Madonna: Erotica POLL

Why's It So Hard and Words are both cringeworthy in parts but I kind of like the reggae-house vibe of the former. "Words" I used to think was one of Madonna's worst songs ever lyrically but I like it now more than I used to (also this was before her lyrics completely jumped the shark at the beginning of the 00s).

I picked Secret Garden because the production + her metaphor for wanting a child makes the song great. Since I know more about her personal life than I should it makes the song all the more poignant for me.

surm i love thief of hearts a lot, too. is there consensus that she's singing about herself?

does it matter? If you say she is, then she is.

"Rain". "It Used To Be My Playground" is better than anything on this album though.

Yes, in that there is no song that exists with that title.

Well "This Used To Be My Playground". A wonderful melodic ballad that is and remains the best Madonna/Shep Bettibone moment.

And also the best Madonna song between the "Like a Prayer" and "Ray Of Light" albums, no less.

Interesting. I wonder how this revelation might turn this conversation.

so does everyone agree this is Madonna's best album? (apart from Geir obv)

I don't; for me it's either True Blue or Ray of Light.

Mine are:

Erotica
Madonna
Like a Prayer

i don't think it's her best either. tbh i think that's kind of an over-inflated standpoint.

FIGHTIN WORDS

Madonna is my #3, definitely.

my 2 favorites are Madonna and Like a Virgin.

I think Like A Virgin has the biggest gulf in quality between the singles and the album tracks.

i enjoy the buzz-y fluff of Shoo-Bee-Doo and Stay, and all the other trax are golden, non-smashes included (Over and Over, Angel). plus all the remixes of Angel are awes

"Angel" was a top 5 single...?

but obv, i know what u mean. i think the bubbly nothing sort of sound to some of the trax is one of my favorite things about the album, actually.

yea but it doesn't compare to Material Girl, Dress You Up, the title track or Love Don't Live Here Anymore in terms of modern-day popularity or overall recognizability, if i'm not mistaken.

Well nothing compares to "Material Girl" in terms of modern-day popularity, considering that is still what Madonna gets called.

if Madonna would somehow have swapped "Shoo-Bee-Doo", "Pretender" and " "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" for "Into The Groove", "Crazy For You" and "Gambler" then the album would have been 1000 times better at least.

i would venture to guess that a lot of ppl would be far more familiar with Like A Virgin, Dress You Up or even Love Don't Live Here Anymore more readily than they would know Angel. but maybe that's just the ppl i happen to know.

Actually, I don't know too many (straight people) who regard Erotica as anything other than one of her worst. Geir is sadly not alone.

And one of the reasons I think it's her best probably has something to do with the fact that I don't like most of her other albums much beyond the singles.

I'd guess her worst is Something To Remember, which ironically I can't remember a single song from.

i thought that was just a collection of her ballads or something?

Yep, those songs all sounded like stuff she did before.

xp :)

ha no wonder I don't remember anything from it; I was looking at the singles off of it on Wikipedia and going "wtf are these songs"

Evita is clearly her worst, if that counts.

basically what i was trying to say is that i think Like A Virgin seems like it has more fillers than it actually does. when you actually look at the tracklist, most of the songs were either huge or very solid.

hard candy is her worst by...a fair distance

heard a smooth jazz cover of "fever" at work last week.

(followed by renditions of "songbird" and "please please please let me get what I want")

heard a smooth jazz cover of "fever"

That's why I love the Erotica version so much. It's just a 100 percent aggressive desecration of the original's musicality but inverts its sexual chemistry into a whole 'nother Kinsey pinpoint. Equal and opposite type thing.

I think Like A Virgin has the biggest gulf in quality between the singles and the album tracks.

otm.

I'm not too crazy about True Blue's album tracks either. LAP has a couple of album tracks as good as its singles.

there was a good long while where "White Heat" was my favorite song on True Blue

Come on baby, MAKE MY DAY

My Top 3 Madonna are:
Like a Prayer
Ray Of Light
Like a Virgin

Honorary mentions also to "Music", "Madonna", "True Blue" and "Confessions On a Dancefloor", all of them great albums.

I'm not too crazy about True Blue's album tracks either

They aren't all good "Scooby Doo" being quite horrible even), but "Surrender" is one of my favourite tracks on that album.

No wonder the typical RYM poster is stuck in the early 90s btw. You have to be stuck there to think positive of "Erotica". It is extremely of its time. A time that is now luckily long gone and hopefully will never return. The early 90s were one of the worst ever eras for music. Absolutely horrible.

What copy of TB do YOU own?

xpost

What copy of TB do YOU own?

Aren't they all alike? Except for the remaster (which is the one I own) sounding better and containing a couple 12 inch mixes in addition?

what are "Scooby Doo" and "Surrender"?

Hmm... Sorry. Read that as "Like a Virgin".

As for TB album tracks, I do like "Jimmy Jimmy". But the rest were a bit weaker, surely.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

the best album

BITCH

<crash>

Yes, best album, no discussion allowed

Fever
Erotica
Where Life Begins
Deeper and Deeper
Bad Girl
Words
Secret Garden
Rain
Thief of Hearts
Waiting
In This Life
Why's It So Hard
Bye Bye Baby

― who's always getting head from the commissioner (Eric H.), Wednesday, April 21, 2010 12:20 PM (twelve years ago)

No.

Deeper and Deeper
Bad Girl
Thief of Hearts
Erotica
Words
Fever
Rain
Secret Garden
In This Life
Where Life Begins
Bye Bye Baby
Waiting
Why's It So Hard

"Words" is my top pick -- it sounds like a 4 am drug racket in my head while dancing at a modestly cool gay club in my '20s.

I guess I like "Waiting" a lot better than y'all. Also, while I respect "In This Life" and the inclusion of such a song on a Madonna album in 1992, I usually skip it.

I'm all about 'Bad Girl'

drunk by six!

the best album

― flamenco drop (BradNelson), Saturday, May 28, 2022 10:48 AM

you screw it
you fake it