'True Blue' is pointless, it'll forever baffle me how that was a UK #1 for her.

 

'Hollywood' however is the definite highlight of the American Life era.

True blue sold over half a million copies and was not featured on the immaculate collection or the celebration album therefore probably lacks in trickle download sales.

 

I have friends who are not Madonna fans but love this song. It's also a favourite on heart radio which I'm pleased about!

 

Hollywood and Burning Up deserved MUCH BETTER.

 

Both top 15, should have beens... at LEAST.

Edited September 2, 201410 yr by ▲Tyler▲

I found myself in crowded rooms, feeling so alone

 

 

| 31 // Drowned World/Substitute for Love // Ray Of Light // 7.45 (4: ultraviolence, 4.5: pippa // 11: dandy, 10: triangles, johnkm, jark)

 

| 32 // 4 Minutes // Hard Candy // 7.38 (-1: nickf1, 0: jsilv // 11: regina, 10: joe., riser, oliver, jay, jonjo, ultraviolence, leww, niallminogue)

 

Two huge losses here for different reasons. One, is one of the biggest singles and collabs she's been involved with, the other is collab with herself in a poignant, held-back affair. First up and quite shockingly missing out on the top 30 is another of her lead singles as '4 Minutes' clocks out. The big comeback following one of her biggest and most well received eras was always going to be a big ask, but teaming up with hot property in the likes of Timbaland and Timberlake and she certainly delivered. A bold return stripping away any of the vulnerability that came before through the use of a huge global statement. It mustered up a fair amount of love but also some very low scores which explains its position here, a position i expected to be at least a good 10 or so places higher..

 

And following that, turning the volume down and the emotion all the way up, is the enchanting, bewitching and fluid sounds of

. It's one of those rare moments (that actually happens fairly often on this one album alone), where you have to just stop what you're doing and soak in the sounds. Melodically the song is near perfection and even vocally Madonna never once strains, instead choosing to simply express her worrying and loving thoughts at beautiful pace. It will never be one of her most well-known songs, but that adds to its charm as it remains a gem in the sea of material she has released before and after it.

 

Two more ALBUMS next, but which ones...

Substitute for Love is such perfection. It's so underrated. I'm guilty of that too. She has so many huge pop songs that sometimes it's easy to overlook a more introspective moment. I have to play it now.

hollywood not even top 30? what kind of crack???? and drowned world :|

Substitute for Love is such perfection. It's so underrated. I'm guilty of that too. She has so many huge pop songs that sometimes it's easy to overlook a more introspective moment. I have to play it now.

 

I ALWAYS overlook this one and skip it :unsure: I'm gonna have to give it a good chance. Not big on 4 Minutes.

Shocked at True Blue being that low, such a brilliant song and should not have been left of Immaculate and Celebration, a well deserved UK#1. Not surprised at Drowned World to be honest (I found it quite dull) but 4 Minutes is such a great song and probably the last great single she released.

Here's my story, no risk, no glory

 

 

| 10 // Bedtime Stories // 1994 // 6.53 (2: jakewild, 4: liam, haus, triangles // 10: titty, 9: aled, cassandra, jay, leww, luciano)

 

 

Your 10th favourite (or rather 3rd most disliked?) Madonna album is her sixth, 'Bedtime Stories', released in 1994. Taking a much more relaxed and jazzy sound to anything she'd done before, it showed another change in direction, a remarkable change as it happens from the album that came directly before it. As the controversy around 'Erotica' still stank out the press and general public, Madonna showed a softer, safer side and the music, artwork and lyrics reflected this. This is all summed up in one of the album's most well-known songs, 'Human Nature' as well as drip-fed throughout the album in little lyrical hints. The album was a commercial and critical success, mustering up Grammy nominations and good sales worldwide as well as successful singles that seemed to bring her sound and presence back to the masses.

 

Opening track

starts the album with a bold message as Madonna proclaims that she "will never be an angel" and while the album seems delicate and angelic there are moments of darkness that filter through it, particularly in the coupling of

and

which offers a trippy entry into her mind. We also get the last.fm destroying first of two songs that Madonna called

(and unfortunately this one falls WAYYYY short of the one she came up with some 10 years later). Elsewhere on the album, she offers continuous autobiographical messages, most explicitly in the aptly titled

and it seems Madonna attempts to strip away the bare exterior of the previous album and present the bare interior of herself here. It worked for the general public but hasn't quite seemed to capture listeners here as it falters and the story ends short.

 

-x-

31 | Drowned World/Substitute For Love

32 | 4 Minutes

33 | Hollywood

34 | True Blue

35 | Give It 2 Me

36 | Burning Up

37 | Secret

38 | Rain

39 | Who's That Girl

40 | What It Feels Like For A Girl

41 | Human Nature

42 | Miles Away

43 | Nothing Fails

44 | Dress You Up

45 | American Life

46 | Erotica

47 | Deeper and Deeper

48 | Take A Bow

49 | I'll Remember

50 | Girl Gone Wild

51 | Oh Father

52 | Bedtime Story

53 | Masterpiece

54 | American Pie

55 | Don't Cry For Me Argentina

56 | Causing A Commotion

57 | Angel

58 | This Used To Be My Playground

59 | Love Profusion

60 | You Must Love Me

61 | Give Me All Your Lovin'

62 | Bad Girl

63 | Everybody

64 | Keep It Together

65 | Dear Jessie

66 | Turn Up The Radio

67 | Hanky Panky

68 | Fever

 

-x-

10 | Bedtime Stories

11 | Hard Candy

12 | MDNA

Yay at Erotica still being in so far, listened to it twice since I bought it the other day and it's fantastic, the title track is all sorts of :wub:

I too am one who tends to overlook 'Drowned World', however it is such a beauty. Very much agreed that it's one that stops you in your tracks. It seems to take you to another place and when you're listening to the whole Ray of Light album, it puts you in the mood for it. Very dreamy sounds, almost quite aquarium-like.

