Aldridge compares a 2007 Lollypop performance at the Triple Rock to Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" video, saying "Tell me the guys backing her in the vid aren't a souped up version of The Couture Club (but on crack/a funding we never had)"
She also claims "She's [Gaga] also using our marketing motif for the Monster Ball Tour, calling it 'The World's first ever Electro-Pop Opera.' We certainly weren't presumptuous or not well enough versed in music history to use "world's first", but if you look at our album as well as tour press releases and press from that time, the wording's "Electro-Pop Operetta"
To make matters stranger, Aldridge has members of famed local funk band, The Time, on her side. She says in her press release, "The Time + Prince camp agree (ironic for her since she's fan, which is probably how this all started)- the evidence is clear. Again, don't get me wrong, I do think she's a wonderful performer- I would never take that from her, but facts are facts. "
She also states that Monte (of The Time), Morris Hayes, and Matt Fink are compiling press statements about the situation and that the Prince camp is donating studio time for her to record a song about the situation.
Not much discussion seems to have surfaced on the internetz yet, but Aldridge has put up a Facebook page entitled "LOLLY POP HAS BEEN KNICKED BY LADY GAGA" that makes numerous comparisons to back up her theory.
What say you? Wingnut or Victim?
submitted by @letoilemagazine
Seems a bit disingenuous that Lolly, who hasn't really done anything musically for like 3 years is just now coming out with these cash-grab allegations.
ReplyDeleteWingnut!
ReplyDeleteA) Does a classically trained pianist and Juilliard/Tisch alum have enough time in her day in between hustling her act (or ass, whichever) to rip off an obscure (ie uninteresting) electropop group from Minneapolis? and
B) Does the use of Helvetica/Arial—arguably the most ubiquitous typefaces in the world—on a promotional design constitute sound support for her argument? Puh-lease.
If Gahgz is ripping anybody off it's obviously Grace Jones, Bowie and Madonna, all three of which are just sliiiiightly more accomplished/talented/famous/awesome than anything we've seen from Lolly, who from this point forward shall be known as LOLZ, because LOLz are precisely what her nutty rant is giving me.
Right. It's painfully clear that neither of you have gone to the page and read the information provided (click the DISCUSSION tab, click Lolly Pop & The Couture Club vs. Lady Gaga/Haus of Gaga).
ReplyDeleteOn the front page, you'll find comments from both radio & club DJ's all over the country, Tommy Barbarella (NPG), Paul Robb (Information Society) and Monte Moir (The Time) verifying that these accusations are correct.
Over the last year, we've come out with a new act called POP INC with Neil Schultz (from Drinking With Ian), Jay/Lefreak (ATPH), and Uzi (A:POD/80-D). We're on a synthpop label called Ninthwave Records (www.ninthwaverecords.com) where we do wonderfully odd things like go LOOKING 4 THE KLF.
We made NME TV in England (there's a video online still up there) this summer; the video was distributed (just like Elevator Operator) again by Rockamerica into 25,000+ clubs/bars. We actually just had another release/show last month with TC ELECTROPUNK 5... I have also been very busy doing voice over work for Konami.
Thank you for your interest and feel free to enjoy... www.myspace.com/popincorporated
<3
Almost forgot- the link for TC ELECTROPUNK 5:
ReplyDeletewww.tcelectropunk.com
song: POP INC- DISENCHANTED
xxx
I know Brooke fairly well at this point, having worked with her over the past two years on a couple of projects (backing vocals for an upcoming release, and she often joins my band milkbar on stage to share the mic on our cover of Bette Davis Eyes), and I can say with some certainty that she is in fact a wingnut, charmingly so, but this doesn't take away from the fact that there is a body of evidence which indicates that Lady GaGa is wholly aware of Lolly Pop. GaGa has attended at least one Lolly show. She's borrowed phrasing from the marketing package attached to the tour and show she attended, as well as Lolly's MySpace bio. If you read the information that Brooke has painstakingly put together, you'll find, at the very least, that it does seem too many coincidences to be just that.
ReplyDeleteNo one is arguing that GaGa's schtick doesn't borrow from many others as well. I personally see a lot of Fischerspooner at work in her, and I think what she's doing is original, since she is combining information from a huge pool of sources to make up the juggernaut that is GaGa.
