Phineaspoe

Oh, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times... I don't think she'd ever have sung most of her back catalogue at the time, except for maybe YMLM, TAB, and some "mature" adult pop, like I'll Remember or LIB. I don't even know if she'd sung LAP (in fact, did she at all during those years? Can't recall.) Indeed, I can only picture something like Bjork's Verspertine tour: select cities, opera house venues, a full orchestra and choir, and WO in charge of the beats. It would have been divine.

I think a lot of us underestimate how much people have disliked/ignored her music, or whatever little they've managed to hear of her music, since 2008. It's one thing to receive hate while putting out pop like Like a Prayer or Rain or TAB (and having a full-on marketing machine supporting you), and quite another to receive hate while churning out 4 Minutes, Celebration, or GMAYL (with minimal marketing support). This is not the only consideration to keep in mind, but it does seem like the one consideration that is more fully under her control. Her musical output--and most precisely, single choices. I can try to understand and even defend most of Madonna's choices, but her own cynical view of what pop music has become is her own form of self-sabotage. And that to me has been her biggest career mistake.

Walmart Madonna trying to get those coins.

It's one of my favorite M albums, so it was hard to choose... But "Something to Remember" is REAL.

It's one of my favorites from the post-Confessions era (yes, in my mind it has been one long era since then). Just a solid, interesting track that tells a story and goes somewhere. I like to pair it with Devil Pray.

It would today.

So glad this guy is getting attention! He is a talented dreamboat!!

"In life there is no real safety except for self-belief."

Thanks so much, Nikki. So beautiful. For those of you who can't see it, it's Madonna singing If I Had a Hammer in full to a beautiful black-and-white montage of M and her dancers performing on stage and visiting different slums and hospitals around the world. There's also a beautiful speech she makes during a prayer circle before the show, and some dancers get quotes as well. Just a sample: Madonna: "It's important to realize, to recognize, to remind yourself every day that in the blink of an eye everything can change - anything and everything, you just never know. We're human beings and we tend to get into the habit of taking things for granted..." Unknown male voice: "Here we are, in one of the corners of the world that's really suffering. What you may not know know is that this woman here, how far her arms stretch... And how, amidst this world tour where we're staying in five star hotels, she's sending me emails, 'Make sure that tin roof on that farmer's house is done; make sure that boy goes to the hospital; find out what's going on with that clinic we're building.' This is what she's pushing me towards: lending a hand to those people who don't have a voice."

I believe you need to have a subscription to Showtime, and I think it's a cheaper monthly charge because it's through Amazon. But you still need that extra step. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201975120

This is my new favorite thread

Simple, transcendental, perfect.

It should be, it's stunning!

Ooooh... will we have some DANCE numbers? My pulse is starting to race.

Very Baby Spice. That's a compliment in my book. So excited she is doing American Life. Hope she changes the rap verse to mock he-who-shall-not-be-named.