Music News: MTV: "Born This Way" leads new era of outcast anthems

Symphonic

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In the 1970s, when disco was in full swing and rock and roll was posturing its way into arenas, four goony, glue-sniffing kids in Forest Hills, Queens, threw on leather jackets and began bashing out two-minute tunes with titles like "Blitzkrieg Bop" and "Beat on the Brat." They called themselves the Ramones, and not only were they probably the first punk band on planet Earth, but they were most definitely outcasts, in every sense of the world.

Of course, the Ramones certainly weren't the first musical outcasts. Theirs is a legacy that reaches all the way back to the dawn of recorded music, from the likes of the Hoosier Hot Shots and Slim Galliard, scatting madman Cab Calloway and the "shocking" Screamin' Jay Hawkins, to midcentury curios like bizarro bandleader Spike Jones, deep-fried '60s oddballs like Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart and even contemporaries like the Cramps and the Talking Heads. But unlike any who came before them, the Ramones helped usher in an era — and a genre — in which being odd was championed. It would continue through the 1980s, thanks to the Heads, West Coast punk acts like Black Flag and the Minutemen, and college-radio darlings like R.E.M. — and, of course, the eternally outcast world of heavy metal — then truly break through in the '90s, with the chart-topping success of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the Smashing Pumpkins, and the rise of hip-hop outfits like the Wu-Tang Clan, the Pharcyde and the incomparable Kool Keith.

Of course, in the 2000s, things sort of petered out. Rock and hip hop became increasingly lunkheaded and lumbering, and the meek were shoved from the spotlight. And it bears mention that, even during the outcast heyday, for the most part, established acts — i.e., anyone who had plenty to lose — stayed as far removed from the fringe as possible, or if they dared stray outside their lane, they suffered the consequences (the classic example being, of course, Madonna, who nearly submarined her entire career with the simultaneous release of the Erotica album and its accompaniment, the coffee-table book "Sex"). There's a reason it's called "popular" music, after all.

These days, however, things appear to be changing. For the first time, established pop megastars are embracing those on the fringes of society — and finding success in the process. It all started, appropriately enough, with the rise of Lady Gaga, who made no bones about the fact that her earliest support came from the gay community, and over the past year, through videos like "Alejandro" and her campaign against "don't ask, don't tell," she has become the outcast icon of our time. Others followed suit — like Pink, who scored hits with underdog anthems like "Raise Your Glass" and "F***** Perfect"; Ke$ha, whose "We R Who We R" went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100; and even Katy Perry, who dedicated her "Firework" video to the "It Gets Better" campaign — and it truly seems that, for the first time since the 1990s, being an outcast was not only acceptable, it was downright mainstream.

Now, Gaga is poised to return with "Born This Way," the first single from her album of the same name. On Thursday, she released the song's lyrics, and if it's not already the biggest outcast anthem of all time, well, then it probably will be very soon. In fact, there's nary an outsider group Gaga doesn't mention in the song — gays, bisexuals, transgenders, ethnic minorities, the disabled, the bullied, the poor — which makes it, and its near-inevitable chart success, incredibly noteworthy. After all, here is Lady Gaga, currently the biggest artist on the planet, releasing a song that not only calls for acceptance of all people, but drags those who aim to oppress directly into the center of the ring. It is not only fierce, it's downright fearless. Gaga has plenty to lose, but she couldn't care less.

And perhaps "Born This Way" is just the byproduct of the era in which we live, a time when social mores are constantly debated, when boundaries are being expanded and contracted, almost daily, and when it truly seems possible that maybe — just maybe — the outcasts could inherit the earth. After all, Bill Gates was an outcast, Barack Obama was too — and look how things worked out for them. And while this may put the fear of God in some folks, it seems that change is inevitable, and, as it is wont to do, pop music is there to provide the soundtrack to all of that change. Just like in the 1960s, when the biggest rock and folk acts of the day led the charge for social rebellion, so too may Lady Gaga. And she'll do it on the biggest stage imaginable. Of course, that might just be speculation, but it's certainly been a long time coming.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/165...y-lyrics.jhtml

Allstar

MTV knows the true tea.
I'm so excited for the haters to come.

inspiration4

It's funny because some stans, include myself, just yesterday were taken back by the fact that the lyrics were so literal and straight foward, as opposed to the more ambiguous style she usually employs. Some even went as far as to call them "cheesy" and contrived, which is not entirely surprising.

But the beauty (imo) now lies in the fact that this song, compared to the other inspirational songs on radio, actually dosen't run from the reason WHY so many people feel like outcasts in the first place. She's not touching on any actual feeling that results from being on the fringes of society, but rather on the "victims" themselves, and who many of them happen to be.

MTV hit the nail on the head. Any song that's mean to inspire others is good in my book, but Gaga's fearlessness allowed her to go against the grain and mention these minorities by name. And that's brave because the reason people are outcasts in the first place is because the mainstream likes to bury the identity of the unfamiliar and speak about them in general terms, exactly what BTW lyrics don't do.

Just the fact that she's going to make you love, like or tolerate a song that includes words like gay, bi, and transgendered is MAJOR

MrDeeds

Nicole

I still don't like the lyrics.

But I agree with this:

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It is not only fierce, it's downright fearless. Gaga has plenty to lose, but she couldn't care less.

If you're doing an inspirational anthem for gays (the primary market for pop), have the balls to mention them or go home.

Duca

Quote:

Originally posted by MrDeeds

!!!

Finally we agree on something.

inspiration4

DEATH! you know damn well it takes somebody like Deeds more than three minutes to read an article of this length. Being a troll for trolls sake

EDIT: i also love how the other Gaga stans have run out of logical or credible arguments against her and have instead regulated themselves to simply posting smilies

.

Navin

So far, Ive read 2 Reviews and they have all been Positive.

MTV, EW & Houston Press have all called it a "sure to be hit:. I am Ready

ZeroGravity

Gaga is obviously snatching everybody's wigs

Vertigo Stick

Yes Gaga, slay

Snatch wigs

Silence haters

Chrïs.

She's coming back.

ChapStick

I am so excited! GaGa is so considerate of the diversity of mankind.

izzy

Yess the Queen is coming

Accra

I hope you're ready.

Gui Blackout

inspiration4

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Originally posted by Gui Blackout

Troll fail!!!

EDIT: that's more like it

Symphonic

Image removed.

NE.

So dramatic.

Gaga stans act like every thing she does is some phenomenal civil rights/voice of the people movement and starting a new era of something. Oh, please.

Playboy

P!nk and Christina have already been down this road for our generation. This is absolutely nothing new. Madonna and Donna Summers did it before them.

People kill me with how much they blow smoke up Gaga's ass like she innovated something.

Arith

The lyrics to this song are terrible. I feel like a 6th grader wrote them. I feel like this whole 'era' is just a bid to be 'revolutionary' and 'different' when in fact...this material has been done before, and it was probably less contrived. But yet again, because it's GaGa we're all supposed to bow and throw around words like 'slay' and 'epic' and call it a day.