September 12, 2010: Lady Gaga Wears the Meat Dress

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."

August 25, 2013: The Miley & Robin Show

In hindsight -- or so to speak -- they looked

like a couple of Batman villains.

August 25, 2013: MTV holds its annual Video Music Awards (VMA) ceremony, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City. Not even on The Honeymooners, or in Ebbets Field with its Brooklyn Dodger Sym-Phony Band, had there been an entertainment spectacle this bizarre in Brooklyn.

Justin Timberlake, no stranger to controversy, had been nominated for 6 awards, tied for the most with Macklemore and his musical partner Ryan Lewis. Timberlake won 4, including Video of the Year for his song "Mirrors"; while Macklemore and Lewis, responsible for the Number 1 hit "Thrift Shop," won 3.

After what happened with Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke, people could be excused for forgetting that Timberlake, Macklemore and Lewis, or anybody else, were even on the broadcast.

Cyrus and Thicke were each nominated for 4 awards, but neither won any. Both were the children of legendary performers. Cyrus was born in 1993, a few months after her father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, became a star with the song "Achy Breaky Heart." From 2006 to 2011, she starred on the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana.

But with her 2013 album Bangerz, she blew her previous squeaky-clean image away, with songs like "We Can't Stop," with its rear-end-shaking "twerking"; and "Wrecking Ball," with its video showing her riding one -- naked in the main video, barely covered in the safe-for-TV version.

Thicke was born in 1977, the son of singer-actors Alan Thicke and Gloria Loring. He had been better known as a songwriter and a producer until his 2005 album The Evolution of Robin Thicke. It was also in 2005 that he married actress Paula Patton.

In 2009, he released an album titled Sex Therapy. That title reminded people of Marvin Gaye's 1982 song "Sexual Healing," and Thicke admitted Gaye was a big influence on his music. But he took it took too far: In 2013, he released the album Blurred Lines, and was accused of copying Gaye's 1977 Number 1 hit "Got to Give It Up" for its title track. Two years later, a jury awarded Gaye's family $7.4 million in copyright infringement. Gaye is now listed as one of the authors of "Blurred Lines" the song, along with Thicke and his co-performers on the song, Pharrell Williams and Clifford Harris, a.k.a. T.I.

If that had been the only problem with "Blurred Lines," it might have been a footnote. After all, bigger artists than Thicke had been accused of such things. Even two of The Beatles: John Lennon had to pay Chuck Berry royalties because "Come Together" copied a line from "Too Much Monkey Business," and George Harrison had to pay The Chiffons because "My Sweet Lord" had a melody way too close to "He's So Fine."

But that wasn't the only problem with "Blurred Lines." The oft-repeated line "I know you want it" seems to fly in the face of consent, ignoring that "No" means "No." At one point, T.I. raps, "I'll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two." The video made things even worse: The not-safe-for-TV version showed 3 models -- Emily Ratajkowski, Elle Evans and Jessi M'Bengue, who is black like Williams and T.I., while the other 2 are white like Thicke -- topless and dancing with the 3 men. The video closes with mylar balloons spelling out, "Robin Thicke has a big dick."

Feminists jumped on Thicke, and not in a good way, claiming that the song supported "rape culture." At the very least, it was completely demeaning to women, especially the 3 in the video. Thicke tried damage control, saying the video was directed by a woman, Diane Martel; that all 3 vocalists were using the song to celebrate the women in their real lives; and that he'd gotten Patton's permission to do the video after explaining what he wanted to show in it.

So the 2013 VMAs were held while both Cyrus and Thicke were embroiled in sex-themed controversy, the former being a bit too "sex-positive," the latter for his ill treatment of women, both the easily-seen and the even worse suggested.

The show began with Austin Mahone singing "What About Love" -- not to be confused with the 1985 Heart song of the same title. Next up was Ariana Grande singing "Baby I" and "The Way" -- not to be confused with the 1975 Peter Frampton song "Baby, I Love Your Way." Next up was Lady Gaga, who'd already had her share of controversy, singing "Applause." So far, so good: There was no public uproar about any of these performances, nor was any necessary.

Then Cyrus took the stage, and... uh...

She stepped out of a giant teddy bear that wore a visor similar to the superhero Cyclops of Marvel's X-Men. She was wearing a bustier with a picture of a teddy bear on it. Then she sang "We Can't Stop" with a bunch of dancers holding up smaller (but still large) teddy bears. All the time, her tongue was hanging out like she was Gene Simmons of Kiss (or basketball star Michael Jordan attempting a dunk); and half the time, she was shaking her tush or grabbing her crotch. She closed by tearing the bustier off, revealing a flesh-colored bra and panties, and that was it. If she was trying to titillate with that performance, she really missed the mark: It was too weird to turn anybody on.

