MetaChat - I am officially old. or the world has gone mad. or stupid. or something.

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09 January 2009

I am officially old. or the world has gone mad. or stupid. or something. →[More:]I was idly flipping channels and caught the end of the Tonight Show and was treated to somebody named Madame Goo Goo or Princess Wawa or something wearing control top pantyhose over a thong and singing horrible tinny '80s style synth-pop with cheesy 'look-I'm-saying-naughty-things' lyrics while behind her danced a troupe of guys who looked like the bastard spawn of Fonzie and Kid N Play. Appatrntly, this is the #1 record in the country right now.

A true what-the-hell-was-that moment. Consider me officially out of it and proud of it.

post by: jonmc at: 01:31 | 27 comments

I saw something about her the other day and felt out of it too.

posted by arse_hat 09 January | 01:42

Here is an interesting point. None of my 40 something friends have ever heard of this song. None of my son's 20 something friends have heard of it either. None of my friend's 15 year old daughter's friends seem to be more than just vaguely aware of it.

For about 10 years now a song can reach number one and yet I can't find anyone who knows it. Popular music no longer seems to be an important cultural phenomena in north America.

posted by arse_hat 09 January | 01:49

Now I'm watching Ace Of Cakes. Those people are pretty much stoned all the time, right?

arse_hat: I know what you mean. There's an awful lot of popular stuff that nobody I know (and I know a pretty broad swath of people) seems to like, yet somebody must be buying.

posted by jonmc 09 January | 01:53

"yet somebody must be buying" that's just it jon, people are not buying. Record companies revenue just keeps plummeting. It's not iTunes, or file trading, it's deeper than that. Popular music is no longer a touch point for a large chunk of the population.

Over the next ten years movies will go the same way.

and Ace Of Cakes is the new Cheech and Chong.

posted by arse_hat 09 January | 02:02

except that they're not funny and less coherent.

posted by jonmc 09 January | 02:05

True.

posted by arse_hat 09 January | 02:07

But man oh man are they stoned. It was fun to watch for a while, but then I realized it had nothing to do with cake and everything to do with the guys I knew from high school (and some pretty cool women who I wish I knew in high school) getting baked and making D&D dioramas out of fondant. Which would be fun if I were baked & still in high school.

posted by elizard 09 January | 02:35

"Which would be fun if I were baked & still in high school."

That statement applies to so many things.

posted by arse_hat 09 January | 02:39

Just caught it (the name's Lady GaGa).

That's like a cautionary tale... "If you continue to stay awake watching talk shows until this hour, you'll eventually become someone who likes this".

posted by qvantamon 09 January | 03:41

She's not afraid to display her Madonna influence. I gotta say though her performance of 'Poker Face' at the Cherry Tree is pretty damned original; she reminded me a lot of pre-Ziggy Bowie. Unfortunately I don't think that image is going to sell in this day.

posted by Ardiril 09 January | 04:01

I bought an Ipod nano yesterday.

Finally, it is possible in this generation to find and buy music I actually like instead of what some industry executive decides I can choose from.

Not a bad thing.

posted by bunnyfire 09 January | 07:48

This song is in constant rotation on Chicago radio.

posted by desjardins 09 January | 10:10

Ha! The Ace of Cakes folks are like the cool friends I never had in school.

The show is pure escapism for me. I mean, there's no real plot variation except that cakes are ordered, cakes are made, difficulties ensue, day is saved. It's like those teevee shows from back in the day. The plot was always the same, and you knew the ending before the show started.

posted by mightshould 09 January | 10:17

At the gym, I noticed the MSNBC was doing a whole segment on the economics of pr0n, including the prevalence of pr0n on iPhones and other such devices, and the economic impact of pr0n piracy.

No this is not a derail. This nicely supports Jon's postulate up there that it's a world gone horribly askew.

(Sorry to say, Erin Burnett is apparently taking the day off so we did not get to see HER talking about this.)

posted by danf 09 January | 10:57

I feel that it really doesn't matter if something is popular or not anymore. I think some folks decided it would be popular and started trying to build momentum around the idea that you're missing out on something.

You see something similar in politics. You're supposed to keep saying something over and over even if it may not be entirely true, even if you're contradicting yourself. Just keep saying it. From that, you'll build belief in the minds of your viewers/listeners. As more people believe, others will come on board just to be part of the bandwagon. Will there be doubters? Always. As long as they're marginalized, you're doing your job.

posted by tcv 09 January | 11:26

Ha ha! Yes! This is totally different from, for example, KISS. To the extent that it's a woman wearing the pantyhose, that is.

posted by Wolfdog 09 January | 11:28

Well, jon, she's apparantly being mentored by Lady Starlight, who was also probably well after your time.

posted by muddgirl 09 January | 11:46

And after posting - what Wolfdog said. Lady Starlight tries to draw a pretty direct line between the early Heavy Metal performance bands and her own aesthetic.

posted by muddgirl 09 January | 11:49

Lady GaGa. And I unapologetically love that song.

posted by eamondaly 09 January | 12:05

One thing that would make Ace of Cakes better would be if the theme was "Ace of Spades."

I had heard the name Lady Gaga before, but never any of her music. If anything can dethrone Katy Perry (or whatever), I'm ok with it.

posted by drezdn 09 January | 13:53

It's an okay pop song, but what the heck is going on with her outfit? She looks like a barbie doll from the waist down.

posted by deborah 09 January | 14:54

"yet somebody must be buying" that's just it jon, people are not buying. Record companies revenue just keeps plummeting. It's not iTunes, or file trading, it's deeper than that. Popular music is no longer a touch point for a large chunk of the population.

You've got it backward, arse_hat.

The placements on the top ten list are by virtue of what is selling. These songs are not the most important to the music community, rather the top grossing in the country.

The REAL top songs are being underrepresented, as many, many people are downloading for FREE, and therefore, not contributing to the charts.

I assure you, music is still very much a touchstone of culture in America. The industry is just out of touch with how to gauge what people like.

posted by sakura 09 January | 18:04

Jon, you're just missing the retro-chic irony. Of course I could be wrong and, if so the audience must be meant to take that video at face value. In which case, lady Gaga's consuming public are probably as dumb as the commenters on your average youtube thread.

posted by pieisexactlythree 09 January | 20:13

Jon, you're just missing the retro-chic irony.

No, I get it. I still think it sucks. Actually that makes me loathe it all the more.

posted by jonmc 09 January | 20:24

"I assure you, music is still very much a touchstone of culture in America. " I disagree. Music is still alive and vibrant but it is no longer a touchstone. When the Beatles were big and even when Madonna was big everyone knew about them even if they did not listen to the music. Now the market is just too fragmented. A number one act will never be ubiquitous again. Just as a number one TV show will never again be a common point of reference for almost everyone.

posted by arse_hat 10 January | 00:03

She makes Courtney Love look talented, classy, and charismatic.

posted by pieisexactlythree 10 January | 01:00

I like Ace of Cakes, and my friend's sister is on that show (she's the plump Asian named Mary). Duff is definitely not a master "baker" or anything like that, but I love his creativity and the fact that the most important thing for his business is that the creative people he likes have fun working there.

That's a small-business attitude I can get behind.

posted by TrishaLynn 10 January | 09:02

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