Greeny

acappella and instrumental in WAV version. 

Hidden Content
Give reaction to this post to see the hidden content.

I put the b&w originals. All pics are downloaded from the net, and retouched a little with photoshop

Hidden Content
Give reaction to this post to see the hidden content.

And since we are talking about this wonderful period (not today) for those interested :
1985 Radio City Music Hall And Iso Restaurant New York City By Andy Warhol


Hidden Content
Give reaction to this post to see the hidden content. 1983 Amy Arbus - On The Street NY :


Hidden Content
Give reaction to this post to see the hidden content.

anyway... we are horrendous as fans... Taylor; Katy, Lady Gaga, Daddy Y...younger popular artists etc... they have STREEMING... this can change the Madonna 2010's Story
For ex:. Spotify.
WE HAVENT YOUTUBE STREEMS ! can we call us fans? 3 new VIDEOS ARE static there...!
IT'S well known that digital downloads are a llittle bit down since 2012 AND Physicals RETURNED TO BE Higher 'til these days...BUT!
STREEMING is very much important NOW ... no downloads, no physicasl... it's about STREEMING...Everybody can beat Madonna and Bruce just for making something in Spotify...In fact Lady Gaga is STILL UP THERE after 5000 weeks lol!
Check these: As Artist she is #8 GLOBAL right now (Spotify and Youtube make the difference comparing 1 to 7 positions) and Bruce has also the same problem... here:
https://kworb.net/itunes/
WAKE UP... IT'S THE FUTURE Motherfuckers! LOLOLOLOL

Happy Birthday Queen of the Universe!  

For your #mondaymotivation: How @Madonna's music videos changed the face of pop culture:
 
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/strike-a-pose-madonnas-20-greatest-videos-20160707
Madonna's music videos defined the MTV era 
and changed pop culture forever. Here are the stories behind the 20 greatest
 
