FOUR

 

 

Till Death Do Us Part

 

Finally bowing out in fourth place is my favourite album track of hers, the single that never was from Like A Prayer. I was absolutely obsessed with this back in 1989/1990 as the child in me was absolutely hooked on the frantic paced synths and melody and it totally delivered as a strong pop track... and then as I got older, I actually listened more to what I'd been singing along to as a kid and it really took me years before I realised just how sad the lyrics were and that just made me fall in love with it all over again on a completely different level. Realistically the synths I loved as a kid definitely now sound dated, in particular the opening section and the 'crash' sound that features towards the end is straight from a preset button on a casio keyboard. However the lyrics still absolutely shine as Madonna tells of a relationship breaking down to the point where it's self destructing and unhealthy to be a part of it, the line You're not in love with someone else, you don't even love yourself perfectly describes how someone feels when they're staying in a relationship out of habit and a faint sense of duty and the line that says I think I interrupt your life is also a perfect descriptor. I also particularly like the sections that act as a detached observer commenting on the goings on in the marriage, He takes a drink... she goes inside... he starts to scream... the vases fly. Or rather, VAZES... Out of all the songs in this countdown, it's the one that I hadn't listened to for some time but I was instantly transported back to listening to it as a kid from the moment it began... it's without doubt the song that I've most enjoyed reacquainting myself with over the past couple of weeks and it's gradually risen up the list as I've progressed with this chart. A really great pop song. :wub:

One of the very recent tracks to hit me from her so it's interesting to see you have loved it from release all those years ago! It is deeply saddening, but yet oddly uplifting and satisfying. A fab choice of favourite album track :D

THREE

 

 

Don't Tell Me

 

2000s Madonna finally bows out with this, the original acousticelectro Madonna track. Upon hearing the Music album, this was the instant standout track at the time and it remains one of my all time favourites from her. The glitchy guitar line is so distinctive and it's also an incredibly simple way of sounding different, it also is the perfect beginning to a track where the production is the main star and the intriguing structure shines. This one is all about the beat and the way it progressively builds and morphs as the track progresses with the guitars underneath it continuing to strum and stutter their way to my heart, it was reminiscent of the stuff Four Tet had been producing in the late 90s and was very much my kinda thing. And then there's the strings. Always the strings. Except this time they're employed differently, they're left until the final sections where everything almost melts down into the melody (including Madonna's vocals which gradually transform into a synth themselves) before the final half minute or so after the beat stops and the strings float in and out as if flashes of an old movie are floating briefly into view. I also love the video and performances of the track from the time... I'm a sucker for a strong dance routine and the cowboy style (again modernised and 'glitched' up to suit the track) was my favourite routine of hers for many a year - and was frustratingly one that I really couldn't pull off!

One of the very recent tracks to hit me from her so it's interesting to see you have loved it from release all those years ago! It is deeply saddening, but yet oddly uplifting and satisfying. A fab choice of favourite album track :D

I'm actually glad it can still hit someone these days... as I mentioned, I think the production is definitely dated and I perhaps assumed that would make it more difficult to get into these days if someone wasn't around to appreciate it at the time of release.

 

If she ever releases one of those albums where she re-records tracks from her back catalogue then I really hope she includes it as I'd love to hear a more modern take on it.

I'm currently obsessed with 'Don't Tell Me' and its video. As you say, the glitchy guitar surprisingly works incredibly well and I think this is the sort of music that would be appropriate to experiment further with at this stage of Madonna's career. The video is excellent - I love how she starts of dancing on her own before she is joined by backing dancers as the song progresses. The only downside is that it always irritated me that she runs her sandy hands through her hair!

YES I adore TDDUP - wars with Live to Tell as my favourite Madge track. It's just so full of power and vulnerability, and I think though the production IS dated, it's so unique and intricate that it stands up so well anyway. I mean, your commentary did all the explaining needed, but I'm SO delighted to see it up here. Excited to see what makes the top two!

