September 12, 2010: The MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) are held at the Nokia Theatre (now the Peacock Theater) in Los Angeles. Comedian Chelsea Handler hosted. Singer Lady Gaga received 13 nominations, and won 8 awards, including Video of the Year for "Bad Romance."
All anybody noticed was that she showed up wearing a "dress" made of meat. It was the latest in a series of efforts to be provocative.
They worked: They made her famous enough that people would notice her no matter what she did. Once she got that far, she used "The Fame" for better purposes.
She was born on March 28, 1986, in Manhattan, as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. Growing up on the Upper West Side, her parents encouraged her to pursue music as a career, but her classmates didn't. Upon graduation, one wrote in her yearbook, "Stefani Germanotta you will never be famous." As if that was the worst thing that could be said to her.
She had already begun to prove them wrong. In 2000, she had a brief appearance in an AC/DC music video. The following year, she had a background appearance on an episode of The Sopranos. But an early producer raped her, and she became pregnant and had an abortion.
In 2006, talent scout Wendy Starland recommended her to music producer Rob Fusari. He gave her the name "Lady Gaga," after the Queen song "Radio Ga-Ga."
On August 29, 2008, on Interscope Records, she released her debut album, The Fame. "Just Dance" Number 1 the following January, and "Poker Face" did so in April. Fame seemed to be all she wanted, based on how she acted at the awards shows, and in visits to both New York ballparks, being inappropriately dressed each time. Furthermore, her synth-pop was monotonous. I got so sick of hearing "Poker Face" over and over and over again, I wanted to poke her face.
But on March 15, 2010, she became the 1st artist to send her 1st 6 singles to Number 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100, with "Telephone," a duet with Beyoncé. As Beyoncé was the performer of the decade for the 2000s, Gaga had put herself in position to be that for the 2010s -- although Taylor Swift's fans may have something to say about that.
As time passed -- releasing Born This Way in 2011, Artpop in 2013, Joanne (her middle name) in 2016 and Chromatica in 2020 -- Gaga became a gay-rights icon, despite not being gay herself, inspiring her fans -- calling herself "Mother Monster" to the fans, the "Little Monsters," who showed up at her concerts in costumes as wild as her own.
She showed she actually did have talent, singing without autotune and playing piano -- not a synthesizer, not an electric piano, but a real grand piano. Which puzzled me: If she can do that, what does she need autotune for?
She teamed up with several performers, from her era's top talent to 1950s pre-rock-and-roll star Tony Bennett. She was the halftime entertainment at Super Bowl LI in Houston in 2017. And she forever cast aside the line that she was a copycat of Madonna by proving that she can act, starring in a remake of A Star Is Born and House of Gucci.
I still don't like most of her music, but I've made my peace with the fact that she is one of the defining entertainers of the 21st Century.
In a 2011 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, at a time when she was still going for shock value first and activism second, she was played by "Nice" Peter Shukoff, against YouTuber Lisa Nova playing Republican politician Sarah Palin. This was the 1st time a guest star appeared in the series, the 1st time a female character was used, and the 1st time an actor played a character of the opposite gender -- probably appropriate, given Gaga's stand for gay and trans rights.
UPDATE: In a 2025 profile for the BBC website, to cover the release of her 6th album, Mayhem, their music correspondent, Mark Savage, wrote:
Her rise to fame in 2009-10 was unlike anything we'd seen before. One of the first pop stars to harness the power of the internet, she seemed to exist in a permanent onslaught of TMZ photos and gossip blogs.
Their appetite was voracious. She wore through so many looks and sounds in the space of three years that one critic wrote she was "speed-running Madonna's entire career".
And as her fame grew, the headlines became more unhinged. She staged a satanic ritual in a London hotel... She was secretly a hermaphrodite... She planned to saw her own leg off "for fashion".
When she attended the 2010 MTV Awards in a dress made entirely of meat, nobody seemed to get the joke: Gaga was presenting herself as fodder for the tabloids, there to be consumed.
On stage, she was an object of worship for her fans, the Little Monsters. But anyone who isn't a megalomaniac knows that that sort of adulation is a distant illusion.
*
September 12, 2010 was a Sunday. It was the opening weekend of a new NFL season, with a "kickoff" game the preceding Thursday, a rematch of the preceding season's NFC Championship Game: The New Orleans Saints beat the Minnesota Vikings, 14-9 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
These games were played on that Sunday:
* The New York Giants played the 1st regular-season game at what was then called the New Meadowlands Stadium, now MetLife Stadium, beating the Carolina Panthers, 31-18.
* The New England patriots beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 38-24 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxboro, Massachusetts.
* The Green Bay Packers beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-20 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.
* The Washington Redskins beat the Dallas Cowboys, 13-7 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Denver Broncos, 24-17 at EverBank Field (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville.
* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Cleveland Browns, 17-14 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.
* The Tennessee Titans beat the Oakland Raiders, 38-13 at LP Field (now Nissan Stadium) in Nashville.
* The Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills, 15-10 at Ralph Wilson Stadium (formerly Rich Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Atlanta Falcons, 15-9 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field in Chicago.
* The Arizona Cardinals beat the St. Louis Rams, 17-13 at the Edward Jones Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.
* The Houston Texans beat the Indianapolis Colts, 34-24 at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers, 31-6 at Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.
* And in a doubleheader on ESPN Monday Night Football, the Baltimore Ravens beat the New York Jets, 10-9 in the Jets' 1st game at the new Meadowlands stadium; and the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Diego Chargers, 21-14 at Qualcomm Stadium (formerly San Diego Stadium and Jack Murphy Stadium).
And these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers, 4-1 at Rangers Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Cliff Lee outpitched Dustin Moseley. Derek Jeter went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Alex Rodriguez did not play. This turned out to be a preview of the American League Championship Series, which the Rangers won.
* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-0 at Citi Field. Roy Oswalt pitched a 4-hit shutout, outpitching Jon Niese, who got 1 of those 4 hits. Raúl Ibañez hit a home run for the Phils.
* The Florida Marlins beat the Washington Nationals, 6-5 at Nationals Park in Washington.
* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Atlanta Braves, 7-3 at Turner Field (now Center Parc Stadium) in Atlanta.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-4 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-2 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-2 at Comerica Park in Detroit.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 12-6 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Cubs, 2-0 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee. Yovani Gallardo pitched 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers completed the 5-hit shutout.
* The Houston Astros beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 7-4 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.
* The Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 4-2 at Coors Field in Denver. Geographically, this could be an arch-rivalry, but both teams tend to consider the Dodgers their biggest rivals.
* The San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres, 6-1 at Petco Park in San Diego.
* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Seattle Mariners, 3-0 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Dan Haren pitched 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball, and 2 relievers completed a 4-hit shutout.
* And the Boston Red Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 5-3 at the Oakland Coliseum.
And in English soccer, Manchester City beat Arsenal, 4-2 at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester. For many English fans, this was a sign that Man City had replaced Arsenal in the Premier League's "Big Four," along with Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea. However, given recent developments, if anything, City had replaced Liverpool. Over the next few years, the "unwritten rules" were "rewritten, so that Tottenham Hotspur, a joke franchise, joined the preceding and made a "Big Six."
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