Alan Ilagan

It was 21 years ago that the commercial premiered. I had seen the commercial for the commercial (yes, that was how big it was going to be), but back then I hadn’t become the super-fanatic I am today, so the date and time had slipped my mind. Fortunately, I was one of the masses who tuned in faithfully to The Cosby Show, and there it was, sandwiched between two halves of the safest sitcom on TV. Madonna’s Like A Prayer commercial for Pepsi was a cute throwback to a simpler era, filled with troop-style dancing and the gone-to-soon sole-shock-lock of blond hair amid a sea of brunette. When the actual video for the song hit MTV, it was a whole different scene (one that I won’t delve into here – see my 1993 High School research paper).

My first reaction to the song was the same one I get whenever I hear a new Madonna single for the first time: uncertainty. In fact, I didn’t like it much at all. (The same thing happened with Frozen, which I caught on a television in Rochester, NY during a much-maligned winter of discontent.) It hasn’t happened in a while (the first seconds I heard of Hung Up and 4 Minutes, her last two lead-off singles, had me instantly in love), but the enduring classics take a few listens before I learn to love them. Of course that slow-burn to adoration has a more lasting effect, and I wonder whether I’ll be such a fan of 4 Minutes in another twenty years.

For all this time my love for Like A Prayer hasn’t waned. If anything, it’s grown stronger over the years, and Madonna perennially reinforces that love with updated tour performances and special events, such as Hope for Haiti and Live 8. If I had to pick a favorite Madonna song – based on music alone – the front-runner would be Like A Prayer.