Madonna Starters’ kit
Today the Belfast Telegraph publishes a starter kit article for new Madonna fans:
Madonna doesn’t just ride the zeitgeist, she grabs it, reins it in and tames it, leaving her many critics dumbfounded by her ability to stretch her success into yet another area.
LIKE A VIRGIN (1984)
It was on her second album that Madonna took hold of the world, with a finely judged play for the iconic sexuality and catchy pop that has continued to define her appeal to males and females. If this was all that Madonna had ever had to give, we may not still celebrate her. The light and fluffy pop of Like a Virgin, Material Girl, Over and Over, and Dress You Up made it clear that the music was more about dancing than singing. However, pop has never needed to define itself too carefully, and these songs were solid examples of what was happening in New York dance clubs at that time.
TRUE BLUE (1986)
Madonna established herself as the biggest female artist in the world with the release of her third album, True Blue. It was the biggest selling record of the year, topping the UK album chart for six consecutive weeks and going straight to No 1 in every country it was released in. True Blue is Madonna’s first ‘grown-up’ album and the first to truly stand the test of time. She attempts something different with every song and carries it off with some aplomb. The singles are the standouts, particularly the timeless Papa Don’t Preach, and La Isla Bonita, but there are no obvious fillers like there were on previous albums.
LIKE A PRAYER (1989)
More than any other artist, Madonna has pushed the envelope of controversy to boost her celebrity – she knew exactly what she was doing when she combined Catholic guilt and soft pornography in her Like A Prayer videos. However, the celebrity alone would have gained her no ground at all without an astonishing musical judgment. Like a Prayer is easily Madonna’s most mature effort of the 1980s. It dispensed with the dance tracks and concentrated instead on melody and structure. It’s the album that proved Madonna could make believable, heartfelt, adult pop music.
RAY OF LIGHT (1998)
This lush, sad and spiritual album kept Madonna in front of the popular acceptance of electronic dance music in a way no-one thought she would manage. Ray of Light was Madonna’s first album of new material since 1994’s Bedtime Stories, and her first since motherhood. It is also her most accomplished record yet. William Orbit’s tasteful sonic constructions provided a hip musical backdrop, and although the lyrics do overreach themselves, few people listen to Madonna for the words. This pinnacle production gained the singer her first ever Grammy, and set a new benchmark for danceable pop.
Article by Mike Ivers
Source: Belfast Telegraph