Category Archives: Madonna

Suffering Madonna fatigue isn’t something to which I’m all that accustomed. For decades she has done little to no wrongs, but these last few years I’ve had issues with some of her choices, and, worse, I’ve found myself not even caring what she does. The world has indeed gone topsy-turvy in the midst of a pandemic, and all bets are off. Seismic shifts are now the norm, and things I once held as forever stable have melted away like the flimsiest of sandcastles. 

Maybe I’ve just aged beyond the time when music makes the same strong impression it made in my youth. I’ve heard others describe similar circumstances, this loss of passion over a certain song and melody, the kind of obsession that once allowed me to play a song on repeat for hours and days and weeks on end. Very little stirs me that strongly these days, and part of me mourns that. 

The latest upcoming release form Madonna – ‘Finally Enough Love‘ – 50 of her #1 dance hits remixed and compiled in a sprawling collection – doesn’t kickstart that passion either. Partly because it’s a rehashing of whats been done before – sounds like these are mixes most of her fans have already heard. Hoping for some new twist, but not expecting it. Her recent remixes of ‘Frozen‘ on Tik Tok have also left me largely unimpressed. Once upon a time Madonna operated in the mode of not bothering with something if wasn’t going to be epic. Those days are done. 

And I’m oddly at peace with it. 

Today marks the anniversary of Madonna’s epic ‘Like A Prayer’ album. For those of us old enough to remember the spring of 1989, this will always harken to that heady time of burning crosses on MTV, and a darker, more somber and serious Madonna than we’d ever encountered before. It remains a masterpiece that holds up – a timeless classic rooted in solid songs and musical brilliance – and it has endured because of its universal themes. Let’s revisit its track-list, link by exuberant link:

1. Like A Prayer
2. Express Yourself
3. Love Song
4. ‘Til Death Do Us Part
5. Promise To Try
6. Cherish
7. Dear Jessie
8. Oh Father
9. Keep It Together
10. Spanish Eyes
11. Act of Contrition

There was something raw and tender about the winter of 1998. Living in Boston at the time, and following the bloody trail of my bruised but not yet broken heart, I longed for love as I got lost in the muck of desire and decadent depravity. It wasn’t a sexual awakening I was seeking, or even a blooming of the soul, it was the acceptance of not knowing where I was meant to be, and greater than that an acceptance of realizing I might never know. It was the journey of almost every early-twenty-something – both lost and found, both elated and despondent – and I embraced it as much as I pushed it away. 

That March, Madonna released her best album to date, ‘Ray of Light’, the album that changed her career, solidified her status as an artistic force (when she so desired), and gave her lifelong fans cause for celebration and reflection at once. The music was especially moving for me – one of those moments of youth where music collides with the magical time of the early twenties – and in each song I found something in which to marvel, to ponder, to wonder. 

The witching hour of the midnight release at Tower Records on Newbury Street arrived and the new Madonna music poured forth from the sound system. After rushing back with album in hand, I hastily put it on the stereo and laid down on the cold wooden floor. My silly retail job – the very first job I procured on my own, and one that I loved so dearly because I was so good at it – would begin in just a few hours. It didn’t matter. Madonna’s voice – the one that guided me throughout my childhood, the one that had shaped me into the young man I was – sounded throughout the empty rooms. Born out of night and darkness, born out of the depths of winter which echoed with frozen memories, it was music to soothe the soul. Looking back, I realize it was music of meditation, even if I was decades from meditating. 

Today marks the 24th anniversary of the American release of ‘Ray of Light’, and with the day comes the remembrance of the night I flew through Copley Square and the front yard of Trinity Church on roller blades, my black coat fluttering wildly behind me as I screamed loudly into the night air. It recalls the fall I said hello to a new love and the following winter in which I said goodbye. It brings back the loss of innocence, torn from the firmament of my youth like a little falling star. More than that, it shines a sliver of light on a past that feels both dimmer and brighter than it probably ever really was, cracking open the heart like a frozen drop of water cracks open a rock. 

Tomorrow the Madonna Timeline returns with something billed as something to remember, but it’s not one of the strongest entries. Some Madonna songs can be no more than filler, and fodder for memories. In this preparatory post, we see some of her latest online shenanigans. What I would give for her lighting and filters… 

The latest murmurs of Madonna have her working on a collection of her 50 #1 Dance hits for this fall (late summer?) as well as casting her movie biopic. I wish I could get more excited over both of these projects, but Madonna’s strength has never resided in re-hashing. Re-inventing, yes. Revolutionizing, absolutely. Re-treading… not so much, even if a Madonna re-tread is still often more spectacular than most pop stars’ virgin tracks. 

Speaking of virgins, I see that her classic ‘Like A Virgin’ song is used now in a Virgin cruise ship commercial. Once upon a time, that song was controversy and untouchable for commercial purposes. Clearly, times have changed. A cruise ship commercial. Dear God. 

Tomorrow, we return to the glory days. May there be a few more in the future… 

Returning to Warner Brothers, Madonna seems to be making a dance retrospective her first project if we are to piece together her otherwise nonsensical Instagram and social media posts of late. She’s been hinting at a non-stop mix of her 50 #1 Dance Hits, which sounds more like a throwaway promo track for some greatest hits album. Ho-hum, but I’ll take it as we haven’t had any music from her since 2019’s ‘Madame X’ opus. In the meantime, let’s look back at some classic Madonna moments to remind us of the power and say she once held. 

‘Like A Prayer‘ – the majesty and might… she took us there. 

‘Vogue‘ – strike a pose, there’s nothing to it.

‘Express Yourself’ – come on girls, do you believe in love?

‘Live to Tell’ – will I ever have the chance again?

‘Deeper and Deeper’ – think with your heart not with your head.