Madonna's first album was released in July 1983, just two years after the birth of MTV, and no artist conquered the medium like the Queen of Pop. To salute the Material Girls' unsurpassed career of visual experimentation, transformation and innovation, we give you the stories behind the making of the singer's 20 best music videos – from controversy-starting blockbusters such as "Like a Prayer" to introspective epics like "Frozen."
  1/20 1. "Express Yourself" (1989)Taking total control of the artistic process, Madonna worked with director David Fincher to make a sci-fi classic
The first of Madonna's collaborations with acclaimed Fight Club and Social Network director David Fincher is also her most ambitious use of the video form (and, at $5 million, the most expensive video ever made at the time). Heavily influenced by German director Fritz Lang's 1927 classic Metropolis, with its sci-fi cityscape and surreal factory scenes, "Express Yourself" is a perfect melding of Fincher's expressionist impulses and Madonna's shape-shifting allure. ("We sat down and threw out every idea we could," Madonna said.) She played different seductive characters: a pantsuit-wearing, Marlene Dietrich-like figure, a shimmying coquette in a corset, a submissive wife chained half naked to a bed. "This one I had the most amount of input," said Madonna. "I oversaw everything – the building of the sets, everyone's costumes, I had meetings with makeup and hair and the cinematographer, everybody. Casting, finding the right cat – just every aspect. Kind of like making a little movie."
  2/20 2. "Ray of Light" (1998)A bold embrace of electronica that got Madonna her due at the VMAs
"It's probably, to this day, the longest shoot ever for a music video," remembers director Jonas Ã…kerlund, who traveled to New York, Los Angeles and Las Vegas to get "Ray of Light"'s fast-forward cut-and-paste look. The clip had a similar feel to the 1982 art-house favoriteKoyaanisqatsi (which Ã…kerlund had never seen) and a frantic energy that fit the song's embrace of "electronica." 
"We had this diagram that I had in my pocket for the whole production," Ã…kerlund recalls. "Let's say you shoot one frame every 10 seconds or so. Then you have to do that for 30 minutes to get like five seconds. Every shot was just, like, such a big deal." The hard work paid off: Although she made nearly 70 music videos during her career, "Ray of Light" is the only one to win an MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year. Says Ã…kerlund, "I didn't really think about winning the VMAs. But it was life-changing for me."
  3/20 3. "Open Your Heart" (1986)Madonna takes a big risk in a risqué video with an art-house soul
"At the time we were into a period where we were experimenting [with] some kind of freedom about the body, about sexuality and stuff," says director Jean-Baptiste Mondino. "So the peep show was an idea that I had." With Madonna playing a stripper clad in a black bustier, "Open Your Heart" was the singer's first overtly risqué clip to date. But it was no mere shock piece: A mix of Federico Fellini and Bob Fosse, "Open Your Heart" featured paintings by art-deco artist Tamara de Lempicka on the club exterior and a colorful cast of cold-looking characters. At one point, in a striking piece of synergy, Madonna leaned back and brilliantly reproduced the now-iconic cover photo for her 1986 album True Blue, which featured "Open Your Heart." "She makes the picture, you know?" says Mondino. "She gives you the stuff. You've got to be ready to grab it."
  4/20 4. "Take a Bow" (1994)Madge + bullfighting = one of her weirdest scandals ever
"There were several times when it was gonna be canceled because of PETA getting involved," remembers director Michael Haussman about this steamy love story, filmed in Spain with real-life bullfighter Emilio Muñoz. "The bull never got hurt ... at all," says Haussman. "When you're looking at the footage, it's pretty outstanding what he does. He's not just fighting it – he's fighting it beautifully. It's gorgeous." Still, animal-rights organizations were furious. "We had to have the police in my office opening our mail looking for letter bombs," says Haussman. "The producer had a rose taped to his door, and it said, 'Hasta la vista, baby!' All kinds of really scary shit."
  5/20 5. "Like a Prayer" (1989)How to offend every bigot in America in just five fiery minutes
Burning crosses, stigmata, a saint's icon coming to life and succumbing to the pleasures of the flesh – the imagery in "Like a Prayer" caused such a commotion that Pepsi pulled a $5 million ad campaign featuring the song. "I knew that we were pushing some big buttons, but I sort of underestimated the influence and bigotry of fundamentalist religion and racism in this country and the world," says director Mary Lambert. "I always think that if my work is successful, it goes beyond my intentions, and in this case it definitely did." Madonna originally wanted to focus more directly on racial violence. But she and Lambert revised and broadened the concept to connect sex and religion, casting actor Leon Robinson as a black saint (presumably Martin de Porres, the patron saint of racially mixed people). "Why not a black Jesus?" says Lambert. "Why can't you imagine kissing him? I wanted to show the relationship between sexual and religious ecstasy." Madonna summed up the clip's mission succinctly, telling The New York Times in 1989, "Art should be controversial, and that's all there is to it."
  6/20 6. "Rain" (1993)A trip into the future that Madonna almost didn't take
Director Mark Romanek's clips for Lenny Kravitz and En Vogue were high-
volume, high-energy af
fairs that caught Madon
na's eye, so she asked him 
to go behind the cam
era for this lushErotica
 track. "I actually turned
 her down, because I thought the song was really romantic, and I didn't really know what to do with something romantic at that point in my life," Romanek said. He eventually accepted and came up with a futuristic concept and the unique idea of staging a video within a video. At first Madonna wasn't sold on the idea. "This song is kind of likeWuthering Heights â€“ it should be black-and-white, romantic," Madonna said to Romanek. But the director's vision prevailed. Madonna reached out to Jean-Luc Godard to appear as her director in the video. When he turned her down, she tried Federico Fellini, who also declined. Finally, they went with experimental composer Ryuichi Sakamoto because he was, according to Romanek, "[an] attractive Japanese icon."
  9/20 9. "Like a Virgin" (1984)Madonna takes a big-budget trip to Venice and gets down with a lion
"We went to Venice with a bunch of fucking wack jobs," said Warner Bros. creative director Jeff Ayeroff. "I don't know what we spent – $150,000? $175,000? – but it was way more than we'd ever spent on a video." For their second collaboration, director Mary Lambert shot the pop star on gondolas in Venetian canals and teamed her with a lion. Lambert recalls, "At one point the lion started sniffing Madonna's crotch, and I thought she might be a goner."
  10/20 10. "Cherish" (1989)Madge takes the plunge with a first-time director in one of her sweetest videos
