Remember That Scene From "Alien"?
"What the hell are they doing with all that long hair?" he asked while my Mom and the rest of the family watched the lads from Liverpool perform on the Ed Sullivan show in 1963.
Obviously he was out of touch with the trends of the 1960s but then again he was 33 years old, a child of the depression and a die hard Hank Williams fan. He came from an era where men had short hair, Germans were called "Krauts" and the rest of the world fell in line thanks to society's rigid rules. So what if all John Lennon wanted to do was hold our hand? With hair like that you might as well not even lay a foot on his door step.
On the flip side, my Mom loved Paul the most.
"He was cute," she said. Simple as that.
Two people making a judgement on a band based on looks alone - funny thing is, it still hasn't changed.
Fast forward almost 50 years later and this same "old vs. new" generation debate is still going on, albeit in much more sloppier terms. Pop culture statements have moved past hair styles and morphed into something more gruesome and head-scratchingly bizarre.
Lady Gaga is the epitome of pop culture. Part Bowie, Madonna, Freddie Mercury, Britney Spears and bits and pieces of every genre in between, it seems as if the entire existent of pop music has built up to Gaga's very existence.
Her tunes are catchy and dance floor made, her sound is modernly retro, her fashion is outrageous yet pointless, her antics boggle the mind but endear her to her fans at the same time. She's a monster of music and a powerhouse of pop, but she's also bound to be the last great pop icon.
Where do we go from here? When a multi platinum selling artist gushes fake blood all over themselves at the VMAs, sets her lovers on fire while smoking a cigarette in her videos, vaguely exposes her breasts whenever she tries to make a fashion statement, yet still sells over 12 million records (a huge feat given the fact that no one buys music anymore) and gets her songs stuck in your head, how does someone else top it?
Gaga is the perfect balance of melody and mayhem. My friend Dave Beauchene, who contributes to The Hanging Tree, once said Lady Gaga is almost is if Britney Spears and Marilyn Manson had a kid. It's the perfect - and only - analogy that ever seems to work for her.
Those outside of the Gaga camp are taking notes and starting to emulate the weirdness to laughably lackluster results. Miley Cyrus is currently dressing up like a bird decked out in leather while proclaiming she "Can't Be Tamed" even though she's still a dog on a leash for Disney. Christina Aguilera's new album "Bionic" is filled with song after song of Gaga rip offs about electric sex. Sure Gaga may all be an act like Cryus' and Xtina's, but at least her act seems genuine (for the most part).
Neo-goth electric fuzz produced by young 20 something women is in. It's all of a sudden become the cool thing to see young girls proclaim their independence through the most slutted-out form of feminism you've ever seen. Ke$ha gives blowjobs on her way to the top, Rihanna gets beat in the face, Lady Gaga simply creeps us out. Pick your poison I suppose.
Sure the times might be good for young starlets, but I'm curious to see what will happen next. Is there only so much pointless weirdness we will take? Or are we made more and more desensitized and numb to the modern freak generation?
Lady Gaga has found the magic formula to the big time, yet she's destroying the old model simultaneously leaving us bewildered and pop left in shambles. Crazy for crazy's sake can only carry you so far. So get your kicks now, and dance one last time to the sound of popular culture slowly caving in on itself from the weight of its own extravagances and ambitions.
At least her hair looks cute right?
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