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

It's actually "music makes the bass referee in the treble"

http://i.imgur.com/Iwm9Ibz.jpg

31. "LIKE A VIRGIN" from Like a Virgin (1984) [17 votes, 334 points, 1 first place vote]

damn her signature song outside the top 30

it's okay, she has like 14 other signature songs

!!!

Maybe "Where LIfe Begins" will be top 5 after all.

It's one of those songs that's canonical and impactful bcz of its context and "classic" but I mean come on she has made many more better songs than this.

I mean I guess but idk "Music" to me is her most well-executed OTT mega dance floor banger and manages to transcend tacky kitsch

Third most, after "Hung Up" and "Ray of Light"...

Like is this song really *that good* when you isolate it?

Okay, now I'm shocked. LAV was something shiny & new, it deserved higher than that.

It isn't. xp

xp I ranked "Ray of Light" higher than "Music" but I still think the latter is more ott/explosive/big and loud and etc

You missed a trick not starting the countdown at no.30; imagine getting to the top five and we're all trying to cram eight or nine songs in there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BLDrh-5HZU

Haha, that would've been fun. xp

aw i should probably have thrown a vote to LAV, sad to see it miss the 30. the lion in the video always cracks me up.

didn't vote for it but i'm still glad to see "music"! acid rock

"Music" sadly her last American #1.

The US being just about the only country in the world where "Hung Up" didn't go #1

I didn't realize the hook from "Hung Up" was an ABBA sample until two weeks ago :-(

The drums on Like A Virgin are amazing. It's not just the production, he's hitting them so hard. It's almost comical in effect.

http://i.imgur.com/VXhO6Od.jpg

30. "TILL DEATH DO US PART" from Like a Prayer (1989) [16 votes, 337 points]

hey here's something i voted for

I'm on a train facing backwards, looking out the window, with Sorry on my headphones, and all the overhead lines, signals, passing trains and buildings were synching past like in the Chemical Brothers' Star Guitar video. They've dropped out of synch now, but that was a strangely thrilling twenty seconds.

great song, dunno if it'll be her highest album cut but it's her best imo xp

hoping and praying probs futilely that "love tried to welcome me" will still place

http://i.imgur.com/ha1ksje.jpg

29. "EVERYBODY" from Everybody 12"/Madonna (1982,83) [15 votes, 344 points]

agh all of this has been going full steam ahead while i've been offline

hurrah to many, many tracks so far - bit worried that all the erotica tracks showing up in the 30-50 section will mean less of the right at the top, where they belong...

"everybody" is amazing

It is. How come I had it at no.25? Idiot.

bit worried that all the erotica tracks showing up in the 30-50 section will mean less of the right at the top, where they belong...

It's had 5 of the last 22, better than any other album she's released. Did you want to see the whole thing place?

yes

(apart from a couple)

wow #30

In trying to figure out why I always align Everybody with Genius of Love, I decided it's like Tina Weymouth and Madonna had the exact same dream and each of them channeled it into the songs we currently know.

wow things happening! great rollout so far, is making the upcomers v interesting

DANCE AND SING GET UP AND DO YOUR THING

*dances*

yeah I can see the link -- kinda spare but uber-groovy

I'd be OK with "Did You Do It?" missing the top 50.

http://i.imgur.com/b30MXtC.jpg

28. "SECRET" from Bedtime Stories (1994) [16 votes, 349 points]

given the voting block, the overrepresentation of Erotica was pretty much a given but I'm glad that it's playing itself out in the lower end of the rollout

wow i like "secret" but this seems way high for it

idk, placing seems kinda right to me. I'm humming it in my head right now.

for some reason I always combine this and Deeper and Deeper in my head and start thinking about udo kier and get confused

It's definitely one of the most earwormy Madonna singles.

Secret was my no.4; weeping salt tears right now.

"Secret" would have been #21 on my ballot so I am happy to see it here

this is my "secret" story. this occurred right around when i was getting into madonna albums, not just singles:

when i was 12, my maths teacher got pregnant. the supply teacher they'd got in to cover for her was dreadful at both teaching and controlling the class, but she was kind of bitchy as well. "secret" had just come out, so me and my then bff rewrote the lyrics as a hate paean to her. the chorus went "mmm-mmm, we hate mrs buckn4ll". the verses were ruder but they escape my memory right now. not only did we rewrite the song, but - as an instrumental was included on the cd single - we recorded it, brought the tape into school along with print-outs of the lyrics, and played it to selected members of the class in the school library one lunchtime. unfortunately, also present in the library was mrs buckn4ll's son, who was a little twat iirc. he grabbed one of the lyric sheets and told on us. mrs b had to have therapy apparently :(

epilogue: a few months ago my mother went to a church in a village she doesn't normally go to. she vaguely recognised one of the women in the congregation and advanced on her after the service, asking where they possibly could have met, and then something rung a bell, and she said - oh, is it through [my school]? do you know my son alex?

that woman was mrs buckn4ll :(

― lex lex lex lex lex on the track BOW (lex pretend), Thursday, October 21, 2010 10:34 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

humming that version in my head right now, it works v well Lex :)

that "till death do us part" image!

Oh yes! I'm reading on phone and keep forgetting to open these :(

http://i.imgur.com/EoPJ0Ol.jpg

27. "LA ISLA BONITA" from True Blue (1986) [18 votes, 367 points, 1 first place vote]

Meh.

every time i listen to "la isla bonita" i'm like I LOVE THIS and then the chorus is so boring

but that's all relative; still kinda neat to see it place so high