Madonna and Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga's recent appearance in drag at the MTV Video Music Awards set off a flurry of snark across the blogosphere, including on Twitter. Comparisons to the Fonz and Ralph Macchio aside, one of the most humorous entries came courtesy of Danny Zuker, a writer for Modern Family. He Tweeted: "I dressed up like a man back in 89! Hey, come back I'm talking to you!!!" Madonna somewhere drunk probably.

And it's true. She DID get there first. No matter what Gaga comes up with to out-Madonna Madonna, it's more than likely already been done, in some form or another. Okay, maybe not the meat dress, but that was just gross.

Madonna genius has always been far more prominent in her marketing skills than in her music. She let it all hang out... literally, sometimes. Though some of it certainly seemed contrived, the awkwardness of her ploys never reached the heights that Gaga has.

Granted, Gaga is a far superior musician and vocalist than Madonna, but that's not really the point. Madonna knows how to surround herself with folks who complete her, as it were. And some of her choices are so spot-on, it's crazy.

Take the track she cut with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, “4 Minutes.” It's one of the all-time funkiest collaborations in recent memory. Of course, a lot of the credit for that goes to Timberlake who just brings it with him wherever he goes. But Madonna has also partnered well with Missy Elliott, Akon, Ricky Martin, Lil Wayne, Kanye West, and others.

No doubt Gaga has a long career ahead of her, but she'll never wear the crown of Queen of Pop. That one's already taken.

Copyright 2011 mind-funk-music.com