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I Love Madonna.

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Guest groovyguy

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Larger than life, the high priestess of pop, less a woman than an empire she is Madonna.

The most successful female recording artist of all time and, arguably, the first woman to have total control over her music and her image and her career.

Exploiting every possible commercial and creative opportunity Madonna is a perfectionist in art and ruthless in business. A role model for young women who want to have it all.

Forbes magazine has estimated her net worth at $325 million. Her Confessions World Tour took almost $200 million and holds the record for the top-grossing concert tour by a female artist.

During her childhood, Madonna became fascinated by films and saw herself in film stars, like Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe. However her own forays into acting on film have been highly criticised.

Madonna was awarded a Razzie for Worst Actress for her role in the movie, 'Swept Away' directed by her husband and film maker, Guy Ritchie. A set-back, perhaps, for a lesser star the award hardly dinted the public image of the pop icon and certainly not her robust ego.

Not a stranger to controversy, the mother of two, adopted the baby boy David Banda from Malawi, in Africa, amid accusations shed been given special treatment.

Whether its for her irreligious music videos, sexualized image, professional highs and lows, or whether its for the trappings of her celebrity lifestyle Madonna will always be in the headlines!

BUT ultimately it's about the music. It has always been about the music!

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Mattress Proficient

Mattress

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<object width="873" height="525"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H7I2M_mXbE&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H7I2M_mXbE&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H7I2M_mXbE&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="873" height="525"></embed></object>

:inlove:

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Guest SuperPop

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She's the biggest star the world has ever encountered...she is a worldwide phenomenon and the only artist that has achieved such a long term success..no one has ever managed to stay at the top of his/her field for so many years...I still remember how proud I was when I learned that Madonna is the first case study that students are taught on the subject of 'Strategy' in Harvard Business School (as she is the only 'business entity' that has been the leader in her field for so many years..no other business firm has even managed that....)..and she still never seizes to amazes us..fuck Lady GaGa, Britney, Beyonce or all the other wannabes...no one will ever even come close to what MAdge has achieved..Long Live the Queen... :bow::bow::bow:

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Narendra Sen Rising Star

Narendra Sen

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<object width="873" height="525"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H7I2M_mXbE&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1"></param><param'>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H7I2M_mXbE&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H7I2M_mXbE&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0xcc2550&color2=0xe87a9f&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="873" height="525"></embed></object>

:inlove:

isn't this just beyond perfection??? :inlove::inlove::inlove::clap::clap::clap::bow::bow::bow:

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Kurt420 Proficient

Kurt420

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She's the biggest star the world has ever encountered...she is a worldwide phenomenon and the only artist that has achieved such a long term success..no one has ever managed to stay at the top of his/her field for so many years...I still remember how proud I was when I learned that Madonna is the first case study that students are taught on the subject of 'Strategy' in Harvard Business School (as she is the only 'business entity' that has been the leader in her field for so many years..no other business firm has even managed that....)..and she still never seizes to amazes us..fuck Lady GaGa, Britney, Beyonce or all the other wannabes...no one will ever even come close to what MAdge has achieved..Long Live the Queen... :bow::bow::bow:

AMEN! :bow:

That's very true though, there really hasn't been anybody in the past who has maintained the level of success she has for so long. She had one of the top five worldwide albums, one of the top singles and THE top tour of the year 26 years into her career. It's actually pretty damn spectacular when you sit back and think about it. Seriously....who else 25+ years into their career goes to number one in nearly 40 countries with a new album and lead single from the album each time they release a new album?

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Guest

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At any given time, no matter what is being discussed on these forums, it should always be implied that I love this woman.

madonna-bio-02.jpg

This era is about looking back at Madonna's 27 year career, accentuating the positive and celebrating her achievements. Talk about your favorite moments in her career (I'll be back later with my top 5.) List performances, photos, albums, lyrics, quotes... anything goes. The only criteria is to respect each others choices and to keep things positive.

I LOVE MADONNA!

1. fabulous

2. It's sad that such a wonderful madonna fan as Mattress would have to make such a clarification of fandom to some of the single-minded simpletons on this board. Sorry, I know you said no negativity.. I promise I'm saying it out of love for you Matty. :inlove:

I'm working on my list!!!

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Barbie Rising Star

Barbie

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I am loving all the pics!

I remember being a child and whenever my family would leave somewhere I would stay home, my mom had this HUGE/LOUD stereo system and I would blast Madonna and 'sing' with my fake microphone :lmao:

She will always be my Queen!

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Guest groovyguy

Guest groovyguy

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Source: COMMENTARY on Madonna By Tony Sclafani

At 50, has Madonna surpassed the Beatles?