The photographer Herb Ritts and Madonna struck up a friendship early in her career. Ritts shot the cover for the 1986 album True Blue as well as Madonna's fourth Rolling Stone cover, in 1987. But what Madonna really wanted Ritts to do was direct music videos. "She kept asking me, and I said I really didn't know the first thing about moving imagery," Ritts said in a 1999 interview. "Finally, I practiced with a little Super 8 camera when I was on a job in Hawaii, and came back and said I could do it. Two weeks later, I was filming 'Cherish.' I directed it, and the camera work as well. It was invigorating." In the video, Madonna playfully frolics in black-and-white on the beach, and even dives into what was actually freezing water. Said Ritts, "She was a real trouper."
    11/20 11. "Material Girl" (1985)A tribute to Marilyn Monroe that became a classic itself
"I have always been extremely interested in Marilyn Monroe – her life and persona. Madonna and I shared that fascination," says director Mary Lambert. "I watched the dance sequence fromGentlemen Prefer Blondes about a million times with [choreographer] Kenny Ortega, who brilliantly reinterpreted it [in the video]." By now, this homage to Marilyn Monroe's 1953 film has probably inspired as many tributes as the original: Taylor Swift's performance of "Shake It Off" at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards was definitely more Madge than Norma Jean. Says Lambert of Swift, "I think she's amazing, and I was flattered."
  12/20 12. "Justify My Love" (1990)A hotel party that made for the steamiest video of her career
MTV refused to play this Jean-Baptiste Mondino-directed clip, which featured images of S&M, group sex and even some bare breasts – but the resourceful Madonna spun the controversy into the bestselling "video single" of all time. "The whole idea was to lock ourselves into this hotel for three days and two nights, without any rules," says Mondino. "Nobody was allowed to go out. It was very strange because we didn't know when we were doing the film or when it was real, you know? Things were just happening. The last morning when I woke up and had to go back home, I felt very strange on the sidewalk."
  13/20 13. "Oh Father" (1989)Childhood memories haunt a deeply personal mini-epic
Madonna dug deep for this David Fincher-directed, Citizen Kane-referencing mini-epic about her mother's death, her troubled relationship with her father and her tempestuous marriage to Sean Penn. "It's my most autobiographical work," she said. In one disturbing scene, a young girl steps up to view her mother's coffin only to find the dead woman's lips have been sewn shut – an image reportedly inspired by Madonna's memories of her own mother's funeral.
  14/20 14. "Bedtime Story" (1995)Madonna fans get a crash course in "painterly surrealism"
The idea for this clip came when Madonna approached director Mark Romanek about doing the video for the 1992 Erotica track "Bad Girl." When they met, Madonna brought a single piece of artwork for inspiration. "It was this very surreal, dark, kind of amber-colored, somewhat disturbing painting – and I didn't know Madonna, so I was really surprised that this was her taste in art," Romanek recalled. When he later heard the pulsing, Björk-penned "Bedtime Story" a couple of years later, he knew he had found a vehicle to show off what he called "painterly surrealism." Romanek delved into the history of female surrealists, paying particular tribute to painters Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo with elaborate visual effects. The end result cost a reported $5 million, making it her priciest clip since "Express Yourself."
  15/20 15. "Human Nature" (1995)Laughing her way through a playful S&M fantasy that co-starred a dog
After a decade of sexually charged work, Madonna and Jean-Baptiste Mondino addressed erotic subject matter with winking humor. Dressed in bondage gear, Madonna laughs, makes funny faces and disciplines her Chihuahua with a riding crop. "S&M is a game," says Mondino. "It's dark, it looks dark, but I think people have fun."
  16/20 16. "Burning Up" (1983)The early-Eighties clip that almost cut Madonna's career short
This testament to the anything-goes era of early MTV was the work of Steve Barron, who was in high demand at the time after his success helming videos like Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue." Barron didn't love "Burning Up," but he took the job. Of their first meeting, held at Madonna's apartment, he recalls, "There she was, naked except for a pair of knickers, on the floor doing exercises in front of this massive speaker and amp. That was the only furniture in the place, really. She seemed very confident with herself." Barron came up with a "mishmash" of ideas and shot over two nights in L.A. At one point, a massive crane on the set started teetering and nearly fell on Madonna. "She would have been 100-percent dead," says Barron. "I never told her that night because I didn't want to scare her."
  17/20 17. "Frozen" (1998)Chilling out on a desert vacation in a trippy experimental clip
This arty video was directed by Chris Cunningham, whose work on Aphex Twin's creepy "Come to Daddy" caught Madonna's attention. "Frozen" was visually stunning, with Madonna clad in billowing black against a stark desert tableau. But it wasn't easy to make: "We were thinking of shooting it in Iceland," she said in 1998. "But then I thought, 'You know what, I'm going to be freezing. I'm going to be miserable.' ... So I said, 'Let's do it in the desert, it'll be warm.' ... But then we got there and it was like 20 degrees below zero ... and I was barefoot."
  18/20 18. "Music" (2000)A pregnant Madonna and a little-known Sacha Baron Cohen take a wild ride
The girls-night-out-themed "Music" video was shot in April 2000, when Madonna was pregnant with son Rocco. "I didn't think it was a problem," says director Jonas Ã…kerlund. Madonna didn't agree, and spent most of the video in a fur coat. "Music" was many Americans' introduction to comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, who played a limo driver. "I remember one thing," says Ã…kerlund. "We had a big discussion: 'Fedora or cowboy hat?' Every time I go to a Madonna show and see all the people in cowboy hats, I think 'That could have been a fedora, dude!'"
  19/20 19. "Fever" (1993)Madge gets her martyr on and receives a paint job
"My concept was that she was a kind of Joan of Arc," says director Stéphane Sednaoui. "I wanted her like a provocative saint, somebody that speaks out and tells the truth, and is ready to burn for it. I remember the big boss at Maverick was worried I'd burn her." While Madonna doesn't catch fire in the clip, she does get evocatively covered in silver body paint: "They thought, '[Let's] do something that's not the Madonna we know – more pop, more disco, more club,'" recalls Sednaoui. "So, I think that's why she went all the way, like, 'OK, let's paint.'"
  20/20 20. "Hung Up" (2005)How to power through pain in the name of a good dance sequence
Weeks before Madonna was scheduled to shoot the clip for the Abba-borrowing lead single from Confessions on a Dance Floor, she had a horseback-riding mishap that resulted in several broken bones. But she still managed to don a long-sleeved pink leotard and danced around a rehearsal studio with gusto. "She was such a trouper. She just fell off a horse!" said director Johan Renck, who assembled her segments from a three-hour shoot, taking breaks so Madonna could deal with intense physical pain. Renck, a last-minute replacement for David LaChapelle, didn't have time to overthink its dancing-in-the-streets concept: "I like being out on a limb and not know what we're doing and why. Just deal with the mayhem, you know?

