How I discovered Madonna

[BabyDietrich]

Well I always had 4 Madonna cassettes in the house when I was really young - BS, LAP, IC & TB. My mother or I would put them on occasionally and I remember liking them but I didn't really know who Madonna was. I remember seeing music videos when I was younger of her aswell and being especially intruiged by them, but I again didn't know it was Madonna and actually probably thought these fascinating women were seperate people, what with all her different looks! The first M CD I recieved was American Life - I asked my mom for it after seeing some coverage on the news about her controversal "American Life" video. I'm suprised I didn't burn a hole through the CD from listening to it so much. But I still hadn't connected all the dots. I didn't know much about pop culture, I rarely watched TV, so it wasn't really until 2008 when I started going to the library more and using a computer that I really understood who she was. Then all the puzzle pieces fit together! I think what triggered more interest in her was rediscovering that BS cassette and being absolutely blown away by it. So in that month I think I read at least 5 biographies and spent hours and hours watching interviews and performances and this and that. And then it just developped from there.

[Lickalotapus]

I first noticed Madonna in 1985, was at my fathers girlfriends house they had cable and I was watching MTV and they showed her video Burning Up and I was thinking this singer is striking and something about her is intriguing.... Then later on another time I turned my TV on to a UHF station because where I live, we didn't have cable yet and got a Spanish channel that was re-broadcasting the first MTV awards with Madonna singing Like A Virgin.... I was just in awe of her image not so much her music.... Then one day in catholic school the nun asked us if we heard the song Material Girl from Madonna, most of us said yes, She said I'm repulsed to say this but she is 100% correct, and gave us a lecture how it was immoral to worship material things... Then I became a fan of her because like her I was always doing things to shock then nuns, to get a rise out of them and anyone else.... One nun told me God set up boundaries in life to protect us, why must you always push the boundaries.... I replied: If I didn't push the boundaries, I would never know where they were.... She smacked me in my face and sent me home. As years went on I always was fond of her style not so much her music.... I liked Vogue but really wasn't into her music till I hear Bedtime story and I said Please let her go that direction with her next album, and then she released Ray Of Light and I loved it.... It really wasn't till she released her MuSiC album that I was in love with her sound and music.... I loved how bad ass that song was, it was hard core, not pop! After that all her music was better to me than her pop stuff which I could care less about.... Music, American Life, and Confessions are my favorite albums. Hard Candy wasn't bad either!

Edited March 30, 2010 by Lick

[Skin]

I was born in Oct 1982. She released her first song in Oct 1982. It was just meant to be.

In short I was 5 years old. Leave Madonna records laying around and gay boys will naturally gravitate toward them and dance around in their room 24/7 to them. Thats pretty much how it happened.

[Lymon]

Well growing up I had heard certain songs on the radio (Holiday, Borderline, Everybody, Like a Virgin, Papa Don't Preach) and I liked them but I never knew who sang them. Then as I got older I hated Madonna for some reason (popular opinion around me from friends and I had never really given her music a chance). But in like mid-2009 I listened to Hard Candy in full and really liked it, then went to Confessions, and basically went to listening all her stuff. I found that I actually loved her music, and the woman who sang those songs on the radio when I was younger was actually Madonna! So I guess I should've been a huge fan a while ago, but people got in the way.

[Genevieve Vavance]

I was born in Oct 1982. She released her first song in Oct 1982. It was just meant to be.

In short I was 5 years old. Leave Madonna records laying around and gay boys will naturally gravitate toward them and dance around in their room 24/7 to them. Thats pretty much how it happened.

and it ended in 2009

[Skin]

and it ended in 2009

If thats a reference to saying Gaga took over her place or something let me just clear something up. I tried to see Gaga a few months ago. She cancelled the show. I could rush again to get tickets to see her at MSG. I am not doing it. Why? Because that extra cash will help when it goes to the next time Madonna tours.

So lets not jump the gun just yet.

[Lickalotapus]

If thats a reference to saying Gaga took over her place or something let me just clear something up. I tried to see Gaga a few months ago. She cancelled the show. I could rush again to get tickets to see her at MSG. I am not doing it. Why? Because that extra cash will help when it goes to the next time Madonna tours.

So lets not jump the gun just yet.

Well said....

Gaga is ok, but she's going to have to ditch that flamboyant persona fast if she wants to stay relevant, I can't see her 25 years from now dressed up in a Elmo dress still being relevant and breaking records on the charts with her music.... It's fine for now and it works, but it's not always going to work if your not going to try something different.... That Flamboyant act will not last that long....

