She's obviously the most iconic female pop star of all time.

And she's not "warm and fuzzy" as some reporter once commented.

Indeed, Madonna has seldom held back her opinions of others whether they are favorable

or not. When asked about Lady Gaga, she's called her material "reductive?" and

has dissed her during live mashups of Express Yourself and Born this Way.

The backlash has been harsh coming from Gaga Fans, to include comments by

Elton John and Gene Simmons of Kiss. Simmons says, "I'll take Gaga over Madonna

any day," even when not asked to make the comparison, during an interview

about the current state of pop music.

My take is that Madonna doesn't really consider Gaga a force to be reckoned with.

When Xtina disses Gaga, I sense it's out of jealousy or that she feels threatend,

but when Madonna does it, I think Madonna is simply unimpressed, as she would

probably be with many new female acts.

But, is the criticism from Maddona fair?

purplethunder3121 said:

I don't think Madonna is respected amongst her peers as much as the public and media.

I hardly hear people other than Britney praise her.

Did she held back her opinions about the artists she ripped off and copied as well? Madge ain't slick, she knows when to keep quite about certain stuff.

Anyway, I love it when some writers credit her for women empowerment, yet her attitude toward her female peers excuded nothing but the contrary.

It amused me how Madonna was critical of Gaga for merely borrowing from 'Express Yourself' on one of her songs, when Madonna stole everything on Justify My love from Public Enemy.

Senile obviously.

I was very embarassed for Madonna when she and Gaga were on SNL.

imago said:

The backlash has been harsh coming from Gaga Fans, to include comments by Elton John and Gene Simmons of Kiss. Simmons says, "I'll take Gaga over Madonna

any day," even when not asked to make the comparison, during an interview

about the current state of pop music.

Nobody cares about what Gene Simmons thinks aside from his silly fans and himself.

[Edited 8/22/12 7:14am]

Marrk said:

It amused me how Madonna was critical of Gaga for merely borrowing from 'Express Yourself' on one of her songs, when Madonna stole everything on Justify My love from Public Enemy.

Senile obviously.

I like thinking about these distinctions, and where lines blur.

There's obvsly a difference between 1 sampling, (James Brown > PE > Madonna), 2 plagiarism (say, The Chiffons > George Harrison), and just plaing old aping, being inspired by, or copying (Madonna > Lady Gaga).

Sampling is obviously ok and tollerated, and has been at least since hip hop began, if not before.

Plagiarism is a crime, so people sue.

Aping, inspired by, and copying is grey area, and sometimes gets applauded, sometimes scoffed at. It's interesting to think about when.

I think where gaga gets in trouble is that she sometimes dresses a lot like the artist, and the song sounds a lot like the artist, but it's not presented as "here's a riff on Madonna". Born This Way in particular was presented as one of the greatest songs Gaga herself ever wrote, which is fine...but to have it sound so similar to EY, and meantime you're wearing that pony tail...

It reminds me of when Justin Timberlake released Justified. The first single was Like I Love You, and it sounded a lot like MJ. He sang it like MJ. Then he went on TV, and performed it wearing a fedora like MJ, and dancing like MJ. It's a great song, but I remember some ink being spilled about whether Justin knew what he was doing, was he too young to remember, etc...

There's something about proximity to all this. Madonna dresses like Marilyn, and it's fine. Marilyn's been dead for 30 years. Meanwhile she was a comedic actress, and Madonna's a pop singer w/ a Nile Rodgers funk track. We're not too worried about Monroe being ripped off.

Similar would be Bruno Mars doing a James Brown impersonation. The inspiration is so obvious it doesn't need to be said, JB is dead, and it's fun, so we sign on.

But when the inspiration isn't dead, and when she's actually your competition, and when you pretend that everything you're doing is your own idea...things get a little murky.

All that said, I love them both.

I don't think Madonna really has a beef with Gaga...she probably doesn't think of her very often. She was giving her props up until Gaga's choreographer admitted that they steal from Madonna all the time: "Listen, [Madonna] should be bitter because I did it on purpose, and you can quote me. I did it on purpose because for all those kids who believe that you can’t, I wanted to let them feel that you can. And that’s what I represent, that’s what Gaga represents. That’s what this movement represents."

And then for Gaga to claim that BTW was inspired by Whitney Houston...c'mon!

MidniteMagnet said:

I don't think Madonna really has a beef with Gaga...she probably doesn't think of her very often. She was giving her props up until Gaga's choreographer admitted that they steal from Madonna all the time: "Listen, [Madonna] should be bitter because I did it on purpose, and you can quote me. I did it on purpose because for all those kids who believe that you can’t, I wanted to let them feel that you can. And that’s what I represent, that’s what Gaga represents. That’s what this movement represents."

And then for Gaga to claim that BTW was inspired by Whitney Houston...c'mon!

^^^ Hadn't heard this--puts a different spin on things.

I love how the media likes to make it seem like Madonna was jealous of Stefani. MidniteMagnet was right with what he just posted.

That said, Madonna and Gaga favor themselves a lot in not only their musical choices and stage presentations (though Gaga is a stronger singer and a decent enough piano player) but also in how they preached about how they know about "rights" without reading the print of the real issue but just saying things just to say them just so they can be "down".

imago said:

The backlash has been harsh coming from Gaga Fans, to include comments by

Elton John and Gene Simmons of Kiss. Simmons says, "I'll take Gaga over Madonna

any day," even when not asked to make the comparison, during an interview

about the current state of pop music.

Like any of those two would choose Gene Simmons please....

MidniteMagnet said:

I don't think Madonna really has a beef with Gaga...she probably doesn't think of her very often. She was giving her props up until Gaga's choreographer admitted that they steal from Madonna all the time: "Listen, [Madonna] should be bitter because I did it on purpose, and you can quote me. I did it on purpose because for all those kids who believe that you can’t, I wanted to let them feel that you can. And that’s what I represent, that’s what Gaga represents. That’s what this movement represents."

And then for Gaga to claim that BTW was inspired by Whitney Houston...c'mon!

True!

I like Gaga, and I'm a massive Madonna fan. But still sometimes I find her behavior (things like this) questionable.. I don't think Madonna is angry. she's likes to be sarcastic.... I think her singing Born This Way during her new tour, MDNA Tour.. is just a joke, I don't think she mind it that much... she knows it does sound a lot like Express Yourself, but she would never sue her or anything like that... that's not Madonna, don't think Madonna is angry.. I think she likes it.

robertlove said:

imago said:

The backlash has been harsh coming from Gaga Fans, to include comments by

Elton John and Gene Simmons of Kiss. Simmons says, "I'll take Gaga over Madonna

any day," even when not asked to make the comparison, during an interview

about the current state of pop music.

Like any of those two would choose Gene Simmons please....

He was actually saying it in the context of the current state of popular music.

Essentially what Simmons was saying was that everything is boring and uninspired, and

that Gaga was the only interesting thing in pop music out there right now.

She's an old bitch that's been around since the 1980s. She's earned the right to shit on these newcomers if she wants to.

vainandy said:

Whitney Houston's an old bitch that's been around since the 1980s. She's earned the right to shit on these newcomers if she wants to.