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Lady Gaga Opens MTV Video Music Awards As Jo Calderone

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» 65 comments

Expectations could not have been higher for Lady Gaga’s opening performance. After all, this is a woman who routinely shows up to awards shows covered in meat or ensconced in an egg. Say what you will about her, but no two Gaga performances are alike, and this one promised to be a spectacle.

But it wasn’t Gaga who was onstage at the beginning of the show — it was her greaser alter-ego Jo Calderone, doing her best “Jersey Shore” accent and complaining about how “f*cking crazy” his girlfriend Gaga was. Britney Spears looked very confused. Everyone in the theater was eating it up, but the screaming was so loud and so frequent that “Calderone” could have been speaking in tongues and it wouldn’t have mattered. After some meta-commentary on the nature of fame and Gaga’s constant need to perform, she took a seat at the piano and reminded us how good her voice actually is.

She opened with her new single “Yoü and I,” and it was tempting to call the show underwhelming because nothing had been set on fire or blown up, but delivering a performance that was focused on her vocals and having Queen’s Brian May join her onstage on lead guitar was actually one of the more unexpected choices she could have made. Granted, 90% of the demographic watching the VMAs probably has no idea who May is, but points for effort! And Dave Grohl was super excited.

Watch the video from MTV below:

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  • Anonymous

    I have no idea what this was all about?  Did Ga Ga… nevermind

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=688503368 Rob Robert

    Uh there is no video dolts

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CCHLDBOAMTNEWDQHGTRYF3EJUQ Deedqwqw Deed

    very good go—–wwwjordanforworldcom

    -
    *******—-**
    ——–
    —love look.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_LDO6LIQBI2JQ4Q5MWLWBKGKSJY bensanity

    Transgender garbage. I agree with Adam Levine when he said fuck the MTV music awards, “the one day a year that MTV acts like they care about music.”

  • Shogan

    Brian May: astrophysicist guitar legend.  Too awesome.

  • Anonymous

    Her 15 minutes are over.

  • http://games-survival.com Justplaythegame

    Wow…. I actually liked GaGa…. Might have had something to do with seeing Brian May perform again! Im pretty sure people still remember May..it’s not been that long ago..hmmm…MAYbe…
    Both actually did a pretty fine performance.. glad you had it here, I surely don’t watch MTV..

  • insideguy

    I thought that was awesome

  • Anonymous

    Okay, should have acknowledge the one thing of value in this story. TY

  • Anonymous

    Brian not only made the guitar body and neck, he made the pick-ups too! That’s what really impressed when I first started listening to Queen and heard his great guitar sound.

  • Nature Freak

    Brian May was a great choice. And as you wrote, 90% of the demographic probably do not even know who this great musician is.

  • Nature Freak

    If the music was good, every act could be transgender for all I care.

    The problem is the music. Some of Lady Gaga’s music is actually OK, and I support much of her political activism, but she is no Madonna. Not even close.

  • Nature Freak

    Hell Yeah!

  • http://games-survival.com Justplaythegame

    although he did make pickups.. their actually tri-sonics he rewound on the red special.. there is a pretty good article at wikpedia on it.. whichever is correct..it’s an amazing duo.. May and Red..

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Special

    May actually designs them now and they get pretty good reviews.. I need one like another whole in my head.. I best quit listening to this clip.. I can stick to p90′s and think it’s brian.. :-/

    and some reviews here: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/brian-may-guitars-brian-may-signature-electric-guitar/512637000259000?src=3WFRWXX&ZYXSEM=0&CAWELAID=41828321

  • Nature Freak

    Lady Gaga should sing with Nick Cave and with the Bad Seeds as the band. Lady Gaga can later play with the band.

    I would pay and drive the distance to see that!

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for the link, that’s interesting. When Queen first started I remember reading he had made the guitar completely from scratch. Either way it’s his sound alone. As for me, I’ll take a 68 SG with (as you say) P90s (the greatest sounding pick-ups ever!)

