When you think about it, Madonna is amazing
The staff of Billboard Magazine produced a list of Madonna's top 15 tracks today. I'll get on my feminist soapbox for a bit and state that a male artist of Madonna's standing would have had lists of a similar ilk studiously and seriously compiled and dissected many times over. It is only now, 30 years into her career, that people are crediting the woman as a significant musical figure? Geez!
I remember when Molly Meldrum first started talking about her on "Countdown" - it doesn't seem like thirty years ago. When I decided to jog my memory I was a bit surprised to find I have ten of her albums (including some greatest hits etc). Wow! So she's been a big part of the soundtrack of my life since I was a teenager.
Anyway, people who know me won't be surprised to find out I don't completely agree with Billboard's list, although I don't entirely disagree with it either. I've compiled my own list of Madonna's best. These songs aren't necessarily her biggest hits and there are a couple of album tracks there, too. Obviously such lists are subjective and you are welcome to disagree.
1. Holiday
2. Into The Groove
3. Open Your Heart
4. Vogue
5. Sooner or Later (from Dick Tracy, written by Stephen Sondheim no less)
6. Rain
7. Deeper and Deeper
8. I Want You (with Massive Attack)
9. Beautiful Stranger
10. Ray of Light*
11. Sky Fits Heaven*
12. Don't Tell Me
13. What It Feels Like For a Girl
14. Hung up
15. Sorry
Other honourable mentions should go to "Frozen*", "Express Yourself", "Deeper and Deeper", "Rescue Me" and "Justify my Love". I'll also point out that "Holiday" was released in 1983 and "Sorry" and "Hung Up" were released in 2005. If you were to list "best ofs" of other artists, their commercial and critical peaks would most likely be confined to a few years or a decade maybe or what Regurgitator succinctly defined as 'I like your old stuff better than your new stuff'. But with Madonna, her new stuff holds up well against her old stuff.
So Madonna may not be the best singer (although she's better than people think) and there are some early albums that were a couple of good singles and a lot of fillers. She has a taste for concocting scandals around her public image which makes me roll my eyes (but her personal life seems relatively stable and surprisingly lacking in scandal). But for what appears to be a conscious creative decision to always be seeking new influences and her determination to never be a nostalgia act and for producing a long, long list of pop and dance classics, some respect please and a round of applause for Madonna.
* These three are from the album "Ray of Light" which IMHO is her masterpiece.
I remember when Molly Meldrum first started talking about her on "Countdown" - it doesn't seem like thirty years ago. When I decided to jog my memory I was a bit surprised to find I have ten of her albums (including some greatest hits etc). Wow! So she's been a big part of the soundtrack of my life since I was a teenager.
Anyway, people who know me won't be surprised to find out I don't completely agree with Billboard's list, although I don't entirely disagree with it either. I've compiled my own list of Madonna's best. These songs aren't necessarily her biggest hits and there are a couple of album tracks there, too. Obviously such lists are subjective and you are welcome to disagree.
1. Holiday
2. Into The Groove
3. Open Your Heart
4. Vogue
5. Sooner or Later (from Dick Tracy, written by Stephen Sondheim no less)
6. Rain
7. Deeper and Deeper
8. I Want You (with Massive Attack)
9. Beautiful Stranger
10. Ray of Light*
11. Sky Fits Heaven*
12. Don't Tell Me
13. What It Feels Like For a Girl
14. Hung up
15. Sorry
Other honourable mentions should go to "Frozen*", "Express Yourself", "Deeper and Deeper", "Rescue Me" and "Justify my Love". I'll also point out that "Holiday" was released in 1983 and "Sorry" and "Hung Up" were released in 2005. If you were to list "best ofs" of other artists, their commercial and critical peaks would most likely be confined to a few years or a decade maybe or what Regurgitator succinctly defined as 'I like your old stuff better than your new stuff'. But with Madonna, her new stuff holds up well against her old stuff.
So Madonna may not be the best singer (although she's better than people think) and there are some early albums that were a couple of good singles and a lot of fillers. She has a taste for concocting scandals around her public image which makes me roll my eyes (but her personal life seems relatively stable and surprisingly lacking in scandal). But for what appears to be a conscious creative decision to always be seeking new influences and her determination to never be a nostalgia act and for producing a long, long list of pop and dance classics, some respect please and a round of applause for Madonna.
* These three are from the album "Ray of Light" which IMHO is her masterpiece.
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