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MadonnaNation's top 25 Madonna songs


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#20

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Open Your Heart by Nightshade

Exploding with a cymbal hit and a a bullet-like warning: “Watch out!” Madonna’s No. 1 hit “Open Your Heart” immediately propelled itself into the pop culture consciousness upon release. Armed with some of the most expressive vocals she’s ever painted with, Madonna crafted a story-in-a-song in which she commands a partner to drop their walls and submit to her all-powerful love.

A perpetually drubbing synth line gives the song missile-like propulsion and lends an urgency to the beat that matches Madonna’s declaration: “I’ve had to work much harder than this for something I want…” and you never once doubt her sincerity. The track’s overall aggressiveness is contrasted with a beautifully ascending and descending bell line threaded throughout the composition - and it seems to recall a sense of child-like innocence (which is also echoed in the video).

The musical package is wrapped up nicely with some furious brass horns that top off the chorus and add a hint of her (eventual) victory in the song.

I can think of few other hits where Madonna sounds as absolute and confident in the words she is singing. Where as many would plead sorrowfully and nag a partner to open up, Madonna simply commands it. She even happily reminds him, “Don’t try to run, I can keep up with you, nothing can stop me from trying…” She is clearly frustrated, but not so easily defeated, and commits herself to the challenge completely.

The strength of the song is evident in its chart performance as it became a bigger hit than its predecessor “True Blue” and returned the album to the U.S. Top 10 just in time for the 1986 holiday sales rush. The video, a Mondino-directed classic, remains fresh and provocative to this day with its stylish sets, infamously tassled corset, and a wink to female art deco painter, Tamara de Lempicka.

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#19

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Deeper and Deeper by Vancho

Well there are many reasons why I like the track. Everyone would agree that it's the album's strongest disco moment. The chorus is really up-beat, the bridge (...someone said that romance was dead...) is truly ORGASMIC which fits the flamenco guitar part perfectly. I have to say that the whole instrumentation of the song is brilliant. And of course, it's inescapable to mention the LYRICS.

The video of the song is also one of my Madonna favorites, with such a good concept, even though Madonna looks a bit strange without eyebrows :lol:

So, being an excellent track both vocally and lyrically, with a sample of her own hit, it easily stands as one of Madonna's most accomplished works and classic dance tracks for clubs.

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#18

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What It Feels Like For A Girl by SomeofShane and GetUnconscious

SomeofShane:

Do you know what it feels like for a fan? Pretty damn thrilling the first time you hear a piece of music that reconfirms (for the umpteenth time) why you love an artist. Pre-album rumors had "What It Feels Like ..." as the sure-fire second single from MUSIC, although the honors ultimately went to "Don't Tell Me." Still, the hype had me particularly excited to check out this track, and the title made me wonder if my favorite feminist (and she is, even though she prefers "humanist") had written a no-holds-barred pro-woman statement. Regardless of how overtly feminist one finds the lyrics to "What It Feels Like For A Girl" to be, there is no denying that Madonna composed a song that makes you FEEL something. "When you open up your mouth to speak, could you be a little weak?" is one of the more affecting lines she's ever written, and because of that classic Madonna emotional tug (you know what I mean, because even "better" vocalists can't duplicate it), you sort of "get it," whether you're a girl, a boy, a straight, or a gay. The rest of the lyrics are solid, with great imagery ("hands that rest on jutting hips repenting") and a message that is powerful but never over-the-top. Add in a fantastic pop melody and all-around poignant vocal, and we have a gem that rests comfortably amidst the varied styles and genres on the MUSIC album. Madonna nailed it live on Drowned World, in a very non-English manner! For a woman who has paved the way for dozens (no, hundreds) of female artists over the years, this song somehow seemed fitting. And because she is the Queen of Pop, her important message came pouring out in a pretty little ballad that makes a point without histrionics. So ... hats off to Madonna: long may she reign.

GetUnconscious:

For me, probably the most fantastical single Madonna has released this decade. By that, I mean that there is enough narrative and mystery to encourage the creation of a whole world of fantasies. The extremely loose question ‘do you know what it feels like for a girl?’ allows for so many possible contexts for us to devour at will. The song and its remixes explore everyday instances such as pregnancy, physicality, dress codes, transgender issues and the rest of society’s gender based limitations. All of which Madonna seems to suggest are unfair aggravations to her. Madonna seems to have written the song with the purpose of dispelling myths and expectations created from misogynistic hegemony.

I think we all know what Madonna thinks about the power of a woman.

