Lady Gaga – 13 MTV Video Music Awards

And that the usually unlucky number is a sign of good things to come. Already cited for her outrageous behavior, has she gone too far? Is she her own worst enemy?

Reinventing the Self

I was a kid when the Beatles were taking their first jabs at altering the cultural milieu of America. The Woolworth Dime Store in a strip mall near where I lived was offering Beatle wigs for sale at $1.98. One day there were two guys, not much older than myself, who had each bought one of the wigs and were sporting them, right next to the spot where they had thrown down the receipts and tags for the ersatz Beatle hair. That right there was an indicator of “un-coolness.”

But worse, they were trying so hard to be cool: They had their heads held high with haughty, over-the-nose countenances. Their thumbs were hooked into their jeans pockets. They were striking poses that would have put Mick Jagger to shame. I just know that today they look back at themselves strutting in front of the dime store and shudders of embarrassment shake their frames. Sometimes I myself feel embarrassment for those guys; and lately that same empathy is starting to creep into my brain's embarrassment center when I see Lady Gaga. And, not surprisingly, here again wigs play a part.

Life Imitating Life?

A recent photo of the Video Dance Music Star showed her in her trademark Chinense-banged blonde wig. She looked like a junior high school kid who had been invited to a costume party and had chosen to go as Lady Gaga. All the stuff – the wig, the way-overdone mascara and fake eyelashes, the pouty look – was there, but the Lady wasn't. Lady Gaga looked like a poor imitation of herself. She looked as if she were Gilda Radner pulling an SNL spoof on Lady Gaga. It was embarrassing. Something has gone full circle when a pop icon can't even imitate being a pop icon who happens to be the pop icon herself.

A Record-Breaking Thirteen MTV Video Music Awards Nominations

But, it's hard not to like someone like Lady Gaga. Songs such as “Poker Face” and “Bad Romance” are top-of-the-charts hits. She certainly is making waves in the pop video milieu, having just been nominated for 13 MTV Video Music Awards – nominated twice for Video of the Year. And those are records for MTV. She certainly has a way of moving people from their bar stools onto the dance floor. And face it, her odd mixture of camp, outrageous fashion, and burlesque is all hers – well,almost. She does count Madonna and Grace Jones among her pop idols.

Is She For Real?

In case you didn't know, Lady Gaga was born on March 28, 1986 and given the name Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. By the age of four she was playing piano and wrote her first piano ballad when she was thirteen. At times during her teens she would perform at venues that offered open mike nights.

Where did she get the moniker “Lady Gaga”? Well, there are two stories. Rob Fusari, a music producer who helped her write some of her early songs, says it comes from the song by the band Queen, “Radio Ga Ga.” At the time she was trying to come up with a stage name, he used to sing the song whenever she walked into the studio. One day he messaged her with a reference to that song, and the cell did an autocorrect, mistook “radio” for “lady”. “Lady Ga Ga” showed up on her phone, and that became her name, with a spelling adjustment. The New York Post says that story is incorrect. That the name resulted from a high-powered marketing meeting with recording executives. Also, she's a natural brunette. She bleached her own hair blonde, she says, because people kept mistaking her for Amy Winehouse.

Loves Her Fans, Paid Her Dues

Whatever you may think of her, she has paid her dues. When she was a student at NYU, she and some school buds formed the Stefani Germanotta Band and they did their first recordings underneath a liquor store in New Jersey. The band became a fixture in New York's Lower East Side club scene. She says at one point she had the cheapest apartment in New York and “ate s - - -” until she could get somebody to listen.

She calls her fans “My Little Monsters” and identifies with them because, she says, she was an outcast, lonely high-school girl. Some of her former classmates dispute that, that she had a strong circle of friends and made good grades. She knows that her gay fans are a large part of her fan base and credits them for a great degree of her popularity. She has appeared at Human Rights Campaign Fund gatherings, supports HIV/AIDS charities, and has appeared at various gay rights venues. So, she has a cause, and a worthy one at that.

What's Next?

Who knows. She is her own main competition. Perhaps that's why she looks like an imitation of herself from time to time. She's going to have to keep reinventing herself, but she's a tough act to follow.