Madonna

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:24 pm

Madonna is a social artist and an okay dancer. She's not much of a singer or a musician. She's very clever at working the fads. Since she moved to Britain, she's become an insufferable bore about nearly everything. The fake Brit accent really is over the top.

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:33 pm

The Weekenders wrote:Madonna is a social artist...

That's an interesting turn of phrase. I like it.
Someone like David Bowie could also be called a social artist, because he
was so in tune with fads that he completely reinvented himself several times.

Ronbo · Post by **Ronbo** » Fri May 02, 2008 2:41 pm

Feline AIDS is the #1 killer of domestic cats. --Debbie Downer

F-150's are the leading killer of domestic cats here.

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Fri May 02, 2008 8:26 pm

I never was much of a fan of Madonna but ..yeah....Metropolis!

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri May 02, 2008 8:44 pm

dwest wrote:Joan, adulterated, impure, and unplugged

Joan's even lovelier (late) sister, Mimi

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Sat May 03, 2008 9:44 am

Sometimes the definition of pure and unadulterated can get a bit...fuzzy...

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Sat May 03, 2008 5:05 pm

So today I went to Wal-Mart and bought the CD. I love it. The pictures of Madonna make me kind of sick, though, because they're really sexual and she's an old lady who shouldn't do that kind of stuff. If when I'm pushing fifty I look half that good (with or without photo-editing) I'll be happy.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Sat May 03, 2008 5:52 pm

fearfaoin wrote:
The Weekenders wrote:Madonna is a social artist...
That's an interesting turn of phrase. I like it.
Someone like David Bowie could also be called a social artist, because he
was so in tune with fads that he completely reinvented himself several times.

Yeah, I came up with that expression especially for her, because she showed that the music almost doesn't matter all that much, as long as she is leading and the followers are following.

David Bowie is one too, I agree. It doesn't mean that somebody can't be musically talented but when you are talking about these big image pop stars, the music only has to be good enough for the moment it's popular. Their real artistry is either finding or creating the cutting edge of the moment and grabbing it. Her old records sound pretty lame now. Bowie, being more musically talented, wears a bit better. But he definitely zeroed in on the glam rock- androgyny thing way back when and ran with it.

It's definitely a cut above being a one-hit wonder. I think that Cyndi Lauper falls somewhere in between...she combined her song with her wacky image to carry forth the message.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Sat May 03, 2008 11:39 pm

Cranberry wrote:So today I went to Wal-Mart and bought the CD. I love it. The pictures of Madonna make me kind of sick, though, because they're really sexual and she's an old lady who shouldn't do that kind of stuff. If when I'm pushing fifty I look half that good (with or without photo-editing) I'll be happy.

Ye call pushing fifty old...?

I wouldn't kick her out of the bed for eating crackers.

Slan,
D.

brewerpaul · Post by **brewerpaul** » Sun May 04, 2008 4:53 am

Cranberry wrote:So today I went to Wal-Mart and bought the CD. I love it. The pictures of Madonna make me kind of sick, though, because they're really sexual and she's an old lady who shouldn't do that kind of stuff. If when I'm pushing fifty I look half that good (with or without photo-editing) I'll be happy.

Over 50 is too late for sexual things? Omigod, someone forgot to tell me that 8 years ago!!

(having a wife 12 years your junior does help)

I'm not a big pop music fan, but I do find Madonna inspirational for how great and sexy she keeps herself looking at her "advanced age".

kennychaffin · Post by **kennychaffin** » Sun May 04, 2008 6:47 am

Nice crotch-shot on the cover there.

Social Artist....very descriptive...very scary.

KAC

The Sporting Pitchfork · Sun May 04, 2008 8:06 am

I've always thought she had talent and a particularly focused drive to get what she wanted out of life. David Byrne (whose Talking Heads were also on the same label--Sire Records--along with her back in the '80s) has talked about how her drive and calculated approach to achieving fame were evident within minutes of meeting her. The Bowie comparison is interesting in that both of them were hugely popular and influential in their earlier days and then both of them suffered a pretty big fall into indifference tempered by occasional brief, faltering comebacks. Bowie, now 61, is actually doing pretty well for himself these days. He's had some good roles in movies (he rocked as Nikola Tesla in The Prestige) and his last two albums have been surprisingly good. It remains to be seen whether Madonna has the vision and motivation to keep on reformatting herself and occasionally giving off traces of relevance the way Bowie has. I thought Ray of Light was a fantastic pop album, but the sample cuts I've heard from this seem pretty empty and one-dimensional; just Madonna trying desperately to glom onto whatever seems to be the trend these days, as opposed to setting it. Bowie did the same thing in the early '90s and was rightly accused of trying to be a "Rip Van Withit" of pop music. It remains to be seen whether Madonna will have the sense to make a little something more of her legacy like Bowie did or if she'll become a total has-been...Neither would surprise me at all.

On a separate note, I also find her fake English accent to be intensely annoying, but I think Madonna's accent shifts over the past few decades could make for a fascinating sociolinguistic study...Somebody should set up a "Madonna corpus."

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Sun May 04, 2008 8:13 am

My ex-boyfriend spoke in a fake British accent (in fact, he still does). I hate to say this because it will make me seem more shallow than I like to seem, but that's a large part of the reason that I left him.

Ray of Light, I think, in a hundred years, will still be listened to. It's interesting, to me at least, that what is widely regarded as Madonna's greatest musical achievement came not in the beginning or end but rather in the middle of her career.

Have any of you who have heard Ray of Light heard American Life? I really like it as well.

Sober Sam · Post by **Sober Sam** » Sun May 04, 2008 12:14 pm

dwest wrote:Mary and Joan, adulterated, impure, and unplugged Pops Patti when I was a lad, funny how little change there be.

Lovely guitar though...

I never liked Madonna. Just a few days ago, I found her book "SEX" at a friends home. It seems to me, that she is all about shock value. I don't like her music either.
I do however respect her ability to market herself and keep on coming up with media food that people will buy. She's very clever at that.

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Sun May 04, 2008 8:55 pm

Cranberry wrote:So today I went to Wal-Mart and bought the CD. I love it. The pictures of Madonna make me kind of sick, though, because they're really sexual and she's an old lady who shouldn't do that kind of stuff. If when I'm pushing fifty I look half that good (with or without photo-editing) I'll be happy.

I think you are going to be surprised when you become an "old lady pushing fifty".

There really is life after fifty.

(do y'all think I ought to let him in on the secret that the second fifty are more fun than the first?)