ABSTRACT
George McKay links the social construction of disability with the emergence of the concept of normal during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and historicises disability's influence on popular music in relation to modernity, the mass media and popular culture. This chapter takes up his project through a critical analysis of Lady Gaga as a contemporary example of the mutual importance of disability to popular music and popular music to disability. A key feature of Lady Gaga's performances and persona is to distinguish herself from others by acknowledging that everything is a creation, that nothing about her image is natural. Lady Gaga's video clip for Paparazzi is a critique of celebrity behaviour and betrayal and tabloid culture. Popular culture and popular music especially are often accused of being formulaic, of pandering to a mass audience, and of occupying a lower status to so-called high culture. Most popular culture is shaped by a logic of emotional intensification.
