Relevance includes influencing things. Show me how she’s had a major influence on the structure of pop music. That’s the difference between, say, the Beatles and the guy who sang “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini”.
…I’m sorry, but who the hell is Octomom, and how on earth does she compare to Lady Gaga? We just had sell out tours of Gaga here in New Zealand, does Octomom tour? Does she have an album? Why should I have heard of her? Lady Gaga has obvious talent, what talent does this Octomom have?
I am calling bullshit. I think you know who Octomom is. If you didn’t, I don’t think you would have questioned her talent. Sure, Octomom ain’t selling out no tours, but I think you’ve heard of her.
…are you claiming, as MPB in Salt Lake seems to imply, that Octomom is anywhere close to being known worldwide as Lady Gaga? A simple yes or no would suffice.
In a thread about Lady Gaga, if you want to imply that Octomom has a higher profile than Lady Gaga: especially internationally, then you have to provide evidence. I have heard Lady Gaga on the radio twice already today and last night saw her on TV. In comparison: Octomom…who the hell is Octomom? She may have been on the news maybe once maybe a year ago in the human interest segment for about three minutes, but debate across the international medical community does not make a relevant comparison make. And you think that a greater percentage of the worldwide population have heard of Octomom than Lady Gaga? Laughable.
Yeah, but pop music gets to more people than the debates of the international medical community. Also, having hordes of children is itself less remarkable worldwide than in an Americans-only context.
I confidently put my money on more human beings on the planet in 2010 recognizing “Lady Gaga” and identifying her as a pop singer, than recognizing “Octomom” and identifying her as a chronic in-vitro breeder, or whatever she is.
If there was a way we could realistically figure out a way to do this (maybe we can just do a poll here on SDMB, I am game if we could determine a way to get a fair sample and decide what forum to place it in) I will bet you $100 of my money to just $25 of yours that Octomom is far more well known than Lady Gaga in the USA.
ETA—I am serious—I may well be wrong, but I think I would be practically stealing your 25 bucks.
…well, its simple enough to prove me wrong. Provide some citations that greater percentage of the worldwide population have heard of Octomom than Lady Gaga. Currently Lady Gaga is on the Monster World Tour, where she has or will be playing in Canada, the United States, Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Croatia, Hungry, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Japan and New Zealand. The shows have been consistently sold out.
Obviously it’s impossible for me to show how many Americans have heard of this or that, but look at this: Searching “JonBenet Ramsey” on Google yields 137 thousand results. Not bad. “Octomom” is even more impressive, getting 3.4 million. Very nice.
If you asked 1000 random adult Americans (in a true random sample) I would bet (remember, 25 will get you 100) that more are familiar with who Octomom is than who Lady Gaga is.