by Lynette Alice

Created on: November 17, 2010   Last Updated: April 21, 2011

“Lady Gaga is over!” “Lady Gaga is the ultimate rip-off!” “Lady Gaga is a farce!” Look around the web and various columns by people like Camille Paglia and you are sure to find those or very similarly worded statements regarding the rise of Gaga and the Gaga generation. In what can best be described as an odd twist of fate, the very people that celebrated the young Stefani Germanotta helping propel her to international stardom are the same people that have come to bury her. It is an odd but compelling phenomena of intergenerational one-upmanship that can never be settled but will be fought none the less.

As Mark Simpson pointed out in his November, 2010, column for OUT magazine, it is a matter of one generation saying to the next “My bitch is better than your bitch!” What that references is a certain warped sense of ownership that one generation attaches to its iconic figure in which it determines for no rational reason that the icon of any future generation cannot possibly measure up. In the LGBT community, iconic figures have all too often been too few and too far between. Often, the iconic figure was not even gay or truly transgender, but rather more or less sympathetic to the community or somehow identifiable to the community.

Stepping back in history, in the 1970’s it was David Bowie that became an icon to many gay and gender variant individuals. He was gender bending, man-pretty, and oh so talented. He broke ground in his performances that took him so far off the mainstream that where he landed became the mainstream. Certainly he was not the first garishly gender bending performer to hit music, but he was arguably the most talented and famous. Even today, most people if given the choice would opt for anything David Bowie over Gary Glitter.

Bowie transcended all boundaries. He could present himself as a handsome man, androgynously attractive person, and so man-pretty he almost looked female with his delicate features. He could perform over the top stage shows as an alien or polish himself up a bit and sit alongside Bing Crosby to croon a Christmas carol. Bowie reached all audiences with ease, but he was never an overtly outspoken advocate for the LGBT community. He was supportive to be sure, but rarely did he get right in the thick of things early in his career. The one thing about David Bowie that stands out is he was almost never rationally accused of being a copycat.

As the 1980’s rolled along,

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