A quarter century after she emerged, the icon's allure is still in full effect

There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just come right out with it. As Madonna's2.gif 50th birthday approaches on Aug. 16, it's looking like her influence on pop music has outshone that of the Beatles.Let me qualify the above statement before all the peace-and-love baby boomers start hating. It's Madonna's impact on the course of pop music that bests the Fab Four, not her sociological importance, songwriting skills or recording innovations. Influence means an artist has an effect on the future direction of music. While the Beatles influenced scads of artists in their time, after their breakup, their sound became yesterday's news. Artists that tried to copy them (Badfinger, the Raspberries, Squeeze) seemed quaint or quirky.

But a quarter century after Madonna emerged, artists still use her ideas and seem modern and edgy doing so. Beyond the obvious Madonna wannabe 1980s singers, Madonna's influence is felt in artists from Gwen Stefani to Britney Spears to boy bands, who found in the 1990s there was an audience beyond the old rock crowd.

Madonna, like Elvis, recast the focus of popular music. By emphasizing modern R&B grooves where most singers used rock beats, she was the catalyst that changed music from being rock-centric to being dance and R&B-oriented. (Disco, which influenced Madonna, might have done the same thing had it not died because of rock resentment.) It's worth noting that before Madonna, most music mega-stars were guy rockers; after her, almost all would be female singers.

Combining genres, inventing styles

How did this happen? Let's scroll back to 1983, the year of Madonna's first album.

Like Elvis and the Beatles, Madonna combined genres. So her first two singles ("Everybody" and "Burning Up") may have been lost on people because of the way they didn't quite fit in with R&B or rock. Top 40 and MTV back then treated black music like a subgenre — not the backbone of 20th century American music, as it's recognized now. With her music and videos, Madonna sliced away at genre straightjackets like a surgeon, opening the doors for the future hip-hop explosion.

As for style, well, Madonna's rag-tag early clothing get-up defined much of what was to come in the 1980s. She was also perhaps the ultimate video pioneer, because her videos were integral to her presentation, not an appendage of it.

Her career highlights came early on. She famously rolled around on the stage singing "Like a Virgin" in a wedding dress at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. She had a featured role in "Desperately Seeking Susan" and got a huge hit out of that with "Into the Groove." She topped the charts with "Crazy for You," which wasn't even on one of her albums. Forbes recently dubbed her the richest woman in music. The Billboard Book of Top 100 Hits lists her as the top female pop artist of the 1980s. (For a roll call of her accomplishments, check Wikipedia or Madonnalicious.)

Women's work

The word "female" is significant in that assessment of Madonna because she presented herself in a fresh way for women artists. She didn't try to be one of the boys, but she wasn't a girly-girl or a singer-songwriter.

When the Beatles hit America, they changed the paradigm of performer from solo act to band. Madonna changed it back — with an emphasis on the female. With female artists everywhere these days, it's easy to forget how revolutionary her success was (historically challenged Millennials especially seem not to realize this). But look at old music magazines or Billboard charts for proof that in the pre-Madonna era, women were the aberration, not the norm.

Madonna's countless hit records opened people's minds as to how successful a female artist could be. Nineties artists such as Tori Amos2.gif and Bikini Kill have zilch in common with Madonna, but benefited from her opening the ears of teen-female pop fans to something other than the usual heavy metal shouters (trust me, teen girls in the 1980s loved that stuff).

Her early audience was the recipient of some panic-stricken journalism early on, much of which took the tone of: "Madonna's come to ruin your daughters!! Arghghgh!" The consensus then was that Madonna probably wouldn't have the longevity of Cyndi Lauper2.gif (who immediately preceded her) and would disappear like other recent suggestive singers (remember Dale Bozzio? Terri Nunn?).

But Madonna also had the Beatles-like tendency to anticipate the maturing of her audience and also the ability to reinvent her style. Her personal life became fodder for 1989's "Like a Prayer," just when her audience was looking beyond dance music. When Gen X grew more mature, she told erotic "Bedtime Stories" and unleashed her "Sex" book on the world.

Still in vogue

Madonna's no-holds-barred example broadened the palette of what artists — especially female artists — could attempt. Liberate yourself, Madonna seemed to say, and the rest will follow. When her popularity didn't fade, as predicted, people — especially skeptical Boomer critics — were forced to take her seriously.

Madonna was also responsible for throwing off some of the unconscious modesty of pop music. Peripheral artists had attempted this, but Madonna was unique in that she brought a no-apologies approach to sex to her music. As she sung in "Burning Up:" "Unlike the others, I'd do anything / I'm not the same, I have no shame." She could be calculating one minute and coy the next. Her concert tours, like 1992s

brought this to the fore, blurring sexuality, satire and social commentary.

It's hard to get nostalgic about Madonna, though, because her influence stayed current. Not bad for someone who is about to hit the half-century mark.

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agclef Collaborator

agclef

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Source: COMMENTARY on Madonna By Tony Sclafani

At 50, has Madonna surpassed the Beatles?

