Jump to content

MadonnaNation's top 25 Madonna songs


Guest henZ

Recommended Posts

Okay, here we go. There are still some write ups missing, but I am hoping I'll find someone to do them sometime soon...

You guys have NO IDEA what a MESS this has been. It's been almost impossible to collect 25 write ups. Lazy bastards :lol:

Anyway, here we go.

These five JUST MISSED the top 25:

'Till Death Do Us Part

Sorry

Papa Don’t Preach

Rain

Bad Girl

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#25

IPB Image

Bedtime Story by Jimmy Mack

”Bedtime Story” will always have special memories for me. Even although it’s not her best single and is one of her least successful, its release is still one of the most exciting periods of my Madonna fandom.

You see, I wasn’t always such a Madonna fan – it was all about Eurythmics/Annie Lennox for me. But as the rest of the world was going off Madonna in 1992, I was starting to take a keen interest. By the time “Bedtime Stories” came around, it was the first album release I was experiencing as a genuine megafan, and I couldn’t wait. The track I was most anxious to hear was “Bedtime Story”. I'd read about how Bjork had written it, that it was going to be a single, and how (according to “The Face”) remixes would likely turn it into a dancefloor classic.

When I first heard it, I thought it was a thundering let-down. It seemed like such an ill fit for her, the obtuse melody being pure Bjork. But I knew it was interesting … it just took a few plays for it to work its magic on me.

It’s undoubtedly one of Madonna’s most sensual tracks – effortlessly sexy without trying to be so (which is my one quibble with the likes of “Erotica”). The production also pulls off that rare trick of making it seem like you’re listening to a minimal track, when there are actually so many intricate little details in it. But the most interesting thing for me is Bjork’s lyrics. I remember Camille Paglia saying that Madonna’s power does not lie in what she says, but in her actions, visuals and images. Bjork obviously comes from the same school of thinking; hence this track's call to forget words, logic and reason, and just get lost and wrapped up in feelings and sensations.

The single release itself? Well, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I knew it would end Madonna’s run of top ten singles in the UK. But once “Take a Bow” took care of that particular record, I was interested in seeing how people would react to it. The events around the single were soooooo exciting: the announcement that she would be performing at the BRITs, the wonderful single formats, the brilliant Orbital remix, that eye-popping video, it going into the charts way above my expectations at number 4, then the actual BRITs performance itself …

Of course, it had plunged to number 21 by week three and missed the top 40 in the States, and was soon forgotten. I always thought it would get a positive reassessment once it appeared on a greatest hits album - most “GHV2” reviews pointed it out as one of her mis-steps! But still, even if the public at large don’t quite get “Bedtime Story”, I do. It’s not about the melody, it’s about the mood. I bloody love it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#24

IPB Image

Burning Up by svperstar

If the Madonna attitude had to be defined by any specific four minutes of music, that honor would go to “Burning Up,” the grandest of all her rock-vibe songs. One doesn’t have to dig very far or listen very long to see that this is a woman who enjoys taking control of everything she sets her mind to. The music is fearsomely ambitious, the lyrics infectious, and the chorus utterly hypnotizing (a friend once referred to it as a “sonic hard-on”). The best part amongst all this tantalizing attitude? The way she almost growls “I’m on fire” towards the end, before launching into a semi-orgasmic grunt during the track’s fantastic fade-out. She may be burning up for our love, but she’s nowhere near as hot as we are listening to her talk about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even though Bedtime Story slipped quite fast in the UK - i wonder if this was a change in the charts itself as songs entered higher and fell quicker especially those already on albums. M's releases have always been like that I guess post 1994 and maybe that relfects a change in the singles market - other artists have suffered it too.

Would it be correct to even say the Brits performance slowed its lunge after all it fel 4-8-21 - it oculd have spent one more week in the top 40 as falling off from 21 is quite rare but i guess it was forgotten about by then.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#23

IPB Image

Borderline by loomer

A breakthrough song in America, this mid-tempo delight set Madonna on the path of superstardom as it eventually peaked after many weeks of climbing the chart at number 10, actually spending more weeks in the chart than any of her other subsequent bigger hits (longevity record tied with “Take A Bow”) and became the first of 17 consecutive top 10 hits (all the others were top 5) beginning her domination of the 80s.

The video was also hugely important in establishing Madonna as a force. It may seem primitive now, but at the time it was very impressive, beautifully shot by Mary Lambert who brilliantly captured the young Madonna’s beauty. It was one of the best early videos with a plot, featuring Madonna as a model and graffiti artist, in a variety of garish outfits – love the yellow nail varnish and high heels! It garnered her the first of many MTV VMA nominations (as best “new artist”) and led to a lot of young girls copying her look, the “wannabes” who would soon reach epidemic proportions with the release of her second album “Like A Virgin”. She was pitted against the at the time briefly more successful rival Cyndi Lauper, who had a similar but even more outrageous look.

On initial release it flopped in the UK, reaching a dismal no 56, but was reissued in February 1986 and got to no 2 (and a nice no 1 in Ireland) in the wake of Madonna Mania, and thus sounded oddly dated compared to her other hits of the time, having a disco feel. It had the same bell-like keyboards that were used on a song from previous Reggie Lucas protégé, the quite fabulous R&B/disco singer Stephanie Mills and her “Never Knew Love Like This Before” hit from 1980 (a UK no 4, US no 6 which showed the inherent commercial appeal of this sound), yet Lucas improved even on that great song here with his composition for Madonna.

