Madonna, "Madonna"
Mitch pushes the borderline
Mitch’s Pitch:
One of the weirdest things about the modern era is the ubiquity of porn. Back in the parachute pants days there were only three known sources for teens to find porn:
Classy porn was a stack of Playboys found in some Dad’s closet (it’s also the primary reason why you shouldn’t hire young boys as babysitters - they’re gonna toss your house looking for contraband, I guarantee it.)
Soft-corn porn was an R-rated movie with boobs on Skinemax (or worse, “scrambled” porn channels if your parents were too cheap for premium movie channels.)
Hobo porn was the filthy (literally and figuratively) stuff found in the woods and shared by generations of young boys, like the brotherhood of traveling porn (yes, as disgusting as you can imagine and even worse.)
But that was all before July 16, 1985. A day that will live in porn-ifamy. A day that changed all of us. A day that I’ll never forget.
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The British counselors at Camp Lake Owego loved Madonna, especially her debut album. They played her cassettes in the bunk incessantly, while us lowly campers begged for anything that resembled rock. For whatever reason, the Brits weren’t caught up in the rock versus pop wars, but us young American boys were consumed by it. We hated pop with a passion. Pop was a threat to our burgeoning masculinity and we defended our manhood vigorously. Madonna was the face of modern pop, and we trashed her during the day, while secretly dreaming of her every night.
It’s impossible to express how popular and influential Madonna was in the early 1980s. We just don’t have stars like that anymore - social media ruined celebrity mystique - but Madonna was otherworldly. Everyone either wanted her or wanted to be her. Madonna’s look and attitude dominated our culture. And then the most unexpected and delightful news broke: Madonna - the biggest star and hottest woman in the world - would be appearing nude in Penthouse.
Not that any of us camp kids would ever have a chance of seeing it.
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To this day, no one knows how Ian the counselor managed to get the van, or how he snuck six of us out of the all-boys camp, or what kind of twisted deal he made with the proprietor of that country store in the Poconos to allow a bunch of horny teens a few minutes each with that very special Penthouse. We poured over that tome like it was the Dead Sea Scrolls. The magazine was left behind, but we returned to camp reborn in awe of the lady Madonna.
We absolutely adored Madonna, and would do anything to be with her, but we still didn’t want to listen to her records.
But like those lurid images, Madonna’s songs were also being imprinted into our consciousness. Those earworms floating through the cabin, working their way inside of us, a daily dose of Madonna, ironically delivered with a British accent.
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Madonna’s Madonna is another one of those classic debut albums that might as well be a greatest hits album, with 5 iconic songs. The three filler tunes are fine, if unremarkable, but it’s the 5 singles that established Madonna as the biggest star of her generation, even if her biggest hits were still to come.
1) “Everybody” was an invitation back to the dance floor after the death of disco. From the start Madonna made it clear that she prized authentic self-expression over anything else, and that music and dancing could bring people together.
2) "Burning Up" was released just a month after MJ’s “Beat It” and similarly builds a pop song off the foundation of a catchy rock guitar line. Most importantly, it also told the world exactly what to expect from Madonna in the years to come:
"Unlike the others, I'd do anything
I'm not the same, I have no shame”
3) “Holiday” was yet another great cut, this time an upbeat and optimistic pop tune that foreshadows where pop would go years later with Katy Perry and the pop stars of the aughts (we’re still calling them the aughts, right?)
4) "Lucky Star" was the first Madonna song that really got stuck in my head, and is probably still my favorite song on the album. It’s an irresistible slice of electro-dance pop, and my go-to Madonna jukebox song.
5) “Borderline" showed off Madonna’s vocal skills, and while she would improve greatly as a singer over the years, I like the torch song intensity she brings to this soulful dance ballad (is that even a thing?)
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I came to camp obsessed with Madonna’s body and I left camp obsessed with her body of work (and her body, too. Did I mention the Penthouse incident?) It was the classic case of the heart wanting what it wants, world be damned. The rock vs. pop wars came to a sudden, flaccid end.
In retrospect, I guess my experience was a microcosm of the entire Madonna experience: she cleverly used sex and controversy to demand our attention, but she used her artistry and creativity to earn our respect. She experimented and pushed boundaries; she occasionally went too far and made us question why we loved her in the first place; she rose, she fell, and she rose again, but she was always right: she wasn’t like anyone else, before or since.
Even putting aside her cultural impact, it’s clear that Madonna is one of the greatest singer-songwriters ever, with dozens of amazing songs and several pitch-worthy albums, including her debut album, Madonna. She deserves to be mentioned alongside the greatest of all-time: Sinatra, Dylan, The Beatles, and Al Stewart, and she clearly deserves to take a bow on Newbury St.
CJ’s Response:
In my Blondie Parallel Lines pitch a couple of months back, I mentioned that we had a framed picture hanging in our conference room of a sexy, smirking Debbie Harry about to board a private jet. Recently, I was sitting in that conference room with a 25-year-old social media manager waiting for a meeting to start. To kill time, I decided to see exactly how close we were to the end of the world.
“Just out of curiosity,” I opened, “do you know who that is in the picture?”
