In all of our fawning over the absolute genius of showing up to an awards ceremony locked inside a plexiglass embryo to distract attention from a new single that is essentially a brown noise, we've forgotten that we've seen all of this before.
It was 1980, and consummate showman Roy Orbison, spent 14 pre-show hours nestled inside the belly of a yak, before bursting forth on the red carpet to much fanfare. After collecting his Grammy along with Emmylou Harris for “Best Country Performance Duo or Group” (what some would call the “Uber-Grammy”), Orbison famously commented that “the stench of that yak's intestines, pumping violently like a cartoon fire hoses against my trapped body, really makes me appreciate this award much more.”
Orbison and that yak would be reunited 8 years later, when the yak was tapped by Bob Dylan to play the theremin in The Traveling Wilburys, and again shortly after, when the yak was killed so that it could be buried with Orbison after his untimely death at 52.
So while Lady Gaga's stunt was certainly entertaining, it's been done before by someone who was unironically called “The Big O.”