  • Anonymous

    I have to give her her propers-she can actually sing and play an instrument, which, seems to be getting rarer and rarer.  Great to hear Brian May, too!  I always enjoy seeing musicians collaborate, especially from two differant eras.  MTV sure could use a breath of fresh air and a ton more music.  I stopped watching them years ago because it’s all advertising or horrifically bad reality tv.

  • Anonymous

    Hello there, Purveyor.  Thanks for the compliment about a week or so back.  I’m really flattered.  I would’nt take the meat dresses or the cross dressing too seriously.  Musicians and artists, what can one expect? LOL

  • http://games-survival.com Justplaythegame

    You might appreciate this link also: Titled one of his best solos ever.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYabmM-uxdE&feature=related

  • Anonymous

    I’d enjoy seeing GaGa and Annie Lennox perform together.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_CQWUTBF2KSSVOXCR4PSN66L2PM James

    I agree Bringing Brian May was cool. I heard somewhere that she was a fan of queen and Frieddie Murcrey. Lady Gaga I think is the true air to Madonna in alot of way’s. I don’t know if Gaga will have the longvte that Madonna had. But she’s getting there.

  • Anonymous

    My favorite band is the Doors. I enjoy Morrison’s poetry as well Rimbaud who inspired him. There was a show onThe Biography Channel a month ago, about The Doors. “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom,” William Blake.

    Every so often Ray Manzarek is on AM Coast to Coast. The rest of the band had to know, they just had too? “Silvery stream, silvery scream, ooo, impossible concentration.”

    Purveyor

  • Anonymous

    “Mezzovox” def: a middle voice, a voice of moderation, one that sees or attempts to see both sides of an issue or thought…

    How apropriate.

  • Nature Freak

    Don’t forget about Aldous Huxley’s influence.

    And Frank Sinatra. My understanding is Jim would pretend he was Frank Sinatra in the mirror early on in his music career. I will later give links. He suposibly copied certain moves from Sinatra.

  • Nature Freak

    Morrison danced too close to the flame. He lived on the edge.

    I believe it was a conscious decision. He had no intention of ever becoming old. Aging was not for Jim. I believe Jim was only able to identify with being young. He did not want to be the old sage.

    Food for thought.

  • Anonymous

    It’s piano lesson Italian/Latin.  I’ve taken many years of lessons and now I’m the teacher.  I admire anyone who can play any kind of musical instrument.  Some folks just do it (extremely rare), the rest of us have to study and work at it (my category).   The Doors have always been one of my favorites and I think have a timeless and dark quality that makes them unique.  Oddly, my musical background is mostly classical. 

  • Anonymous

    My best friends sister has been married to Robbie Krieger for the past 40 years or so. 

    I meet up with them once in a while when they come to New Jersey for a visit. 

    Robbie is one of the nicest,  most talented people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.

  • Anonymous

    It’s truly a shame the most outwardly talented among us are always the most tormented on the inside too .

  • Anonymous

    ” Sweet dreams are made of this “

  • Anonymous

    believe you willl love it.
    -
    look love— w w w – jor dan for world – c o m 
    ———————————————————————————believe you will love it.love good go.
    ———————–

    —————–love

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    A few points…

    1.  Didn’t Andrew Dice Clay get banned for life from MTV?
    2.  Brian May is a genius, not just musically.
    3. How can MTV give an award for things that are never shown on MTV?  They haven’t played videos for over 10 years.  Even if they did, OkGo has proved you do not need MTV anymore to reach a live audience.
    4.  This show jumped the shark when the Waynes Bros hosted it and was eaten by said shark when Diddy and Shaq had it in Miami.
    5.  This shows, again, that the “media” industry is having a hard time changing and it will never be what it once was.  I liken it to the american manufacturing base.  It changed and will never be back.  Ipod, YouTube, Netflix, Internet, LCD TV’s, podcasts, ereaders, file sharing, and satellite radio have reduced once giant, profitable conglomerates to companies throwing everything out to see if it sticks.  Interesting times.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_JUT2TATEV3OHGQ7HZRYN472XVM Felix

    yep… only thing holding her up now is the REAL talent that she has (she CAN sing and put on a show)… would be great to watch if she just dropped the self-promotional histrionics.