After studying the photo closely for a few moments, she took a chance.
“Um…Madonna?”
“No,” I said, mentally ticking my internal doom clock one minute closer to midnight, “but you get partial credit. Because Madonna wouldn’t have existed without her.”
Look, I’m not going to pretend I didn’t like Madonna in all her various iterations. With the possible exception of Michael Jackson, nobody took advantage of the MTV era like Madge did. Every new video release was an event starting right from the jump with “Lucky Star”. What would she be wearing? Would her hair be long or short? Up or down? Fishnets? Fingerless gloves? Sequins? Cleavage? How much? In the “fear of sex” 80’s, she was the most dangerous and appealing person on our screens. The music was almost secondary.
Maybe that’s unfair. Clearly there was something to the songwriting and arrangements. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be sitting here singing every word to “Borderline”, “Burning Up” and “Holiday”. And I wouldn’t be chiding myself for liking “Think of Me” and “Physical Attraction” even though I was less familiar with them. Sure, some of the bridges go on too long, but I assume that’s to give people in the dance clubs ample time to drop some X while waiting for the song to resume. It’s just a theory, though.
While I’m still a tad bitter that Debbie Harry didn’t ascend to the dizzying heights of Newbury St., I do take some comfort in the knowledge that her protégé made the cut.
Besides, the pictures of Madonna that Mitch is talking about would never fly in our conference room.
Pitch Successful (I pity the poor bastard who got that Penthouse after Bunk 12 was done with it.)
Ken’s Response:
As soon as Mitch announced his pick this week, CJ texted “Looking forward to Madonna, who most headbangers secretly enjoy.” I can’t speak to the accuracy of that statement, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when people use the phrase “guilty pleasure” or “secretly enjoy”, as CJ did in this case. I certainly don’t mean to chastise CJ alone for this; we’ve all committed this crime a time or two. But what a deferential, powerless statement! By calling something a guilty pleasure, we are essentially caving to our perceived societal norms and admitting that we are ashamed to enjoy something for fear of what other people might think.
Madonna is awesome! She broke ground not just as a female pop star, but simply as a Pop Star. In addition to making some really fun music throughout 4 decades, her on stage performances were cutting edge, some even called them scandalous and perverse. She inspired girls and women all over the world with her fashion choices, and she never for one second failed to show the world exactly what she wanted us to see.
With three massive hits in “Lucky Star”, my personal favorite “Borderline”, and “Holiday”, Madonna was a commercial hit that completely changed the trajectory of popular music. By the time the ‘80s became the ‘90s, Madonna owned the pop charts and every time she took the stage, released a record, or made an appearance on a red carpet, it became one of the biggest stories in entertainment. And just like Elvis and The Beatles before her, parents hated her and kids loved her.
She was sex-positive before anyone knew what the hell the words meant. And while she reinvented her persona and her musical style several times, she always came across as authentically Madonna.
I will proudly display the record in the Newbury St. Collection, because simply put, it’s a pleasure. And I don’t feel the slightest bit guilty about that at all.
Pitch Successful (what a ray of light!)
Take a bow, Madonna, because Mitch’s pitch was on fire and Madonna has been added to the Newbury St. Collection.
Papa don’t preach, but head on over to the comments section to express yourself and let us know if Madonna’s Madonna gets you into the groove or if you want to show her the power of good-bye.
There’s only one Madonna, and there’s certainly only one Frank. Please join us next week as Ken pitches Frank Sinatra’s Songs for Swinging Lovers, because Frank calls the shots for all of those guys.
The Exile on Newbury St. Spotify playlist features our favorite songs from all the albums we’ve discussed to date. Subscribe today and listen back on the fun we’ve had so far.
Of all the influential album pitches I could have chimed in on, I have no idea why I chose this one. With that said, Mitch hits the key notes on Madonna's debut album as well as her impact in music, culture and bad ass girl power. Successful pitch. Much the way Blondie, Joan Jett and, to a lesser degree, Patti Smith blazed a trail for Madonna, she paid it forward for Lady Gaga. All are as much cultural icons as talented musical artists. I crushed hard for Madonna in the 80's and slept out overnight to buy tickets to see her on the Like A Virgin 1985 tour (opening act Beastie Boys were booed for most of their set while mocking the mostly 14 yr old girl audience). I still occasionally jam to her Immaculate Collection when mowing the lawn or sitting @ the beach. Her catalog is deep and still stands up.
I guess being a couple years older and more rock hardened than you guys meant I could reject Madonna with prejudice for the entirety of the 80s, with no possibility of parole...until Vogue finally dragged me in, and the sex book raised the ante on Penthouse.
However, this raises a question for the EONS crew: Does enshrinement require only the artists' name appear on the album? Can someone who doesn't write their own songs be so honored? Madonna is an interesting test case because she wrote alot of her music -- however the biggest hits that put her on the map (Borderline and Holiday, the only two to crack top 10 on billboard) were written by others. As far as I can tell, this was a consistent pattern at least through the 80s -- she wrote the filler songs and wore the outfits, while others wrote the hits.