 

Love the Timbaland intro to '4 Minutes', in fact the whole melody is pretty great; nice mix of urban sounds and dance. The video always draws me in too, can never stop watching.

 

Never been a fan of Bedtime Stories, definitely my least favourite. I've always wanted to like it though, I suppose just because it's Madonna.

Drowned World / Substitute for Love is such a great song! The demo is also amazing!

 

 

Pure Chillout music <3

4 minutes is shit. It should be outside the top 50 at BEST.

Take your love and run from me

 

 

| 09 // Madonna // 1983 // 6.81 (2: jakewild, triangles, 4: pippa // 10: niallminogue, 9: robswift, .cdc., ultraviolence, mr_aly, johnkm, titty)

 

 

'Erotica' lives to survive another day as your 9th favourite album is Madonna's debut & self-titled collection. The one that began it all, "you must be my

" and the birth of the queen of pop. It's quite easy to see why the album hasn't fared too well here, despite the nostalgic twinges that it entails, because it hasn't aged quite as well as her other albums and seems quite rooted in its time. That's not to take anything away, because it's the retro, clunky tunes and innocent charm that make it what it is. Very different sounding to her other projects but still quintessentially 'Madonna'.

 

A lot of the songs take the same formulaic structure and employ upbeat dance synths with her warm vocals throughout. Softer touches in the likes of

are married perfectly with the harder hitting sounds of

. An album full of innocent love, shown in the likes of

, and the feel good waves of 'Holiday' which perfectly encapture what the album represents; a holiday away from the world into a joyous, retro soundscape. The album has obviously helped to cement the legacy of Madonna, and without it, who knows where she might have gone with her career and talent. The album was a commercial success and spawned a number of singles that really helped to establish her mark on the pop, diva and music scene. The rest was history~

 

 

-x-

31 | Drowned World/Substitute For Love

32 | 4 Minutes

33 | Hollywood

34 | True Blue

35 | Give It 2 Me

36 | Burning Up

37 | Secret

38 | Rain

39 | Who's That Girl

40 | What It Feels Like For A Girl

41 | Human Nature

42 | Miles Away

43 | Nothing Fails

44 | Dress You Up

45 | American Life

46 | Erotica

47 | Deeper and Deeper

48 | Take A Bow

49 | I'll Remember

50 | Girl Gone Wild

51 | Oh Father

52 | Bedtime Story

53 | Masterpiece

54 | American Pie

55 | Don't Cry For Me Argentina

56 | Causing A Commotion

57 | Angel

58 | This Used To Be My Playground

59 | Love Profusion

60 | You Must Love Me

61 | Give Me All Your Lovin'

62 | Bad Girl

63 | Everybody

64 | Keep It Together

65 | Dear Jessie

66 | Turn Up The Radio

67 | Hanky Panky

68 | Fever

 

-x-

09 | Madonna

10 | Bedtime Stories

11 | Hard Candy

12 | MDNA

To me, Madonna's debut album holds all good songs, but it doesn't get much bigger than that. The songs rely a lot on the production and they don't really have that "wow factor". However it's still a nice album to listen to and definitely got Madonna up on her feet. With all the experimenting with dance sounds, it's clear she's kind of find her way and what music she wants to be making, so I agree that she needed this album for her to become what she is today.

now is the time for my usual declaration that 'I Know It' is one of the best songs she's ever released

I've been really digging 'Physical Attraction' recently, pure 80s synthpop goodness.

The picture you have to represent the Madonna album is actually from the true blue era

To be honest I never too fussed on Bedtime Stories, only a few tracks Secret, Sanctuary and Take A Bow, the rest was rater dull and uninteresting. But her debut I still enjoy, Borderline, Holiday, Burning Up, Physical Attraction and Lucky Star such gems

Can't you feel the weight of my stare

 

 

| 29 // You'll See // Something To Remember // 7.50 (3: gavindeejay, oliver, 4: triangles // 10: jakewild, liamk, fgiboy, mikemyers, jay, johnkm, nickf1, mr_aly)

 

| 30 // Crazy For You // Vision Quest // 7.47 (-1: liam, 1: gezza, 3: triangles // 11: joe., fgiboy, simon, 10: jsilv, robswift, jay)

 

Two non-album singles now, the first 'Crazy For You', i did not expect to receive the soaring love it did. Multiple maximum scores but scoured by those low pointers, a top 30 position over some of her lasting classics is quite shocking. The song was released as part of the 'Vision Quest' soundtrack but went on to appear in different forms in various Madonna greatest hits and has become an underrated gem as shown by the lovers here. It earned Madonna her first Grammy nomination and became her 2nd #1 single in the US so it seems the world was crazy for it too. I still don't get it.

 

Another available through a greatest hits collection, this time as part of her ballads compilation,

is a touching, emotional piece about Madonna's lasting strength and fight against things that were going wrong around her. It lacks the punch that some of her other more well-known ballads have and again i'm shocked at this lofty position but again it mustered up a tonne of very high scores and earned its place here through that. The music video acted as a sequel to the 'Take A Bow' video and the song acted as a means of Madonna fighting back against the negativity that she was receiving in the press about her personal life.