Once in a Lifetime: Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince

 
In the Beginning...
The waters flowing through the Great Lakes region were magical in the spring and summer of 1958, as the births of Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson all occurred within a mere two months of each other.
 
Prince Rogers Nelson was born June 7 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, followed by Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone on August 16 in Detroit, Michigan, and Michael Joseph Jackson nearly two weeks later on August 29 in Gary, Indiana. Each of these musical innovators would become household names, putting their stamp on pop culture in their own, unique ways. While these artists’ styles and work have been compared and contrasted for decades, what’s often overlooked is the impact their formative years had on their young, developing minds, and ultimately their sense of self and worldview.
 
The precocious trifecta of future megastars grew up in devoutly religious households: Madonna’s family was Roman Catholic; the Jacksons were members of the Jehovah’s Witness faith; and Prince was raised as a Seventh-day Adventist. A foundational religious discipline would easily lend itself to the establishment of a strict and rigorous work ethic later in life. Each of these rising talents would have a pivotal childhood heartbreak, which forced them to grow up quickly and discover creative ways to cope with emotional trauma. At the age of 5, Madonna would lose her mother to breast cancer, never to regain the unconditional love and bond of a maternal figure. And at the age of 6, Michael Jackson would become the lead singer of the Jackson 5, forcing him out of the playground into the working world of show business. Prince’s parents would separate and divorce before he was 10 years old, leaving his family broken and home life scattered.
 
All three entertainers had strained relationships with their fathers, which would inspire some of their future work: In Prince’s movie, Purple Rain, we see his character grappling with a critical and abusive father and in Madonna’s autobiographical single “Oh Father,†she laments: “You can’t hurt me now, I got away from you, I never thought I would.â€
 
Baby I’m a Star!
Budding stardom was recognized early on for these recording artists.
 
Michael Jackson stepped into entertainment at the age when most kids are making milestones in kindergarten. Led by his father/manager, Michael grew up on the road, in the studio and on the stage. “I am most comfortable on stage than any other place in the world,†he shared in a 1980 interview on the TV program 20/20. Michael recorded his first album with the Jackson 5, Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5, at the age of 11. Being a part of the Motown family at an impressionable age allowed Michael to learn from some of the greats — backstage at the Apollo watching legendary James Brown and Jackie Wilson captivate audiences with their soulful singing and breathtaking choreography, and in the studio quizzing producers on how the recording process works. By the age of 20, Michael would produce 15 more studio albums with the Jackson 5, and later the Jacksons, developing and perfecting his vocal style, dance skills and songwriting abilities, before the release of his smash hit, solo album debut, Off the Wall, at the age of 21.
 
Prince taught himself to play the piano at age 7, the guitar at age 13, and the drums at age 14. And at 14 years old, Prince began performing throughout Minneapolis with a local band called Grand Central. Three years later, Prince would have a masterful dexterity of 27 musical instruments and create his first demo tape of songs that he wrote, produced, performed and arranged himself. This demo would lay the foundation for Prince’s debut album, For You, released two months before his 20th birthday.
 
Madonna began studying dance at age 14. She was a stellar student, graduated high school, and continued her dance education at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor in 1976. After two years, Madonna moved to the Big Apple, where she studied for a short time with the Alvin Ailey dance troupe and worked as a professional dancer for two years. Madonna added singing to her artistic mix, and began performing as a singer and backup dancer. “I studied very hard on learning how to play guitar, and piano, and drums, everything, and then I started writing music, and I got my own band together, made a demo tape, took it around to the record companies and got my record deal,†said Madonna in a 1983 radio interview with Paris DJ Stephen. Madonna released two disco club hit singles, “Everybody†and “Burning Up/Physical Attraction†before getting a recording contract to produce a full album. Five years after leaving Michigan for New York City, Madonna’s self-titled debut album was released in July1983. She was 24 years old.
 
For all three rising solo artists from the Midwest, with their follow-up albums, they would skyrocket to global fame, define ‘80s pop culture, dominate the MTV music video landscape with their groundbreaking, uniquely stylized fusion of video storytelling through song and dance, break world records, color barriers and forever influence pop artists for generations to come.
 
With Michael Jackson’s sophomore solo album, Thriller, he would enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the Greatest Selling Album of All Time (over 65 million copies sold). Michael would continue to break world records, receiving an additional 30 Guinness World Records, including Most Successful Entertainer of All Time. Madonna would receive the Guinness World Record for the Greatest Selling Female Recording Artist of All Time. Prince would be the only one of the three to receive an Oscar for Best Original Song Score for “Purple Rain.†Prince would tie the record for 12 consecutive years with a Top 10 pop single on the Billboard 100 charts in the U.S. Globally, Prince has sold over 150 million albums, Madonna over 300 million and Michael over 750 million.
 
Working Day and Night
The artistic and creative gifts of Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince are innate in their DNA: Michael’s mother, Katherine, was a singer and pianist and his father, Joseph, was a guitarist with his own band, The Falcons, before he began to focus full throttle on developing the talent of his sons. Prince’s mother, Mattie, was a jazz singer and his father, John, was a jazz pianist and songwriter with his own group, The Prince Rogers Nelson Trio. “Prince Rogers Nelson†was a stage name for John Nelson. Prince’s late father said that he had named his son Prince because he wanted the artist to be a musician, like him. And, Madonna’s mother, Madonna Louise Ciccone, was formerly a dancer.
 
However, the epic success of all three icons would have been impossible without a relentless work ethic and a drive for excellence. “Study the greats, and become greater!†was one of Michael’s many mantras. R&B was an influence for these artists. Both Michael and Prince said that James Brown was one of their inspirations and exemplars — from the command of his band, his trademark original sound, and legendary choreography. And Hitsville U.S.A. struck a major chord with the Material Girl. “Motown is a really big influence with me ‘cause I grew up in Detroit, and I listened to all those old, Motown groups,†said Madonna in a 1983 interview with DJ Stephen on Radio Show.
 
