Pop as Art: Madonna

[JACkory]

I came here looking for some pop and some art.

I left with a chubby for Madonna.

I'm a loser.

[strat-0]

rocknroller said:

admin said:

Except she doesn't even look like Madonna anymore. Can't even recognize her. I miss "Spanish Lullabye."

Mean "Spanish Eyes" Strato? From "Like A Prayer?"

I am going to watch M be inducted into the rock n roll hall of fame Monday night. VH1 will show the ceremony live at 8:30 p.m. eastern time.

My bad - it's actually "La Isla Bonita." I like that one a lot. I'm sure you've heard it. My God, was that really over 20 years ago?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xl4vl3fZ34

[Matheus]

Some of my favorite Madonna photographs:

[Matheus]

admin said:

Except she doesn't even look like Madonna anymore. Can't even recognize her. I miss "Spanish Lullabye."

matheus said:

madonna image of the week.

rocknroller said:

After all these years...still spreadin' those legs. Although I must say she's lookin' mighty good for 50...

I don't think she looks that different except for being older and having a different hair color. These photographs are like 15 years apart.

[rocknroller]

So are you going to watch VH1 Classic Monday for Madonna's induction into the hall of fame Mat?

[Matheus]

I don't know. Sean, my boyfriend, hates Madonna. I think that would be his day off, and unfortunately for Madonna, he's far more important. If I don't watch it, it will be taped so my thoughts will come at some point soonly. Adding to it all is my exam in social theory so Thursday might be the first chance I have to watch it.

We'll see.

[JACkory]

Nice photos of Madonna, Matheus. I particularly like the one where she's sitting in "Old Sparky".

On the whole, Madonna looks hot in some pictures and in others she looks not-so-hot. I'd say it's about a 70-30 split and the good ones are almost always from her younger days.

The same seems to be true with her music, as well, though the ratio is more of a 10-90 split.

[Matheus]

Madonna's music catalogue shows why she's a true Hall of Famer

They've called her everything from a creative cretin to a media whore (if not a literal one). So there must be scores of folks who consider it the greatest desecration to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame yet that Monday its arbiters will usher into its heady ranks Miss "How-Dare-She" herself: Madonna.

On her first try yet.

Foes will insist that Madonna's fast-track entry has only to do with sales. Or with notoriety. Or with corporate conflicts of interest (especially since the hall has nearly as many as a New Jersey politician).

They'll say Madonna's anointment has to do with anything but the one element that actually most helped grease her way in: the music.

The fantastic range of distractions that surround that music - some ridiculous, some delightful - have obscured this all along.

But if you push aside the headlines, the pictures, the fashion, the scandals and the gossip, and give a fair listen to the 11 full studio albums Madonna has produced in the last 25 years, you may be surprised by what you hear.

The catalogue speaks eloquently of her achievements - from watershed innovations to savvy tweaks of genre to the basic pursuit of a great hook and an irresistible groove. Sometimes Madonna's greatest accomplishments have even come down to the thing she has been most loudly ridiculed for: her singing.

No, she's not Aretha Franklin. She's not even close to Cyndi Lauper, the singer who, it was predicted, would leave Madonna in the dust by the next album when they both began in 1983. But Madonna has a quality that makes her vocals a key part of her songs' overall swirl of delight.

She has had this from the start, even when her voice was a mere yap of a thing. In her earliest single, the club-magnet "Everybody," she had an insistence in her delivery - a kind of zeal - as well as an exuberance in her tone, that made up for any lack of cri de coeur.

The next single, "Burnin' Up," went further. Its tight riff was fired by a punky fervor. Better, the song's blaring guitar work now serves as a swift rebuke to those who get too literal about the "rock" part of this Hall of Fame thing. But then, Madonna would hardly need to blare six-stringed instruments all day long - or renounce her dance music or theater roots - to prove she's got what we like to call "the rock 'n' roll spirit." She is, after all, from Detroit.

Her first two singles were just the proverbial peak of the iceberg. Her full debut ("Madonna") crammed in so many winning songs, of such rhythmic thrust, you could fill a whole night at a dance club and please its most finicky denizens by playing nothing but its remixes. "Holiday," also on that starry debut, remains one of this decade's most electrifying dance hits, while the singles "Lucky Star" and "Borderline" gave Madonna a hold on pure pop.

The star's followup the next year, "Like a Virgin," served up another selection of singles primed to make you both dance and sing. In "Material Girl," Madonna scored a true anthem, if one she has spent the rest of her career trying to live down. And the title track became a classic of ironic flirtiness. Another cut, "Into the Groove," commands one of the hottest ones of all time, while "Dress You Up" nearly bursts from its skin with itchy joy.

For 1986's "True Blue," Madonna whipped up one of her most lustrous songs in "Papa Don't Preach." Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding its supposed anti-abortion stance obscured the richness of the production. The disk also featured Madonna's best forage through Latin pop ("La Isla Bonita") plus a ballad, "Live to Tell," that proved she could deliver an earnest vocal with actual heart.