Then Thicke came out, wearing a suit of black and white stripes, like he was playing soccer for England's Newcastle United or Italy's Juventus. And that was the least ridiculous part of it. He and Cyrus did a duet of "Blurred Lines." Cyrus sang the raunchier lyrics, with considerable gusto. If Thicke thought having a woman sing that part was going to ease the pressure on him, he thought wrong.

Cyrus got a big foam "We're Number 1" finger, and fondled herself with it. Then she fondled Thicke with it. And she told him, "I know you want it." And she bent over so that her scrawny butt was at his crotch level, and twerked in front of him. And then she licked his face. And then she blew on the foam finger, as if it was a smoking gun. The shoe was on the other foot, or so to speak.

Afterword, Thicke was angry, saying Cyrus was "going too far" and had "hijacked the performance." Cyrus responded that he'd specifically asked her to be "as naked as possible." Unlike when Timberlake had humiliated Janet Jackson in the Super Bowl halftime show 9 years earlier, this time, Robin got most of the blame; while with Miley, half the viewers were disgusted, and the other half were concerned that, maybe, her mental health was an issue.

At the time, I read a news article quoting a woman (I forget her name, but she wasn't another major singer) saying, "She's just exploring her sexuality." Okay, I understood that -- but on live national television?

As it turned out, her mental health was fine. She had the right perspective on things:

There's a couple of cute postscripts. In an attempt to regain some of the fans she lost, Cyrus hosted Saturday Night Live on October 5, 2013, during the federal government shutdown. Playing big-mouthed, small-brained Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, with some regular castmembers impersonating other Republican leaders, she twerked through a song titled "We Did Stop." It showed that she knew to take the American political situation much more seriously than her own image, and it helped.

And on July 15, 2014, the living master of song parody, "Weird Al" Yankovic, turned "Blurred Lines" into "Word Crimes," a 3-minute-46-second English lesson. It may be his best song ever, and it concludes with the on-screen words, "'Weird Al' Yankovic has a big dictionary." It works because "Yankovic" sort-of rhymes with "Thicke."

But there is another postscript, and there's nothing cute or fun about it. In 2014, in order to make amends to his wife, Thicke recorded a new album, titled simply Paula, full of love songs about her. It didn't work: In 2015, Patton divorced Thicke. In 2017, she filed a restraining order against him, to keep him away from her, their son Julian, and her mother Joyce Patton, because he'd become an alcoholic and a drug addict, and had been abusive to them.

Cyrus has become a bigger star than ever, and has outgrown her provocateur phase. Approaching her 30th birthday, and having since been married and divorced, she still wears skimpy outfits onstage, but she otherwise seems to go out of her way to avoid controversy. Thicke has recovered as well, and is now part of the regular panel on the Fox game show The Masked Singer.

Following this incident, "Nice" Peter Shukoff and "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist, the creators of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, decided they had to use Miley in a battle, but had trouble thinking of a proper opponent for her. It would have to be someone who shrank from publicity and sexuality. They chose Joan of Arc, who was played by YouTuber Jessica Vazquez, a.k.a Jessi Smiles. Miley was played by actress Michelle Glavan.

With some irony, Jessi became the 2nd ERB performer to have a baby, after Kimmy Gatewood -- who had played Marilyn Monroe, who had only unsuccessful pregnancies. As of August 25, 2022, Miley has been married and divorced once, and is not known to have ever been pregnant.

*

August 25, 2013 was a Sunday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. Yankee starter Ivan Nova pitched into the 7th inning. Robinson Canó went 3-for-5 with a home run and 2 RBIs. Derek Jeter did not play. Nor did Alex Rodriguez, who had recently been suspended for steroid use. Curtis Granderson won the game with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 11th inning, making a winning pitcher out of Boone Logan -- to my shock, as Logan blew a lot of games for the Yankees.

* The New York Mets lost to the Detroit Tigers, 11-3 at Citi Field.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 9-5 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Oakland Athletics, 10-3 at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

* The Colorado Rockies beat the Miami Marlins, 4-3 at Marlins Park (now LoanDepot Park) in Miami.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Cincinnati Reds, 3-1 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-2 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Washington Nationals, 6-4 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Houston Astros, 2-1 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at Petco Park in San Diego. Nick Hundley singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 15th inning. In spite of also being a catcher, he is not related to father-and-son Cub catchers Randy and Todd Hundley.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-0 at AT&T Park (now Oracle Park) in San Francisco. Ryan Vogelsong pitched 8 innings of 2-hit shutout ball, before Sandy Rosario finished a 3-hit shutout.