Don't go for second best, baby. Put your ILM ARTIST POLL #31: MADONNA to the test.

earlier today, someone was talking about how "burning up" sounds less like a come-on to a guy and more like a come-on to the universe. "open your heart" does the opposite for me. "i've had to work much harder than this for something i want, don't try to resist me" sounds like madonna's career objectives on paper, but on record it sounds like the most beautifully relentless/desperate/confident love song ever made. and if the "one is such a lonely number" bridge hook doesn't melt the guy completely and win him over for life, the "aaah aaah aaah aaah" that follows will surely do the trick.

can we talk for a second though about how cuckoo "Impressive Instant" is

cuckoo, like a bird on the wingy wingy wingy

thank you Fever. new madonna fan itt.

xpost YES to lex's question, I'm dying to see an image thread

"open your heart" is the perfect pre-date song

and huge kudos to JF, this was a really really fun poll.

Sorry was a great great song

1. Vogue - 40
2. Open Your Heart - 36
3. Thief of Hearts - 33
4. Erotica - 30
5. I'll Remember - 28
6. Like a Prayer - 26
7. Bad Girl - 25
8. Human Nature - 24
9. Live To Tell - 23
10. Lucky Star - 22
11. Inside of Me - 21
12. Fever - 20
13. Deeper and Deeper - 19
14. Express Yourself - 18
15. Into The Groove - 17
16. Jump - 16
17. Nothing Really Matters - 15
18. Get Together - 14
19. What It Feels Like For a Girl - 13
20. I'm Addicted - 12

Albums
1. Erotica
2. Bedtime Stories
3. I'm Breathless
4. Confessions on a Dance Floor
5. True Blue

Videos
1. Express Yourself
2. Bad Girl
3. What It Feels Like For a Girl
4. Hung Up
5. Nothing Really Matters

i REALLY LOVE the idea that there are still people only just getting into madonna, and that we are helping them in some small way

also a bit jealous of the fucking treasure trove awaiting you all

Subj: madonna poll ballot - how's life
1. Papa Don't Preach

2. Borderline

3. Cherish

4. Burning Up

5. Human Nature

6. Dress You Up

7. Bad Girl

8. Deeper and Deeper

9. La Isla Bonita

10. What It Feels Like For a Girl

11. Who's That Girl

12. Erotica

13. Frozen

14. Lucky Star

15. Holiday

16. Like a Prayer

17. Everybody

18. Into the Groove

19. Bedtime Story

20. Like a Virgin

Albums

1. Madonna

2. Bedtime Stories

3. Like a Virgin

4. Erotica

5. Ray of Light

JF, is there a single imgur page where we can see all the images in one place by any chance?

http://imgur.com/a/oMZkq

I don't want to sideswipe other, slower polls but the pacing of this one made it so much more fun.

"open your heart" does the opposite for me. "i've had to work much harder than this for something i want, don't try to resist me" sounds like madonna's career objectives on paper, but on record it sounds like the most beautifully relentless/desperate/confident love song e

You've answered the question of why this song is so difficult to karaoke.

when were the remix results rolled out?

They haven't been. Depending on what adding up the results looks like tonight, they'll appear tomorrow.

Also, given the surprisingly small pool of deep cuts vs. the overwhelming abundance of obvious contenders, placement in this poll in particular meant so much more than usual.

xpost oh hooray! I was afraid I'd miss the whole shebang

thx johnny

that might now be my favourite page on the whole of the internet

this whole thing has been incredible thank you so much JF

I don't want to sideswipe other, slower polls but the pacing of this one made it so much more fun

Partly due to nature of artist, partly due to quality of posters tbh - feels like most of our top music writers are heads

said this yesterday but, man, watching the "Open The Heart" video again I'm struck by what a beautifully wrought collection of images it is.

hey johnny when were the remix results rolled out i don't remember the remix results rolling out where are they huh where are the remix results

where's the party

lol

btw "Into the Groove" is such a beast of a song, so perfect in so many ways

1. holiday
2. open your heart
3. like a prayer
4. deeper and deeper
5. burning up
6. the power of good-bye
7. into the groove
8. rain
9. live to tell
10. ray of light
11. act of contrition
12. like a virgin
13. thief of hearts
14. what it feels like for a girl
15. don't tell me
16. dear jessie
17. jimmy jimmy
18. vogue
19. hung up
20. till death do us part

more artists need to write songs about hot Puerto Rican boys imo

I came into this poll thinking I had a pretty good grasp on my madonna fandom but thanks to ppl like JF, Tim, Alfred, Eric and Lex, I've gone back and relistened to stuff I wouldn't have glanced at a second time.

