I'll Make You Love Me: The Madonna "True Blue" Poll

Lex OTM way, way, way upthread - when the intro kicks in on 'Open Your Heart' it's so fucking energising.

I can't complain about the top two - prefer the follow-up far more, though.

I had a chance to write at length about "Papa Don't Preach" last summer: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/songs-of-the-summer-1986/

WUTCHOWT

I'm really enjoying Ned's discussion on this podcast, btw. I'm only up to the "Live to Tell" part, but great discussion on Madonna (and also Kermit the Frog!).

The interviewer is typical of a certain generational divide that I've noticed: as someone young enough that Madonna, for him, is Confessions on a Dance Floor, he's unable to conceive of Madonna as anything other than "a gay artist." But, like Ned, my experience of her, at least up until the Erotica era, was that pretty much everyone I knew was into her.

"Open Your Heart" is the greatest song in the history of the universe
― droit au butt (Euler), Saturday, February 17, 2018 2:11 PM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This was my conviction for the longest time, but I have failed to connect with it in recent years it's weird

Thanks for linking "A Different Corner" and "Live to Tell," Ned.

This was my conviction for the longest time, but I have failed to connect with it in recent years it's weird

Opposite for me. I always considered it a good single, but in recent years it's become untouchable brilliance.

It's far from my favourite thing on here, but the "why oh why" hook in 'Jimmy Jimmy' is pretty neat! Also, 'Where's the Party?' is a jam.

the jimmy jimmy “why oh why” hook is pure bliss. peak girl-group madonna.

everything written about “open your heart” in this thread is otm, except for the fact that it didn’t win, which is not otm.

"Open Your Heart" man

open your heart. it just makes you feel like you can do _anything_

Listen to how Madonna rewrote this damn thing:

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

“I’ve had to work much harder than this for something I want, don’t try to resist me” is one of the all time great pop lyrics - especially in the context of a song that works pretty damn hard.

in 5th grade (1986, the year of our lord madonna) i let myself get talked out of performing a dance to “open your heart” for a school concert & i regret it to this day

:(

this is my favorite thread revival in years.

This album is awesome, and 14 years later the poll results stand.

Incredible mix, one of the best extended 12"s of an 80s tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvvnGsqtZA4

otm`

I have the clearest memory of listening to this on my Walkman on a trip with my fam. Jimmy Jimmy was my fave and I was Madonna that year for Halloween lol

why
oh why
oh why
oh why

Oh why
Oh why
Oh why

it's so underrated

Personally I would have added a wig but my mom made me the lace dress by hand nd drew on my mole.

https://i.ibb.co/WDt7BWH/Screenshot-20231021-222257.png
post a pic

fab u lous

i remember going over to my friend’s house when I was 10 - her older cousin Mandy from the city was visiting
Mandy answered the door at like noon on a Sunday in full Madonna. Like, FULL madge:
arms full of silver & rubber bracelets
massive earings, loads of necklaces & crosses
hair scarf
jacket over layered tank tops & tube skirt electric blue lycra leggings
studded high heeled ankled boots
THE. WORKS
she chewed gum & smelled like 10 cans of hairspray & i didn’t know whether to fall to thr ground or pee or both
i was so in awe

and for like 2 years that was basically how she dressed

her name was Mandy & she is still like a god to

me

I think this is a really uneven album - half of it's great, half of it not-so-good - but worth owning just for the cover, probably my favorite portrait of Madonna.

I guess that's fair, tbh. But the best songs are so good the rest are almost like bonus tracks.

True. This is why she's really a singles artist to me, which is not a bad thing to be at all, it's just how she performs best as a recording artist.

Also, another thing about the cover: I've never seen an original pressing unopened, but IIRC it was packaged in blue plastic wrap with the title adhered to it as a sticker, and when you removed it, you're left with a textless gatefold portrait. I didn't grow up with vinyl, but when your albums typically have that kind of thoughtful design, I can see the appeal from a non-audiophile perspective.

the album cover is a fabulous photo

My vinyl copy bought at the time with my birthday money isn’t a gatefold, but it was perhaps different in the UK.