Though overshadowed by the better known “Holiday”, in hindsight “Borderline” stands as perhaps the best song from her early career and has a timeless appeal, and is a favourite of other musicians as evidenced by the numerous cover versions from artists such as Jody Watley, Rob Thomas and Belle & Sebastian. It’s also arguably her best early vocal performance from the time when her limitations were at their most obvious and she was infamously criticised as sounding like Minnie Mouse on helium. Here she displayed her excellent ability to sincerely emote and communicate a song’s lyric convincingly with soul, without the gratuitous vocal gymnastics that a lot of technically superior vocalists so often employ that obscures a song’s message and emotional content.

It is one of those rare pop songs that at least manages to hint at deeper emotions, some prurient people have even interpreted it to be about an orgasm! Though she would go on to improve and refine her own music and write even better songs herself, this still stands as one of her best records and an important breakthrough song that helped her quest for world domination. A perfect pop song and just a great all-round record, that sadly perhaps is a bit underrated in her oeuvre.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#22

IPB Image

Holiday by Eternal Flame

The fifth track on Madonna's classic self-titled debut album was the timeless dance number, Holiday. Not only did it become her first top 20 hit, but it launched Madonna to stardom. There has never been an official music video release of this single other than a couple live performances of the song. Although the song and lyrics itself are quite simple the message of the song is probably one of the best of her first couple of LPs. The song has also been performed on every Madonna tour, excluding her most recent Confessions Tour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#21

IPB Image

Die Another Day by 12:51

The Music era ended abruptly in 2001, leaving only 3 releases to its credit and a rather rushed compilation in its wake. As a result, fans had to wait a rather excruciating year for "Die Another Day," a reviled and loved James Bond theme, but an underrated Madonna single all the same. It made a brief splash before the attention was focused on the impending car-crash that followed (the "American Life" single), but the time it spent in the Madonna fan lexicon was a good one indeed. While it's perhaps her least accessible hit ever (vocodered, clipped, and distorted to the maximum), its success proved for a fleeting moment that the public would always respond to Madonna's cutting-edge experimentation, even if it featured no discernable chorus or distinct melody. Not until 2005's "Hung Up" was the world able to appreciate Madonna in this same way again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

#21

IPB Image

Die Another Day by 12:51

The Music era ended abruptly in 2001, leaving only 3 releases to its credit and a rather rushed compilation in its wake. As a result, fans had to wait a rather excruciating year for "Die Another Day," a reviled and loved James Bond theme, but an underrated Madonna single all the same. It made a brief splash before the attention was focused on the impending car-crash that followed (the "American Life" single), but the time it spent in the Madonna fan lexicon was a good one indeed. While it's perhaps her least accessible hit ever (vocodered, clipped, and distorted to the maximum), its success proved for a fleeting moment that the public would always respond to Madonna's cutting-edge experimentation, even if it featured no discernable chorus or distinct melody. Not until 2005's "Hung Up" was the world able to appreciate Madonna in this same way again.

My exact same thought regarding the DAD Era

just as I have always felt about the whole dying but not TODAY thing thank u very much

:vanitybonet:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cant you leave blanks and add them as people PM you them?

I cant wait to read other people's write-ups.

That wouldn't be very professional, now would it? :horn:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest FuckBuddy

the 'write-up' for "Holiday" is truely boring as hell.. delete that shit

no standards on write-ups were set, so i think u're being a bit too harsh.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest northernlad

erm, but my problem isn't with the writer of the piece - or even the piece itself, but that henZ chose to include it alongside those other elaborate reviews when he's been parading this big event around for months... at least make it worth my time to read these. thx.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

the 'write-up' for "Holiday" is truely boring as hell.. delete that shit

How rude, Mr Lad. How do you think Eternal Flame feels having you call his write up "that shit"?

Quite apart from that, this is a fun thread in a Madonna forum, not some serious arts review publication. People wrote what they were inspired to say at that time, and no-one's write-up is better or worse that anyone else's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Coked Up Baby Boy

How rude, Mr Lad. How do you think Eternal Flame feels having you call his write up "that shit"?

Quite apart from that, this is a fun thread in a Madonna forum, not some serious arts review publication. People wrote what they were inspired to say at that time, and no-one's write-up is better or worse that anyone else's.

:clap: What a cutie pie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

erm, but my problem isn't with the writer of the piece - or even the piece itself, but that henZ chose to include it alongside those other elaborate reviews when he's been parading this big event around for months... at least make it worth my time to read these. thx.

wow, what a true shit you really are.

Not everyone in here is a pulitzer prize winning author.... people write how they feel and they express their personality that way... to say someone's write up is shit is just both wrong and incredibly arrogant.

The only thing you should invest your time in is finding another forum to post in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very harsh of you, northernlad. Didn't really expect that from you. I just told people to write how they felt about the track; Eternal Flame did Holiday (and doesn't even like it, I might add) the way he wanted to, and you've got to respect that. As said, we're not all authors here, and we haven't all got the time to do elaborate reviews. But yeah.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...