The Fame

Lady Gaga

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 28, 2008)
• Original Release Date: October 28, 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Streamline/Konlive/Cherrytree/Interscope
• ASIN: B001GM28HO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (182 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #62 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #6 in	Music > R&B
  #9 in	Music > Pop > Dance Pop

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Has an album title ever been so self-prophetic? In its first year, this electropop opus rocketed Lady Gaga from unknown New York lounge singer to the world’s biggest pop star this side of Britney Spears. The Fame’s brand of pop is shamelessly decadent: 11 of its 13 songs are about money, celebrity, sex, clubbing, or a sticky combination of all four. It’s insipid subject matter, unless you consider Gaga as less of a silly, manufactured blonde than an ingenious artist playing the part of a glitzy pop star. Witness The Fame’s impeccably sleek opening songs, from the carelessly rambling chorus of “Just Dance” to the snappy, futuristic beat of “LoveGame”: Gaga’s got the outrageous outfits and dance moves down to a science, but underneath it all, the music is aggressive and authoritarian in ways that most other Top 40 tunes are not. Often compared to Gwen Stefani’s, Gaga’s vocals are in fact richer and rounder, allowing her a certain stylistic versatility, and her personae alternate from wild party kid to vulnerable lover. Some of the risks don’t always pay off, but the Lady Gaga of the dark and ardent megahit “Poker Face” prevails. She is commandeering enough, bizarre and beguiling enough, to ensure that she’ll be basking in our attention for a very long time. --Erin Thompson

Product Description

When Lady GaGa was a little girl, she would sing along on her mini plastic tape recorder to Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper hits and get twirled in the air in daddy's arms to the sounds of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. The precocious child would dance around the table at fancy Upper West Side restaurants using the breadsticks as a baton. And, she would innocently greet a new babysitter in nothing but her birthday suit.

It's no wonder that little girl from a good Italian New York family, turned into the exhibitionist, multi-talented singer-songwriter with a flair for theatrics that she is today: Lady GaGa.

"I was always an entertainer. I was a ham as a little girl and I'm a ham today," says Lady GaGa, 22, who made a name for herself on the Lower East Side club scene with the infectious dance-pop party song "Beautiful Dirty Rich," and wild, theatrical, and often tongue-in-cheek "shock art" performances where GaGa - who designs and makes many of her stage outfits -- would strip down to her hand-crafted hot pants and bikini top, light cans of hairspray on fire, and strike a pose as a disco ball lowered from the ceiling to the orchestral sounds of A Clockwork Orange.

"I always loved rock and pop and theater. When I discovered Queen and David Bowie is when it really came together for me and I realized I could do all three," says GaGa, who nicked her name from Queen's song "Radio Gaga" and who cites rock star girlfriends, Peggy Bundy, and Donatella Versace as her fashion icons. "I look at those artists as icons in art. It's not just about the music. It's about the performance, the attitude, the look; it's everything. And, that is where I live as an artist and that is what I want to accomplish."

That goal might seem lofty, but consider the artist: GaGa is the girl who at age 4 learned piano by ear. By age 13, she had written her first piano ballad. At 14, she played open mike nights at clubs such as New York's the Bitter End by night and was teased for her quirky, eccentric style by her Convent of the Sacred Heart School (the Manhattan private school Nicky and Paris Hilton attended) classmates by day. At age 17, she became was one of 20 kids in the world to get early admission to Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Signed by her 20th birthday and writing songs for other artists (such as the Pussycat Dolls, and has been asked to write for a series of Interscope artists) before her debut album was even released, Lady GaGa has earned the right to reach for the sky.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great workout music, January 13, 2009

By	Amy G. (Sterling Heights, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This is my new go-to cd for the treadmill. All of the songs (with the exception of "Brown Eyes", which kinda sucks) have a good keep-you-moving dance beat. They're catchy tunes that stick in my head long after my workouts are over, and Lady Gaga's voice is better than most dance-pop artists. I do have to say that the lyrics on this cd are definitely lacking (my reason for only 4 stars). They go into all-out stupid territory sometimes. For example: "I wanna take a ride on your disco stick," from Lovegame. Or, "...'cause I'm bluffin' with my muffin," from Pokerface. Oh, and the phrase "cherry-cherry boom-boom" is in, like, 3 songs for no reason whatsoever (her trademark, maybe? Maybe at 27, I'm just too old for this stuff). Still, it's a fun cd, and who listens to this type of music for the lyrics anyway?

33 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great, and slightly odd, dance-pop music, March 28, 2009

By	Mike (NYC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Fame (MP3 Download)

This album is kind of an odd duck. On the whole, it's produced a lot more like the European pop-dance music (vocal trance, etc) except it has some really odd instrumentation and song structures. Interesting musically. Reminiscent of electroclash with glam elements in the choruses. Lyrics are beyond dumb and occasionally autotuner is used to mask vocal deficits, but this is typical for the genre, since it's about the beats.

Oh, and boy will it get you moving. Real high energy stuff. Great for a workout or the morning drive to work. Every song is good. Nearly every track sounds like it could be a single. A very solid album.

Highly recommended for dance, glam, and electro fans. Most everyone else with a moderately open mind to dance or pop should like it too.

If you like this album, you should probably check out the Veronicas new album too. Another great electro/dance/pop album with rock song structures.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It grew on me like a bad rash, June 8, 2009

By	snake plisken (Jacksonville, TX USA) - See all my reviews

I initially bought it for the first two singles, but I must say that as I played it a few times during my commute, it grew on me. Nearly every track is enjoyable (especially loud, BTW), and of course "Pokerface" has now become my favorite dance-pop song (if only for that first 10 seconds alone). To paraphrase Stellan Skaarsgard's (sp?) comments about the work of Dan Brown...Lady Gaga's "the Fame" is the equivalant of junk food, its not very nutritious, and before you know it you've gone back for handful after handful until you've gotten a stomach ache.