A Madonna in the roaring ’20’s
Our Forum moderator Daniel has pointed out an interesting comparison between Madonna and an artist from the ’20, Bessie Smith.
“Bessie Smith was a larger than life talent from the 20s, known as the Empress of the Blues. Listening to her voice is like being transported to the Harlem of the Jazz Age. Listen to “Empty Bed Blues”, “Aggravatin’ Papa”, “I’ve Been Mistreated And I Don’t Like It” and you’ll hear a woman who said Express Yourself, Papa Don’t Preach and What it Feels Like for a Girl long before Madonna. Unlike Lady M, she never underwent any spiritual conversion and was as hard drinking, sexually provocative, violent, crazy and rebelious toward the end of her tragically short career as she had began.
At 6ft tall and 200lbs, she would get involved in fist fights and once tossed a love rival from a train! This is a woman who lived life at the edge, and at a time when being black could mean a death sentence she lived it larger and louder than many today would dare. The latest crop of female stars are but a shadow of this great woman, and only Madonna, Aretha and a few others can claim to live in the spirit she pioneered.
All the Britney’s and Christina’s and R&B “stars” look like puppets compared to this woman, and their manufactured attitude is just comic compared to the legend that is Bessie Smith.
People often ask who the “next Madonna” or “Madonna’s rivals” or who’s “Better than Madonna“. I see Bessie Smith as being the pre-Madonna. Her style, her attitude, her spirit, her song, her lifestyle (pre Kabbalah!) are how I see Madonna…fierce, independent, spirited and larger than life. Smith’s voice could be heard at the back of a concert hall before microphones became common, Madonna’s…well, it’s not in that league, but they both do their part to express themselves through song. Both ladies also know how to become the trend, to take the sound and make it theirs.
Madonna has many current “rivals”. She’ll have many who follow her and get compared to her. Bessie Smith is whom I’d nominate as the Madonna of her day…or is Madonna the Bessie Smith of today… ”
Daniel
Listening:
http://www.redhotjazz.com/bessie.html
http://www.redhotjazz.com/smithbuck.html