Don't go for second best, baby. Put your ILM ARTIST POLL #31: MADONNA to the test.

:D

JF you should watch Desperately Seeking Susan this weekend

― set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, March 7, 2013 7:13 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^

nothing i voted for so far unless i voted for power of goodbye im not sure, it might have been #21. i sortof expect at least 19 of my ballot to place, i was mad obvious. i dont see how you couldnt be. madonna is severely obvious, it is the best and worst thing about her.

"Rain" seems like one of those tracks that was all over when it came out but has since completely disappeared from the radio or Muzak or any of that. It is one of my favorites

― ferreira rocher (Stevie D(eux)), Thursday, 7 March 2013 20:41 (Yesterday) Bookmark

yeah so true, the other day i was trying to think when i last heard it irl not of my own volition and idk probably like 1998 at the latest and quite possibly earlier

despite that (and never being too much of a madonna lifer beyond radio) i have still unconsciously sung raaaaaiiiinnnn quietly to myself most times it rained in the last 20 years

Radio programmers probably felt a certain...relief when they got this straightforward track.

By the way, the songwriting credits are curious. Shep Pettibone is credited but I don't think him capable of the music. Unless Madonna had a ghostwriter I tend to credit her for its melody and structure.

I think Madonna is absolutely capable of plunking something out on a piano and collaborating with someone else to turn it into what it becomes. If she rode Shep hard to get to what she was hearing in her head, I think it's entirely possible.

PLEASE do not forget

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJfPgjR_czA

"League" and "DSS" show that she is best not as an anchor/star but as a supporting player, and maybe even as a character actor.

Yeah, she's fine in both of those. There's still the possibility that she'll turn up doing something good in a moody low-budget thing somewhere down the line. Just don't know what the right role would be. Something like Dietrich in Touch of Evil

i refer you to the movie two posts prior. it didn't work out. she's ridiculously good in desperately seeking susan, which i highly recommend to anyone who hasn't seen it - great new york in the 80s flick, totally holds it own w/ the similar zeitgeist after hours and something wild. danceteria pops up in it and there's holy shit cameos galore (check it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desperately_Seeking_Susan)(see also: No Wave Cameos in 'Desperately Seeking Susan').

never saw who's that girl, it got horrible reviews and flopped quickly, but coati mundi as apparently the villain is tempting. the wikipedia page for that movie has a possible explanation for why madonna never managed the leap despite clearly being more suited for it than say prince: Madonna was ready to take direction for her part, relying on Foley to give her all the cues.[1] He, on the other hand, felt that in person, Madonna seemed to morph into a whole different body and self. He believed the process to be oddly elusive and commented that her persona morphing seemed to work most dramatically in Madonna's music videos.[1] "You'd think that that would be the perfect attribute to have for screen acting. But although she 'acts' very well sometimes, she doesn't push the right buttons at the right times over the course of the film. The failure of Shanghai Surprise had left its mark", said Foley.[1] Regarding her acting abilities, Foley stressed on the fact that Madonna was very uptight and into every detail, determined to have the correct portrayal. "That's probably why it wasn't so good. In Desperately Seeking Susan, when she didn't know what she was doing, she was being natural and at her best."[13]

glad I helped the Power of Goodbye and Keep It Together place. Physical Attraction is my favorite thing on the list so far, "quintessential early madonna to me, the little shimmery synth noise. could listen to it forever" otm

JF obviously doing a fantastic job with the images, congrats!

http://i.imgur.com/CGzJVCX.jpg

35. "EROTICA" from Erotica (1992) [12 votes, 263 points]

Happy to see all the Erotica songs placing, but getting worried that, "Deeper and Deeper" aside, it will get locked out of the top 20.

when i did an initial brainstorm this was one of the first names i put down but after listening again it didn't make the cut. feel like 'justify my love' does something similar much better to my ears. love the masters at work remixes tho.

