Midler Says Lady Gaga Ripped Off Her Mermaid Character

[ILoveJimmyPage]

Well I guess apparently she thought she was at first, or she wouldn't have sort of retracted her statement. It's whatever though. If anything this'll just make more hype for her and do the exact opposite her critics are trying to accomplish.

 

[annie]

I think Midler has a fair gripe on this one.

Usually I find these things silly, but this is too close. Pay up GaGa.

It would be the same if she went onstage with Gene Simmon's trademark make up on.

That is absurd and you know it. Roy Wood should sue Gene Simmons if that is true.

During promo appearances in 1970 for its third album, Looking On, the Move started wearing more and more outlandish costumes, including singer/guitarist Roy Wood’s outlandish war-paint makeup.

Kiss, easily identified by its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances.

 

[Death on Credit]

I don't know...It's a pretty generic costume, don't you think? The singer wants to go on stage as a mermaid, but mermaids can't walk, so use a wheelchair.

Any diva could have come up with the idea, really.

God, I've been defending Gaga way too much for comfort lately.

 

[METALPRIEST]

That is absurd and you know it. Roy Wood should sue Gene Simmons if that is true.

During promo appearances in 1970 for its third album, Looking On, the Move started wearing more and more outlandish costumes, including singer/guitarist Roy Wood’s outlandish war-paint makeup.

Kiss, easily identified by its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances.

Disagree..

Listen, I'm not knockin' on GaGa..it's a interesting story and nothing more.

It got us talkin' But let me say that make up or costumes are not an original idea, but the design is. The guys in KISS did not use Roy Wood's design.

Now if KISS and Roy Wood before them...spit blood on stage, breathed fire, or both bands emerged from clown cars, then I would say KISS ripped Wizzard off.

This is a mermaid in a wheelchair. Midler had a right to question this. She retracted right? or no?

I don't know...It's a pretty generic costume, don't you think? The singer wants to go on stage as a mermaid, but mermaids can't walk, so use a wheelchair.

Any diva could have come up with the idea, really.

God, I've been defending Gaga way too much for comfort lately.

 

[annie]

Kiss, Cooper, Bowie, Beatles Sgt. Peppers just about anybody I would think.



Actually on this one, I'm gonna kind of side with Midler. It's not just the costume, but it's the costume and the prop. The pictures say it all.

Just found this after a bit of research. The first performance of a mermaid in a wheelchair was in a British film called "Miranda" in 1948 with a sequel "Mad About Men" in 1952.

With his wife uninterested in fishing, Dr. Paul Martin (Griffith Jones) goes on a holiday on the Cornwall coast alone. There he snags Miranda (Glynis Johns), a real mermaid, and is pulled into the water. She keeps him prisoner in her underwater cavern and only lets him go after he agrees to show her London. He disguises her as an invalid patient in a wheelchair and takes her to his home for a month-long stay.

So put it in a sock...

 

[ILoveJimmyPage]

annie, it's ok. Everyone has a right to their opinion. I think MP wasn't trying to be disrespectful to her fans in all honesty by posting this. We'd be fools to think a classic rock forum would be gaga for Gaga anyway, so it should come as no surprise.

 

[METALPRIEST]

Just found this after a bit of research. The first performance of a mermaid in a wheelchair was in a British film called "Miranda" in 1948 with a sequel "Mad About Men" in 1952.

With his wife uninterested in fishing, Dr. Paul Martin (Griffith Jones) goes on a holiday on the Cornwall coast alone. There he snags Miranda (Glynis Johns), a real mermaid, and is pulled into the water. She keeps him prisoner in her underwater cavern and only lets him go after he agrees to show her London. He disguises her as an invalid patient in a wheelchair and takes her to his home for a month-long stay.

So put it in a sock...

Yeah but the same thing can be said about SPLASH with Tom Hanks minus the wheelchair

You're talkin' about a movie and he was hiding a mermaid.

We're talking a character design...costume, prop, giving character a name, singing, and live concert entertainment.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Considering all of the things that Lady Gaga has taken from her idols I wouldn't at all be shocked if this was a direct rip off from Bette Midler, especially since Bette is a gay icon and we all know how much Gaga loves gay culture. Besides, it's not like a mermaid in a wheelchair alter ego is as common as spring showers. It is a bit of a random concept.

 

[ANF]

My issue with Gaga isn't so much her (even though her megalomania of late challenges Michael Jackson's, I can see her erecting a statue to herself by her next album) as much as its her fanbase. I was told point blank by a "monster" that I'm a traitor to the gay community because I'd rather pay attention to todays rock artists than follow her and that disliking her means I'm self-hating. Please, I don't care for her because I've outgrown bubblegum pop music (if I want to listen to modern pop, I'll go for Robyn or Scissor Sisters any day instead) and that the longer she's been out, the more obvious it is that she's a copycat of Bowie, Grace Jones, Madonna and about fifteen other 70's and 80's artists but the average fan she's targeting think she's original because they have no idea.

 

[METALPRIEST]

Considering all of the things that Lady Gaga has taken from her idols I wouldn't at all be shocked if this was a direct rip off from Bette Midler, especially since Bette is a gay icon and we all know how much Gaga loves gay culture. Besides, it's not like a mermaid in a wheelchair alter ego is as common as spring showers. It is a bit of a random concept.

I doubt it was coincidence myself and considered all the points you made.

Having said that, I think both artists are fine in what they do.

This thread is not to slight GaGa either, but puttin' the story out there.