Was Hard Candy ahead of its time?

[dollhouse]

Madonna is finally Over in the UK:

[Lucky guy]

Well, the impression I get from UK members here is that she's at an all time low and it's pretty much been that way since the HC/S&S era.......yet, when it's brought up, it's "oh the general public loves her, she's continuously sold out stadiums and had top five hits, most requested songs etc etc".....well ok.....then I guess she must not be in THAT bad of a situation over there then...lol. So why the meltdowns in the UK chart threads?? And why the meltdowns over the British press slagging her every opportunity??

You're setting up a completely false paradigm, where at one end of the scale she's still a huge musical force in the UK, and at the other, she's reviled by a jealous public for her rejection of our favourite mockney director. Why should either of these be true? Perhaps people stopped buying her music because the singles were shit.

[rb19]

You're setting up a completely false paradigm, where at one end of the scale she's still a huge musical force in the UK, and at the other, she's reviled by a jealous public for her rejection of our favourite mockney director. Why should either of these be true? Perhaps people stopped buying her music because the singles were shit.

but the weird thing is the way I sense the public feeling, both of those are true, and both are sort of held simultaneously. She is simultaneously revered and derided.

[jonski43]

but the weird thing is the way I sense the public feeling, both of those are true, and both are sort of held simultaneously. She is simultaneously revered and derided.

Yes, that's exactly what I think too and was trying to outline above. MDNA sold poorly, her UK dates sold very slowly and the singles bombed but she puts on an extra million viewers on a TV show.

[Guest bluejean]

I really think it is mainly because she hasn't released songs the general public have liked. Her sales/chart success have been very similar in Australia (worse in fact) and I can assure you noone here gives a fuck about Guy Ritchie.

It's also largely about radio play or lack thereof. If radio don't play the songs noone is going to even know about them let alone like them.

[mad4mad2]

yes HARD CANDY was ahead of its time.

[madonnasuperfan01]

No i don't think it was ahead of it's time but it's still a great album overall. I never jumped into the "let's hate all Madonna's albums post-2005" bandwagon.

[karbatal]

When she performed the Superbowl people were mesmerized. If only she had released a better first single, the impact would have been big. Sadly, the song was bad.

But that means that for next album, she only has to release a good song (Good in a Madonna way, i mean, a SUPERB song) and there will be loads of interest in her.

Here in Spain she hasn't had a hit for YEARS (since Confessions), and I mean a proper hit, a song that even my mother knows, but she's still incredibly popular and seen as an everlasting number one artist.

[Guest]

Maybe she should write a song about her skirt.

[vocalism]

When she performed the Superbowl people were mesmerized. If only she had released a better first single, the impact would have been big. Sadly, the song was bad.

But that means that for next album, she only has to release a good song (Good in a Madonna way, i mean, a SUPERB song) and there will be loads of interest in her.

Here in Spain she hasn't had a hit for YEARS (since Confessions), and I mean a proper hit, a song that even my mother knows, but she's still incredibly popular and seen as an everlasting number one artist.

I agree with your first statement, but not your second. The interest from the SB is long gone. The best song in the world couldn't get her back on Top 40 radio. However, a SUPERB album that's critically acclaimed could generate sales and some Grammy love.

[Shan]

Who cares, it's a good ass album regardless. It took 70's funk and mashed it with the rnb sound of the time. I don't think it was particularly behind the times besides 4 Minutes.

HC's sound just so happens to be getting popular again, making M look even smarter than she already is. I'm also expecting a 60's GMAYL sound to become popular some time or another.

[madonnasuperfan01]

Madonna is finally Over in the UK:

And Elton is over basically everywhere

[Pabl0114]

Hard Candy should be commemorated for being MNation's most polarizing album. I don't event think ROL was this polarizing.

[karbatal]

ROL was not polarizing at all, compared to other albums like AL or HC. If there had been Internet, i'm sure that Erotica would have been the most discussed album ever. Many fans would have been outraged with all that Madonna did back then. But ROL??? When she came back with Pat and made such wonderful songs????

[madonnasuperfan01]

Hard Candy should be commemorated for being MNation's most polarizing album. I don't event think ROL was this polarizing.

ROL was polarizing? I thought almost every fan literally worshipped that album.

[johnnox]

I think almost everybody agreed that Ray of Light was one of her masterpieces. Even if you don't necessarily enjoy the album, you respect the lyrics, production value and message.