A quarter century after she emerged, the icon's allure is still in full effect

There's no easy way to say this, so I'll just come right out with it. As Madonna's2.gif 50th birthday approaches on Aug. 16, it's looking like her influence on pop music has outshone that of the Beatles.Let me qualify the above statement before all the peace-and-love baby boomers start hating. It's Madonna's impact on the course of pop music that bests the Fab Four, not her sociological importance, songwriting skills or recording innovations. Influence means an artist has an effect on the future direction of music. While the Beatles influenced scads of artists in their time, after their breakup, their sound became yesterday's news. Artists that tried to copy them (Badfinger, the Raspberries, Squeeze) seemed quaint or quirky.

But a quarter century after Madonna emerged, artists still use her ideas and seem modern and edgy doing so. Beyond the obvious Madonna wannabe 1980s singers, Madonna's influence is felt in artists from Gwen Stefani to Britney Spears to boy bands, who found in the 1990s there was an audience beyond the old rock crowd.

Madonna, like Elvis, recast the focus of popular music. By emphasizing modern R&B grooves where most singers used rock beats, she was the catalyst that changed music from being rock-centric to being dance and R&B-oriented. (Disco, which influenced Madonna, might have done the same thing had it not died because of rock resentment.) It's worth noting that before Madonna, most music mega-stars were guy rockers; after her, almost all would be female singers.

Combining genres, inventing styles

How did this happen? Let's scroll back to 1983, the year of Madonna's first album.

Like Elvis and the Beatles, Madonna combined genres. So her first two singles ("Everybody" and "Burning Up") may have been lost on people because of the way they didn't quite fit in with R&B or rock. Top 40 and MTV back then treated black music like a subgenre — not the backbone of 20th century American music, as it's recognized now. With her music and videos, Madonna sliced away at genre straightjackets like a surgeon, opening the doors for the future hip-hop explosion.

As for style, well, Madonna's rag-tag early clothing get-up defined much of what was to come in the 1980s. She was also perhaps the ultimate video pioneer, because her videos were integral to her presentation, not an appendage of it.

Her career highlights came early on. She famously rolled around on the stage singing "Like a Virgin" in a wedding dress at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards. She had a featured role in "Desperately Seeking Susan" and got a huge hit out of that with "Into the Groove." She topped the charts with "Crazy for You," which wasn't even on one of her albums. Forbes recently dubbed her the richest woman in music. The Billboard Book of Top 100 Hits lists her as the top female pop artist of the 1980s. (For a roll call of her accomplishments, check Wikipedia or Madonnalicious.)

Women's work

The word "female" is significant in that assessment of Madonna because she presented herself in a fresh way for women artists. She didn't try to be one of the boys, but she wasn't a girly-girl or a singer-songwriter.

When the Beatles hit America, they changed the paradigm of performer from solo act to band. Madonna changed it back — with an emphasis on the female. With female artists everywhere these days, it's easy to forget how revolutionary her success was (historically challenged Millennials especially seem not to realize this). But look at old music magazines or Billboard charts for proof that in the pre-Madonna era, women were the aberration, not the norm.

Madonna's countless hit records opened people's minds as to how successful a female artist could be. Nineties artists such as Tori Amos2.gif and Bikini Kill have zilch in common with Madonna, but benefited from her opening the ears of teen-female pop fans to something other than the usual heavy metal shouters (trust me, teen girls in the 1980s loved that stuff).

Her early audience was the recipient of some panic-stricken journalism early on, much of which took the tone of: "Madonna's come to ruin your daughters!! Arghghgh!" The consensus then was that Madonna probably wouldn't have the longevity of Cyndi Lauper2.gif (who immediately preceded her) and would disappear like other recent suggestive singers (remember Dale Bozzio? Terri Nunn?).

But Madonna also had the Beatles-like tendency to anticipate the maturing of her audience and also the ability to reinvent her style. Her personal life became fodder for 1989's "Like a Prayer," just when her audience was looking beyond dance music. When Gen X grew more mature, she told erotic "Bedtime Stories" and unleashed her "Sex" book on the world.

Still in vogue

Madonna's no-holds-barred example broadened the palette of what artists — especially female artists — could attempt. Liberate yourself, Madonna seemed to say, and the rest will follow. When her popularity didn't fade, as predicted, people — especially skeptical Boomer critics — were forced to take her seriously.

Madonna was also responsible for throwing off some of the unconscious modesty of pop music. Peripheral artists had attempted this, but Madonna was unique in that she brought a no-apologies approach to sex to her music. As she sung in "Burning Up:" "Unlike the others, I'd do anything / I'm not the same, I have no shame." She could be calculating one minute and coy the next. Her concert tours, like 1992s

brought this to the fore, blurring sexuality, satire and social commentary.

It's hard to get nostalgic about Madonna, though, because her influence stayed current. Not bad for someone who is about to hit the half-century mark.

This is a GREAT article, thank you for bringing it to our attention. A lot of relevant points and, as we all know, so true!!!

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