Madonna has been one of the most polarizing artists in music today. Her self titled debut album came out in 1993 and the recently released Madame X which has rounded out roughly 26 years of music. I find it fascinating that Madonna still can get attention and each album has a unique touch to it. So I decided to listen to all of Madonnas albums from start to finish, and these are my thoughts as she evolved each and every collection.
When I hear Lucky Star, the first thing that comes to my mind is Vinnie Jones whacking people in Snatch, however it is one of the three tracks on this album everyone knows. The other two being Borderline and Holiday. The album to me has a rawness to it, especially the last two tracks Physical Attraction and Everybody which for the time were kind of sexed up but still had a 16 bit nintendo synthesizer to it. The album is a fun listen because of how early and young she is here. Track three Burning Up should have made it's way to Scarface.
This was the definite breakthrough album. The title track was her coming out party, The one where everyone got to know her. The lace and white dress that looked like it was in a wedding. It was much more tightly produced than her last album and it had a few singles on it. Material Girl is such a fun cool song. When I was a kid, I didn't get it, and I didn't understand the video and now looking back, she was a genius with those lyrics and the Marilyn Monroe tribute definitely got heads turned towards her. Right around this time Desperately Seeking Susan came out and that movie was corny but fun. It was 80s at its best.
At this point, all the girls at my elementary school were performing songs off this album. Personally I think if you are going to say an album set the bar for Madonna's career, I believe this was it. The songwriting is amazing. Papa Don't Preach kicks off the album with the message of growing out of the nest and also the talk of the teenage pregnancy. Ofcourse other superhits like Open Your Heart, La Isla Bonita, and the title track make this album click. I noticed the production was different on all 3 albums. Unfortunately when you learn production you can't listen to music the same anymore. You notice things like this, and doing some research, she swapped out producers every album, which is a smart move if you want to keep reinventing yourself. She gave up the white and lace and long hair for a short blond haircut. My favorite track on this album is Live to Tell, which was also featured in the movie At Close Range.
Many said this is where the envelope started getting pushed here. Her blond ambition tour raised many eyebrows from another new look to her having cones on her breasts. However, Like A Prayer was a very personal album to her. Despite the controversey about the title track video (which I still don't understand why it was so riske) the album came after her divorce from moviestar Sean Penn and the death of her Mom just before she turned 30, she was pondering her Catholicism and she used music to escape the guilt she was feeling from it. I am not the biggest fan of this album, although its a very inspirational album with some real positive messages. It was her next album that made me take notice and really begin to appreciate her. Side note, Vogue which is such a great song came out shortly after this on the Dick Tracy soundtrack.
EROTICA (1992)
To me, this was Madonna giving the world a fuck you and taking control of her sexuality. The most famous or infamous coffee table box Sex came out just before this album and Madonna was exploring the world of sexuality through the character of Mistress Dita. What I love about this album is not only once again she changes things up, reinvents herself, but the sound of the album is just scandalous. Just that baseline that kicks off the first track, the one thats the title track. You are about to take a journey into sound. Her voice inflection, it gives you the shivers listening to it. And ofcourse it is highly sexual, but the chorus and the production element are very hard to get out of your head. The album goes into dance format throughout and it is such a departure of everything she did before. She completely abandoned everything but when you listen to her deeper tracks on the earlier albums you get hints of her taking control of her sexuality and being in charge so to speak to make all the boys piss in their pants. As the album goes on, the tempo does change, but it is such a fun listen. Justify My Love came out right around this time as well, which was banned from MTV for being too hot to handle for them.
BEDTIME STORIES (1994)
Although she had the same look for the most part she did in Erotica, Madonna really did to chill out so to speak. Anyone remember when she handed Letterman her panties during an interview right around this time. People were really going after her this time, but Bedtime Stories was a nice slow "romantic" album which has one of my favorite Madonna songs, Take A Bow.
RAY OF LIGHT (1998)
This is without a doubt Madonna's best album in my opinion. When I first heard it, I was at WHCM raising hell at Harper College and I played the track Frozen (since it was the first single) and I really liked it. Followed up by Ray of Light which is such a fast move your ass song and has a real happy sound to it. She really was into the electronic music at this point. But you look at the rest of that album, it's amazing. Yes she was getting into the kabbalah at this time, and I say it influenced her well. Once again she went through a transformation, and the album had a mature sound to it. I felt like we saw Madonna grow up in front of our eyes from the self titled debut up to this point. Candy Perfume Girl, Nothing Really Matters, and The Power of Goodbye are such good songs. Yes I really loved this album.
MUSIC (2000)
Yes Madonna had to come out with an album in 2000. She stayed with the electronic format and I really can't say to much about this album. I thought it was the most overproduced of the bunch. Kind of commercialized. Decent, but definitely not her best in my opinion.
Just a reminder, these are only my observations. You can feel free to agree or disagree,
AMERICAN LIFE (2003)
This album to me had the same style as Music did, but the song writing is strong here. Many of her lyrics are relatable as she is growing up here. Her bond song is in the album for Die Another Day and it is followed up by a great track called Easy Ride. I think we can relate to it all where we talk about what we want to do with life and list off our dreams, but then we discover we want simple things in life.
CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR (2005)
This is my second favorite by Madonna. I just started listening to ABBA for some reason and their song Gimme Gimme Gimme had the hook from Hung Up, which is one of my favorite all time songs. The song has a disco feel to it, but still a modern take on it. It grabs your attention immediately. The album takes you on a ride and I Love New York is a guilty pleasure song of mine, but despite the fact its another single, Jump is a great track.
HARD CANDY (2008)
I really believe around this time Timbaland and Justin Timberlake were the hotest duo in music especially with the FutureSex/LongSongs (yeah the one with Sexy Back) and you had to know Madonna was going to get in on that. 4 Minutes which she does with the two is a great song and I really love the chorus how they only have 4 minutes to say the words. She was changing up her sound on this album and did lots of collaborations. This was like Music a real fun record to listen to.
We will stop here as I need to listen to her last three albums, so we will return to this. But before we conclude I need to talk about Something to Remember.
This is a very good compilation album. It includes all the songs from movies that never made it to her albums. Examples Crazy for You from Vision Quest, This Used to Be My Playground from A League Of Their Own and a couple others. This came out right around the same time Bedtime Stories came out which obviously was being used as a tool to calm down the residual effects of the Erotica era.
Point being Madonna is the mother of reinvention, with her look, her music, her attitude, and her presentation. There is not an artist alive who has refreshed themselves as much as Madonna and still is relevant. We were will talk more about the role she played shaping today's music in part 2. After I listen to the newer albums.\
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