[scrapple]

November 1982 when I randomly bought the everybody 12" maxi. It's been an ongoing love affair ever since.

[scrapple]

How depressing. You're all so young.

Mine is a three tiered discoverey. Live Aid at 9 that I watched at a friend's house

did you see me on tv? i was in the 13th row.

[A.J]

After listening ``FROZEN``

[Guest edsalas]

That's right, Hille. I remember you and me were one of the youngest Madonna fans back in MadonnaMad. Hehehe. And you became a hardcore Madonna fan the same year I became a hardcore Madonna fan, lol.

[Simo9jo]

I had heard Holiday on the radio a few times, but when I actually saw Madonna is when I was hooked (I had no idea it would be for so long). I was playing with my He-man action figures with the TV on in the background. It was some video program, and is was two for Tuesday in early 1984. They played Lucky star and Borderline. I begged my mother for the record, and that was my first album.

[scrapple]

I was playing with my He-man action figures

[Guest edsalas]

I was remembering that when I was a kid I'd listen to a cassette that my oldest brother had of Madonna songs which later would I know that was You Can Dance. That cassette had on side B the dub versions, including the one for Spotlight and I remember that I listened to these tracks and loved the songs. I have loved loved loved Spotlight since then. In fact, You Can Dance was the first Madonna album that I bought when I became a hardcore fan.

[songkaiwen]

I remember my parents watching the Confessions Tour being broadcasted on TV, and I heard Sorry! Of course I got addicted, and eventually bought all of her catalogue!

[MadFan]

Madonna was my dirty little secret for a long time, because she represented my homosexuality to me which was something I could never have faced at that point. I tried so hard not to love her, for years...it made sense to me that as long as I didn't listen to her I didn't have to admit myself, well, to myself. I was so young then - wow.

[Supernatural]

I started listening to pop radio in 1987 and La Isla Bonita just stood out to me as something different from everything else... like when you are in a room full of people and gravitate to one person because you know there is a connection there. 1988 came and Madonna was quiet all year while I catched up on her older work. I can remember thinking, I love this but maybe this wasn't a great thing to get into, as I had missed out on so much and she was likely to not last very much longer, lol.

[Drowned World]

Well.. there was that performance she did on that awards show back in 1984?.. Called the MTV VMA? wearing that little white wedding dress. Well, since then I've been a fan. 

[micco]

My mother bought me my first album, I was hooked, she knew it, thanks mum!

[albertogerard]

I first "discovered" Madonna when I saw her performing Holiday on Solid Gold. I didn't actually buy any of her singles till November of 84 when I was HOOKED on "Like A Virgin". It was in 1986 that I offically fell in love with Madonna when I heard "Live To Tell". That was when I became a die-hard fan. True Blue was the album that started my love affair with her. Still as much in love as ever.

[Guest Genie0_0]

I saw Like A Prayer at 2am on a Top 100 songs countdown when I was around 7 years old. Then I went on Kazza and downloaded a whole lot of tracks.

[Barney]

I went over to my friends house on my bike when i was about 9, she had just bought the Into the groove 7" we played it constantly and I was hooked. I watched live aid about 20 times a day, I went to the shop and bought the the material girl single (i hadnt even heard it haha) I played it over and over again till my mum got me like a virgin and the first album. God i was obsessed. i kissed her posters every night before I went to bed.

[Guest jl6er]

Yep, I'm one of her few straight fans.

Eh, we're out there.

[neutrocks]

I had heard her music prior to '85, but never paid much attention that it was the same person. When my sister got the single "Material Girl", I remember asking... "Who is this Madonna?" I remember thinking it was an odd name for someone to be called. And I'm thinking at first, I just thought it was her stage name. My sister used to play the b-side of a couple of her records over and over and over and over. I remember being annoyed by it. I believe "Stay" was one of the songs she kept playing over and over. Now, it's one of my favs from the Virgin album. My obsession grew with her in early '85 because I remember trying to record "Into The Groove" and "Angel" from the radio. Though, it wasn't until the following year, with "Live To Tell" that I fell in love with this woman. I thought she looked beautiful and was amazed by the transformation. She wowed me again with the further transformation for the album cover of TRUE BLUE and "Papa Don't Preach". I don't recall running out buying her music at this time. Though, I remember going to the public library and checking out her records and recorded them at home. By '87, I was in full obsessed mode. I had to have everything. I remember freaking out seeing the 12 inch to Open Your Heart and most of the summer of '87, I started collecting all the 12 inches of her older songs. Remixes back then were nothing like they are now. They usually stayed true to the song, yet were extended. Those were the days.

