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The Beat Goes On: Every Madonna Single Ranked


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Madonna is featured in Slant Magazine: "Later this month, Madonna will reach yet another milestone: turning 60! We asked you how we should celebrate, and you told us to rank all 78 of the Queen of Pop's singles from best to worst."

https://www.slantmagazine.com/features/article/the-beat-goes-on-every-madonna-single-ranked

Do you agree with this list?

 

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Everyone has their own ranking, so I doubt there will be an all inclusive agreement.  But it does rank EVERY single, so it's fair.  Also, it doesn't just speak in favor of all the singles.  The ranking  mentions the singles that are considered duds in the eyes of the writer.  Though, with a 35 year plus spanning career, you're definitely going to have some duds in there.  That said, Madonna is one artist where I've enjoyed all of her singles.  Some I definitely like more than others, 

I could have predicted the top ten though... and most notably either "Like A Prayer" or "Vogue" coming in at number one. Who didn't see that coming?  Not that I disagree, but I'd probably rank "Like A Prayer" higher than "Vogue".  Yet, both songs are equally iconic and great.

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3 hours ago, MerBoy13 said:

Oh look another list where all the songs post 2000 are ranked lower. -__- All her songs are great. Maybe thats biased maybe not but apart from a couple in the 00's most are fantastic.

Yeah , I noticed that too.   Of course, people tend to gravitate more to her classics, but I enjoy her most recent songs just as well.

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The constant sneers at the first 10 songs they list are repulsive. Ghosttown being torn apart for... autotune? Soemthing that can be heard in two spots, and thats worth burning it? GGW is a bop and a true dance song. Cliche for M, but defintely a good dance song. I can see Revolver being on the lower end, but I always loved it. Fethching Lil Wayne out of no where i felt proved her pull in the music industry. 

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On 8/1/2018 at 9:20 PM, MerBoy13 said:

Oh look another list where all the songs post 2000 are ranked lower. -__- All her songs are great. Maybe thats biased maybe not but apart from a couple in the 00's most are fantastic.

Most of her 90s stuff is simply superior to her 2000s/2010s works.

The only singles that could compete are Music singles and probably COADF singles. AL singles were good, but they can't compete against older works. AL singles work better as a part of the album than on its own.

HC and MDNA singles... Do we really need to argue about their quality?

LFL and Ghosttown were solid and safe stuff, while BIM was a mess, just like Celebration and Revolver.

17 hours ago, gafuller said:

The constant sneers at the first 10 songs they list are repulsive. Ghosttown being torn apart for... autotune? Soemthing that can be heard in two spots, and thats worth burning it? GGW is a bop and a true dance song. Cliche for M, but defintely a good dance song. I can see Revolver being on the lower end, but I always loved it. Fethching Lil Wayne out of no where i felt proved her pull in the music industry. 

GGW is a basic song. However, it deserved a better position instead of Celebration.

Some of her weakest songs are done in previous three eras.

12 hours ago, LivingForLove94 said:

 It'd be nice to have actual fans or simply informed and respectful people writing an article about M for once.

But I understand this is basically an article casually written by a casual listener. It would be like me writing a piece about AC/DC :Madonna032::Madonna049:

Actual fans? Respectful people?

Slant Magazine did so many good articles on Madonna and its journalist  Sal Cinquemani, who also worked on this list among other people, is a fan. He is the guy who included Erotica and Bedtime Stories on his list of best 90s albums. Did anyone else do that?

The list isn't perfect, but at least people tried to be objective and not making a list of favorite songs. If some fans were doing it, top 10 would contain GGW and BIM, just because some of you bop to it.

 

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Just now, gafuller said:

It was a good song. The final version should've been in the mv though. The RHT version was amazing.

Personally, I would rank it as among her very worst... even worse than 'Hey You'. Whilst the Rebel Heart album did have some good tracks, this really wasn't one of them, and could not hold a candle to even the very worst of her 80s/90s hits. But thats my view, and I don't mean to disrespect your view in any way. There are pretty good reasons why her more recent tracks are bombs, and ageism is not the only reason.

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37 minutes ago, PWCCA said:

Personally, I would rank it as among her very worst... even worse than 'Hey You'. Whilst the Rebel Heart album did have some good tracks, this really wasn't one of them, and could not hold a candle to even the very worst of her 80s/90s hits. But thats my view, and I don't mean to disrespect your view in any way. There are pretty good reasons why her more recent tracks are bombs, and ageism is not the only reason.

No, Bye Bye Baby wasn't that great of a 90s single. It's not bad (again, M has very few just plain awful songs in general). I do agree Hey You could have been spiced up some more.

