The Garden, a PJ Harvey Discussion Site

I'm surprised, in view of what she said about today's popular music, that she likes Lady Gaga.
She's totally unoriginal and fake, she makes crappy commercial music.
So either she heard it wrong, either her tastes don't suit mine at all.

Though it's very surprising, she made a list of the songs she felt passion about in 2008, and there were so many great artists : Nick Cave, Arvo Pärt, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Nina Simone.
Her tastes must be very varied.

I don't know what's more annoying in that video from mtv2, the lady gaga debacle or the fact that this guy keeps talking about "female" indie rock, what can Polly say to "female" young artists. The music business is so unbelievably inherently anti-feminist. And lady gaga? really? What's next, Katy Perry?

It just sounds a little clichéd/tired/predictable to slam todays music scene, bordering on self-imposed ageism. Usually she's way more imaginative and broad-minded in interviews obviously. I'm fairly certain if John Peel were still alive and broadcasting he'd be very enthusiastic about this years crop of releases and new bands, no requirement to go to the charts/what's popular though.

As someone who's the same age, I make a point of going to more and more shows (fuelled by what I hear online these days), lest I fall into that trap

PJ likes Lady Gagme?

*burns fan card*

Also, this:

No, but I think she can enjoy Lady Gaga on a superficial level. I personally cannot stand her brand of music and it's incredibly generic to me. I just do not get the hype. But I can understand how if PJ were to listen to the radio, she'd hear it constantly to the point of liking it. They repeat her music so constantly. (I swear, every time I go to a gay bar, they play "Born this Way" 5 times in a row. I GET IT GUYS. THERE ARE OTHER SONGS ON THAT DAMN JUKEBOX / rant. Sorry. *ahem*

What I find interesting, is that, PJ is doing the festival circuit this tour. Surely she is being exposed to all sorts of artists/bands right now so I find her comments a little curious. I understand what she means to an extent. Right now, I only find a handful of artist that capture my interest, but that's based solely on my preference/tastes, so yeah.

I remember her stating in a 1990s interview that she liked Take That and that they were good looking. Anyone who can remember that as well?

But seriously, it kind of made my day to hear PJ say she liked Gaga. I love them both... for very different reasons, obviously.

It saddens my heart a little when I hear Polly be so dismissive about ALL current music, because although there's an awful lot of crap that gets more attention than it deserves, there's also plenty of amazing, original, soul-stirring stuff if you look a little harder. I love and respect her music so much that I like to think that some of the other artists I also love and respect would interest her too, but maybe that's just my ego talking?? However, I do believe she was being a little bit flippant when she answered these questions in the recent NME interview, as she is on the record as loving Will Oldham, Calexico, Giant Sand, Sonic Youth, Queens Of The Stone Age, Cat Power and plenty of other contemporary artists, so I find it difficult to believe that she can't or wouldn't find other things to interest her. In addition, she also says in the NME piece that she doesn't own any records by ANY previous winners of the Mercury Prize - now, Miss Polly, are you trying to tell us that you don't have Dummy by Portishead?!! She also claims to know nothing about any of her fellow nominees - would that include the Anna Calvi album produced by Rob Ellis?!

Whatever she's listening to, she's clearly inspired and inspiring so in the end I don't care as long as she's releasing great records. But it still makes me wanna buy her a copy of the EMA album!

So much good music out there. Polly likes Portishead at least, and that's pretty current. Radiohead, too. Bjork deffo. I think she was chiefly talking about the mainstream, altho obviously not Lady Gaga - which is a shock to me.

I'm surprised no-one mentioned the SPICE GIRLS dress that she wore during some concerts...

It was during the Uh Huh Her era, which was full of "teenage craziness", I think it was just adopted to the whole atmosphere of the album, doesn't mean she likes them anyway.
And even if she does, I basically don't care. The most important is her music, which is totally incredible to me, not what she listens to.

Pitifuljoy wrote:What I find interesting, is that, PJ is doing the festival circuit this tour. Surely she is being exposed to all sorts of artists/bands right now so I find her comments a little curious.

Very much agree with this.

"I always try and keep up to date with all types of new music. I make that part of my work actually, I think it's important to know what sphere you're operating in as an artist. So yes, I keep up to date. Having said that, there's very little that I find of interest and I tend to go back to the music that's always fed and nourished me for inspiration."

Well this settles things

Cartman wrote:"I always try and keep up to date with all types of new music. I make that part of my work actually, I think it's important to know what sphere you're operating in as an artist. So yes, I keep up to date. Having said that, there's very little that I find of interest and I tend to go back to the music that's always fed and nourished me for inspiration."

Well this settles things

Yes!

I have to admit when I saw the dull comment my first reaction was to think (Excuse the language): 'No, not dull, shite!'

Glitter & Doom wrote:

But seriously, it kind of made my day to hear PJ say she liked Gaga. I love them both... for very different reasons, obviously.

I'm with you on this... I've seen PJ twice and Gaga once; she's an entertainer, she's a whole show with a plot (sort of), and I love her music in a very different way than I do Polly. Polly's my queen, that'll never be topped.

I'm picturing Born This Way or You and I coming on the radio and Peej dancing in her car, hahaha that seems kind of awesome to me.

yeah, Gaga is not that bad... of course her songs aren't perfect lyrically and her albums aren't the ones i listen to but most of the things she does are somewhow original. she's not just some pop star copying everything and singing "ooo baby, i love you!".
i would even say that i'm proud of Polly liking her