NBA great Kobe Bryant discussed Michael Jackson’s work ethic in a 2016 Jimmy Kimmel Live interview: “He showed me how he composed songs, how he structured them, how he trained, who inspired him...He walked me step by step through things that he learned from [his influences] and how it made him a better entertainer. How he studied the Beatles, how he broke down every single note and felt like there was a certain emotional connection with each chord. It was just fascinating stuff. I thought I was working hard until I met him.â€
 
In a 2016 ew.com interview, hit-making producer Jimmy Jam shared the following about Prince’s work ethic: “... He out-talented everyone by so much. In sports, it’d be like Michael Jordan. He walks into the gym and he’s the most talented player; that’s how Prince was. He walked in and he was more talented than everybody...He’d come to rehearsal, work with us, go work with his band, then he’d go to his studio all night and record. The next night he’d come to rehearsal with a tape in his hand and he’d say, ‘This is what I did last night!’ and it’d be something like ‘1999.’â€
 
And celeb trainer Nicole Winhoffer told eoline.com in 2014: “Madonna stands as an icon. Her body, work ethic, and persistence is an inspiration to the people.â€
 
Express Yourself
“It’s my own style. Unique and original. You won’t see it anywhere else.â€
—Madonna, Paris interview with DJ Stephen on Radio Show (1983)
 
“I strive for originality in my work. And, hopefully it will be perceived that way.â€
—Prince, first television interview on MTV (1985)
 
“My attitude is if fashion says it’s forbidden, I’m going to do it. In many ways an artist is his work, it’s difficult to separate the two. I think I can be brutally objective about my work as I create it, and if something doesn’t work, I can feel it, but when I turn in a finished album - or song - you can be sure that I’ve given it every ounce of energy and God-given talent that I have.â€
—Michael Jackson, the autobiography, Moonwalk (1988)
 
The greatest gift that Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson have given to the world is their unique, artistic voice. Their collective ability to masterfully blend music, dance, live performance, music videos, film and fashion to create artistic expressions that resonated across generations and countries is unparalleled. Their influence on our culture is multi-dimensional, transformative and everlasting. The world before Madonna, Prince and Michael was one in which we’d watch artists sing and perform, and we might sing along to their music. When Madonna, Prince and Michael each had their meteoric rise in the ‘80s — and declared they were originals, were going to push boundaries, yet also perform with a level of creativity and innovation never before seen — they created a deeper level of engagement with their audience and the public. In addition to singing their songs, we began to emulate their dance moves and sartorial tastes. Their appeal was contagious, enchanting, universal and international: black, white, young, old, straight or gay, it was a cultural revolution, unlike any other:
 
* Madonna had young girls around the world wearing rubber bracelets, lots of lace, and big hair bows. Michael Jackson created a new look: a signature red leather jacket with black trim — the Thriller jacket — which sold internationally. And, how can we forget that purple became the most popular color on the planet, when Prince’s movie, Purple Rain, was released.
 
* Everyone wanted to perform the Moonwalk, seamlessly and flawlessly, just like Michael Jackson. Who didn’t attempt to do a full split and spin, after watching Prince do it in Purple Rain? Madonna introduced a formerly underground dance style performed at house balls for a mostly gay community, vogueing, to the mainstream.
 
Madonna, Prince and Michael will always be known as trendsetters and tastemakers. Yet, their bodies of work also move people’s spirits and emotions. Emanating from their creative expression are themes of freedom, rebellion, acceptance, inclusion, peace, joy, fun and romance. In their music and videos, they also tackle controversial topics such as race, religion, politics and sexuality.
 
Most of all, we find Madonna, Prince, and Michael likable and relatable, because we see and embrace their humanity, complexities and eccentricities. All three of them are cultural misfits, who never quite fit in, but somehow rose to the top and stayed there. They are our American heroes, the underdogs from Midwestern, working-class families who succeeded, against all odds. Prince was the short guy from Minneapolis who embraced androgyny and, despite his stature, was larger than life. In reality, Michael Jackson was shy, alone, and kept to himself. On stage, Michael Jackson was a breathtaking force — dynamic and otherworldly. Two distinctly different personas — offstage and onstage — within the same man. Madonna fought disappointment and loss from her youth with rebellion. She pushed her past aside, moved forward, always robustly, with a propensity for head-turning, over-the-top attire and behavior. In the imperfect, there lies perfection.
 
Gone Too Soon
With the recent loss of Prince, it is hard to imagine that, like Michael Jackson, the new music will be coming from a vault. There will be no more live performances, cameo appearances, philanthropic projects or political statements to be made. That untouchable trifecta of musical titans from the Midwest were all supposed to live forever, if only to continue the soundtrack for an aging Generation X, much like how baby boomers still have the Rolling Stones. While the legacies of Prince and Michael will be timeless, up-and-coming artists will look to them for inspiration; the Purple One and the King of Pop are the ascended masters and reference points. The pain will linger in knowing that the creative environment that allowed these legends to flourish has vanished.

The industry has changed along with the way music is produced. Songs aren’t as rich as they used to be. Instruments have been overpowered by synthesizers, samples and beats. Auto-Tune has replaced raw vocals in the studio. New and emerging artists don’t have the freedom or flexibility to be daring and different. There is a marketing and promotional formula that must be followed — people aren’t even buying music like in previous decades, so budgets have dwindled for things like artist development. What will the next generation of pop artists look like? Will the pipeline to a recording contract be dominated by reality TV competitions? Could a young artist, who can play over two dozen musical instruments even fathom getting a record deal or complete creative control?

