I really want to like Lady Gaga's music - but I can't

[Taverner]

Don't get me wrong - I like everything else about her: her message, her fashion, her story - all of that is great.

But her music - I mean it's OK pop, but there's nothing below the surface there. Simple disco beat, simple hook played over and over. Not even that great of a hook.

I'd pay to hear her speak but the music just doesn't do it for me.

[hamsterjill]

1. Speechless

Have you checked out "Speechless"? This is the song she wrote about her father.

[Taverner]

2. No but I will

I forgot to add her lyrics are good too - I'm half tempted to write better music for them

[abq e streeter]

3. I feel the same way...but haven't been moved by what I've heard enough to check out more of her

Entirely possible that there's stuff I haven't heard that I'd like, but I pretty much agree with your assessment based on the admittedly little I know. And again, also agree that's there's much I like and admire about her personally; she seems like a strong woman with a good head on her shoulders and her heart in the right place who isn't afraid to speak out.

[originalpckelly]

4. Her first albums were better than Born This Way.

It is pretty much shit, with Judas, Black Jesus + Amen Fashion, and Bloody Mary being the solve exceptions.

[Deep13]

5. *shrug* To each his own.

If you don't like electronic dance-pop music, there's no point trying to like it. I still don't like the Dixie Chicks even though I agreed with their views and hated the way they were ostracized for telling the truth.

[lukasahero]

7. We so need to be able to "like" a post

Thank you for this.

[Deep13]

8. Thanks.

:hi:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

44. Well said

[La Lioness Priyanka]

45. Well said

[lukasahero]

6. Why do you feel you have to?

And why do you feel the need to tell everybody?

Yeah - it's pop. Most pop is pretty fucking surface.

I really don't think everyone has to like every kind of music. But I don't understand why people who don't like certain music feel the need to tell everybody. Are those of us who do like the music supposed to defend it? Are we supposed to feel bad that you don't like it? Or stupid that we do?

As I sit here tonight connecting all the speakers in my house to my iTunes library (dog bless you Steve Jobs!), my playlist containing "MMMBop" (the very definition of surface pop drivel with a beat), "Enter Sandman", "Etrange" and the entire album of "Stan Getz Top 100", I fail to be offended by someone who "tries so hard to" like something.

Like it or don't but please stop acting like it's such a sacrifice on your part. :nopity:

Sorry for the rant but I haven't been on DU in weeks and you know what? I saw the same fucking posts then. Get over it and move on already.

[HughBeaumont]

12. Wow, that was massively unnecessary.

[Taverner]

18. Yep...sounds like someone didn't get their bong hit

Get on that! :)

[Highway61]

41. ...

:rofl:

[lukasahero]

28. Whatev.

Personally I think the "Oh woah is me I've sooooo tried to like the music you stupid little idiots do" is tired and unnecessary. You are allowed to like what you like and dislike what you dislike but I am allowed to say get over it already.

[Ikonoklast]

30. It is my perception that a malevolent entity

urinated on that posters processed oat cereal this morning.

[Skittles]

9. I can't stand her music and her chronic need for attention is scary

I like her activism though

[Taverner]

17. Meh, all performers are attention whores

That's why they perform...

[Skittles]

22. she is different

she seems to have a pathological craving in getting back at people who mistreated her years ago - she is a deeply unhappy person

[Taverner]

23. People said Elvis was different

People said Jim Morrison was different

People said Iggy Pop was different

People said David Bowie was different

I like "different"

I just don't like the music, unfortunately

[Skittles]

24. naw, not the same

you just don't see what I see

[Taverner]

25. Hey - I've dated what I think you see

And it's not bad, but merely that to be noticed, you must do noticeable things

Performers learn this trick sooner than the rest of us

[Skittles]

26. ..............

get back to me in ten years

[Taverner]

27. Just because you're noticeable doesn't mean your act is worth noticing...

[WinkyDink]

10. You're caught in a bad romance!

[HughBeaumont]

11. I kind of feel the same way about Radiohead . . .

. . . most of which just sounds like playpen Aphex Twin or Byrne/Eno to me (BLAAAASPHEMEH!).

Trust me, as with any music out now, there's really nothing to "get", as some faux-ters think you have to. One shouldn't have to work hard at liking something. I'm in the firm belief that great music finds the listener, not the other way around.

Sure, Gaga's a great person, but the music is nothing more than PG-13 radio Disney.

[Taverner]

16. I am glad I gave Zappa that fourteenth chance

When I first heard Zappa I thought "Meh, he's just a comedian who can play guitar"

I went through everything, Hot Rats, Cruisin with Ruben and the Jets, We're Only in it for the Money, etc....

