Cultural rabble-rouser Camille Paglia may not dig her disco shtick, but Lady Gaga certainly cleaned up at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards last night.

Arriving on the red carpet escorted by ex-military members discharged as a result of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, Gaga returned home with an armful of Moonmen, a total of eight wins. Her video for “Bad Romance” accounted for seven of those, including the top trophy Video of the Year, plus Female Video, Pop Video, Dance Video, Choreography, Direction, and Editing. “Telephone” featuring Beyoncé (which I think is a better video, but not song, than “Bad Romance”) won the prize for Best Collaboration.

For much of the evening, the outfits Gaga wore seemed relatively tame over last year’s parade of curious ensembles. But she’d saved the most arresting for last: a dress constructed of what looked like raw meat. With matching purse. Even a shockingly well preserved 64-year-old Cher, who presented Gaga with the Video of the Year award while attired in the fishnet bodysuit from “If I Could Turn Back Time,” had to step aside and hold the squishy meat purse. (As of this morning though, over 1.7 million viewers are in the tank for her 1989 video, a number I can only imagine was goosed by last night’s shared spotlight.)

Even with seven wins, there are at least two other “Bad Romance” videos overlooked for awards at the Nokia Theater. Yes, Gaga took a minute to offer thanks to “all the gays for remaking this video over and over again,” but a more recent pair of “Bad Romance” homages offers more than mere imitation. So without further ado, let’s honor two clips the broadcast skipped.

Best Performance of “Bad Romance” by an Attractive Young Actor
Inception‘s Joseph Gordon-Levitt straps on a guitar, sounding more than a little like Chris Issak on the chorus. Please don’t jolt us awake if we’re dreaming:

Best Performance of “Bad Romance” on a College Campus Carillon
Iowa State University student Brad Riley started a Facebook group requesting that Tin-Shi Tam, an Associate Professor of Music and Theatre, add the song to her Friday repertoire. His plan worked, and on August 27, 2010, at noon, the bells of victory rang out:

BONUS: Best Performance of a Lady Gaga song that isn’t “Bad Romance”
An enterprising fella on YouTube, Matt Tranberg, stitched together a recent on-air reading of “Poker Face” by Larry King and Ryan Seacrest (from Seacrest’s radio show), rounding out the odd couple with Christopher Walken’s spoken-word rendition on the BBC. Of course Tranberg wisely Auto-Tuned the whole thing:

Lest the “meat dress” overshadow her message, please join Lady Gaga and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in helping to repeal “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.”

Purchase Lady Gaga – “Bad Romance” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.