Going Gaga

Artrockers,

So I watched Gaga on The Graham Norton Show last week, in fact I watch Norton every week simply because it tends to make me laugh, something Ross never managed when he had the spot. I'd imagine that many tuned in expecting, like myself, something revelatory, something amazing, the like of which had never been seen before, after all, there must be a reason for her massive success. Kitted out in an outfit she'd clearly borrowed from Nina Hagen or Lene Lovich she had nothing to say but 'I love you too' every time some dimwit shouted out - nothing interesting revealed. That's OK, nobody said she was Bertrand Russell, she'd let the music do the talking, so off she went to get into something a little less Cyndi Lauper only to reappear in something a little more Madonna. Here we go, this is going to knock my socks off...Not. What we got was warmed up Euro-Disco and the dance moves from a Sinita video, guys in vaguely S&M gear doing the dance moves Micheal Jackson rejected. I was zapped back to the late 80s, when every no-hope 'singer' had to surrounded by dancers, the better to distract attention from the paucity of talent on show. Another good place to spot this sad old phenomenon is the Eurovision Song Contest, which I sat through the following evening. And I enjoyed it. And I thought that Blue's song was by far the best of the bunch. And I thought that if Gaga was in the contest she wouldn't have made it past the semi-finals.

And I thought that maybe I had better things to do than watch TV. But I didn't.

Tom Artrocker