We can never deny that in their heyday Prince, Michael and Madonna, now the surviving member of the trifecta, shoved the envelope and set the bar for trend-setting music makers who came after them. Many may not appreciate or comprehend Madonna’s impact today, but that can’t diminish her influence. What’s next for the queen of reinvention? Whatever is on the horizon, like a prayer, she might just take us there.

Billboard: When you were working with Madonna on the album, you had already worked with her on "True Blue" and "Who's That Girl," and you had worked with her on tour as the musical director for the Virgin Tour and the Who's That Girl Tour. What was it about your working relationship that made it so successful? Clearly there was something very special between the two of you. Is there something tangible that you can actually name?

Patrick Leonard: The one thing would be that, in terms of musical spirits, like any good collaboration, we're sort of on opposite ends of the spectrum, in terms of our approach to music.

I started playing the piano when I was three-years old, and studied music my whole life. It's my language. And for her, it's much more just about creativity, and a natural gift, what the impulse says is right.

So, that thing of, almost opposites makes nice chemistry. And it always did with us, because I could write something somewhat complicated and and somewhat complex -- certainly especially in the pop realm -- and she would respond collaboratively with something that anchored it in something very simple and central.

And when I say simple, I don't mean stupid. I mean just not complicated. You know, simple in that beautiful way that when something is really simple, it's not easy to do something simple. . . . When you look at most well-known collaborations over the decades of music that we're familiar with, they're always opposite types of people that are doing the best work. David Gilmour and Roger Waters. John Lennon and Paul McCartney. And I'm certainly not comparing Madonna and I to those people, but you know what I mean. 

The other thing is that we're both from Michigan. We're both people that grew up in a place where it's 30 below zero a good part of the year and blue collar work ethics apply to everything. I still am a blue collar work ethic type of person, and so is she. So we shut up and we did the work. We had this creative chemistry, and then there was no futzing around. There was no question about what the job was.

Speaking of chemistry, there's been a lot of rumors that you guys are going to work together on her next album. Is that even remotely true?

I've gotten a bunch of people who have forwarded me a bunch of those emails (saying that they've) seen us in restaurants together. None of it's true.

Leonard co-wrote and co-produced the bulk of the "Like a Prayer" album with Madonna, including hits like "Cherish" and "Oh Father." Of the album's 11 songs, Leonard co-created eight of them with the diva. The set has gone on to sell four million copies in the U.S., according to the Recording Industry Association of America. 

You've said before that "Like a Prayer" was the first song that was written for the album. When you guys finished that song, or at least had it at some sort of stage where it seemed like it was finished, did know that you had something special?

I think there was a point when we realized that it was the title track, and the lead track, and it was going to a powerhouse. It became obvious that there was something unique about it. And that somehow we made this thing work: with its stopping and starting, and a minimalistic rhythmic thing, and the verses, and these bombastic choruses, and this giant choir comes in. This is ambitious, you know?!

Of the songs I've worked on in the studio -- which is in the thousands -- there is something different when you write something and you just have a sense that you can't break this, you can't really ruin this. It exists already. And that used to be what made a hit song.

I'm assuming you watched the Super Bowl when she performed "Like a Prayer"?

No, I actually didn't. . . I heard it was really cool! I think I might have seen a YouTube video or something of it afterward. You know, just to hear the song is really cool and to know that she's still doing the songs -- some of the songs that we wrote together -- makes me happy. A lot of people were like all the rage about that -- that she did that song. I'm just happy she's still doing it. I think it's great.
 
Were there songs recorded for the album that the two of you worked on that eventually were just shelved or haven't been released?
I think there was one, but I'm not sure what it was a remnant of. It might have been a remnant of "Who's That Girl" or of "I'm Breathless." There was ever only one song, and it got released as a b-side, and I don't remember what it was called, even. I don't think it was "Like a Prayer"-era. [Note: Leonard may be referring to the "Cherish" b-side, "Supernatural."] My recollection is that we just wrote the songs that were going on the record and that was it. I mean, those songs were written one a day -- that's it. A few hours and they were done.

Prince turns up on the album, obviously, on "Love Song," the song he and Madonna did together. I've read that his guitar work is on "Keep It Together" somewhere.

What I know is that his guitar work is on, when you start "Like a Prayer," the guitar that you hear before the door slams…

The distorted guitar?

That's Prince.  What happened is, [Madonna] sent him something to play on and he played on it and sent it back. And we didn't feel that what he did served it. But that piece, that beginning, is him.

Recently, I listened to [the song "Like a Prayer"] -- I hadn't heard it years. There's a heavy rock guitar that's in the bridges -- I don't think it's Prince. There's a heavy guitar in the choruses and when I heard it, I thought: "Did we use his guitar in those bridges?" Because the sound is similar to the first sound [in the opening], but it's not exactly the same. . . . But I know for a fact that we did use that [Prince] thing as the intro, because we just thought it was crazy and really cool. I seem to recall that that's all we used, but I could be wrong.

With "Oh Father," were you surprised that song was chosen to be a single? That was a pretty bold move for her because it was such a slow, heavy song to come out as a big pop commercial single from her at the time.