The female Hero in the video is the subject of hurt, both physical and emotional. She stands alone and does what it takes to succeed. Everyone she ‘fights against’ in the video is of course male. Her only companion is her elderly grandmother. This leads me onto another particular fascination of mine with the song; the gentile subtext. For me this is a brief biopic of Madonna’s much famed career attitude. She takes very extreme action and works very hard, all the time ignoring the pain that drives her forward. You can imagine whatever those pains are, but I’m assuming they all lead onto feelings of gender based frustration. The main empathetic statement is made through the old lady’s distanced involvement in the video. It says to us; Madonna is acting against pain. She has feelings. She has a heart. She is actually struggling inside. There is some consistency with this idea, especially within the remix montage showed at the Drowned world tour that uses scenes from ‘Perfect Blue’. The spoken quote is from the film version of the book ‘The Cement Garden’, a twisted tale of gender and sexuality complexities.

I think its some of the best cinematography in her career. The severe bob, the masculine cut of her clothing, the leather gloves all accented with miniature feminine touches. It perfectly compliments and extends the meaning of the song. I have so often been left wondering what has happened to the female to make her what she is today. There is something so enchanting about her physicality in the video, almost as though she is leading us towards a secret. Then there is the energy and excitement, punctuated with moments of humour; ‘Ol Kuntz’ rest home etc. I think the more gentle versions of the song work very well (Music version and ‘lo que siente la mujer’ – Spanish Version). However, the real power lies in the more energetic incarnations. A physical image that would explain the ethos really well would be the license plate of the car. The first time we see the front it reads ‘Pussy’ and obviously in a mainstream music video that is an action intended to shock us – again in a gender based manner. Then we see the back of the car which extends the plate to Pussycat. It hints at maybe a little bit of misunderstanding, a little bit of hidden softness or just a lot of pain. It really encapsulates the reason that I love Madonna. Boisterous energy, lots of naughtiness and steel determination in glorious and momentous display. It’s something I can relate to and something that most people can’t grasp; everybody seeks love and contentment.

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#17

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Erotica by Johnnox

Like American Life, Erotica was Madonna’s Marmite album – you either love it or you hate it.

This bastard offspring of a much maligned parent album is a dirty, sexy, slutty little number with a devilish glint in its smoky eye.

Her pseudonym ‘Dita’ may be a name that’s about as sexy as Agnes, Hilda, Winifred or even Kylie, but don’t let that fool you…this is a woman who’ll don a double-ended strap-on without a second thought and fuck you and fuck herself at the same time.

Looking back, it was an odd choice for a single, but typical of Madonna’s schizophrenic gear changes.

We thought the sex thing was done and dusted and her cum-stained Vicrtoria’s Secret suspenders were relegated to the wash-basket after the Justify My Love video (particularly after she went all Live To Tell on us with the rather beautiful ballad This Used To Be My Playground and equally gorgeous video).

But Madonna turned everything on its head and dived head-first deeper into the gaping muff of controversy than she’d ever been before.

Truth be told, Erotica’s lyrics are pretty banal. ‘Erotic, Erotic, put your hands all over my body’ aren’t really up there with Lennon’s Imagine, Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit or even Aqua’s Barbie Girl.

But just be thankful the single version didn’t use the lyrics that appeared on Erotic, the CD which came free with the Sex book.

‘I'll be your sorceress, your heart's magician/ I'm not a witch, I'm a love technician’ would’ve seen Madonna laughed out of her sex-hammock only to flat on her whip-marked arse, let alone the charts.

While the lyrics don’t know the meaning of the word subtle, the tune is subtlety’s maid of honour.

The vinyl crackling sounds like wax being dripped slowly on my recently clippered genitals, and proceeds a pounding intro and kicking bass line that sets the scene for five minutes of parental advisory musical fuckery.

Erotica is possibly one of the best ever produced Madonna songs. It’s Shep Pettibone at his creative peak - just listen to the instrumental version of the track to hear layer upon layer of subtle nuances, unusual sounds, tweaks, beeps and echoes. It’s like a prequel to what Billy Bob Orbit did on many of the Ray Of Light tracks.

As a rule, I hate instrumentals as they’re usually just CD single fillers and fodder, but Erotica is well worth several spins to fully absorb the bits you might have missed in the vocal version while you were trussed up in chains masturbating with a chicken and two skinhead lesbians in the corner of the room.

Her vocals are mainly spoken, they’re breathy, they’re almost slurred, they’re the sound of a woman who’s had so much sex she needs to empty out her gusset quickly or face internal drowning.

Even the late Ofra Haza’s orgasmic wailing sample was a genius inclusion.

The song is pure foreplay – it teases and teases and teases you, before wandering off for a nap leaving you begging for more.

