Lady Gaga & Adam Lambert - WITHOUT Make Up

I'm continually fascinated by this recent (and at my age when I say "recent" I mean the last 5 years) trend of recording artists needing to be all made up in ridiculous amounts of eyeliner and crazy outfits in order to be stars.

Is this like with animals in the wild when they have to make themselves be bigger to scare away predators?

Case in point - Lady Gaga and Adam Lambert. To my old, amateur ears, they both can carry a tune very well.

Then why all the theatrics?

It came to mind last night when I heard some singer at a gay club and thought, "That's a lovely voice, why isn't she famous?" I mean, I figured record companies would jump on a singer who can sing in-tune since absolutely none of the performers at the Grammy's- except PINK - did (maybe being upside down helps one stay in key?).

So I did a quick search for pop star Lady Gaga to see what little miss looked like before she hit it big (especially since I kinda couldn't get this thought outta my head since hearing POKER FACE like ten thousand times on that Sweet Cruise).

Then I wondered - would she have become a star just singing well and playing the piano looking like she did in the below prom photo?

La Ga, picture: at the prom, recently without make up, her high school yearbook photo, and in her stardom.

Could someone please explain to me why stars have to have crazy hair and crazy make up to sell records? It seems like for anyone to make it these days selling music, they need to make a spectacle of themselves.

All I can say is it's fortunate Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra had their heyday when they did, or else they would have NEVER become stars.

La Lambert, pictured, high school photo, singing at his graduation, almost famous, then totally famous and at the point where I want to stick a bowl over his head to cut his HAIR

I guess as the old saying goes, "Ya gotta have a gimmick". I wonder if these two would have made an impression without all the glam.