Thoughts on MTV’s Artist of the Week: The Gossip

The Gossip is currently MTV’s Artist of the Week.

I saw The Gossip perform live for the first time at Ladyfest Bay Area 2002.

What I remember most distinctly is Beth Ditto stripping off her tight black dress (she was big then too) and diving off the stage and crowd surfing in her underwear (never stopped singing). People were holding her up – she never fell once. I have footage of it somewhere.

I’ve seen a lot of shows since then but have never seen a female artist successfully pull something off that ballsy. She is not a Mama Cass ripoff. They are not a “hipster” band, and they aren’t just a queer band either. They succeeded at what they set out to do – make you dance. They also sing about what they want to and, up til now (for better or for worse), openly pushed their own political agendas. I hope that being with Sony doesn’t change that.

I really don’t like the video for Standing In The Way Of Control (it does have that awful “hipster” aesthetic) but I do like the song, which is why I am embedding it.