More like this
Was Lady Gaga’s egg inspired by Spinal Tap?
Singer didn’t suffer thesame fate as Tap bassistDerek Smalls when sheperformed at the Grammys
During her short career Lady Gaga has been accused of channelling everyone from Madonna to David Bowie, Elton John and even Ace of Base - but could her latest muse be seminal British heavy rock act Spinal Tap?
Her arrival at the Grammys inside a giant egg, and subsequent 'hatching' on stage in order to perform her new single Born This Way brought back memories of the Tap's unforgettable rendition of Rock and Roll Creation in Rob Reiner's 1984 spoof 'rockumentary'.
As the song begins (above), guitarists David St Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel emerge from giant cocoons onto the stage, but bassist Derek Smalls's pod malfunctions and he is trapped inside for the duration of the number.
He eventually breaks out with the help of a roady just as the song finishes, but ends up wedged in the jaws of the capsule when they snap shut again.
Fortunately for Gaga there were no such hiccups during her performance, and she emerged from her egg (below) unharmed and on cue. Earlier she arrived at the ceremony "incubating" inside her egg, which was carried aloft by five attendants clad in gold.
Of course, Gaga specialises in outrageous costumes, and her latest stunt pales in comparison to the outfit she wore at the VMA's last year - a dress made of fresh meat. It has been claimed that the outfit wasn't an entirely original concept and that Gaga got the idea from artist Jana Sterbak who created something very similar for a 1987 work called Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic.
Obviously Gaga plunders the past for her ideas, and if she really is going through a 'Tap' stage perhaps we can look forward to her performing around a miniature version of Stonehenge, complete with dwarf dancers, as she tours America this spring. ·
