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EROTICA / SEX: The Official 20th Anniversary Celebration Thread.


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A great 20th Anniversary essay from houseofdandridge.com.

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The Before & Aftermath of “Erotica” & “Sex”

"This weekend marked a shocking twenty years since Madonna delivered the insanely gargantuan and dangerously risky one-two punch of the “Erotica” album and The “Sex” Book the day after…the world has certainly not been the same since. Of course the intended trifecta consisted of the film “Body of Evidence” released a short while later. No other pop star before or after her seems to have even considered venturing anywhere near the territory she conquered and mercilessly stabbed her flag into. Would it even be necessary? Would it even cross their mind?...

The album is a sacred fan favourite and heralded as one of her most intensely wild yet cohesive eras in which she completely immersed herself in her work and made some of her most artistically daring videos and artistic decisions. ”Erotica”' date=' “Deeper and Deeper”, “Bad Girl”, “Fever” and “Rain” received the full treatment and if watching all five videos one after the other you may not even believe that it is the same woman in each one. ”Bye Bye Baby” was released as well, using her MTV VMA performance, which was extracted from the 1993 tour that supported the album called The Girlie Show This is when Madonna was at her most ferocious and exciting and there was no question that she was taking risks…it was how dangerous those risks would be. The build up began years earlier with the blasphemous fireworks display of the “Like A Prayer” Pepsi controversy and it’s subsequent singles and public appearances and performances. We were starting to see a different Madonna. She was using bigger weapons and making grander political statements. Soon after, “Vogue” took over the world paving the way for an action packed world tour filled with button smacking moments and obscene theatrics that proverbially ‘ruffled some feathers’. Her opposition naturally became stronger, her detractors multiplied in numbers, yet her devilish antics and rebellious attitude definitely rose to the occasion. This was all captured in the early 1992 release “Truth or Dare” documentary which allowed her to still relish in the unwavering spotlight and attention from 1990′s Blond Ambition Tour after it had ended and worked as a perfect segue to what was to come. ”The Immaculate Collection”, her first greatest hits package arrived with two brand new songs. One of them surely sounded like nothing she had ever done before…or since.

“Justify My Love” was the first single to promote the hits collection and was a massive, worldwide smash indebted surely to the accompanying video banned by MTV because of its nudity and in your face elements of homosexuality, bisexuality and sadomasochism. Despite how far she had gone, the song and video were drenched in a passionate and almost severe romanticism and lushness, albeit with a definitely filthy aftertaste.

[b']“Poor is the man whose pleasures depend on the permission of another”[/b] were lyrics from the song featured at the end of the clip that summed up the entire revolution she was leading. In a world still reeling from the damages and destruction and mystery of HIV and AIDS, she wanted to remind everyone that it never was and never will be a bad thing to admit to and explore your fantasies and to certainly act on them if it makes you feel good. She was a strong advocate of the power in the idea of ‘consent’ and always was in control of her image from day one. She never claimed to be the saviour of the gay community but she was without a doubt a pied piper of sorts for those who felt disenfranchised, persecuted, targeted, despised and ultimately feared and neglected. Her fans and entourage never pulled out the victim card but instead grew stronger and more resourceful with every attack and setback. This is obviously something she was familiar with in her own experiences and her enemies simply gave her life. Growing up gay and ultimately ‘different’ leads you to the same haphazard and self proclaimed royalty.

“Erotica” and The “Sex” Book came out just as I was fully coming out as a homosexual myself…venturing into Manhattan as often as possible to discover and uncover and explore the seedier side of the city as well as the culture and electricity that was so close, yet so far away from the small town in New Jersey I grew up in. Thank God for the PATH train…I certainly wouldn’t be anywhere near the adventurous and imaginative, toughened yet optimistic adult I am today if I didn’t have such an accessible escape into the fiery magic of New York City as well as the power of anonymity that any big city can offer you. But enough about me…we’re talking about Madonna!..."

(click here to read the rest of the article)

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One of her greatest eras along with her ROL and Confessions eras. In a way, this era is probably her best. So much happening, so much coming to a world wide climax, wow.

Nice thread.

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The infamous NME interview where they wrongly reported a song being called "Show and tell" on the album.

Got that one.. the three NME covers with interviews (one with an article in 1986 preceded those in the days when she was an aloof superstar in the 80s and did hardly any interviews :queenbitch:) are all excellent. The 95 one she admitted to being raped and slated Mariah, the ROL one she complained about the journalist for asking her if she ate the placenta. :D

That would be an absolute nightmare to scan and I'd have to rip it apart, I wish I had an A3 scanner for this stuff. I do have the NME album review as well which I wanted to scan - I think I sent that to Pud once? - but will have to dig it out.

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Thank you love!



Also blocked UK. Boo!

I thought they had eased off with all that shit. The worst is when you get the message "the uploader has chosen not to make this available in your country". Wtf.. why, racist? :rant::voodoo:



Hopefully this link will work:



EDIT: Oh, SCREW IT. :lol:
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Got that one.. the three NME covers with interviews (one with an article in 1986 preceded those in the days when she was an aloof superstar in the 80s and did hardly any interviews :queenbitch:) are all excellent. The 95 one she admitted to being raped and slated Mariah, the ROL one she complained about the journalist for asking her if she ate the placenta. :D

That would be an absolute nightmare to scan and I'd have to rip it apart, I wish I had an A3 scanner for this stuff. I do have the NME album review as well which I wanted to scan - I think I sent that to Pud once? - but will have to dig it out.

I wish she'd make another one. The ROL one is the one where she says that her favourite Spice Girl is Victoria "because she's mysterious", right ? :dead:

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^ It was a part one/part two job. Makes sense for them as it gets more sales obviously from interested parties, fvcking annoying though. I believe 1995 was all in the magazine.. possibly 1998. Even RS Carrie Fisher was over two issues I think.

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can someone post the nme interview from 92?

Someone must have an A3 scanner! Some fan should have put it online cause a big % of them online. I dunno how poor brave funkydita managed to scan the Sunday Times 92 article (reposted in this thread earlier) I kept pestering him for, also in that cumbersome format.. hard work!

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^ It was a part one/part two job. Makes sense for them as it gets more sales obviously from interested parties, fvcking annoying though. I believe 1995 was all in the magazine.. possibly 1998. Even RS Carrie Fisher was over two issues I think.

Yep, 95 and 98 were just 1 issue. I don't have part 2 of this!

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