| Product: |
Madonna in general |
| Date: |
11.04.08 (30 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Greatest Female Artist of all Time
Disadvantages: Acting not that great!
~ How it all started ~
I feel like I have to admit it. I am a Madonna fan. Have been since she burst onto the music scene in 1982 when I was 10 years old. I used to buy smash hits magazine and loved using their lyrics provided to sing along to the latest songs in the chart. This is how I discovered Madonna. The song Lucky Star was printed and I thought 'Ive heard this' So of course when it next appeared on my radio I was armed with my song lyrics and I've never looked back.
Of course back then no-one knew I could sing and wanted to sing and loved to sing. This was my secret. So many a happy hour was spent in my bedroom singing along to my new friend.
~ The obsession begins ~
The first music I bought by Madonna was the 'Like A Virgin' album. This was after the title track had been released. Suffice to say I fell hook line and sinker for the poppy melodies and had to have more. So I hunted out her first album. My version is 'The First Album' but this has also been released as simply 'Madonna'. This album features the epic hit 'Holiday' as well as 'Lucky Star' 'Into the Groove' features on Like A Virgin and is from the film 'Desperately Seeking Susan'. I managed to persuade my dad to rent this on video so I could see it. In this film Madonna plays 'Madonna' not difficult! Some would say its not up to much and really in the grand scheme of things its not, but Madonnas in it so I loved it.And so my love affair with the Madge continued as I grew up. I bought all of her albums the minute they were released and if the albums weren't out I bought the single. My record player (whats that! I hear you cry!) got a hammering.
Madonnas 3rd album release was 'True Blue' and commercially in the Uk her biggest success so far. She had hit after hit from this album, my personal favourite being Papa don't preach. This was followed by the soundtrack to the film of the same name 'Whos That Girl'. This was Madonnas third film appearance, her second being Shanghai Surprise in which she starred with husband at the time Sean Penn.
~ See her live - no! ~
So to 1987 and the announcement that Madonna was to play live in the UK. The Sun had an advert for a gig at Wembley - The 'Whos That Girl' Tour. 'Dad can I go?' was met with a 'no chance are you travelling to London at your age' - Gutted was an understatement. In an attempt to appease me he let me go to see Michael Jackson in nearer Leeds. Reluctantly I accepted this second choice and bought my ticket along with my friends. Oh how it hurt when a few days later it was announced that Madonna would now play Leeds also. I had no money left to buy a ticket now! I don't think I will ever get over that!
After a bit of a quiet spell on the music scene other than the compilation 'You Can Dance', 'Like A Prayer' came out in 1989. I remember saying to a friend at the time 'her music justs gets better with each album'. What was actually happening was Madonna was doing her changing direction bit and I was changing tastes as I matured. This album had more personal lyrics and stronger more meaningful songs. Madonna initially appeard in a pepsi advert for the title tracks release but this was banned after an outcry from the catholic church. They took offence to Madonna kissing a black jesus in the video for the track.
~ In the flesh ~
I eventually got to see her live when she toured again which I think was in 1990. Again at Wembley, but I was allowed to go now (I was 18!) the 'Blonde Ambition' tour was a revelation. This was the tour that started the whole bad reputation thing that surrounds Madonna. The documentary 'In Bed with Madonna' is the behind the scenes of this tour. It features Warren Beatty who she was seeing at the time after appearing in the film Dick Tracy with him. Madonnas role was Breathless Mahoney and she released a soundtrack album called 'Im Breathless' As well as tracks from the film it featured other tracks influenced by the film and included 'Vogue'. This tour featured a few tracks from this album.
I loved this concert but couldn't see a lot. I was sat down half way back at the side in Wembley. Rubbish! So the documentary along with a showing on sky helped me out with the bits I missed.
'Erotica' the album and 'Sex' the book followed this tour and this was the stage of her career where she added controversy to controversy and started to lose some of her fan base.
Madonnas next tour was 'The Girlie Show' and was more shocking a concert than her previous one. She opened with a naked pole dancer and then she appeared as 'Dieter' the character from her Erotica video. This compounded her bad press and she was now suffering a backlash. At this concert I managed to get to the front and after getting squashed and fainting (You live and learn) I had a brilliant view. I can still remember how I felt when Madonna came to my side of the stage and I could actually see the features on her face with my naked eye. Awestruck is an understatement. I have this concert on DVD and never tire of watching it. Madonna likes to change constume a lot. She likes to shock and she likes to dance. Madonnas live performances are more than just concerts she creates a world of fantastic imagery and theatre to compliment her music.
I have managed to catch Madonna another 3 times since. Her Drowned World and Re-Invention tours were both at Earls Court and her latest Confessions tour at Wembley Arena. These were all fantastic concerts although they came at a price.
~ Back to the music ~
Musically Madonna followed up Erotica with Bedtime Stories. Apart from the hits 'Bedtime Story' which saw Madonna jump onto the current Dance Music phase and 'Secret' the album didn't do too well.
This was the first time I didn't rush out for the album on release. Although this album was a weaker effort than her previous releases it still has a certain charm to it.
When 'Ray Of Light' was released I waited a while before buying it. This met with great reviews from music critics but when I first listened to it, I wasn't keen. The album has grown on me and seeing her perform some of the tracks live on her Drowned World Tour I grew to see the greatness in this album.