‘Ray of Light‘  – someone else will be there through the endless years.

‘Music‘ – do you like to boogie woogie?

In the age of social media where tweens run amok and everyone hides behind a fake name and filtered image, even the most durable and classic of pop stars have a hard time escaping the awfulness that comes from giving anonymous losers any sort of platform. That goes for this blog as well, so I’m not above admitting I’m occasionally part of the problem. The difference is that I don’t hide who I am – you got my name and face and body, and if you want any sort of respect you should reciprocate the honor. 

With that said, it seems a good moment to address all the Madonna-bashing that goes on when she does just about anything these days, and to remind myself, and anyone reading this, of how lucky we are to have such an icon still living her life and causing a commotion. Do I always agree with her? No. I never have. But I can do so in a thoughtful and respectful way. I find her Instagram-heavy focus of late cringe-worthy not because she’s too old to pose in such pictures, but rather because they seem to be detracting from her legacy of music and drama. Besides, anyone can be Insta-famous these days – Madonna was a star long before social media was even born, and remains so even in this age of social media madness. Madonna’s presence on Instagram, while mandatory these days, is almost a foot-note in her pop culture accomplishments. Still, it gets her points across, and currently that’s celebrating her body – a Madonna tradition that goes back to when she first bared her belly-button and writhed across the MTV Music Awards stage while crooning ‘Like A Virgin’. 

She did a stunning spread for V Magazine in which she and Steven Klein paid more homage to Marilyn Monroe, as seen in the accompanying photos. Yes, they’re airbrushed and edited to the point of caricature, but that’s partly been the point of Madonna since the beginning – she makes us wonder how much is real, how much is fluff, and how much really matters. She registers in an increasingly-chaotic and random universe where information and images are thrust so quickly and voluminously at us that it’s a wonder anything registers at all. To get anyone talking about you these days is a major accomplishment when you consider the trending topics on Twitter any given morning.

Madonna remains a master at this, and positing her body and image as exhibit A for four continuous decades, and not letting up anytime soon, is pretty damn impressive. Making some bold and courageous artistic statements along the way (and usually far ahead of their time) is what has cemented her status as artistic icon. Wrapping it all up with some indelible music has left us with a musical legacy and timeline filled with memories and history (and anyone having a rough day should simply consider one of her multiple greatest hits packages to immediately lift the mood). 

Your opinions of Madonna prove that she still matters – stop hating and start celebrating. 

It was twenty-five years ago today when the soundtrack to Madonna’s turn in ‘Evita’ was released, setting off the season of Madonna as Eva Peron, fully resurrecting her marquee dreams, and her most high-profile project since the ‘Sex/Erotica’ period. Rather than get into any deep analysis of that emotionally-fraught time, here’s a simple list of Madonna Timeline links for the selections that have been featured here already. 

• Buenos Aires
• Another Suitcase in Another Hall
• I’d Be Surprisingly Good For You
• Don’t Cry For Me Argentina
• High Flying Adored
• Rainbow High
• Waltz for Eva and Che
• You Must Love Me

While yesterday was all about my husband Andy, it also marked the anniversary of Madonna’s ‘Erotica’ album – as much an influence on my youth as anything else, and so it merits this post, which will mostly be a linky look back at that heady time in my life. Shaded with the drama that typically accompanies October, and the drama that goes with simply being a senior in high school, the ‘Erotica’ album was about so much more than sex – even if sex was also a big part of it. 

Leading off with the title track, Madonna whispered huskily to us that Dita would be our mistress, and we fell in line to serve with gleeful and submissive abandon. There was so much more at work at the time, and this is one of those albums that likely means more to me than most because of how it accompanied a time period fraught with the danger of self-annihilation, depression, redemption, and growing into a version of myself no longer commandeered by parents or adults or peers. 

Madonna ushered in the most controversial period of her artistic life and gave me the inspiration to do likewise, unafraid and undeterred by a society that felt increasingly against the very person I was struggling to become. No one else was doing that in my life, and in many ways she was the lifeline that got me through that wilderness. As for the ‘Erotica’ album, let’s revisit the track list – much of which has already been chronicled in the Madonna Timeline, and worth a look back at today:

1. Erotica
2. Fever
3. Bye Bye Baby
4. Deeper and Deeper
5. Where Life Begins
6. Bad Girl
7. Waiting
8. Thief of Hearts
9. Words
10. Rain
11. Why’s It So Hard
12. In This Life
13. Did You Do It?
14. Secret Garden

Madonna is no stranger to ageist vitriol – she’s been on the receiving end of ageism, largely a by-product of sexism, since she turned 40, which was back in 1998. She’s 63 years young now, and still acting with the defiance and cheeky naughtiness of her 20’s – and why the fuck not? Who, if not Madonna, has earned the right to flounce in the face of silly social constructs and foolish antiquated mores? She forged that path herself, and looks to be continuing on her journey unabated, and undeterred by wimps and wannabes who can’t fathom a mature woman still exercising her sexuality, still wielding her power, still being unabashedly herself. 

The response to her recent almost-butt-baring opening salvo of the MTV Video Music Awards (at which she first flashed her ass in 1984) has once again put her in the spotlight, garnering hate and adoration in equal doses, which she’s done for most of the past four decades. It is a living testimony to how much she matters, even when she does little more than pose and walk off stage. Is that the effect someone of no significance has? Hardly. It’s a big deal because Madonna is still big deal. Her mere existence and relevance in our youth-obsessed culture says infinitely more than anything the powerless naysayers could speak about, and they can’t stand it. 

And so I offer another photo of her daring derriere, posed brilliantly before a men’s urinal, proving that nobody does it better than Madonna, and nobody ever will. Her reign continues…