After putting out a soundtrack ("Who's That Girl," spiked by a kicky title track) and a roiling club mix CD ("You Can Dance"), Madonna came back with her most fully realized CD to date: 1989's "Like a Prayer." Its title track boasted a melody that just keeps escalating in intensity, fully earning its final gospel blowout. The cut "Express Yourself" gave Madonna another dance floor peak, as well as, in its title phrase, some words to live by.

By this point, Madonna had reached such a fever pitch of fame (the subsequent "Blonde Ambition" tour marks her Everest-like summit) that it became harder than ever for the media to distinguish the terrific sounds she was making from the ruckus she regularly whipped up around them.

It didn't help that her 1992 album, "Erotica," represented her most sonically radical piece to date. Drawing on the nocturnal demimonde of gay S&M clubs, "Erotica" re-created the shrouded mood, and dark allure, of an after-hours sex den. Coupled with her widely panned "Sex" book, the project's edge caused a benighted media to turn on her, writing her obituary decades too soon.

As always, she moved blithely on, rebounding commercially with an album, 1994's "Bedtime Stories," that reimagined the then-current trend in "new jill swing" for her own pan-pop audience. The same CD made good use of the burgeoning British trip-hop trend, offering her own corollary in the track "Bedtime Story" to trendoids like Portishead and Massive Attack.

It was Madonna's next move, however, that changed her vocal skills significantly, with a positive impact on all her work since. To prepare for her star turn in "Evita," the star took voice lessons and truly made the most of them. On the soundtrack, Madonna revealed a much fuller, deeper instrument than before, and wound up engaging with the material in a grippingly emotional way. Here, her voice wasn't just a candied part of a larger pop production puzzle, but the prime mover of the recording, its emotional core.

If "Evita" put Madonna in the realm of traditional theater diva (however fleetingly), her next album moved her swiftly back to the cutting edge. "Ray of Light" rode the electronica wave with the grace of an ace surfer at Maui. The 1998 CD streamlined that sound and, as Madonna had done with so many genres before, brought it from the arty edge to the level of irresistible, original pop. The title song boasted the fastest beat of Madonna's career (not counting remixes), and became electronica's greatest hit.

Her chaser of a CD, "Music," popped up that sound even more. The title single stood as her most simple and perfect hit since "Holiday."

Unfortunately, Madonna couldn't make it a hat trick. 2003's "American Life" stands as a clear creative low point, even to her greatest fans. A self-conscious and labored work, it's her only one to fall below platinum status, and deservedly so.

Happily, she turned things around in 2005 by falling back on her original forte: club music. "Confessions on a Dance Floor" may not have represented a return to the zest of her first CD, but it featured several ace singles, one of which made delicious use of an ABBA sample. If nothing else, "Confessions" upstaged the work of most other artists doomed to compete with a catalogue more than two decades deep.

Despite such a lengthy list of achievements, many observers will still try to pawn all the credit off on Madonna's many producers and co-writers. But it strains credibility to assume that any artist could drive so steadily to the top for so long without having her hands solidly on the wheel the whole time.

True, Madonna isn't the kind of artist who can stand alone at a microphone for two hours and hold an audience rapt. And she's never going to record an "Unplugged" CD (let us pray). But not every artist has to be her own island of talent to make a significant impact. In the end, you may not be able to take any one element of Madonna's career or music and have it stand entirely on its own. But the recordings she has helped create still thrive vibrantly outside her image. And for someone with so blinding an image, that's the ultimate testament to power.

Source: Jim Farber, New York Daily News

[Ampage]

"Madonna came back with her most fully realized CD to date: 1989's "Like a Prayer."

Truer words rarely spoken. Love it!

[Matheus]

I have a hard time saying Like a Prayer is better than Ray of Light or vice versa.

Erotica is still my favorite.

A case could also be made for her debut.

I think one's point of view could be skewed by the album in which they truly fell in love with Madonna, and also have that album be a major milestone in the woman's career.

[Ampage]

Matt, honey - LAP rulz. Erotica has a few great songs but is hit and miss.

Now eatme!

[rocknroller]

Well I watched Madonna be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame last night. She was presented by Justin Timberlake about 1/2 way through the four hour ceremony. I stopped watching after she was inducted. Probably should have watched Mellencamp be presented by Billy Joel as I am a fan of his music as well. Joel I mean. Have a greatest hits cd by Mellencamp in my collection that I listened to once I think.

Madonna's speech sounded sincere. She looks great and sounds like a genuinely nice person. The video montage of her past through present accomplishments had me reminiscing about my life as I have adored Madonna throughout her astonishing career. I first heard a Madonna song at a friends house back in the early eighties. My friend had Madonna's "Everybody" single record. I loved that songand Madonna's style the moment I heard it. Have been a Madonna fan ever since.

I didn't particularly care for Iggy Pop's musical interpretations of "Burning Up" and Ray Of Light" which were performed after Madonna gave her speech. The performances lacked the fire and passion that I have always found in Madonna's music. Punk was never my thing anyway.

