MikeyK

Bad Girl and Erotica.

Apologies if this has already been acknowledged in this epic length thread but have people noticed how Ticketmaster shows a listing for a cancelled date on July 8, 2025? In Tulsa, Oklahoma. It’s really weird. The cancelled Tulsa date that was part of the initial itinerary was on July 17, 2023, so it’s unlikely it’s just that date w/the wrong year. Peculiar.

It’s interesting how some songs’ numbers sort of ebb & flow. For a little while Like A Prayer’s numbers were up in the mid 200’s daily, higher than its usual <200k daily. While at the same time La Isla’s numbers weren’t quite as high as usual. Now LIB is way back up again and LAP is back down to its usual range.

In terms of iconique status I would replace Express w/Like A Prayer. I think that’s the one that will end up representing her video legacy long term (though La Isla Bonita’s bafflingly high view count makes me question that). EY is stunning but idk how wide its reach is these days. Anyway, my *personal* top 3 are Bad Girl American Life dc Oh Father I think. It changes pretty regularly lol.

Angel has always been my favorite song from LAV proper (barring ITG) but after revisiting it more these few days I def think it’s the best song of the four singles released. Dress You Up is great too but Angel’s stronger imo. Such a lovely little 80s bop. Nile’s production is heavenly. Shame it’s been largely forgotten outside of her fans. Even Stranger Things couldn’t give it a boost.

And so as far as Into The Groove- the jazzed up version that’s remastered on Celebration was also on the yellow mid 90s cd single? And this one we just got is the original 1985 single release and international Like A Virgin reissue album track? You’ll have to forgive me, ITG in its non-remixed form was pretty elusive here in the states for many years. I had that cd single as an import at one point and remember thinking the Celebration version didn’t sound that different. I had an old Back-2-Back cassingle of ITG & DYU at one point in the early 90s too, god knows what was on that. I have the Angel 12” that I bought used around the same time but only played it a couple times.

As far as what YCD or left out tracks belonged on FEL, they could have put one or two only on the 16 track version to offer some kind of exclusivity. I like how it opens w/Everybody, being that it was her first single and first hit on the dance chart. It wasn’t a #1, but that version technically didn’t have a #1-referencing subtitle like the full version. So for example have EB open the short version, and have PA be the track representing YCD’s place on the full version (along w/ITG edit, which is actually there representing A/ITG’s place). Then they could’ve included CAC on the full version as well. That way each of the 50 #1s had a track representing it, and the 16 track version had an exclusive track. Hell, include Angel on the short one too so it had two.

https://genius.com/Madonna-letter-to-pat-leonard-lyrics There was a letter she wrote to Pat Leonard prior to Ray of Light where she complained about Nellee Hooper’s ego as she apparently considered using him for that album. I could swear she complained about him circa Bedtime Stories as well being unprofessional- showing up whenever, being not fully knowledgable technologically to the point that she allegedly had to jump behind the mixing board at times.

Damn. What a perfect opportunity for her to bust out Secret. She did all the Bedtime Stories singles he didn’t produce. 🙃

Didn’t she also have a sort of falling out w/the Kabbalah center higher ups some time around 2008? It noticeably became less present in her work after the Confessions Tour. Anyway, I agree w/the suggestions that the divorce along w/turning 50 and the accompanying life changes may have made her seem to take a different path from where she’d been in the decade or so prior. I’ve always felt Kabbalah and her involvement in it was as controlling of her output as her marriage to Guy allegedly was.

I agree w/the last statement for sure. Fwiw house is what came out of Chicago in the early 80s, though it was still sort of in its infancy and regional in 84. M would make some house records a few years later as we all know. The techno you’re thinking of came out of Detroit a little later, but the term techno in the very early 80s was first applied to (mostly) UK synth pop. I can hear that vibe (guitars and synths new wave) on a lot of the LAV album. It’s primarily live musicians. There’s some r&b and Motown throwback too. Similar combo as Bowie‘s Let’s Dance (obviously). Overall it was an attempt to move away from the post-disco of her debut. To me ITG is very much a mid 80s NYC club record. I think she took some inspiration from Shannon’s Let The Music Play, which had blown up around the same time as Holiday. That 5 note synth line in the chorus of ITG is very similar to LTMP. She definitely took that vibe in her own direction though. And don’t forget when she initially worked on it she thought it was going to Mark Kamins. She was writing a club record for a dj/producer as a thank you, like Sidewalk Talk. It just ended up taking on a whole different life than she’d planned on.

Into The Groove is one of the most transcendent “lose yourself in the music and dancing” tracks of all time. It’s definitely a highlight of her discography, especially the first few years.

I mean these are the same people that said Britney Spears’s Blackout is the most influential album of the 21st century. They like to be hyperbolic.

Lol this sentiment about the album rages on according to what I’ve seen on twitter the last few days. Was surprised to see many younger fans airing their grievances w/it- it’s “dated”, “boring”, “only half the songs are good” (?!?!) etc. I’d known of people saying Like A Prayer (song) is dated/boring which is so wild to me bc even though its production is kinda lite pop/rock it’s so stunning and epic that imo it transcends all that. The consensus I often see is that Vogue is her truly timeless masterpiece that’s still fresh (you’d think its streaming #s would be better). I’ve recommended the Immaculate mix of LAP to some. If you like Vogue but think LAP is dated try this. The LAP & Express Yourself dance mixes really aided their successes here in the US even if they weren’t the single A sides. I still think EY would’ve beat Martika to #1 if the dance/video mix was the single instead of a slightly embellished mix of the album version.

That would be wild. I’d still love to hear the alleged 10 minute version of Ray of Light that she talked about back then.