  • Anonymous

    My apologies, I became so absorbed in my ‘anguish,’ that forgot to mention your musical skill.  I cannot play an instrument, however, like you, admire those who can.  The same with foreign languages, I find acquisition impossible.  In many ways learning to play music and acquiring a foreign lange require the same cortical processing?

    Also, that was/is an excellent explanation of the Doors: “timeless and dark quality.”  Well done.  A bit of trivia: Robbie Krieger wrote “Light my Fire” and wanted to have a “Sonny and Cher” beat or quality to it?  Sing it to your self a bit faster and you will get the idea.  Its awful!  I’m glad they decided on the beat they did?  LOL

  • Anonymous

    I do not recall such?  I read the Biograohy at least twice.  Oh well.

  • reader3

    How impressive. Does his faded glory rub off on you? 

    The Doors were a were a decent blues band, but Morrison’s “tortured artist” routine was weak. The only torure he suffered was self induced. He stole his act from people like Van Morrison. His voice had almost no range, his lyrics were self indulgent and sophomoric, and his poetry is even worse. He died as he lived, over-indulging. How he even got into this thread is the question, I guess it was simply your excuse for name dropping. Do you also drive John Voigt’s old car?

  • Anonymous

    I thought Lady Gaga was fantastic. Her unpredictability is always top notch. You never know what ish she has up her sleeve or whatever she has on.

  • Anonymous

    I agree that she doesn’t need the theatricality of her shows.  Her vocal talents far, far outshine most other performers who couldn’t exist without auto-tune or producer-help.  She’s got the pipes.  But theater is in her blood, so I don’t see that changing anytime soon. 

  • Anonymous

    Hey Asswipe — If you actually learned how to follow a thread, you’d see that the person you’re responding to didn’t mention the Doors or Jim Morrison.  Nice straw man you’ve created, however.

  • Anonymous

    Is MTV still on the air?

    Whatever ya think about Gaga, she can get an audience up on its feet.

  • reader3

    Heyitzstupid - 

    The poster I was responding to mentioned Robbie Kreiger, who played guitar for the Doors. The Doors were marginal in my opinion, but Morrison was a fraud of the first order. What I found ridiculous was his saying that his friend has a sister, and that sister is married to Robbie Kreiger. The poster is a joker and rabble rouser, and a name dropping know-nothing. This article is about Lady Gaga, and he chimes in with “My best friends sister…” So “thread continuity” isn’t my sin, it’s his.

    Kreiger has done little since his time with the Doors. Just shows how talented he was/is. I’m not sure how my comments regarding the Doors in a response to BMG, in a thread about Lady Gaga, is a straw man, but you go ahead and think so. And you can also believe Michele Bauchmann when she says hurricanes and earthquakes are God talkin’… 

  • http://www.facebook.com/tony.westover Tony Westover

    People still actually watch this shit?

  • Anonymous

    who watches this stuff?

  • http://twitter.com/Good_Lt Good Lt.

    I’m reminded of the Onion comic where Marylin Manson was going door to door trying to shock people.

    Ga-Ga is the next subject of that article.

  • http://twitter.com/Good_Lt Good Lt.

    I remember her when she was Madonna.

  • Anonymous

    The whole thing suxed.Sad,  really.

  • Anonymous

    Hey Dumbass — The dude didn’t mention Morrison or the Doors as a group.  He mentioned Krieger.  You’re the one who made it all about Jim Morrison and the Doors.  If you can’t comprehend the distinction, I don’t know what to tell you.  No one cares about your Morrison/Doors critique, but you felt compelled to regale us with it for apparently no reason — given that you were responding to a particular person’s post that mentioned neither the Doors nor Morrison. 

    You don’t like the poster’s politics, I’m guessing.  Oh, poor baby. Time to grow up, kiddie.  The first step is just to admit you’re wrong here.  You’ll really mature when you admit your politics are inane, but I know that’s asking for too much in one post. 