It whispers playfully in your ear then caresses your neck before lighting up a cigarette … it rubs an erect nipple against your mouth, then quickly tucks it away before you get a chance to return the favour… it fondles your bell-end then stops before you reach a ‘happy finish’ … it makes you moister than Mariah Carey’s panties in a queue for a KFC bargain bucket…

... but I digress.

Some could say the video was a bit of a cop-out as it was mainly studio-set with clips from the making of the Sex book, but it all added to the intensity of the song.

The little Japanese puppet, her scraped back hair, the dark eye make up – hell, she looked sexy than ever.

Even the remixes were pretty inventive. But none match the pure simplicity and brilliance of this often overlooked track.

If you haven’t heard Erotica for a while, I recommend listening to it alone in a dark room and letting her mouth go where it wants to.

It’ll be the best aural sex you’ve ever had.

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I have never, and will never, appreciate nor enjoy this song. Only the Above and Beyond mix saved it for me, although it does have a FANTASTIC video.

I know, the video is definitely one of her best ever.

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#16

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Music by Crystal Coffin

While cheesy, throwaway Teen Pop drivel was taking up the airwaves in the late 1990s and early 2000s, risk taker Madonna magnificently opened the 21st Century with a glorious classic dance masterpiece that undeniably sounded unusual to average joes' ears; it was truly a tune like no other on the radio back then yet still had the magical pop hooks that made it so hard not to fall in love with it.

"Music", which commences with the masculine-sounding, heavily altered Madonna's voice whispering "Hey Mr DJ, put a record on I wanna dance with my baby", a seductive line meant to be stuck in one's mind for good without any doubt, has garnered an incredible status as the prime example of one of the woman’s most well-known abilities that put her in an entirely different league from her counterparts - adopting lesser known musical trends and bringing these to the forefront. She managed to bring underground stuff to a more mainstream audience in a way that no one else could. This collaboration with the Swiss-born Afghan-Italian producer Mirwais Ahmadzai indeed turned out to be absolutely terrific.

Its swirling, adrenaline-pumping funky Electronica beats never cease to drive pop music lovers from getting their groove on. The killer bass line, dirty noises and orgasmic runaway synth towards the end are just simply brilliant. Furthermore, the vocals are nothing short of utterly passionate and convincing; Madonna belts out the powerful chorus from the core of her heart, voicing out genuinely that music is really capable of uniting people.

"Music" certainly has the strong universal appeal written all over it - containing infectious melody, flawless production and of course, the effective simplicity of its wording. Now, that surely explains the fact why 99.99% of the world has heard this sacred dance floor anthem.

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you guys are too sensitive. I'm 100% sure EF's feelings weren't hurt by that comment b/c it isn't like he slaved over that write-up for hours - it was quick & simple about a song he's admitted to not thinking very much of - compared to everyone else at least, which begs the question. why chose that song? I don't expect arts pub reviews, but I do expect them to be a little personable - whether someone likes the song they're writing about or hates it. not something swapped off an amazon.com sales page.

You can dress it up any way you like - you were rude and arrogant. Had I not known better and had only your comments in this thread to go on, I'd have thought you were a total prick.

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#17

Erotica is possibly one of the best ever produced Madonna songs.

Actually I think it's one of the the best ever produced tracks by any artist full stop!

Great write up by the way!

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#17

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Erotica by Johnnox

Like American Life, Erotica was Madonna’s Marmite album – you either love it or you hate it.

This bastard offspring of a much maligned parent album is a dirty, sexy, slutty little number with a devilish glint in its smoky eye.

Her pseudonym ‘Dita’ may be a name that’s about as sexy as Agnes, Hilda, Winifred or even Kylie, but don’t let that fool you…this is a woman who’ll don a double-ended strap-on without a second thought and fuck you and fuck herself at the same time.

Looking back, it was an odd choice for a single, but typical of Madonna’s schizophrenic gear changes.

We thought the sex thing was done and dusted and her cum-stained Vicrtoria’s Secret suspenders were relegated to the wash-basket after the Justify My Love video (particularly after she went all Live To Tell on us with the rather beautiful ballad This Used To Be My Playground and equally gorgeous video).

But Madonna turned everything on its head and dived head-first deeper into the gaping muff of controversy than she’d ever been before.

Truth be told, Erotica’s lyrics are pretty banal. ‘Erotic, Erotic, put your hands all over my body’ aren’t really up there with Lennon’s Imagine, Cobain’s Smells Like Teen Spirit or even Aqua’s Barbie Girl.

But just be thankful the single version didn’t use the lyrics that appeared on Erotic, the CD which came free with the Sex book.

‘I'll be your sorceress, your heart's magician/ I'm not a witch, I'm a love technician’ would’ve seen Madonna laughed out of her sex-hammock only to flat on her whip-marked arse, let alone the charts.

