I read through this thread to page 8 last night and think I have the gist on what I missed.
Gaga did not invent this style. It existed long before she came on the scene.
Sure, dance music has sub-genres and is more "complex" than people like me know about, but does anyone really care?
We can go as far back as Britney, or as far back as Kylie, as far back a you want actually, it's really too easy to show Gaga was not the first, nor the first to be at the top of the charts for a dance sound. At least Gaga is aware of this even if her fans don't seem to be.
This thread is definitely about splitting hairs. Which don't mean anything in the big picture.
Attempting to set a year, time, and date of the modern rise to suit your argument makes you look deluded. Much like Aguilera fans, who will try to say she was "first female to wear red lipstick, before 2008, with a pop ballad on the radio, between April-May, while hosting a reality show at the same time" or some other nonsense to somehow make it look like something was accomplished. I'm seeing some of that with Gaga fans in this thread too. My advice. Stop now. I'm sure the monsters don't want the rep the Aguilera fans have.
Gaga knows she wasn't first, didn't invent the sound, or do anything out of the ordinary that wasn't already done before.
She just has to convince her fans of it somehow.