  • Anonymous

    Hey Dumbass — The dude didn’t mention Morrison or the Doors as a group.  He mentioned Krieger.  You’re the one who made it all about Jim Morrison and the Doors.  If you can’t comprehend the distinction, I don’t know what to tell you.  No one cares about your Morrison/Doors critique, but you felt compelled to regale us with it for apparently no reason — given that you were responding to a particular person’s post that mentioned neither the Doors nor Morrison. 

    You don’t like the poster’s politics, I’m guessing.  Oh, poor baby. Time to grow up, kiddie.  The first step is just to admit you’re wrong here.  You’ll really mature when you admit your politics are inane, but I know that’s asking for too much in one post. 

  • TruDat

    She should have dressed as Justin’s Beaver.

  • Anonymous

    i remember her when she was boy george

  • Anonymous

    i remember her when she was boy george

  • Anonymous

    I don’t know about that. I can’t imagine two singers with such totally different styles and themes.  But it seems like Franky and Gaga are on the same plain, two Jersey greaseballs.

  • http://www.thefriendcenter.com/ SoThere

    I wonder if she was wearing the hardware?

    “TMP”

  • Anonymous

    rereader3m stfu
    If you don’t like the Doors or Morrison, so be it. Tastes are tastes and need no justifying.. But he was great in his own way and pioneered a lot of stuff we all take for granted today. The Doors were certainly better than some commercial fraud like Gaga.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SIYF5565LXG7BBKTKGSSFWU7TA The Rock

    Lady GAGA isn’t a commercial fraud as you have claim Morrisminor which is a lie Lady GAGA is very talented you just don’t get it.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SIYF5565LXG7BBKTKGSSFWU7TA The Rock

    Glad that you can see Lady GAGA’s talent I think my mom likes some of GAGA’s song isn’t a big fan of her I can understand since it isn’t my mom’s demo.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SIYF5565LXG7BBKTKGSSFWU7TA The Rock

    MTV still airs videos just in the early morning hours. VMA’s have never jumped the shark that claim is a lie just like your other claims are lies as well.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_SIYF5565LXG7BBKTKGSSFWU7TA The Rock

    Lady GAGA is very talented liked her performance of You & I with her alter ego Jo Calderone GAGA can pull off the man look pretty good. VMA’s was pretty as well.

  • Beaucamper

    GaGa and Annie together?  I’m not sure that would be entirely safe. 
    That much psychic energy could displace time and cause a cascading  event that would swallow the planet. 

  • Just some Blow Hard…

    okay, sure

  • http://www.facebook.com/jimhunt James Hunt

    Eventually, Lady Gaga is going to run out ideas. But it seems that she was trying to imitate a 50′s greaser, or 1980s Ralph Machio. I don’t think I’ve ever met a guy that smokes like that, or dresses in a dirty t-shirt.

  • Anonymous

    I knew Ralph Macchio couldnt sing.

  • Anonymous

    I knew Ralph Macchio couldnt sing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bonnie-McGuinness/100002588403595 Bonnie McGuinness

    Lady Gago gives me a jolt every time I see her. You never know what to expect. She has so many “faces”. People should just appreciate her talent, her dancing, her music, and her individuality.  You go JOe. ..

  • http://impossibledreamsmedia.com Chris Jones

    Once you pull the dress up like a man routine you’re out of ideas. Where does she go from here?

  • Anonymous

    So what on earth is your problem?  I am the one who started the conversation about the Doors and then you, impolitely, poked your nose into our pleasant walk down memory lane.  The subject was not substance enough for the vitriol you exhibited, hence why did you bother?  Just to be mean, or, rude?

    My guess is you are a recovering addict or alcoholic and now feel compelled to denigrate people such as Morrison or Belushi, etc.  In the future, when you stumble onto a subject such as this, why spoil the fun, just move on and go to AA, or, NA meeting.

    Purveyor

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