[Matheus]

I loved the Iggy Pop performance, especially Burning Up, which is one of my favorite Madonna throwbacks. It was the best thing. Madonna chose Iggy for a reason. They're both from Detroit. He opened for her during the Reinvention Tour... the show in Scotland, I believe. And she's been inducted, and he hasn't. I'm sure she had ulterior motives, and I think it was meant as a shot at the Hall of Fame.

Let's just be honest, Madonna getting up there on the old guitar would not have been anything about what Madonna represents. Sure, she plays the guitar during her later tours, and usually people mention it, but people remember her for her other types of performances. From what it looked like, the stage would not have been able to accomodate that type of performance.

The Stooges performed in the vein suited for the rock hall, which I'm not so sure Madonna would have wanted to pull off.

[Matheus]

Leave it to Madonna to make the right gesture. For her induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, she didn’t worry about whether her career as a pop hitmaker, image maker, sex symbol and provocateuse qualified her as a important figure in any narrowly defined genre of rock ’n’ roll. She just brought on an unquestioned rocker — Iggy Pop, the blunt, anarchic and durable songwriter and performer who’s a fellow Michigan-born musician — to sing punk-chorded versions of her hits “Burnin’ Up” and “Ray of Light.” He was shirtless, hyperactive and backed by the Stooges, who along with him have been nominated but snubbed by the Hall of Fame.

It was Madonna's night. She was introduced by the multimillion-selling pop singer Justin Timberlake, who collaborated on her coming album, “Hard Candy.” He said that while they were working together, he had come to the studio one day feeling ill, and Madonna had suggested a shot of vitamin B12. She didn’t call a doctor, he said. She took a Zip-Loc bag of B12 syringes from her designer bag, said, “Drop ’em,” gave him the shot, and added, “Nice top shelf.” Mr. Timberlake said, “That was one of the greatest days of my life.”

Madonna, calling herself a “control freak,” immediately corrected him. “I said, ‘Pull your pants down,’ ” she asserted, before starting one of the longest speeches given at any Hall of Fame ceremony. Among the people she thanked were naysayers: “The ones that said I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn’t sing, that I was a one-hit wonder,” she said. “They pushed me to be better, and I am grateful for their resistance.”

nytimes

[Matheus]

From Detroit Free Press:

Don’t be too worried, Stooges fans: They haven’t sold out to the other side.

So proclaims guitarist Ron Asheton, who tonight will join band mates Iggy Pop, Scott Asheton and Steve MacKay as the Stooges play a pair of Madonna songs — “Ray of Light” and “Burning Up” — during the latter’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Asheton was reacting to online reports that have described the band’s scheduled performance as a “tribute” to the dance-pop star, whose music is a far cry from the Stooges’ own gritty, primal Detroit rock.

“The Stooges represent everything that’s against what she is,” Asheton told the Free Press from his New York hotel this afternoon. “I don’t wish her ill. I don’t hate her or anything. But I’d never even heard of these songs until I had to listen to a tape and figure out what’s going on with them.”

In reality, Asheton says, Madonna asked the Stooges to perform as an act of protest: The group, widely considered a linchpin of early punk, has yet to be inducted by the rock hall, despite six appearances on the nomination ballot. By inviting the group on stage, she sends a message, says Asheton.

Last year’s rock hall ceremony featured a similar demonstration, when the night’s inductees performed the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” during a jam session finale.

“Basically she was upset that we’ve been nominated so many times and never made it, so she asked us to play in protest. And it was under those auspices that I thought we were doing it,” Asheton said. “At first I went, ‘Whaaat?’ Then Iggy said, ‘Why don’t you think about it?’”

It came together quickly: Madonna reached out to Iggy Pop just two weeks ago, Asheton says. The band, which had not performed together since closing out its latest tour in December, worked on the songs long-distance, with the Ashetons in Ann Arbor and Iggy home in Florida.

“Iggy said, ‘We’re gonna rock them up — just play ‘em like Stooges songs,’” Asheton recounted. “They actually sound pretty cool. We just rock ‘em out. You wouldn’t even recognize them as Madonna songs. I never thought I’d say this, but I’ve actually enjoyed playing them.”

Asheton has yet to meet Madonna, who was an elementary school student in Rochester Hills when the Stooges started shaking up the Detroit rock scene in the late 1960s. He figures he might encounter the fellow Michigan native during the afterparty action in New York tonight, and he’s sure he’ll be polite.

But he can’t help feeling a little cynicism about the whole ordeal: He probably wouldn’t be in the Stooges without it. With Madonna’s entry into the hall of fame drawing criticism from some diehard rock corners — and with the star’s new album due in April — he figures she may have more than one motivation for handpicking his band.

“I thought that right off the top — that, gee, I just heard she’s got a record coming out, and she’s trying to get a little Stooge shine. She’s a savvy businesswoman,” he said. “I think she actually does like the band. She wouldn’t have asked for us if she didn’t. But she’s also using us for business purposes.”