"But 1989, I've decided, belongs to the women. Dusty - the first great British pop vocalist - bows out with an undervalued Pet Shop Boys ballad. Kate Bush put James Joyce's erotic vision to music. But in the end they are both in the shadow of the material girl. (lolol, where's Clump? )
In a way it's almost too easy to choose Like a Prayer as the Madonna track. Written with Patrick Leonard, it is her most nakedly obvious attempt at pop classicism (gospel choirs and all). I'd be happy to argue that Papa Don't Preach was the most successful - and moving - lyric she ever wrote, and some of her most interesting music would emerge in the nineties after she'd stopped selling 20 million albums every go (not that 2 million copies is to be sniffed at either).
But then pop's pleasures often work best when they're obvious, when they're immediate, when they're in your face. And Like a Prayer is in your face.
Part of that is down to the tune itself, but you could also point to Mary Lambert's thrillingly offensive video. Against a backdrop of burning crosses, it not only argues that Jesus was black but that Madonna might be having sex with him. Always running in parallel, Madonna's fervent attraction to and feminist rejection of the orthodoxies of the Catholic Church was one of her most significant creative accelerants. Plus she enjoyed noising people up. And, ever the smart businesswoman, she knew there was money in it.
The sex button was an easy one to push in a country that was both politically and culturally conservative in that decade. It was to Madonna's credit that her sexuality never felt - to me at any rate - like something she was commodifying. Some of her critics felt that was exactly what she was doing, but as she sang on Human Nature "Express yourself, don't repress yourself". We can argue about whether that is the sensible, grown-up response.
Camille Paglia once argued that Madonna was the future of feminism for that very reason: "Madonna has a far profounder vision of sex than do the feminists. She sees both the animality and the artifice. Changing her costume style and hair colour virtually every month, Madonna embodies the eternal values of beauty and pleasure. Feminism says, 'No more masks.' Madonna says we are nothing but masks".
That might be honest but it also opened the way for the music business to objectify almost every woman in the industry over the years that followed. For that reason Madonna's image-making is not unproblematic.
But she also is a woman in charge of her life, of her career, of her image. She has never been a victim. That's why her example matters.
That and the fact that Like A Prayer shows just what is possible in a simple pop song. Sex, religion, controversy. And a choir. I love that choir."
--
The original queen of self promoting and marketing.
Everyone having awards as of lately, why don't we have one.... there used to be... now that madonna's, Ale-Alejandro + Swag are back... shouldn't someone host them?
Everyone having awards as of lately, why don't we have one.... there used to be... now that madonna's, Ale-Alejandro + Swag are back... shouldn't someone host them?
Everyone having awards as of lately, why don't we have one.... there used to be... now that madonna's, Ale-Alejandro + Swag are back... shouldn't someone host them?
Omg yaaasss, we should have one. I feel since my time on ATRL, I have made a name as a Madonna stan I know nothing about graphics and all that though.
Hai gorls. I was bopping to Madonna so hard on Christmas. Me and my best friend got drunk and I performed the Virgin Tour version of Lucky Star, Hanky Panky from Blonde Ambition, & Deeper and Deeper from Girlie Show. Slayed the choreography a bit lol.
Hai gorls. I was bopping to Madonna so hard on Christmas. Me and my best friend got drunk and I performed the Virgin Tour version of Lucky Star, Hanky Panky from Blonde Ambition, & Deeper and Deeper from Girlie Show. Slayed the choreography a bit lol.
Showing appreciation for The Virgin Tour. I watched Sticky & Sweet 2 days ago, the slayage she unleashes to the South American crowd is unreal.
Mess, he got warned for saying "+1" to a flamebait post poor thing
Quote:
Originally posted by Legendtina
Hai gorls. I was bopping to Madonna so hard on Christmas. Me and my best friend got drunk and I performed the Virgin Tour version of Lucky Star, Hanky Panky from Blonde Ambition, & Deeper and Deeper from Girlie Show. Slayed the choreography a bit lol.
I think Who's That Girl is my favorite tour. But I love Blond Ambition and Girlie Show too... And Drowned World is art... and Confessions....
Nobody will ever know how much I love and respect this woman.
But the "Re-Invention Tour" not even getting ist worthy name drop
I mean if you talk about Art in Pop culture you better not forget "The Beast Within" interlude etc.
Quote:
Originally posted by Frozen99
Yeah, I noticed your complaints in HQ, they just delete it with no explanation
I know them too, greasy is currently banned i think
Like almost everyone is banned as of lately
"Good gorls don't misbehave, misbehave, but we are bad gorls anywaaay-hey!"
)
really it Needs to happen again 
poor thing