Don't Tell Me is nice, but I never expected it to be so high. :o

Don't Tell Me is one I underrate, I'd say it's probably my favourite of the singles from Music and American Life combined! It's maybe just outside my top 10 combined but Madonna is one of those artists I struggle to order past about the top 5 :drama:

TWO

 

 

Vogue

 

Pose struck. Let's begin... let's discuss the term ICON shall we? To be an icon, one needs to have a certain definable style that you make your own and nobody else can match it without seeming like a cardboard cut out copy, whilst of course ensuring it is underpinned by a level of substance in case anyone delves too deeply into what you're doing. Vogue is Madonna's most iconic single for me, it is an absolute one off in terms of pop history perfectly fusing musical trends with fashion, style and pretention and then topping it off by daring to name it after THE most iconic fashion magazine to be printed. It is the one single you could never cover without sounding like a tribute or a parody and for me is the single that we should remember her for when we look to choose a song that simply defines 'Madonna'. Even the video stands up to the task without fault, the hand dance is surely the most iconic dance routine to ever grace a song without coming across as a Steps style gimmick and the Italian fashion styled black and white video is just the perfect accompaniment. Well almost perfect as it was actually outdone by the frankly amazing performance of the track at the MTV awards, one of my absolute favourite performances of any track ever, just sheer class. So... the track itself then... well first off it's so confident in it's own status that it dares to employ an introduction that is over a minute long as the track gradually clicks (literally and figuratively) into place with Madonna commanding everyone to strike a pose as she teases us into submission... and then the song itself, it's essentially an uplifting message of striving to do better set to the background of a world of fashion and success before allowing yourself to truly lose yourself in the music... a place of true escapism and belief, a place where it doesn't matter who you are or where you come from as long as you can lose yourself to a wonderfully italo house inspired chorus. And then, of course, there's THAT moment when she just rolls of the most amazing list of style icons and truly cements the track into classic status at the same time, it's totally inspired. You were literally NOBODY on the bus to school in 1990 if you couldn't perform the entire Vogue rap, something which I of course spent many an evening ensuring I could do just in case I was ever challenged to Vogue it at short notice *.* - something which I've always felt would lend itself rather fabulously to listing the Buzzjack icons of the years too...

ONE

 

 

Like a Prayer

 

Well it was never going to be anything else to be honest... generally regarded as her best ever song, Like a Prayer is an absolute stormer of a track that just delivers on every single level. It introduces itself with a rousing clash of guitars soaring to a crescendo before they just collapse and leave a choir shining through like a beacon of light penetrating the darkness... and then, that introductory performance from Madge as she sings the Life is a mystery... everyone must stand alone... I hear you call my name and it feels like home... before she heads into the joyous chorus and gradually turns the whole thing into one fantastic celebration of love and music with the best use of a choir ever to feature on a recording, they are simply amazing and truly lift this to a completely different level... in fact it's the 2:24 moment when she instructs the choir to sing that the track transforms itself from being great to being on a different level entirely, the chorus... then the breakdown... then the first verse again but this time with atmospheric choir ooo-ooos and then the sheer JOY that happens at 3:42 - I swear that moment is the most amount of happiness that it's possible to experience in a song, no other song makes me feel this happy and just makes me want to start dancing around clapping - hey, if the video can introduce a black messiah to a mass of christian controversy then surely it's okay by now for us gays to take it to church too! So that's it... the countdown is officially over and hopefully the end wasn't too disappointing as I essentially picked her two most recognisable hits to end with (plus it's Easter weekend so it would simply be wrong not to have the church offending classic topping the list!) - but thanks y'all for joining in along the way and throwing in your comments so I've not been left meandering by myself... this is probably my favourite countdown I've done on here actually, made me remember and reinvestigate so many great songs that I'd not listened to for FAR too long and made me realise just how important Madonna's music has been for me over the years - simply a true legend of our time.

Oh and here's the full list for ease of recap...

 

01 Like a Prayer

02 Vogue

03 Don't Tell Me

04 Till Death Do Us Part

05 Open Your Heart

06 Forbidden Love

07 Drowned World / Substitute For Love

08 Deeper and Deeper

09 Rescue Me

10 Ray of Light

 

11 Frozen

12 Borderline

13 Express Yourself

14 Oh Father

15 Intervention

16 Crazy For You

17 Hung Up

18 Into the Groove

19 Secret

20 Impressive Instant

 

21 Paradise (Not For Me)

22 Papa Don't Preach

23 The Power of Good-Bye

24 Live To Tell

25 Human Nature

26 La Isla Bonita

27 Bedtime Story

28 Devil Wouldn't Recognize You

29 You'll See

30 Sky Fits Heaven

 

31 Ghosttown

32 Justify My Love

33 Jump

34 Queen

35 I'll Remember

36 Cherish

37 Now I'm Following You (Parts I & II)

38 Isaac

39 Sorry

40 Get Together

 

41 Rain

42 4 Minutes

43 Joan of Arc

44 Beautiful Stranger

45 Masterpiece

46 Nothing Fails

47 This Used To Be My Playground

48 Dress You Up

49 Love Profusion

50 Music

 

 

If you read this and think "WHAT?!!!" then I'll be intrigued to hear which favourites of yours I haven't included...

