I'm burning up, burning up for your VOTES! — ILM Artist Poll #31 is Madonna

I want to walk in on Mom giving Dad a good spanky.

you really don't

I did eat KFC extra crispy with my parents once, and it was finger lickin' good.

I actually watched Truth or Dare with my mother. THAT was awkward.

xpost I hope you were all wearing your raincoats.

the only music I ever self-censored around my parents was Eazy-E's album, mostly because I really really really wanted them to like what I listened to so I could control the music on our yearly car rides between MN and OH

My dad really got into The Cure circa Faith and most of the dance music I was listening to, especially The Prodigy and 808 State; my mom liked Soul II Soul and Massive Attack. They both loved Seal. I think my mom rolled her eyes at JML but my dad stole my CD single and played the song for about a week (I don't think I ever got around to playing Fear of a Black Planet for him).

never mind KFC after Truth or Dare I could never look at Evian bottles the same way again

nightline did a special on 'justify my love', that and snl (they watched it on waynes world predictably) were the only times shown on tv at the time i can think of, she sold it stand alone (not even a 'making of thriller' tack on to justify the purchase, just a four minute music video)(would've killed to have seen a 'making of justify my love' mind you), sold a shitload. despite having been nearly impossible to see on tv when wayne's world did their parody within a month w/ madonna everyone knew the video enough to get the jokes.

"...is that Prince?"

what's crazy is that mtv had hyped that video for weeks beforehand and then decided to ban it at the last second. i think they're reasoning was actual the 'anti-semitism' charge nobody remembers.

At the time it seemed to me to be the most impossibly adult thing ever.

It was the first VHS single, wasn't it?

did Ted Koppel recite the lyrics?

xpost I thought Thriller was the first

fun fact: Lenny Kravitz wrote, produced, and did bg vocals ("hoh oh-ohhhh"/"yeah yeaaahhhh"/etc)

The Human League did it first, apparently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHS#VHS_single

On December 3, 1990, ABC's Nightline played the video in its entirety, then interviewed Madonna live about the video's sexual content and censorship. When asked whether she stood to make more money selling the video than airing it on MTV, she appeared impatient and answered, "Yeah, so? Lucky me."[18]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3yvKGQl6A4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUtMgR6tmwg

What an interview! Sadly, we're still having the same arguments 23 years later.

she comes off nervous (way more nervous than she ever was w/ loder) but huge kudos for calling out mtv on their bullshit for showing the 'wild thing' video (even if my 13 yr old self thanked god for it), calling out the networks for refusing to run condom ads, and (never can be done enough) calling out american parents for being lazy. crazy time capsule stuff going on in that interview w/ culture wars, second wave feminism v. third wave feminism

when i was a kid mtv europe seemed to only show durex ads. i miss mtv europe, it always seemed so polymorphously pan-europa, like there was this suggestion that everyone had been cast after sleeping with some executive at a party in jeanpaul gaultiers house, or at least it seems super fabulous like this at the time, and i also miss the clocks for different time zones. when they regionalised that was the moment it got boring for me. SIDENOTE.

quite curious to see where these singles place: "Papa Don't Preach," "True Blue," and "Ray of Light" i.e. seemed iconic at the time

"ray of light" seemed like a twofer for some rock critics, got to show that see they do like pop music and also see they're not afraid of techno (when there's a SONG you can HUM for a CHANGE amirite). i'm fine w/ it (i like several rol tracks, including all the other singles, a good bit more), suspect it won't place that high? could be some real narcissistic 'everyone shares my take' thought process there but yknow what? four tunnel of love tracks in the top twenty. i'm gonna ride this feeling and see where it takes me.

not so fond of "Ray of Light" myself -- she sounds like she's singing from a wind tunnel in outer space, which I guess is the point.

it's that sound of someone not even aiming for the high notes they used to hit w/o thinking twice, cf bono

tbf during her Oprah appearance she does (and she looks great)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AX55nr-Hxw

look at Oprah dance!

i will say, and this is maybe perverse, but i did find myself liking it more after i heard the curtiss maldoon track it bites pretty shamelessly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyCURI6PiaI

tbh though that's just 'the older i get, the more i find myself sympathizing w/ hippies', if i think of 'ray of light' as madonna offering a similar vibe for her now middle aged wannabes i can feel that, 'and i feel like i just got home' makes way more sense, is way more perfectly specifically joyous in the soccer mom context than in the celestial child of the universe in the brotherhood of man context.

xpost lol and there's oprah to provide the context

well, she gives them songwriting credit

"Ray Of Light" imo has aged terribly, i'm sure "Frozen" and maybe even some deep cuts/minor hits off that album will do better. would love if it missed the top 50 entirely.

I really should think "Nothing Really Matters" is worse than it is, but you don't even have to look at the credits to hear how it's a Patrick Leonard co-write.

god that sounds awesome, the fuck am i talking about 'ray of light' is awesome

lol otm

the Oprah performance is a good argument -- if someone wants to make it -- for how the opera helped.

I love how in that Oprah link you can tell that the echo is bothering her sometimes

also yeah, she couldn't have done those long-ass phrases near the end without the voice lessons

was tempted to write "the Oprah lessons"

the swoops and bleeps (and lol at that EKG meter graphics) designed to make her audience know that THIS IS DANCE MUSIC Y'ALL were dated even in '98 though.

also:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1G3FI_Wa0E

aww <3

i miss mtv europe

Haha wow, they must have regionalised about a week after we got MTV, I had totally forgotten it ever existed. There were still echoes I suppose, like when the MTV Europe awards would be all US/UK acts, and then Jovanotti shows up like he's a megastar

Ray Of Light is awesome

mtv uk started after britpop basically as the uk and rest of europe certainly was quite different. but the 1st few years of mtv when cable hit here (94) was mtv europe and it really was hugely different. Stuff like Whale was on constantly, dEUS, and tricky.

'and i feel like i just got home' makes way more sense, is way more perfectly specifically joyous in the soccer mom context

why i voted for it (low)

"do you want me to promote one of my up-and-coming button-pushing products"

ha i'd never heard that line in the hippie new age sense, it's always been a bizarre flash of the mundane (and the ecstatic therein) on the album. play it when you get home from work, return to the sanctuary

quite curious to see where these singles place: "Papa Don't Preach," "True Blue," and "Ray of Light" i.e. seemed iconic at the time

the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn) wrote this at 2013-03-07 03:12:14.201

I never liked any of these very much, compared to their contemporaries. When reviewing songs for this poll though, I rated Papa Don't.Preach very highly. Hope it's reflected in the poll results.

The other two I still don'tcare for.

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

so Madonna is officially pop music's first billionaire

nah she ain't - http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalleygreenburg/2013/03/28/why-madonna-isnt-on-the-forbes-billionaires-list/

makes sense but would not have predicted roger waters was the second highest earning musician last year (dre first obv).