Then somehow, around the 14th time I gave it a chance, I got into it. And I've been addicted since.

But that's the one time that that ever happened.

[HughBeaumont]

21. I'm more of a Mothers fan than his "solo" work . . .

Don't get me wrong, I like Overnight Sensation just as much as the next greybeard relic . . . but Uncle Meat's just damned ungodly stuff. And I think We're Only In It for the Money was one of the greatest albums ever made.

Zappa's definitely an acquired taste.

[Avalux]

13. My daughter loves Lady Gaga and I've tried to like her music too.

Same as you, I like everything about her except her music. Just sounds like regurgitated Madonna to me, although she does write her own lyrics and has a better voice.

I can respect her but I don't have to listen to her. ;-)

[Avalux]

14. dupe n /t.

[femmocrat]

15. I can never get her damn songs out of my head!

It must be intentional! LOL

[struggle4progress]

19. I wrote and told her I wasn't buying any of her albums until she started singing

more songs about burning barricades in the streets to overthrow the capitalist class system

Dunno. Maybe her reply got lost in the mail :shrug:

[KG]

20. pretty sure i've never heard a gaga tune. but then 99% of pop music is below my radar.

[kick-ass-bob]

29. Don't force yourself.

You like it or you don't. No need to force yourself into a genre you don't like.

I don't mind hearing it, but I don't go out and search for it either.

[Crankie Avalon]

31. Oh, well.

[provis99]

32. I doubt she likes it, either.

She wrote and sang lovely folk music before she became famous, but she wasn't getting anywhere professionally. So she wrote silly pop music and dressed weird, and the rest is history.

[Taverner]

35. She was a folkie?

Interesting...

[LynneSin]

33. If I want to listen to Lady Gaga's music I'll put on a Madonna CD

same thing

[HughBeaumont]

37. THIS.

Part II, all it is.

[ikri]

34. A sign of the times

20 years ago she may not have had much of an impact but with the pop industry full to overloading with singers who can't open their mouths without using auto-tune software and performers who wouldn't know showmanship if it came up and bit them on their arse it's refreshing to have someone like Lady Gaga who can genuinely sing (have a look at some of her acapella videos on youtube) and puts on one hell of a live show.

I've always been pretty meh about her, but I think Paparazzi is a great song and her acapella performance of Born This Way is superb.

[Lucian]

36. Why do you want to like something you don't like?

I can't stand her music and I don't try liking it. I just can't and I don't want to.

And I'm not afraid to admit that.

[InvisibleTouch]

38. As with most singers whom I like...

...there are 2 or 3 of her songs that I really *really* like, and the rest are just "okay" or even "meh." So even if I would "like to" like more of them, I just don't. Music is such an individual thing that you can't force yourself to like what you don't, and you can't un-like what you do. I've found that only very rarely will a song grow on me if I don't like it right away. (Kinda like relationships - if the spark isn't there from the start, it's not going to grow over time, and isn't worth the effort.) So never apologize for what you do and don't like, musically. I hate the snobs that criticize what others enjoy (and there are quite a few of them here, sadly - NOT saying you are doing that, btw), but don't waste time trying to develop an appreciation for something that doesn't grab you.

[Ter]

39. I feel the exact opposite

I lover her music but don't care for her.

[MrScorpio]

40. She's a great crusader and showperson and all… But it's pop music

I'm not the biggest fan of today's pop music at all

[AmyStrange]

42. How old are you?

-

Some people (not saying you Taverner) lie about the music they like, because they want to pretend they are cool.

Pop music isn't cool because it's popular and liking most popular things (except maybe sex and a good 14 oz steak, hehehe) isn't cool.

To me it's funny, because (for example) when disco first came out, just about everyone and their brother was into it, but when it got REALLY popular, most people were falling all over themselves pretending disco sucked. I still hear the same thing today about disco.

But when "The Hustle" comes on nowadays and they pretend to freak out because of how much they hate disco, they neglect to tell their toes which are happily (and unconsciously) tapping to the beat.

Guaranteed if we were to lock people who hated Lady GaGa's music in a room for a month with nothing to do but stare at four white walls for a month, then pump it full of pot smoke (probably wouldn't even have to do that), and then turn on Lady GaGa's "Poker Face" (even at low volume), you wouldn't be able to stop yourself from at least tapping to the beat...

Just saying...

Dave (and Caty)
-

[alarimer]

43. I have no problem rejecting it without having heard a note.

But then I like music that is, well, a bit more organic. Not necessarily acoustic, just not electronic, if that makes any sense.

I admit to being a music snob. My tastes run to the indie and the obscure.