MADONNA
(US,
twenty three Top 40 hits, five Top 40 albums)
The best
female pop star ever, if more for publicity
and likeability reasons than for her singing, which just sways above average.
Lapsed Catholic and born entertainer Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone was 25
years old when she had her first success in '84, having bummed around New York
for the previous seven years, trying her hand at ballet, cheap films, drumming
in bands and the infamous glamour-modelling career, the bare-breasted result of
which is still regularly put in the Sunday Sport. How do you evaluate her 80s
career and impact? In a rather chicken way, we're initially going to do it by
chronology. The essence of it all is, hopefully, there for all to see.
1984, "Holiday" ("just one day out of life, it would be, it would be so nice"),
upper-lip moles, sleeveless Boy Toy T-shirts, "Lucky Star" ("starlight,
starbright"), black ribbons, rubber wristlets, bared belly button,
immediate sex appeal, 1985, "Like A Virgin" ("touched for the very first time"), wedding dresses,
gondolas, denims, pink wigs on TOTP with Steve Wright hyperventilating,
"Material Girl" ("cause the
boy with the cold hard cash is always Mr Right"), Monroe take-offs,
meeting Sean Penn, "Crazy For You" ("touch me once and you know it's true"), Visionquest,
Bette Midler's "bra straps" introduction at Live Aid, tambourines,
"I ain't taking shit off today, they might hold it against me in ten years'
time", Desperately Seeking Susan, fishnet stockings, "Into The
Groove", ("only when I'm dancing
can I feel this free"), her first UK No.1, armpits, blokes adjusting
their ties, "Holiday" being re-released again, "Angel" ("you
must be an angel baby"), giggling, "Gambler" ("and I will take you by surprise"), lookalike contests,
emergence of the porn pics, "Dress You Up" ("you've got style, that's what all the girls say"),
marrying Penn on a cliff edge, 1986, "Borderline" ("feels
like I'm going to lose my mind"), bleached hair, "Live To
Tell" ("until then,
it will burn inside of me"), loved-up interviews, "Papa Don't Preach" ("but
I've made up my mind, I'm keeping my baby"), second UK No.1, cooking in the
video, Shanghai Surprise, huge disappointment, "True Blue", ("true
love, you're the one I'm dreaming of"), third UK No.1, cadillac-bonnet
chatette with ponytailed backing singers in the video, "Open Your
Heart" ("open your heart to me baby"), underwear only, 1987,
"La Isla Bonita" ("last
night I dreamt of San Pedro"), blood-red latino skirts, the UK tour,
riots, 'Madonnamania', jogging in Hyde Park with a trainer, several minders and
a few hundred overweight, hungover journalists, "Who's That Girl?" ("when
you see her, say a prayer and kiss your heart goodbye"), another rotten
film, "Causing A Commotion" ("I
got the moves baby, you got the motion"), "The Look Of Love",
her worst two singles, 1988, appearing on Broadway, a year in hiding, 1989,
filing for divorce, Pepsi ads, "Like A Prayer" ("I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there"), her
fourth UK No.1, burning crucifixes, kissing black priests, Papal condemnation,
dismissal by Pepsi, "Express Yourself" ("don't go for second best baby, put your love to the test"),
blonde again, "Cherish" ("you
are my destiny, I can't let go baby can't you see"), erotic video in
the ocean, "Dear Jessie" ("pink
elephants and lemonade"), the 90s and onwards.
So there she is in a nutshell. But of course, just relaying facts and events
only tells a segment of the phenomenon. She essentially provided a role model
for all women (and, to be honest, a good deal of men) to do what the hell they
liked and not give a toss about the opinions of the bigots or the squares or the
chauvinists or the reactionaries, while cunningly entrapping the slaverers at
the same time by maintaining an amazing quantity of raw sex appeal in her
mish-mash of images, both visually and musically. Thumb down the list of hits
and you see the variety of carefully planned, complementary messages - the
naive, fast-growing prodigy of "Holiday" and "Lucky Star";
the dancing good-time chick of "Into The Groove"; the loved-up, wifely
conservative of "Live To Tell"; the issue-heavy spokeswoman of
"Papa Don't Preach"; the sexed-to-the-eyeballs, rebellious chick of
"Open Your Heart"; the carefree controversy of "Like A
Prayer" (the best single she has ever released); the pro-wimmin yardstick
of "Express Yourself". While many of the songs were no more than
production line pieces of sugarpop (though "Into The Groove",
"Live To Tell" and "Like A Prayer" remain three of the
greatest singles ever recorded), there was an on-message co-operative story or
sly act of publicity which went with them all. She manipulated everyone and
everything to make sure she did and got exactly what she hungered for, making a
few enemies, but totally enthralling, intriguing and never failing to surprise a
world which lapped her up.
EXCESSES
Her
voice was average, even a bit of a
let-down at times (her live singing was sometimes very poor) but her strength
and independence, her recklessness and exhibitionism, her naivety and charm, her
feistiness and vulnerability, were all ingredients to her complex make-up. The
90s had a similar parade of ups and downs, with her excesses causing a worldwide
headshake of disbelief. The tacky, unerotic 'Sex' book, which made casual beau
and arse rapper Vanilla Ice even more broadly reviled than normal as he featured
in one pic with his hand down her knickers, was her darkest moment, despite
being a financial godsend for her. Her movie roles were invariably terrible,
with only Desperately Seeking Susan and Evita escaping the critics' sharpest
adjectives. But her inexhaustible capacity for reinvention and experiment made
her constantly one step ahead of the rest, with the images and music keeping the
proles on their toes. Even if you had wanted to, there was no way you could
shake off Madonna's zest for trying something new, and most of the time, being
absolutely top-drawer at it. Since her awesome 1997 return with the "Ray Of
Light" album, she has become the darling again. Her music is still assured,
fresh and original, her persona is still newsworthy, even if devoted motherhood
and an impending second marriage has bludgeoned home the fact that she is now a
40-plus mature, homely, family lady, and not the girl who goes topless on
catwalks or has lesbian sex on her videos or simulates masturbation onstage or
drops red hot candle wax on naked men in ludicrously sleazy films or says the
word 'fuck' seventeen times during one live concert broadcast. Her continued
presence, after 16 years of scandal, pressure, bombardment, acts of genius and
errors of catastrophe, makes her stand alone as the biggest and best star of the
80s and beyond, with even those fickle, bitchy and jealous sorts inside the
music industry standing up as one to acknowledge her brilliance, influence and
staying power. She holds the record for the most consecutive Top 10 hits, and to
date has chalked up ten No.1 singles, making her fourth in the all-time list.
Listen and admire.
Biggest
Hit: "Into The Groove", "Papa Don't Preach", "True
Blue", "La Isla Bonita", "Who's That Girl?", "Like
A Prayer", all No.1, 1985, 1986, 1986, 1987, 1987 and 1989.
Defining Moment: The whole damn lot.
Matt