It's the lyrics in recent albums that jar me the most when I know she is much more capable than her output displays. Anyway, hey-ho, one man's meat is another man's poison I guess.

[karbatal]

I don't have much problem with lyrics. Sometimes, simple sentences can be more effective than complicated ones. For example, i really like Love Profusion lyrics, or Jump.

I think it's more a question of being innovative, at least for me. You listen to Nobody Knows Me and the song is so incredible that you forget that the lyrics are repetitive or simple.

[Guest]

ROL was polarizing? I thought almost every fan literally worshipped that album.

We did... except for those 'dance music snobs' that troll around the tribe, even a lot of non-fans loved it.

Then the Music album came along, and if I remember correctly very few AT THE TIME had anything but great things to say about

that album either… then there was American Life… and it was all and and :tigger:and and and and .

It became personal. LOL.

[madonnasuperfan01]

We did... except for those 'dance music snobs' that troll around the tribe, even a lot of non-fans loved it.

Then the Music album came along, and if I remember correctly very few AT THE TIME had anything but great things to say about

that album either… then there was American Life… and it was all and and :tigger:and and and and .

It became personal. LOL.

Lol. I love Ray of Light but it's not my favorite Madonna album. I can understand why fans love it so much, it was her big comeback both on a commercial and critical level. But i still think her artistic peak was Like a Prayer.

[karbatal]

To me her artistic peak was Music, but there are so many brilliant moments in Confessions and even Hard Candy or MDNA. I don't like thinking that her peak was in the past, she has got so much more to give!

[vocalism]

Hard Candy should be commemorated for being MNation's most polarizing album. I don't event think ROL was this polarizing.

I don't consider it very polarizing. To me polarizing is something that divides people more evenly. There are a surprising number of people who love it, but they're in the minority. Maybe an actual poll is in order. I bet most just think it's "fine/average."

[Kurt420]

Going through this thread and just the board in general, every fan seems to consider Madonna's "peak" to be something different. It's not like someone like say Prince where even the diehard fans (from my observation) don't get into much (if anything) post like late 90's (and that's being generous). With Madonna, it's all over the board. There's the ones who say the "original" Boy Toy Madonna will never be beat, the "ray of lighters" and to me it seems like quite a few younger fans these past few years who consider HC/MDNA eras to be her peak. Shows just how STRONG she really is as an artist! We are soooooo lucky!!!

[Guest]

Going through this thread and just the board in general, every fan seems to consider Madonna's "peak" to be something different. It's not like someone like say Prince where even the diehard fans (from my observation) don't get into much (if anything) post like late 90's (and that's being generous). With Madonna, it's all over the board. There's the ones who say the "original" Boy Toy Madonna will never be beat, the "ray of lighters" and to me it seems like quite a few younger fans these past few years who consider HC/MDNA eras to be her peak. Shows just how STRONG she really is as an artist! We are soooooo lucky!!!

I fully agree, and because Madonna is so many things to so many people, coupled with her refusal to rest on specific sound or into a genre of music, she's able to maintain a very unique and varied fan base. Hard Candy, to me, is like any of her break up albums... ROL and LAP included, because the emotions seem all over the place, earnest in some places and irreverent in others.

I always consider her divorce albums something altogether different, MDNA is like Erotica in terms of simmering anger and owning her sexuality.

Anyone who's gone through a breakup or felt betrayed, can relate

[madonnasuperfan01]

Going through this thread and just the board in general, every fan seems to consider Madonna's "peak" to be something different. It's not like someone like say Prince where even the diehard fans (from my observation) don't get into much (if anything) post like late 90's (and that's being generous). With Madonna, it's all over the board. There's the ones who say the "original" Boy Toy Madonna will never be beat, the "ray of lighters" and to me it seems like quite a few younger fans these past few years who consider HC/MDNA eras to be her peak. Shows just how STRONG she really is as an artist! We are soooooo lucky!!!

Totally agree. We're lucky that Madonna kept re-inventing herself the way she did, that's the main reason her career lasted so long. And i love the way she came back strong after the failures of Erotica and American Life, people were SO quick to say her career was over back then. It's funny how Madonna always seem to have a lot of desperate haters since the very beginning of her career, like that guy from Billboard saying Cyndi Lauper would have a long career and Madonna would be out after 6 months :dead:

Edited June 20, 2013 by madonnasuperfan01