My favorite thing that we ever recorded, ever -- or wrote -- is "Oh Father." That to me is the best thing we ever did. So, it didn't surprise me because we knew when we did it, that there was something about this that was in a way kind of the most *real* thing. 
 
[For] that song, the 'record' button was only pressed three times. It was pressed to do the track, live, with her singing live. Then we did the orchestra. And then we did a double of her vocal when we were mixing. That's it. So it's real. It's something that I really wanted to do and she was kind enough to say "let's try this," and it was not easy.
There's two or three guitar players playing. I'm playing keyboards. Jai Winding was playing keyboards. There was a percussionist and a drummer -- and she's singing -- all at the same time.

These days, people go "wow, that seems crazy." Those days it wasn't uncommon for everybody to be playing together even though you're not a band. But it was one of those things where the arrangement was tricky enough, that it really took some working out to get it all right.

Even all those weird synth overdubs and things -- all those things were being done live. We worked out all the parts, had all the sounds. I remember that we cut it live, and then put the orchestra on. You're not doubling the orchestra, so it's one pass for the orchestra.

When I say [the 'record' button was] pressed three times, it might have gotten pressed 10 [times] that day, but it was ultimately one that stayed there. If you see what I'm saying. When we were mixing it, [mixer] Bill Bottrell suggested that we double the choruses. I remember even being a little upset about it (Laughs). Like, look, "we've got an amazing record that we only pressed the record button twice -- can't we leave it?" He said, "three isn't exactly shameful." We doubled the lead vocal on the choruses, and that was it.

The whole album sounded so "live" with real instruments. It didn't sound computery or programmy, and I think that was surprising to a lot of people. Was there a focus to make it have more of a "live" sound?

I've always had that agenda, at least it was then. I've actually kind of cooled on it a bit, because I'm not sure it matters that much when people don't actually understand A) what they're listening to or B) even how to play in an ensemble unless they're 60-years old like I am. It's not something people really do very well anymore.

It was one of those things I was always on my soap box saying "let's get real musicians in." And I think also that we had done the tour or even a couple tours I think at that point, and I was musical director on those tours, so we had the experience of working with live players. We had a couple players that were part of the flock that we knew we could bring in, and my studio is very well set up. It wasn't in any way painful. It was fun and easy. 

It was kind of a process of getting the songs written, and the demos recorded, which was just you know, me, by myself making the demos and her singing. And then replacing the drum machines and the percussion with real people and getting background singers in and having guitar players come in and do parts. Most of the bass on the record is synth-based. Most of it is me playing bass. But on a couple things, there's bass players added. Like "Like a Prayer's" Guy Pratt and me. I think "Express Yourself" is Randy Jackson playing bass.
 
Was there something unique or special about including backup singers Donna De Lory and Niki Haris on the album? They also had worked with Madonna a lot on her previous tours. Was there something special about their sound that blended well with hers?
Yeah, it was. When we were putting the ["Who's That Girl"] tour together, I found Donna [because she] sang the demo for "Open Your Heart" and that's how her voice came to me. She sounded similar to Madonna, so, well, let's get her in to sing something, because it's going to blend really nice.

And Niki was somebody that someone recommended. . . She might have even just auditioned cold, I really don't recall. But they were chosen from many many many people. And we worked on the road together. It was just natural.

"Dear Jessie" was inspired by your daughter, Jessie, who was a toddler at the time. What does your daughter think of the song now? 
 
They hung out a bit, and she remembers a lot of that, even though she was very little. It wasn't arbitrary -- it was like they were kind of buddies. Jessie was on tour with us when she was just a baby. We have a lot of photos of them together in the studio. My daughter is 28 now and she's actually working for me as a writer and she's just an amazing human being.
I think Jessie feels like that's an interesting thing that she has out there, but I don't think she considers it her legacy (laughs). 

No, no, I didn't mean it like that! It's kind of a fun curiosity to have this song that was written about and inspired by you.

Every once in a while it comes up. Somebody will send her something, or say, "You're the Jessie?" And she thinks it's funny. It's sweet. It was really sweet of Madonna to do that. Even that little video that they used -- that animated video in the U.K. -- was an animation based on a photo of Jessie. It doesn't look anything like Jessie to me. But they wanted a photo of her for the video.

When you and Madonna worked together, she would mostly do the lyrics and you would bring in the music. Was there overlap where you would suggest ideas for different lyrics, or she would suggest a change in the music?

To my recollection‚ the norm was that I would go in the morning -- you know, I'd get to the studio very early, 8 o'clock, 7 o'clock sometimes. I had a gym in the studio, I used to work out there. So by 8 o'clock or so, I was working. I like to start really early in the day. She would come in about 11 and I would have the musical idea on whatever piece of gear I was using. I think it was just a Yamaha sequencer or something at the time. Or we might have been up like to an MPC 60 or something like that.

I would just put the track, the chord changes, some kind of drum beat, bass line -- something simple -- and say, "here's the idea, here's what I have for the day." She would listen, then we would talk a little bit. Oftentimes I'd say, "here's the verse, and here's the chorus," and she'd say, "no, it's the other way around, switch 'em." So I'd switch 'em. This thing is an hour old, it's not etched in stone.

