Friday Night Videos
It wasn’t easy turning me into a Madonna fan — and even then it never quite took. Her first hit, “Holiday,” was a third-rate ripoff of The Go-Go’s far superior “Vacation.” And as a Go-Go’s fan, I resented her for it. “Like A Virgin” didn’t do anything for me, either. I saw some promise in “Material Girl,” but the promise wasn’t kept very long, as it would be five more years before she was able to catch my ear again.
But then…
From 1989 to 1992, Madonna put out a series of albums and singles I still find myself listening to, sometimes even queuing them up on purpose. Like A Prayer was the first of the three albums, followed in pretty short order by I’m Breathless (“Music From and Inspired by the Film Dick Tracy“) and Erotica.
I don’t know who thought it would ever work, pairing Madonna with Broadway songwriter Stephen Sondheim for the Dick Tracy soundtrack, but it turned out to be an inspired bit of stunt-casting. Erotica was accompanied by Madonna’s notorious Sex coffee-table book, which signaled the start of her rapid descent into sad self-parody. Oh, well — I still got three pretty decent albums out of her.
So let’s start tonight with the single that caused a bunch of commotion when it came out. I didn’t understand the commotion then, and I don’t understand it now. But I know a good pop single when I hear one, and this is the one that turned me, very briefly, into something like a Madonna fan.
“…her rapid decent…”
Some typos are better than others.
That was awesome. But I’ll still fix it. Sigh.
I date the beginning of Madonna’s complete downward spiral to right after she signed up for Evita. That was also about the time she started losing all that weight…she has looked like Skeletor from He-Man ever since.
What perches thy Pallas, Madonnite? Serendipitous soundings, rapping, tapping from the Belmont chamber.
My favorite Madonna single has always been Live to Tell. Like a Prayer is really good too.
I can still enjoy some of her music, but it requires blocking out all the annoying things she’s done. Not the least of which was butchering Santa Baby.
re Evita: I thought Madonna’s shortcomings as a singer were painfully highlighted whenever she and Mandy Patinkin shared a song.
They performed a duet on I’m Breathless called “What Can You Lose” that was much better than anything from Evita. But of course, Patinkin still schooled her.