She was extremely entertainment savvy. She had a 6th sense in knowing how and when to grab the spotlight, how to cause an uproar, and ride it until it died down. Then it was on to the next transformation.
Even if you didn’t like her, she made sure you were paying attention to her.
I was more of a heavy metal, alt and industrial fan, but I give credit where it’s due. She played the game masterfully.
she was more interesting than anyone in the celebrity world now. that’s for damn sure. but that’s true of any artist from that time period that was popular enough to be played on the radio or MTV.
nowadays mainstream art is missing the passion of experience.
i was thinking about this the other day when i was watching curb your enthusiasm. larry david was so in tune with the human experience because he lived in the thick of NYC when it was a melting pot of would-be actors and comedians and artists and musicians and everyday people. it was a diverse mix that could afford to live in a hub of culture and opportunity no matter where their lives would lead.
shit now is so out of touch, soft and self-absorbed. the brooklyn gentrifier doesn’t have to live next to the waiter at the restaurant they eat at every day. those lesser people may as well not even exist. and they’re seen as lesser, and this is something that’s just understood even if nobody says it out loud, but in the past you didn’t feel that way unless you were at the furthest edge.
the working class and the poor used to have a voice within culture even if it could be muted at times. maybe kurt cobain or madonna were rich and famous and maybe they never preached the right politics but they spoke for us just the same.
Primadonnas didn’t exist pre-Madonna.
She may have been a button pusher in her poorer days, but now she’s just another super rich celebrity.
Yeah, I have a friend who was in the CBGB scene from the late 70s, though the 80s. She has pictures of when Madonna was hanging out there, before she was famous, but as she was getting notoriety for her voice, drumming, and sex charged performances, which were a lot more punk at the time. She has pictures of her participating in anti-authority events from the time, and shit.
Now though? A whack job, deeply into cultism, and way disconnected from the girl sleeping on the floor, and hanging out with the hardcore punk, and goth, bands at CBGB and Mudd Club.
This is just factually untrue. She’s been a button-pusher and trailblazer from the very beginning of her career and never stopped. She was already hugely famous and wealthy in the 1980s. Saying she’s “just another super-rich celebrity” completely ignores the influence she’s had and the impact she’s made.
What buttons has she pushed lately, other than those of people who think NFTs are stupid?
The first one that comes to mind is her refusal to retire and take on the old-hag role society expects of women, as if women are supposed to disappear after a certain age. The fact that she made a successful comeback just last month with the excellent Confessions II, 43 years after her debut, shows that she’s still defying expectations and breaking conventions. And regardless of what she does now, her legacy remains untouched.
So she released new music that I haven’t heard of. That counts as button pushing these days? Whose? She’s opposing typical gender expectations? All images I’ve seen of her over the last few years showed obvious signs of too much plastic surgery. People are free to change their bodies however they like, sure, but if you want to send a message about self-acceptance and body positivity, particularly to women who aren’t quite young anymore, that’s a weird way to do that. Not saying you should stop liking her, obviously, but I haven’t seen her being rebellious in quite a while.
If you can’t see how coming out with a critically acclaimed album that’s being called your best work in 20 years, at the age of 67, when every single time you’re mentioned there are people rushing in to say, “You’re old and expired, just go away already,” is pushing buttons, I really don’t know what to say.
And as for the plastic surgery bit, I’ve always found the line of thinking that you should “just accept your age” and stop trying to look or act young pretty odd. I myself have had plastic surgery (a deep-plane facelift and neck lift, breast lift and augmentation, etc.) to look more youthful. Not wanting to age into the stereotypical image of an old woman isn’t inauthentic or negative.
The pressure on women is to look young. Rebelling against that ideally includes not trying to make yourself look young by having invasive procedures that most women can’t even afford. Again, get all the plastic surgery you like. But it does send a signal and it isn’t “I accept that I am not 23 anymore, society can go fuck itself”.
Anyway, accepting for the moment that encouraging women to grow old while not caring what others think about them is her cause. Is that it? Because others are doing a much better job of that.
Now, I haven’t followed her because the last time I was consciously aware of her music (some time in the 00s, I think) it had started to become generic so I stopped caring. So earlier I tried to hint at a thing that I found actively annoying about her in recent years, namely her NFTs. Want to comment on that? How she jumped on that dumpsterfire of a bandwagon to make more money?
To be completely honest, I wasn’t even aware of the NFT thing. She has done some pretty unsavory things over the course of her career, the NFT thing, obviously, her reaction to Sinéad O’Connor tearing up the photo of the Pope, her habit of being consistently late for concerts, etc., and I have no qualms about admitting that. When you’ve been a public figure for over four decades, you’re bound to have a mix of good and bad things to talk about.
You’re still not answering the question of ‘what buttons is she still pressing.’
An old person releasing another album isn’t pressing buttons.
I did answer the question. You only get that interpretation if you ignore every bit of context.
refusal to retire and take on the old-hag role
Does that include refusing to accept she is aging, and instead of performing while aging gracefully, she’s had a ton of work done that turned her unrecognizable?
I can’t dance, and I really can’t sing. I can really only do one thing, and that’s be Lady Sovereign.
I’m so glad to learn about the book. I honestly never knew a lot about Madonna and I’m so glad that you just threw your opinion out there for me to learn of something new.
There’s a lot to be said about Madonna:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_impact_of_Madonna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philanthropy_and_activism_of_Madonna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_as_a_gay_icon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminism_of_Madonna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_and_sexuality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_and_religion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_and_contemporary_arts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_of_Madonna
I love how Truth or Dare essentially ended Kevin Costner’s career for decades and launched Antonio Banderas Hollywood era.
Never knew Costner was in Truth or Dare.
Pretty sure he destroyed his career with The Postman and Waterworld, but I’ll take your word for it.
It’s a shame because waterworld absolutely holds up and I will die on this hill.
Before the movie came out, Costner could do no wrong. He was such a dick and Madonna roasted him so hard that he lost a lot.of his luster. The Bodyguard came out where he got carried by Whitney Houston, then Perfect World, which was a good movie thanks to Clint Eastwood directing, but basically an indie film in sensibility. His big movies that followed Truth or Dare, where he needed ro carry rhe movie were Wyatt Earp, Waterworld, and The Postman, but people were not showing up for him anymore.
Maybe it wasn’t Madonna alone, but I remember a lot of people talking about that Costner interaction ans how fake and cringe he he across.
Quick search shows that ‘The Bodyguard’ made about $400 million and was one of the biggest pictures of that year.
‘Truth Or Dare’ made about $30 million.
What’s your point? The Bodyguard was a massive hit and fully carried by Whitney Houston. I acknowledged that upfront. I also pointed out the next movies in his filmography that he needed to carry himself. The box office numbers do not reflect, in any way, the impact of Truth or Dare + Sex.
No, you just like attention, anyway you can get it. There isn’t really a political statement in letting everyone see your gap teeth and giant bush
An uneducated, misogynistic take that completely misses the sociocultural context and diminishes the legacy of one of the most influential women of the 20th and 21st centuries. Nice.