Then she would just start writing. She'd start writing lyrics and oftentimes there was an implied melody. She would start with that and deviate from it. Or if there was nothing but a chord change, she'd make up a melody. But, a lot of the time in my writing there's a melody implied or I even have something in mind. But she certainly doesn't need that.

She would write the lyrics in an hour, the same amount of time it took me to write the music (laughs). And then she'd sing it. We'd do some harmonies, she'd sing some harmony parts, and usually by three or four in the afternoon, she was gone.

That's how "Like a Prayer" was written, and then the next day we wrote "Cherish," and then the next day we wrote "Dear Jessie." And that's how it was. We wrote the album in less than two weeks.

You wrote the album in less than two weeks?

Yeah. Because we wrote a song a day, and we didn't change them.  And oftentimes the vocal that she did was the lead vocal, we didn't even change the lead vocal. That was it. She sang it. It was done.

We learned that from [her album] "True Blue". . . "Live to Tell's" [vocal] was a demo, and so were a lot of others. It's not that they were demo vocals -- they were just never sung more than once.
 
I put the track together, she would sing it, and that was it. We learned from that. This idea of a ritualistic vocal session doesn't make any sense. You perform now. You know the song, perform it. And oftentimes, the energy that's there because you're in this creative space is much more pure than when you've thought about it and worked on it and practiced it in your car and all that stuff. It's like, eh, come on. Blue collar, once again. Get to work (Laughs).

What are you working on now?

I have my own media company and we're working on a lot of different projects that are interesting. Mixers of media, film and music and storytelling and novel writing -- and all kinds of different things. 

I'm working with a classical pianist named Iris Hond. We're doing a project called "Sara and the Hourglass" that we've co-created. It's new classical music with a kind of a story interjected using 80-piece orchestras...

It's really fun, because it ranges from the simplistic to Rachmaninoff complexity. She's an amazing pianist. So there's this thing where kids can look up and go "wow, this girl's like in her 20s and she's amazing and what she does, and she's choosing to do this with orchestras." It's something that the classical world needs and is open for, and it's really exciting. So I'm putting quite a bit of time into that.

My day-to-day right now is that I'm in the most luxurious position in that I'm writing and making a record with Leonard Cohen.

You've worked with him previously, correct?

I worked on his last record. We did four songs together and it did very, very well.

And when might we expect that album? 

I don't know, but we're working very quickly. I think that it should be done in the next relatively quick period of time, the next couple months, it will be finished.

Patrick Leonard would continue to work with Madonna after "Like a Prayer." He co-produced the bulk of her 1990 "I'm Breathless" album (including the cheeky top 10 Hot 100 single "Hanky Panky") and co-wrote and co-produced her No. 2 smash "I'll Remember" in 1994. He later worked with Madonna on her 1998 album "Ray Of Light," including the No. 2 single "Frozen" and the top 20 hit "The Power of Good-bye." He most recently collaborated with Madonna in 2008. He composed the music for her documentary film "I Am Because We Are."
Would you like to work with Madonna again?

I would love to, because it's always really musically satisfying. We've done some things -- little things -- over the years. But the record-making/sitting down and writing songs together, we haven't done it in ages.

There was a musical play that she was considering and we got together and worked on some music, and we wrote a couple songs from scratch. And there was one ballad, and I remember the day we did it.

I had written the music and she wrote the lyrics and went in and sang it. And she came out of the booth and we both kind of looked at each other and she said, "You know, I think some things never change." It was just an immediately great song.

You know, my music, her words, her voice. There's a chemistry that's really cool. I would love to [work with her]. But I also deeply respect her trajectory, and we're on very different trajectories. I'm very happy right now working with (Cohen), who's just probably the greatest poet on earth. Makes me really happy.
 
http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/5944767/madonna-producer-patrick-leonard-talks-like-a-prayer-at-25

She started abt 10:20
 
8 mins Â· Hong Kong Â·   it's happening it's happening!!!
 

Thank you for the correction.
Fixed the post!

The first photo is in Taipei.

She left Taiwan for Thailand today.  
I'm depressed.  This could very possible be her first time and the last time in Taiwan.
Sigh......American fans and European fans dunno how lucky u r......

She left Taiwan for Thailand today.  
I'm depressed.  This could very possible be her first time and the last time in Taiwan.
Sigh......American fans and European fans dunno how lucky u r......

She left Taiwan for Thailand today.  
I'm depressed.  This could very possible be her first time and the last time in Taiwan.
Sigh......American fans and European fans dunno how lucky u r......

She left Taiwan for Thailand today.  
I'm depressed.  This could very possible be her first time and the last time in Taiwan.
Sigh......American fans and European fans dunno how lucky u r......

She left Taiwan for Thailand today.  
I'm depressed.  This could very possible be her first time and the last time in Taiwan.
Sigh......American fans and European fans dunno how lucky u r......

OMG the show was great! Before she sang take a bow she said she never ever sang this song before in any concert! I'm dying!!!

OMG the show was great! Before she sang take a bow she said she never ever sang this song before in any concert! I'm dying!!!

OMG the show was great! Before she sang take a bow she said she never ever sang this song before in any concert! I'm dying!!!

She finished the rehearsal 40 mins ago.....so late

She finished the rehearsal 40 mins ago.....so late

She finished the rehearsal 40 mins ago.....so late

She will arrive Taipei tonight!! Ahhhhhhhh 
Can't believe she arrive so early!