One of the best allbums in my Madonna collection is 'Music'. As well as the title track, 'Don't Tell Me' is one of my favourite tracks. I love the guitar at the start and how the song jerks about making it a perfect accompaniment to the line dancing of the video.
I really like 'American Life'. Again Madonna is heading in a different direction musically and with her image too. Again she was met with critiscism regarding her Army imagery. The album was also seen as a weak follow up to her last two successes.
~ How much! ~
Madonnas most recent release was the 'Confessions of a Dancefloor' album from which have come several hits including 'Sorry' and the Abba sampling 'Hung Up'. With this album Madonna seems to have gone full circle and gone back to the disco pop of her early career but with a slicker, cooler edge. I missed the ticket announcement for this tour and determined I was going I paid over the odds for two tickets on Ebay. A total cost of £360 (crazy! Yes probably!). I was six months pregnant when I went to the concert so I wasn't able to dance about as much as I would have liked!
My feet were killing by the time we left. I would have been gutted if I missed it though and Im convinced that my baby Owen recognises some of the songs when he hears them now!
~ Films and Other stuff ~
As well as Madonnas musical career she has dabbled with various other things. Her films being the main. Ive already mentioned Desperately Seeking Susan, Shanghai Surprise, Whos That Girl and Dick Tracy. None of which were brilliant acting performances. She also appeared in Body Of Evidence (I really like this film but her acting is atrocious!) and was fairly successful with her performance in 'A League Of Their Own'. Madonnas big break movie wise came with the role she'd been hankering after for years - 'Evita'. She had singing lessons for the movie and you can tell. Her vocal performances from Ray Of Light onwards have gained depth and her live vocals are much better. Evita was a success and although she looked a little old when playing the young Evita she played a convincing role. Madonna has still not managed to follow up this performance with another great film. 'The Next Best Thing' was a decent chick flick from which 'American Pie' came about.'Swept Away' was directed by hubbie Guy Ritchie and was just ok, but no Lock, Stock. I heard an interview on the radio the other day about Madonnas directing debut. Its a short film called 'Filth and Wisdom and it stars Richard E Grant. Curiosity will mean I will have to watch this film to see if she is any better at directing than acting.
Madonna also writes childrens books. I don't have any experience of these yet. I saw one in the library and it looked very elaborately illustrated. I couldn't convince my 6 year old to borrow it though so thats as far as I got!
Madonna also has her own clothing range called 'M' by Madonna at H&M Stores.
~ Why I Love Madonna ~
I started off this review admitting that I am a fan of Madonna. During her early years I followed her every move. I had scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and learned all her songs (B sides included) off by heart. As I got older my 'obsession' wained a little but I still have to buy every album, see every film and see every tour. Singing along to Madonna in my bedroom made me realise I could sing and inspired me to take singing lessons and audition for a band. Unfortunately Ive got very little ambition and so singing in a poky pub is the dizziest height Ive ever reached!
Some of Madonnas career moves have been wrong but to still be in the limelight after 25 years shes got to be doing most things right. Shes not the worlds greatest singer or songwriter but has individuality and image. Shes pretty poor at acting generally but keeps trying, bless her. Sometimes shes controversial for the sake of it and says things that didn't need to be said. But shes got balls. She has the determination and courage to learn from her mistakes and reinvent a new Madonna to move on from them. This is what I like best about Madonna. Her unpredictability. You never know what she will do next, which image she will choose or what direction her music will take. I also admire her determination to succeed, she decided very early in her life that she was going to be a star and set about making sure that it happened. She has an uncanny knack of knowing what direction to take her music in next and reinvents her image so often its impossible to get bored of her.
Ive not gone too far into the details of the music when writing my review. A lot of Madonnas music is simple, catchy and upbeat. Particularly her early tracks. She does however have a flair for knowing what will work. She occasionally writes something a little bit different and special and she often involves different producers to collaborate with her to create the latest sound.
Madonna hits the ripe old age of 50 this year and I can only dream of looking that good now at 35. Madonna does not dress like a 50 year old woman, she has tremendous style and can get away with wearing whatever she likes. I can't imagine a time when Madonna is no longer releasing music, she has already achieved an unbelievable record of success and hopefully she still has years in her yet.
~ Quick Facts and Figures ~
If you want to know all Madonnas back catalogue of films, music, tours and books then visit her website at www.madonna.com. This also has all her music videos available to watch.
Marriages: first husband Sean Penn, 2nd (current) Guy Ritchie.
Children, Lourdes (father Carlos Leon), Rocco (father Guy Ritchie) and adopted David (from a Malawi orphanage).
Family: Her mother (also Madonna) died of Breast Cancer when she was only 5 years old. Father Silvio. Brothers: Martin, Anthony, Christopher. Sisters: Paula and Melanie.
Date & Place of birth: 16th August 1958, Bay City, Michigan, USA.
Full name: Madonna Louise Veronica* Ciccone Ritchie (*Veronica is her catholic confirmation name)
Uk Charts: 12 number 1 singles, 47 Top 5 singles, 9 number 1 albums
Us Charts: 12 number 1 singles, 27 Top 5 singles, 6 number 1 albums
Thank you for taking the time to read this review. Its based mostly on my personal experience although some of the facts have been double checked on the internet.
Summary: My biggest influence
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