While the lyrics don’t know the meaning of the word subtle, the tune is subtlety’s maid of honour.

The vinyl crackling sounds like wax being dripped slowly on my recently clippered genitals, and proceeds a pounding intro and kicking bass line that sets the scene for five minutes of parental advisory musical fuckery.

Erotica is possibly one of the best ever produced Madonna songs. It’s Shep Pettibone at his creative peak - just listen to the instrumental version of the track to hear layer upon layer of subtle nuances, unusual sounds, tweaks, beeps and echoes. It’s like a prequel to what Billy Bob Orbit did on many of the Ray Of Light tracks.

As a rule, I hate instrumentals as they’re usually just CD single fillers and fodder, but Erotica is well worth several spins to fully absorb the bits you might have missed in the vocal version while you were trussed up in chains masturbating with a chicken and two skinhead lesbians in the corner of the room.

Her vocals are mainly spoken, they’re breathy, they’re almost slurred, they’re the sound of a woman who’s had so much sex she needs to empty out her gusset quickly or face internal drowning.

Even the late Ofra Haza’s orgasmic wailing sample was a genius inclusion.

The song is pure foreplay – it teases and teases and teases you, before wandering off for a nap leaving you begging for more.

It whispers playfully in your ear then caresses your neck before lighting up a cigarette … it rubs an erect nipple against your mouth, then quickly tucks it away before you get a chance to return the favour… it fondles your bell-end then stops before you reach a ‘happy finish’ … it makes you moister than Mariah Carey’s panties in a queue for a KFC bargain bucket…

... but I digress.

Some could say the video was a bit of a cop-out as it was mainly studio-set with clips from the making of the Sex book, but it all added to the intensity of the song.

The little Japanese puppet, her scraped back hair, the dark eye make up – hell, she looked sexy than ever.

Even the remixes were pretty inventive. But none match the pure simplicity and brilliance of this often overlooked track.

If you haven’t heard Erotica for a while, I recommend listening to it alone in a dark room and letting her mouth go where it wants to.

It’ll be the best aural sex you’ve ever had.

:bow::lmao::clap: Fantastic write-up!

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These five JUST MISSED the top 25:

'Till Death Do Us Part

Sorry

Papa Don’t Preach

Rain

Bad Girl

Oh well it's good to know those are the ones that missed out. I expected some horrors to be further down, least those are deserving of inclusion.

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Guest Eternal Flame

you guys are too sensitive. I'm 100% sure EF's feelings weren't hurt by that comment b/c it isn't like he slaved over that write-up for hours - it was quick & simple about a song he's admitted to not thinking very much of - compared to everyone else at least, which begs the question. why chose that song? I don't expect arts pub reviews, but I do expect them to be a little personable - whether someone likes the song they're writing about or hates it. not something swapped off an amazon.com sales page.

You're dragging this out way more than it needs to be. I was asked to do a write up for Holiday, I had no idea how long it should've been, how thought out it should be, whether it should be background information about the song itself or personal opinion etc. So I had no idea what kind of write-up should be done. Frankly, the piece I did is fine and nothing myself or henZ should have to defend, if it bored you then simply move on. But I'm not surprised to have something negative to say torwards me from you because since I got here you have only said negative things to me. And neither henZ or I owes anything to you with this countdown and I know it took a lot of work to put this countdown together and gather all the write-ups so it's pretty rude to act as if he or I owes you something with this ranking. I won't respond any further with this cause this countdown has nothing to do with this argument and I don't want it to clutter the thread.

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Terrific commentaries, folks! :clap: Johnnox, ever considered doing something like this professionally? Oh...!

Erotica too low. Great write-ups for WIFLFAG and Open Your Heart.. I love WIFLFAG, the original is best. I offered to do one of OYH if needed, but I couldn't imagine bettering Nightshade's review.. great use of metaphors and imagery.

I hope the top 10 is posted on the same night.. you can't stop at no 5! Five more till the top 10, then finish it.

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I don't see what's wrong with the one for Holiday. It's VERY difficult to do these write-ups for starters as people who've tried doing one of these personal all time lists will attest.

It's difficult to know what to say or put a new spin on things, you really have to think and add in some trivia and facts which requires research. And it's doubly difficult to do a song you have no passion for, so the easiest way is to just describe the track neutrally.

I did think some detractors of certain songs they hated could add an alternate view point, but negativity in a thread like this will just create arguments which is not what it's about - well apart from this argument so far! :lol:

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You can dress it up any way you like - you were rude and arrogant. Had I not known better and had only your comments in this thread to go on, I'd have thought you were a total prick.

Agreed. I'm starting to think Riverwide had a point now with his legendary rant a few months back about NorthernSad.

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