I remember the gal I dated in High School disliking Madonna. She was a U2 and Def Leppard fan. And while I didn't mind them at all, we used to fight over who was better between U2 and Madonna. Interestingly enough, both artists were able to sustain a long successful career. And I do think now JOSHUA TREE is one of the most amazing albums from any artists. But the gal I dated at the time, thought of Madonna as a sleaze and slut. LOL!

[Guest heathen]

I was seven or eight years old when Music came out, and in some magical turning of the fates it was somehow in our digital music collection. I loved the song, but I didn't really know who it was by. It was after hearing it at the skating rink and skating around to it that I finally wanted the entire album. From there I would go into the music section of Target or something and see that she had other albums out that were older, but I didn't know exactly what to expect. I remember getting Ray of Light next even though it was an older album, and it blew my mind as a young'n. None of my peers liked her, and my parents weren't huge fans either, so I felt like I was a lone pirate sitting on this massive pile of gold or something like that. From then on it's just been love ever since!

Edited April 5, 2010 by heathen

[Guest bluejean]

The first time I saw Madonna was the Like A Prayer video. I remember watching it and being slightly but not hugely interested (I was a very young child afterall.)

I'd become obsessed with Kylie Minogue around the same time as she'd released Hand On Your Heart. Anyway, at some point I remember hearing Cherish on the radio and I thought it said "Chair mission." And I asked my mum what "Chair mission" was and she said "I don't know." ha ha.

Then not long after I saw the Cherish video and because it was so catchy and fun we became obsessed with this song. I think the mermaid theme helped.

Not long afterward, my Mum was up one night and they were playing a Madonna music video marathon on TV so she recorded it for me, from Like a virgin through to Cherish (missed the earliest songs.) I loved her and watched them over and over again (no pun intended ha ha.)

I remember especially loving Material Girl, True Blue and Open Your Heart, where she dances with a young boy (naturally.)

From there on it just grew with each release. Blonde Ambition in Spain was on TV and my granddad recorded it for me since our VCR was broken. Then he told my parents it was too rude and I wasn't allowed to watch it. But eventually I convinced my Mum to let me. The Girlie Show came along and I really wanted to go but I wasn't allowed as my Dad said it was too rude. Then the VHS came out and my Mum secretly bought it for me and I watched it in secret. It was seeing this and Truth or Dare that helped me accept I was gay because of that hot part in Why's it so hard where the guys rub against eachother. And also Truth or dare where the two gay dancers kiss.

I think though my total love for Madonna came when I was a teenager and she did Evita. I was really an outcast in highschool and something about Madonna and her voice really spoke to me. It wasn't so much the Evita project, more the fact that I now had internet and could find out everything about her in detail around that time. By then I had collected all her back catalogue and was utterly obsessed. Ray Of Light of course, sealed the deal and I have been a fanatic ever since.

[Madfan58]

I must be one of the old ones here...I remember it was Summer 1984, I was with a group of friends listening to the radio and "Lucky Star" came out. I LOVED the song so much that I wanted to know who was singing it. I then watched her video and instantly fell in love with her, and I have been a fan ever since. To this day, Lucky Star, is one of my favorite songs. I became a Madonna collector during her SEX era, and still collect Madonna items.

[Guest jordywind]

my story is pretty much same as urs,i got interested in madonna around 2005/2006 confessions era, saw hung up video and fell in love, started to look back at some of her old songs on youtube and was just hooked! love her now :-D

[Guest Drowned Bedtime]

We were on holiday in Florida and I saw the Beautiful Stranger video on TV.

I was 8.

I was in love.

Boom.

Got Ray Of Light after that (one of my first albumsssss!!!! I had such good taste.), but obviously didn't appreciate it all for a good few years.

Then got GHV2, American Life, and then my dad dumped all of his collection onto my computer in MP3, so all her 90's albums etc. My love grew deeper every day. I think that's why I'm biased towards 90's Madonna.

[mnation09]

I discovered Madonna back in the day from Smash Hits magazine and on my clock radio. In my bible bashing family the most rebellious option for me was to listen to music on the radio.. Lucky Star, Holiday and Borderline.

I pretty much swore lifetime alligence to Madonna because of this Herb Ritts photograph.. and the album was good too.