All Brooke, Lolly Pop, and the Couture Club are asking for is acknowledgement of their influence as one of those sources, which I believe is completely fair.
I know(and worked with) Miss Pop/Aldridge, and
ReplyDeleteshe has always acknowledged and praised artists for being influences and inspirations for her,and appreciates the current crop including yes,the everflambouyant Gaga. Oh sure,some may say the Popster(talking Lolly) is "crazy,beside herself,bitter,egocentric,calculating,not on the straight and narrow(or even putting folks up to this)..Oh sure, some may think she's a human TGV ready to derail just to find the autobahn to her liking instead..oh sure.
Others may find her fun,delightful and she simply has a(or "the") knack to draw people to her..and they most certainly respond.. and if she feels she is lacked the due of which is owed her in respect to the forever sphere of beggars,borrowers and thieves(aka the art/entertainment biz), then who among us would not be immune for our desire to be so served if it were one of us? The Gaga flower is blossoming, but I dare say, there has come a time when the seed of that flower has to be bore for the world to see.I call it a "Popseed".
Larry R.
Minneapolis
Actually, I accepted the page request on Facebook just to get a little more information. I've attended a Lolly show and had a good time. However, I still think these allegations are unfounded and utterly laughable.
ReplyDeleteIt is just as easy to say that Gaga has ripped off Lolly as it would be for me to say that Lolly's "Elevator Operator," with its "clock is ticking, ticking" lyrics and chugging synth bassline are a blatant ripoff of songs like "Hung Up" by Madonna or "What You Waiting For" by Gwen Stefani, both of which were pretty inescapable for a bit prior to the Lolly performance noted above in this blog post.
I'm also familiar with your work with POP INC, and after seeing the video for "Looking 4 the KLF," I'm not impressed. The video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpVVf8RuLz0 ) features Camille Collins prancing around in yet another one of her gigantic feathered getups (cute, but it certainly lacks the panache of "Paparazzi"), as well as a bunch of people performing truly uninspired choreography on the Saloon stage, strangely clad in what look to be rain ponchos (Couture Club?!). If given a choice between watching this video again and watching a Gaga video produced on the same budget, I'd pick Gaga hands down. And I'm not even a big fan of hers.
Ms. Aldridge:
Regardless of anybody's opinion on this topic, and regardless of the legitimacy of your allegations, this in poor taste. If you want to be successful in this game and prove to the world that you have original ideas, spend your time improving your catalogue and your show rather crying foul on Facebook, where your efforts are sure to be perceived by many as a desperate attempt to garner attention on the coattails of a more successful artist's infamy.
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletei like lady gaga i have vip tickets and i will go in her dressing room
ReplyDeleteSo - a wanna-be-huge singer is crying about how Lady Gaga stole her show? And she's crying about it on the Internet?
ReplyDeleteThat's terribly cute.
And terribly unprofessional. I wonder why she hasn't made it yet!
After seeing Monster Ball, I GAGGED over the parallels with Lolly shows.
ReplyDeleteLive “Phone call”: Check. “Believe in yourself, always believe…” Speech: Check. “Electro-Pop-Opera” about “Going to the Ball”: Check. Gets "Lost in Nyc" with her friends? Check. Gaga introducing "Boys, Boys, Boys", sounds JUST LIKE Lolly's cover of Prince's song "Controversy", also the beginning of "Glamorous Life". Gay entourage? CHECK. And wow, POSH reeked of Lolly’s FAIRY GODFATHER.
All the above doesn't even take into account the Telephone thing: Lolly wrapped in phone cords with bright orangey-yellow hair, busting out of phone booths, almost identical make up. There's also the black and white promotional pictures where the two are wearing black flair- cuffed suits, with tiny studs and both without bras.
For those who haven't seen: http://borangutan.com/musicnews/lady-gaga-lolly-pop-fashion-piracy/
The only difference to me is that Lolly Pop was funny. And unlike someone else, Lolly always name checked her heroes in her songs or wrote songs that were about them: Adam Ant, Sheila E., Falco, David Bowie, Dale Bozzio, Kate Bush, on and on.
It's a damn shame what's happened here.