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

if the synth horns in "Deeper and Deeper" didn't sound so terrible I would have fonder thoughts of it

in fact, if any of the synth sounds sounded like they belonged together or complimented each other, I would have fonder thoughts of the song, but as it stands it basically sounds like Shep Pettibone stuck a microphone up his ass and then Madonna sang some lyrics into it

Veg, you have to believe M's vocal if "Live to Tell" is gonna work at all.

xpost bonus foldout edition of SEX

as it stands it basically sounds like Shep Pettibone stuck a microphone up his ass and then Madonna sang some lyrics into it

aren't you confusing Pettibone with Timbaland?

I went for D&D as my no.1. It could equally've been Groove or Justify but I went with what I felt at the moment of submission. The voting thread convinced me tbh. I don't love it like the other two, but lord is it an impressive record. Epic like Citizen Kane.

Over on the Springsteen thread, I said that unlike with Bruce (where I really didn't know what to expect), the Madonna #1 seemed obvious to me. What I meant by that was that I couldn't imagine anything but "Into the Groove" at the top, because it has always seemed like the ur-Madonna song to me, the standard she bears, the mission statement.

So now, of course, I'm worried that it will be #2...

xp Nah, beginning "I have a tale to tell" and then flipping it with "Hope I live to tell/The secret I have learned, till then/It will burn inside of me" is inspired - like she can't quite muster the courage to go ahead and say it.

The only song that Deeper and Deeper is better than in the top 20 is Beautiful Stranger, imo. And that's only a maybe.

xposts to Alfred: it's not that I don't believe it. I love the emotion of it. There's just something about 'ooh a thing that happened what is it a mystery* in the lyrics that makes me rmde. I used to make up stories for it, like she pooped in her parents bed or something

ooh yeah that reminds me Beautiful Strangers is SO DUMB

the way she sings that 'YAWR AVRYWHARE AYE GOOOOOO' drives me up the fucking wall

twee and stupid

And Deeper & Deeper makes Vogue redundant - a natural embrace of house music rather than a gimmicky one.

What does this even mean?

1,000+ points?! Sweetest surprise of the poll.

Sorry, that was not supposed to sound so accusatory.

(Though I prefer "Vogue" tbh.)

Can we leave "Beautiful Stranger" alone already?

It means what it says

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m7hlc7eNwG1r8s0rgo1_500.jpg

02. "AMERICAN PIE" from The Next Best Thing (2000) [45 votes, 1,512 points, 10 first place votes]

i'm gonna say i think i know how the top two is gonna roll out, but i'm just basing it on my ballot (i only voted for one of them)

n fact, if any of the synth sounds sounded like they belonged together or complimented each other, I would have fonder thoughts of the song, but as it stands it basically sounds like Shep Pettibone stuck a microphone up his ass and then Madonna sang some lyrics into it

Hahaha

Yeah the intro synths on this song never rubbed me the right way. I keep thinking how awesome it would be with real strings a la "Papa Don't Preach" (one of the best aspects of that song).

I'm not a huge fan of 'Live to Tell' but I can sort of see see why people love it. People loving 'Deeper and Deeper' is just a mystery to me.

even though i am still mad about "live to tell" being lower i love "deeper and deeper," it's a completely effective headrush, and man the awesomeness of the flamenco drop cannot be overstated

ftr the flamenco bit is the only part of "Deeper and Deeper" that really works and even there he keeps bringing in those terrible synth stabs and then puts it under those awful synth strings

all of the timbres just pull against each other in the most grating way

and the callback to "Vogue" is just lazy

xp Vogue feels to me like she couldn't do a house record without stiffly and self-consciously tying it to a dancefloor trend whereas Deeper & Deeper is just a great vocal house record with an intuitive feel for the genre - the way lines like "round and round" and "deeper and deeper" play with the repetition of the groove.

tbf she'd be doing the callback (i.e. "allusions") to other songs from this point forward

Shep:

"Deeper and Deeper" was one of those songs she always had a problem with. The middle of the song wasn't working. We tried different bridges and changes, but nothing worked. In the end, Madonna wanted the middle of the song to have a flamenco guitar strumming big-time. I didn't like the idea of taking a Philly house song and putting La Isla Bonita in the middle of it. But that's what she wanted, so that's what she got.

I've never heard "Deeper and Deeper" before. it's kinda dull.

I will say that for me Deeper And Deeper is a whole new song when you dance to it, rather than just actively listening to it. I did vote for it, just not as high as some of you crazy mf'ers.

and the callback to "Vogue" is just lazy

omg no it's the perfect, most exultatory climax, she's almost shouting those words out, like she's only just reached a new level of understanding of what they mean and more than that she's also realised how vital it is to believe in them

Shep wrong for "Deeper and Deeper," wrong for America!

So tempted to troll some of those "Vogue"/"Deeper and Deeper" hatred by tossing out a casual accusation of homophobia.

I like Vogue!

I'm only 50% nohomo I guess, since I love Vogue and have zero time for Deeper.

Vogue feels to me like she couldn't do a house record without stiffly and self-consciously tying it to a dancefloor trend whereas Deeper & Deeper is just a great vocal house record with an intuitive feel for the genre - the way lines like "round and round" and "deeper and deeper" play with the repetition of the groove.

okay sure (I disagree but whatever, I see and get the point), but all of the instrumentation on "Vogue" sounds like it's living in the same universe and working together and "Deeper and Deeper" sounds like everything has its own timbre specifically engineered to make it sound like none of the parts actually belong together, including the reverb on Madonna's voice

lex OTM in every respect

you motherfuckers thinking bemusedly about 'deeper and deeper' need to step the fuck off imo.

balls otm

lots of otm'ing the EDMs

Haven't heard "Deeper in Deeper" in ages, just looked at the video--8-tracks! Still sounds kind of ordinary to me; much, much prefer "Vogue."

but i will say, the vagueness is one of the greatest things about "live to tell." i remember getting obsessed with it as a kid, with what it could possibly be about.

I actually agree a bit with you DJP in that I think "Vogue" is the sound of her trying on a genre and making it look couture, whereas "Deeper and Deeper" finds her appropriately unsettled. She's not in the driver's seat in the latter, and it terrifies her.

lex OTM

+ it works in the narrative of the song - she's not just listened to her mothers advice and gone headfirst into love, but become her own mother, and instead of instructing how to sing like her mother did ("when you know the notes to sing you can sing most anything" which is in ITSELF a callback reference obv, they parallel) now she's instructing herself how to DANCE, which is so immesurabley greater

man there are so many callbacks in the madonna discography

how much would it enrage ppl if I let slip that I like "Fever" a ton more than "Deeper and Deeper"

that's what Erotica does, right? She records a genre record, choosing points of view with which she's also unfamiliar.

You see, that's why the "Beautiful Stranger" video is so good--she's not in the driver's seat, and it terrifies her.

hahahahahahahahaha

Can you post the last two together JF? I need my dinner!

lol @ clemenza

lol bravo