 

All of my top 5 are in your top 20 :D Impressive Instant and Intervention are easily among her very best album tracks too, the latter is my favourite track from American Life which is my favourite Madonna album all in all I think.

 

Nothing else could ever top Like A Prayer for me in terms of Madonna but Vogue is wonderful too.

Thoroughly enjoyed this countdown, a worthy #1 for sure and I always seem to love it a lot more than I expect once I give it a spin, I agree that the choir is just one of the most perfect uses of one I could imagine!

 

I'm a massive fan of Open Your Heart too, it's all just so well crafted and her voice in that is the highlight for me to. I wouldn't place it as my favourite from True Blue though because that would be the title track, again just because it's all so perfectly produced. Dress You Up would be much higher for me too, I'd rate it alongside OYH because it just oozes pop goodness.

 

Who's That Girl is another of my absolute favourites that seems to be missing, the Spanish touches work so well for her as conveyed in La Isla Bonita too. It all just sounds so exotic and dreamy :wub: Another two that seem to be missing from a quick scan are Hollywood and American Life, it's specifically the message in those that makes me enjoy them so much.

 

Finally, I'd have all of the Bedtime Stories' singles so far. Human Nature in particular is just the perfect response to the backlash surrounding Erotica 'oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex' :wub: The R&B producers brought some of her best out of her for me, Bedtime Story/Secret being fantastic examples.

 

I've enjoyed this so much and it's inspired me to listen to all of her albums too, thank you :heart:

 

 

Fab winner <3 iconic song

All of my top 5 are in your top 20 :D Impressive Instant and Intervention are easily among her very best album tracks too, the latter is my favourite track from American Life which is my favourite Madonna album all in all I think.

 

Nothing else could ever top Like A Prayer for me in terms of Madonna but Vogue is wonderful too.

Glad to see you approve! :D

 

American Life is an intriguing choice of best album. I'd definitely say that it's underrated but I'm not sure it could quite ever make it as high as best album for me, though it is very consistent throughout.

Fab winner

Glad you approve! And thanks for your comments along the way, especially pleased to see you and Liam loving Intervention so much as I wasn't expecting many to approve of that inclusion.

Thoroughly enjoyed this countdown, a worthy #1 for sure and I always seem to love it a lot more than I expect once I give it a spin, I agree that the choir is just one of the most perfect uses of one I could imagine!

 

I'm a massive fan of Open Your Heart too, it's all just so well crafted and her voice in that is the highlight for me to. I wouldn't place it as my favourite from True Blue though because that would be the title track, again just because it's all so perfectly produced. Dress You Up would be much higher for me too, I'd rate it alongside OYH because it just oozes pop goodness.

 

Who's That Girl is another of my absolute favourites that seems to be missing, the Spanish touches work so well for her as conveyed in La Isla Bonita too. It all just sounds so exotic and dreamy :wub: Another two that seem to be missing from a quick scan are Hollywood and American Life, it's specifically the message in those that makes me enjoy them so much.

 

Finally, I'd have all of the Bedtime Stories' singles so far. Human Nature in particular is just the perfect response to the backlash surrounding Erotica 'oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex' :wub: The R&B producers brought some of her best out of her for me, Bedtime Story/Secret being fantastic examples.

 

I've enjoyed this so much and it's inspired me to listen to all of her albums too, thank you :heart:

 

Thanks for the comments... and for your ones during the countdown, it's been good conversing with a few folk that I don't normally see as much on here.

 

True Blue and Who's That Girl both fall into the overly twee category for me I'm afraid, they kind of do it quite well but I find it difficult to see how they were so popular in retrospect. Although I haven't given Who's That Girl that much of a chance to grow on me as I can't recall it at the time.

 

American Life and Hollywood are interesting choices, both were cut at the first sift for me. I don't hate them but I usually start the album at Love Profusion when I listen to it, they just don't quite work for me.

 

I'm really chuffed that you've enjoyed the countdown though. As I say, it's prompted me to listen to things afresh that I'd perhaps consigned to the CD rack for all eternity.

 

Great countdown Dandy, there's obviously a lot I disagree in but your write ups have been brilliant and it's great to see a different, well thought out, take on some of my favourite songs (both from her and ever).

An incredible top 2. Both songs define her as an icon as you put in your commentaries and they each show just how diverse an artist she is. Your commentary for 'Like A Prayer' in particular perfectly sums up the effect she can have on listeners - that euphoric happiness, it just comes effortlessly to her. I love her music SO much and really enjoy other people sharing their opinions on her so this thread has been a very enjoyable read. All helped of course by the fact that i have agreed with a large proportion of your choices! :D