Pop Shots
Big Time Battles
By: Adam Bernard
Last updated April 27th , 2011

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week Pop Shots is hitting you with thoughts on everything from Weird Al's saga with Gaga, to a Hollywood billboard that's an assault on your senses, to Bulgarian cowboys, and since it's Pop Shots you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

* The most unavoidable pop news of the week revolved around Weird Al Yankovic. Al wrote a lengthly blog post about attempting to gain permission from Lady Gaga to parody "Born This Way," which is something he technically doesn't have to do since parody is protected. He jumped through a ton of hoops, including not just sending the lyrics, but recording the song so she could hear it. After initially not approving of the parody, which is something only a handful of artists have ever done to Al, an outcry from the internet turned her no into a yes, and her manager into a scapegoat. Gaga claims she never heard the song and her manager made all the decisions without her. If you believe this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn that I can sell you. The good news is it doesn't really matter what actually happened, all that matters is in June we're going to get a new Weird Al album and the lead single will be "Perform This Way." I can't wait to see him emerge from an egg covered in meat!

* In more Gaga news, in an effort to die of overexposure, she has a concert documentary premiering on HBO on May 7th. Lady Gaga Presents the Monster Ball Tour: At Madison Square Garden (which I will heretofore refer to by its acronym, LGPMBTAMSG... OK, not really) will feature behind the scenes footage of Gaga opening up about being picked on and wanting to be a "queen" for her fans. I'm sorry, but this woman has her music being played 24/7 on damned near every radio station, she's talked about on every website, she sells out arenas, I don't want to see her "breaking down" and crying about how hard her life has been. She has everything she could have possibly wished for. Save the tears for Behind The Music.

* Speaking of unnecessary things, Britney Spears has released a remix of her latest single, "Till The World Ends," featuring the song's writer, Ke$ha, and Britney's upcoming tour-mate, Nicki Minaj. The song opens with Nicki spitting a verse that ranks among the worst of all-time. Offbeat, and using way too many of her "funny" voices, it takes away from the song... and it's a song written by Ke$ha and performed by Britney Spears, so that's hard to do. Ke$ha sings the hook on this remix, which works to remind listeners that yes, she wrote the song, and yes, it would have a MUCH different feel to it if she were to sing the entire thing. Overall, it's a mess. This is one instance where someone needed to dial up Diddy, because for all his faults, that dude knows how to do a remix.

* In "oh my God I can't believe this is staring me in the face" news, there is now a billboard promoting Rebecca Black in Hollywood. Could you imagine opening your bedroom shades one morning and seeing a giant Rebecca Black smiling at you? And since it's a billboard with Rebecca Black on it, does that technically make it a Blackboard? Personally, I think it would be more appropriate in Times Square in the 80s. We could call the area "crack and Black."

* If you've been searching for a place to live that's a Justin Bieber-free zone, you might be in luck. Although his concert in Israel still drew between 17k and 24k fans, it was well below the predicted attendance of 35k, making Israel your vacation destination if you don't want to hear "Baby" anymore. There is no truth to the rumor that Israel will be putting this on all their tourism materials, but they should. "Dodge bombs, not Bieber songs" isn't exactly the greatest tag line in the world, but with cheap enough airfare it could work. 

* In sad news, Norio Ohga, the man credited with developing the compact disc, died over the weekend at the age of 81. The CD revolutionized music and forever changed the landscape of the music industry. As of now it's looking like it may be the last physical format for music that anyone develops. With the advent of downloading, the CD isn't as popular as it once was, but both it, and vinyl, will remain for collectors (like me).

* Finally, to end things on a happier note; Bulgarian cowboys and a blonde with a huge rack.


And with that, my time is up for the week, but I'll be back next week with more shots on all things pop.

[Tags] POP

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