Please Stop Making Me Defend Lady Gaga

I never planned to turn this blog into a study in "Leave Gaga Alone!" but the elder statespeople of rock are making it incredibly difficult for me not to defend Lady Gaga -- her sexuality, her image, or her brand. In other words, haters go hate somewhere else. It's too easy and far too obvious to dump on whomever is currently enjoying the spotlight. These are Morrissey's words in Digital Spy (as reported by Jezebel):

I say without bitterness that it is nothing new. I like the idea of women who are in full control, but I am tired of seeing singers who cannot deliver a song without the aide of 750 frenzied dancers assuming the erotic. It is actually fraudulent, and the exact opposite of erotic."

(He also referred to Madonna as "McDonna.")

Do I disagree with him? Not entirely. I prefer my artists not accompanied by a dance troupe, and Gaga, divorced from her image, essentially sings in platitudes (within the context of pop music, this is completely acceptable), but it's disappointing when a universally respected singer-songwriter -- one whose music I've grown up with -- makes disparaging comments about a currently popular star's persona, especially its eroticism (or lack thereof). The misogyny may be covert, but it's there.  By far, it's not the worst thing Morrissey's ever said, but it does nothing to belie his reputation as a aging, bitter pedant, and at best, reeks of sour grapes. And it's not that I think that female pop stars are above criticism, but hearing highly respected, if commercially ignored, artists pass judgement on the ones selling millions of albums -- you're not in the same game, right?   The deification of critics' pets bothers me as just as much as the overexposure of artists like Gaga, Katy Perry and Tyler Swift get, but that doesn't mean it's open season on the latter.