Gaga 2.0
Generally a haven for all sorts of debauchery, this fortnight finds Rihanna using the internet to get across a more wholesome message via video.
Stuart Clark, 02 Dec 2011
The Family Values clip at youtube.com/yISGTAMdmiA is a short look at her ordinary life off-stage, in Barbados, amongst her loved ones. With old school reports and photographs, it’s either endearing or a cynical attempt to steer her image clear of recent controversy – incidents with Northern farmers and French rulings (really, France?) that her new video ‘We Found Love’ promotes “self-destructive behaviour” spring to mind. Oh, and it’s directed by Jay-Z. Doesn’t get more squeaky clean than that.
Thankfully, not all of our exotically named singers are ready to go straight. Always good to keep the online madness quota up, Lady Gaga recently celebrated Thanksgiving in unorthodox fashion. Originally screened on ABC, A Very Gaga Thanksgiving is the holiday gift that keeps on giving. ‘Surreal’ doesn’t begin to cover it, ‘batshit insane and strangely brilliant’ might scratch the surface. You can check out a bunch of clips on youtube.com/user/LadyGagaVEVO now. Highlights include Gaga doing arts and crafts with third graders, chatting about Jackson Pollock and, in a moment that’s up there with Bowie meeting Bing, deciding that ‘White Christmas’ doesn’t have enough verses and adding her own.
From one uncompromising artist to another, Peter Gabriel recently returned with orchestral reworkings of some of his finest songs. On November 9, he performed them for a Live On Letterman webcast with a full orchestra in tow. The likes of ‘Red Rain’ and ‘San Jacinto’ have been placed on youtube.com/user/PeterGabrielVEVO for posterity.
Another chance to get close to the live experience on your laptop comes from dischord.com, the online home of legendary post-hardcore outfit Fugazi. In an act of festive generosity, the band are making recordings of over 800 shows available via their website. From December 1, The Fugazi Live Series rolls out the mammoth audio archive in batches, available to browse for free or download for a small fee.
There’s still plenty of proof floating about that it isn’t all goodwill during the winter months. Life is nasty, brutish and short but, hey, at least we can laugh about it. Take police lieutenant John Pike, for example. The image of him nonchalantly pepper-spraying peacefully protesting UC Davis students is undeniably grim and in need of some levity. Cue some imaginative photoshopping at boingboing.net/2011/11/20/occupy-lulz.html that somehow finds the funny side and takes a dig at the overzealous copper for good measure.
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