Esp grateful to this poll for kickstarting my renewed love of Erotica and Like A Prayer albums specifically, and gave Confessions a lot of listening time which I really enjoyed

xpost alfred otm

can't wait til Neil Young's

can't wait for Ghostface's!

also thanks to this poll i've now had Take a Bow stuck in my head for like a week. Which is actually kind of a nice thing

Didn't the Neil Young poll run already?

more artists need to write songs about hot Puerto Rican boys imo

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn) - lol straight trolling djp now

also thanks to this poll i've now had Take a Bow stuck in my head for like a week. Which is actually kind of a nice thing

it is the earwormiest, which i blame entirely on babyface's harmonies. you can't remember a portion of it without his echo

then I remember that another great song about hot Puerto Rican boys is one of DJP's favorites:

http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/qnP5q2dZy5o/hqdefault.jpg

Great poll/great rollout/great images, JF!

though i will say a few weeks ago i was out and these guys i know that usually play eighties were djing and i was standing outside smoking and thinking 'ok, so how long til enola gay' and this freestyle started up and i was like 'o man is this expose, finally something besides the usual english synth pop' and then it quickly dawned on me that it wasn't expose, it was 'domino dancing' (of course, branching far afield = a different pet shop boys cut than usual), and i totally got djp's ire for once.

http://cloudfront3.bostinno.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/deniro-300x208.jpg

xp: hahaha

that is the cruelest self-inflicted bait and switch

It's almost as bad as the period of time when Ashanti was hot and I kept thinking the radio was bringing "One More Chance" back into rotation every time I heard the opening to "Foolish"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tECvyhfvGY

swap 1 and 3 and i'm fully on board. borderline is so definitively her best song tho, one of my favourite songs of all time, kindof a meaningful song for me for so many reasons. i remember pissing off my ex so bad singing it at the top of my lungs cycling around Ghent at night when we were on student exchange together. Everything on like a virgin just seems a little paler than everything on s/t, the undercurrent of longing so much more present in that first album. Something in the way you love me won't let me

Fantastic rollout, and a well-deserved #1; "Live To Tell" is the only top ten track I'm blanking. I know there's another track-I-love-that-Dan-hates to go alongside "Domino Dancing"/"Deeper & Deeper" - are there any Depeche Mode/New Order tracks titled "D____ D____"?

Tracks

01 Deeper And Deeper 40
02 Open Your Heart (Extended Version) 36
03 Everybody 33
04 Beautiful Stranger 30
05 Waiting 28
06 Borderline 26
07 Hung Up (SDP Extended Vocal) 25
08 Thief Of Hearts 24
09 Into The Groove 23
10 Like A Virgin 22
11 Erotica 21
12 Where's The Party (Dub Version) 20
13 Holiday 19
14 Sky Fits Heaven 18
15 Like A Prayer 17
16 Die Another Day 16
17 Bad Girl 15
18 Hollywood (Stuart Price Mix) 14
19 Spotlight 13
20 Gang Bang 12

Remixes

(redacted till rollout)

Albums

1 Erotica
2 Madonna
3 You Can Dance
4 Something To Remember
5 Like A Virgin

horseshoe so otm about everything upthread re madonnas ownership of the vectors of desire that criss cross early madonna, the way she exits the equation.

swap 1 and 3 and i'm fully on board. borderline is so definitively her best song tho, one of my favourite songs of all time, kindof a meaningful song for me for so many reasons. i remember pissing off my ex so bad singing it at the top of my lungs cycling around Ghent at night when we were on student exchange together. Everything on like a virgin just seems a little paler than everything on s/t, the undercurrent of longing so much more present in that first album. Something in the way you love me won't let me

― plax (ico), Monday, March 11, 2013 9:25 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^

definitely the song that makes me feel the most things

My ballot -- no albums/videos/remixes.

Borderline - 40
Ray of Light - 36
Into the Groove - 33
Lucky Star - 30
Material Girl - 28
Candy Perfume Girl - 26
Holiday -25
Crazy for You - 24
Vogue - 23
Who's That Girl - 22
Shanti/Ashtangi - 21
Like a Virgin - 20
Dress You Up - 19
Live To Tell -18
Burning Up - 17
Express Yourself - 16
The Power of Good-Bye - 15
Drowned World/Substitute for Love - 14
Justify My Love - 13
Open Your Heart - 12

i love how much you love borderline also, its a thing i consider in my love for it!!!

everything though, that pause: Borderline.... feels like i'm going to lose my mind.

me too Plax!

but actually regarding Like a Virgin The Album, i think it's tough to compare. i wouldn't say "paler", myself, just different - and i love them both a lot. but in terms of pure feeling, yeah, i would prob give it to debut

its partially projection i mean, that gutsy girl with just enough steeliness. not just some knockout, a real firecracker. maybe im just imagining it but i feel it, that extra push it needed. she was always going to be a star.