Considering how much I love the album, my years-long indifference to this one surprises me.

looking forward to the rest of this; it's been brilliant so far.

http://i.imgur.com/5eFjd2Q.jpg

34. "DON'T TELL ME" from Music (2000) [15 votes, 284 points]

i love how surprising these results are so far? maybe they were bound to be

"Don't Tell Me" astonished me at the time - the second single was crazier than the first.

Heard the Tracy Young remixes at the gay clubs all the time.

feel like 'justify my love' does something similar much better to my ears

Absolutely. I voted for both, but Justify is so obviously the one with a touch of genius.

I kinda wish they'd kept "Erotica" as the "You Thrill Me" demo.

It has a beautiful melody and it would have sounded less similar to "Justify My Love".

http://i.imgur.com/jQnQW5c.jpg

33. "MATERIAL GIRL" from Like a Virgin (1984) [14 votes, 307 points, 1 first place vote]

xp OTM. And it totally sums up the pained doomed queer romance angle of the album.

lol at "Material Girl" being so low

seems pretty high based on the comments in the voting thread. just missed my ballot.

yeah that's kinda where i expected it to be

"Don't Tell Me" too low imo

lol at "Material Girl" being so low

Ya I didn't vote for it but at least expected it to be in the top 15

in my top 15. love the yelps, the pitch of her voice

regardless of the shit-talking on the other thread, you would expect the song whose title is most-often used to refer to Madonna in the press to place higher that the 30s

fun karaoke number

I guess "Where Life Begins" isn't going to place.

I have positive memories of the Material Girl video from my youth, but the song itself has aged pretty poorly. As was mentioned in the voting thread, it did more damage to her career in the short-term than was expected. What a horrible nickname to have to carry around..."material girl". But even the song itself is cornball, not in way that's just associated with it coming from 1984, but an ageless type of cornball. Given the opportunity to do things over, I imagine she'd have passed on this one.

"Don't Tell Me" deserves to place in a thread about songs written that earned some other struggling songwriter a pile of money.

Ah, not sure how I feel about Material Girl being so low. It too is touched by genius, but it's also hackwork (outstanding hackwork); it's iconic, but by reference more than originality; and while it's a Madonna, it's not the one she turned out to be. And it's a pop classic, but kinda squeaky.

I tied myself in knots over it, and finally I left it off.

I dunno if she suffered in the short term. In fact, it's a shrewd move! What better way to prepare the audience for your Serious Work ahead than by having ditties like "Material Girl" to rebel against?

fun karaoke number

― the little prince of inane false binary hype (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), vendredi 8 mars 2013 16:13 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I love Chic's performance on this and "Like a Virgin" tbh

Good point. xp

and while it's a Madonna, it's not the one she turned out to be

otm

twenty five years later she finally accepted the moniker with a macy's clothing line under the name, and a put her name on a ton of products to support its truth - shoes, vodka, perfume and most horrifically the hard candy gyms

*also put her name

I don't think I'll ever be able to hear this song anymore without thinking about balls' story from the noms thread:

2) still fourth grade, talent show, i 'perform' 'material girl' by having a rabbit hand puppet lipsync the song while i stand in my suit, expressionless, lipsyncing the 'liv-ing in a material world' backing part.

I missed that story. HA!

http://i.imgur.com/V2XuseY.jpg

32. "MUSIC" from Music (2000) [16 votes, 309 points]

amazing

It's a pretty good, interesting track, less dated and vacant, and more tuneful, than I thought it might be; then I remembered the horrible Ali G video and never even considered voting for it.

"Don't Tell Me" too low imo

― some dude, Friday, March 8, 2013

sent my ballot in too late but this was my #1. based on totals so far it looks like the only difference that would have made would have been to place it ahead of Music at 32 so I'm afraid it wouldn't have changed much. hoping the same is true for my #2.

oh i would've been happy if "Don't" had just placed above "Music," that's the real injustice here

amazing

― prolego, Friday, March 8, 2013 1

^^ good album track