain amount of melody and structure, as opposed to the very repetitive "just let me bang my brains out on this wall" type of stuff that drives disco-goers to drugs.

Having said that, I found Just Dance a little too monotonous. The idea is probably that you're not really supposed to listen too hard to the music - you can have it on in the background whilst you work, wash the dishes, practice the bagpipes, or whatever, and it won't distract you. Which is why it gets played so much on the radio.

The song and the video tells the story of girl meets boy. Well, alright, more like girl gets paralytic and dances. I think it's set in a night club, since there's someone being a DJ, and people dancing, but unlike the real thing they're remembered to turn the lights on. This is all very different from the sort of plot I'm used to in operas, which generally have more sex and violence, but what do you expect from a song called "Just Dance"?

Ms Gaga has been compared to Donna Versace, and this explains why the video looks like it had no money or thought devoted to it - they spent all the budget on her clothes. To me, it looks like she pretty much thrown on a whole load of random things - sailor hat, leather gloves, a leopard print rug, and I couldn't help thinking she'd look better wearing less, but I suspect that just means I know nothing about fashion.

My verdict? It sounds like everything else they play in the kind of establishments I don't go to, so the regular disco cognoscenti should approve. It's certainly contagious (see below). Personally, I don't dance and prefer to listen rather than just have music on as wallpaper, and so I found "Poker Face" a lot more interesting.

What progress did I find in the last 200 years? Well, they have dumbed down African tribal drum music, and added some western style melody. Bach might well be turning in his grave, but not dancing, twisting or jiving.

WARNINGS:

Having listened multiple times to "Just Dance", I now have it in my head, and so will you if you get it. I suppose that means it's catchy, but you might want to have a CD of baroque fugues handy as an antidote.

If you're the sort of person who (a) likes to listen to music while you work, (b) gets the urge to dance to catchy dance music and (c) works on a building site or a tightrope, then please don't try to sue Bee if as a result of reading this review you buy the CD and then do (a), (b) and (c), resulting in bad things happening.

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I think he loved it, don't you? Do you guys see how proper he is? "Ms Gaga" bwahahahahahaha! Dude cracks me up!

(P.S. to Chris Wood who has not accepted my friend request from Facebook. I'd like to ask him "WTF, dude??")