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1 hour ago, kesiak said:

Bye Bye Baby ranked higher than Crazy For You and Ghosttown? Come on... :)

Let's keep in mind, this is one writer's opinion.  But I agree that "Crazy For You" and "Ghosttown" are better songs.  Though, I do love me some of "Bye Bye Baby". 

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On 8/2/2018 at 3:27 PM, PWCCA said:

Personally, I would rank it as among her very worst... even worse than 'Hey You'. Whilst the Rebel Heart album did have some good tracks, this really wasn't one of them, and could not hold a candle to even the very worst of her 80s/90s hits. But thats my view, and I don't mean to disrespect your view in any way. There are pretty good reasons why her more recent tracks are bombs, and ageism is not the only reason.

As many cases, word by word. Except that I actually love ‘Hey You’.

I pretty much agree with the list. I love how the author hates “MDNA” ? and that horrible song called ‘Bitch I’m Madonna’. But I disagree with the place of ‘Ghosttown’ and the “Evita” singles.

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12 minutes ago, luckystar said:

I don't get hate for Hey You. 

Good melody, solid production. It is better than many messy songs she did later.

Completely agree. Not a song for charts, and it wasn’t meant anyway. Sweet song with heartening and empowering lyrics written for a cause, that’s it! And I listen to it often whenever I want to feel inspired. 

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27 minutes ago, Turuncan said:

Completely agree. Not a song for charts, and it wasn’t meant anyway. Sweet song with heartening and empowering lyrics written for a cause, that’s it! And I listen to it often whenever I want to feel inspired. 

Yes!  So agree!  It was specifically written, released and performed for a cause.  A charity song.  I'm sure she knew it wasn't going to become some huge anthem song for her.  Still, it had a great purpose and I'm so glad she shared it with us. 

Then again, I don't spend much time hating on any of her songs.  She's had a long successful career. Millions of people would love to have an ounce of success she's had.  You can't expect someone to keep churning out hit after hit, nor writing these most poetic and/or inspirational pieces.  In fact, many of her biggest hits had pretty basic lyrics with very general themes.  Those are usually the songs which resonate with the general public.  I never thought of Madonna as this ground breaking avant-garde of an artist.  Sure, she's definitely put her mark in pop culture, but much of that was due to keeping it simplistic in sounds and lyrics where most can relate.  She really made a career and success out of infectious simple pop songs.  I can listen to songs like "Holiday", "Causing A Commotion" and "Where's The Party" over and over and over again, while her more complex songs not so much.  But that's what I love about Madonna, she is an artist who is able to to churn out poetic verses as well as infectious simplistic pop songs and always giving me eargasms!!! 

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This ranking is subjective and that's why it's interesting. Placing Deeper and deeper at #6 is unexpected because it has never been a huge success but almost every fan love this song.

Regarding her whole carrer of course I agree that Celebration/GGW/4 minutes/GI2M/TUTR/GMAYL/Bitch I'm/Revolver should have only been shitty b-sides... It's so poor comparing to other singles... There's a lack of quality lost.

 

For pop song aspect, simple, not pretentious... Sure ! Causing a commotion and Where's the party are so so good. Catchy, bubble gum, simple and not "over produce" but they are good melodies and good mood. I can't say the same about GGW or GMAYL... They are poor song for me trying to reach a good billboard ranking but each time they are out of airplay...

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On 8/2/2018 at 5:22 PM, Liam said:

Let's keep in mind, this is one writer's opinion.  But I agree that "Crazy For You" and "Ghosttown" are better songs.  Though, I do love me some of "Bye Bye Baby". 

The BBB mixes are awesome, I always thought. Shame it never got a real video. I think there's a demo from the Rain Tapes without the vocal effect, but could be mistaken, usually am :)

 

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Enjoyed reading this very well written piece, funny most of the times, not as serious as hardcore fans would expect but hey it's just pop music.

The writers don't place themselves in a fan perspective but in a cultural and pop point of view : which M songs have had an impact, given the time they were released, their musical relevance and their staying power ? From this angle, the singles after COADF don't match with the first 25 years of M's career. Even Deeper and Deeper has had more influence than any song from HC, MDNA and RH combined. The video fit perfectly the "flower power" comeback in the early 90s alongside the success of Lenny Kravitz and Deee-Lite.

And yes, I find it annoying too that Ghosttown or YMLM are down the list but you gotta be honest : when were these songs played out loud ? Even M herself has performed these songs only very few times, which indicates the little impact they have in her discography and legacy.

Slant is also a very American-oriented media outlet, which is why some songs that were very successful in the US, such as I'll Remember, rank high, whereas European hits like some Music and COADF singles are lower.

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