Madonna: Classic Or Dud

What makes Ray of Light a drag is the tension between the insistence on introspection and the buttoned-down beats; or, rather, she hadn't yet found a correlative for "thoughtful" dance music. The results are a little like Young Americans: auteurist pop with dance leanings.

Also: when her lyrics aim for "spirituality," she's embarrassing or worse. I'd forgive this if her post-Evita voice wasn't at its most pompous. The only time I hear some new kind of New Age-disco fusion is on "Sky Fits Heaven."

otm

candy perfume girl is one of my favourite madonna songs though

here my dear is/was an amazing album btw

I've never actually heard it, to be honest, but given it's one of those albums that most people seem to agree should come with a trigger warning for misogyny, I feel it's probably better if I give it a miss.

Guess I should find another by-word for "breakup album so bitter it's actually painful to listen to." Except Hard Candy doesn't seem to be a breakup album so much as a "look at me, I'm so hot, I got it going on I don't even need to think about you" which could be interesting if executed well but my memory is, it wasn't and it just came off as clunky and try-hard. (You are welcome to prove me wrong.)

well "look at me, I'm so hot, I got it going on I don't even need to think about you" seems to be the standard approach of most modern breakup songs/albums, rather than the bitter/angry/twisted/downbeat mood of albums like here my dear. i dont know if id say HMD is misogynistic, its just very acidic (but when did i stop loving you is one of the best/most bitter breakup/relationship post mortem songs ive ever heard).

but what i like about HMD is that hes not ashamed to put it all out there - it has some of the most painfully raw (but also beautiful) and honest songs he wrote. anyway, enough about marvin.

She's one of the few artists whose songs about their kids I don't skip

I agree! "Little Star" is lovely.

Songs on ROL I like:

Swim (guitar!)
Candy Perfume Girl
Skin
Nothing Really Matters
Sky Fits Heaven
To Have and Not to Hold
Little Star

Am I the only one who didn't Madonna's Neil Young-style thrashing on "Candy Perfume Girl" when she played it on the 2001 tour?

*who didn't MIND

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/Madonna-to-play-Super-Bowl-XLVI-halftime-show-100311

Madonna to play Super Bowl halftime
NewsCore

Updated Oct 3, 2011 12:57 PM ET

Madonna will perform during the Super Bowl XLVI halftime show, fansite SB Nation reported Monday.

The site said unnamed NFL sources had confirmed the "Material Girl" singer will entertain football fans at the NFL championship game, to be held Feb. 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The Black Eyed Peas played the halftime show at last year's title game, watched by over 111 million viewers.

The high-profile gig has gained notoriety after the infamous 2004 "wardrobe malfunction" that resulted in Justin Timberlake exposing Janet Jackson's breast to a live worldwide television audience.

As a result, the NFL has tried to steer clear from notably risque performers, inviting tamer acts such as Tom Petty, Paul McCartney and The Who.

watch out, Middle America – Madonna's gonna flaunt her roped, knotted Biceps of Doom.

unlike Bruce, slamming her gentles into a cameraman won't be an accident

Did they run our of old rock acts?

I wonder if it will be "controversial."

(Seriously, though, doesn't Lady Gaga exist for this sort of thing?)

They'll never run out of old rock acts, but Madonna was the last of the remaining huge 80s stars to not have done it.

(MJ, JJ, Springsteen and Prince have all been there)

next year they're going to bust out with Baltimora

he's dead!

next year they're going to bust out with Zombie Baltimora

So was Paul McCartney, but he put on a show anyway.

Night tonight
Gimme the other
Gimme the other
BRAAAAAAAAAAAINS

Last time, she debuted American Pie, didn't she?

That was 1998, and she backed out: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,617156,00.html

Madonna covers Between the Bars. Surprising!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIytf5S5zMs#t=185

That was just embarrassing. Jesus.

I saw one of her Yeezus-style late-night public projections last night:
http://i39.tinypic.com/2wp4ac0.png

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/25/madonna-secret-project_n_3980924.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXfXrl4K2D4

oh HELLO

http://www.portalfamososbr.com/rebel-heart-e-wash-all-over-me-novas-musicas-de-madonna-vazam-na-rede/

hello lower register

I think this is better than it could have been, given all: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/madonna-1#page4

rediscovered this and felt like sharing it for those who may not have heard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbwVhNvkhw0

so beautiful

83-88: great singles, not-so-great LP's.
89-00: the peak
01-present: fuck off.

I find that analysis weird considering that a significant amount of her best material appeared early in her career, including two of her best albums (s/t, True Blue), while her "peak" era contains a wildly uneven, overrated album (Like A Prayer), one of the worst movie tie-ins ever recorded (I'm Breathless), and some truly terrible singles ("Dear Jesse", "Oh Father", "Cherish", "American Pie"). Also, Confessions had some good stuff on it and American Life is grossly underrated by practically everyone.

2008-now is pretty much trash, though.

You're both wrong.

No, I thought about it for a couple of seconds and I'm right.

I don't like how rigid her vocals sound on most of her postmillennial material. Then again, aside from some scattered moments on Music and Confessions I don't like the material either.

I love "Cherish" and like "Oh Father." I temper my enthusiasm for the latter because even before the voice lessons she'd sung better ballads than it.

I know most people disagree with me but I've hated "Cherish" since it first appeared on radio.

it's part of your charm

DAN CAN'T MAKE ME CRY

Oh Father is terribly GOOD

'Cherish' and 'Oh Father' two of my favourite things she's ever done! I disagree about Like a Prayer being uneven... at a push, there's maybe two songs that aren't as good as the rest, but neither are horrible (I'm not saying which ones!)

'Dear Jessie' is a firm favourite of mine too... a song that would work equally well being covered by either Erasure or The Cure.

"Dear Jesse" works in context but is kind of irritating as a standalone song, if that makes any sense.

It's one of only two songs that's managed to move me to tears, so I disagree.

Her duds: https://humanizingthevacuum.wordpress.com/2017/07/06/worst-madonna-songs/

alfred u abandoned me

'American Life' is garbage.

Glad you included the unbearably turgid "Love Don't Live Here Anymore," which I suspect normally gets a pass by part of her (first) classic era.

yr unbearably turgid

A day late, but the four classic album reviews (s/t, Like a Prayer, Bedtime Stories, Ray of Light) that Pitchfork did for Madonna's birthday are worth a read. Alex Frank's analysis of her potentially problematic "earth mother" RoL phase is spot-on and provocative, and Owen Pallett OTM on BS being mostly a pleasant bore.

Thanks! I know lots of stans for that record but it's really a misfire to my ears. Somebody called the genre experiment as being one in "neo-soul", not "R&B slow jam", but whatever it was, Madge didn't make it work, especially compared to other chart music that year imo