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Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: "Like A Prayer", "Vogue" & "Into The Groove"


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Rolling Stone magazine convened a poll of more than 250 artists, musicians, and producers — from Angelique Kidjo to Zedd, Sam Smith to Megan Thee Stallion, M. Ward to Bill Ward — as well as figures from the music industry and leading critics and journalists. They each sent in a ranked list of their top 50 songs, and this is the result.

 

The Queen Of Pop has three entries. Are you satisfied with these entries?

 

55. Madonna, 'Like a Prayer'

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Only Madonna could combine love, religion, and oral sex into a six-minute gospel-pop powerhouse. To her, “Like a Prayer” is “the song of a passionate young girl so in love with God that it is almost as though He were the male figure in her life.” The song debuted as part of a soft-drink ad campaign, which got yanked after the ostentatiously blasphemous video hit MTV. Right on schedule, the Vatican condemned it, as if intentionally playing its part in the song’s marketing. “In Catholicism you are born a sinner and you are a sinner all of your life,” Madonna said in 1989. “No matter how you try to get away from it, the sin is within you all the time.”

139. Madonna, 'Vogue'

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Inspired by the way men were dancing at the gay clubs she frequented, Madonna wrote some lyrics that connected the act of striking a pose to classic Hollywood glamour. Producer Shep Pettibone, who’d remixed some of the pop star’s earlier singles, whipped up a booming disco beat and synth bass, then later mixed in syncopated stabs of house piano after Madonna had recorded her vocals in a Manhattan basement. The most amazing part? They did it all on a budget of $5,000, with the idea that something so bold could probably only be a B side.

161. Madonna, 'Into The Groove'

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Perhaps the greatest dance-pop invitation of the Eighties, “Into the Groove” was written by Madonna and Steve Bray, who had played drums in the punk band Madonna briefly fronted during her early New York days. The song soundtracked the scene where she goes to NYC hot spot Danceteria in her movie Desperately Seeking Susan, and soon became a smash. “The dance floor was quite a magical place for me,” she said n 1998. “I started off wanting to be a dancer, so that had a lot to do with it. The freedom that I always feel when I’m dancing, that feeling of inhabiting your body, letting yourself go, expressing yourself through music.”

Full list:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/

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14 minutes ago, Nahual said:

Judging by most of the entries, this seems more like a "Greatest Singles" list than a "Greatest Songs" ranking. I genuinely believe that Madonna has better songs in her catalogue than those 3. 

Also extremely surprised that Beyonce didn't top the list. I guess the check didn't clear this time. :hallwaylaugh:

Exactly my thoughts lol. I can totally understand Vogue and LAP, but I'm sure ITG can easily be topped by 3/4 of her discography (Frozen, Live to Tell and Hung Up being a few quick examples) 

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20 hours ago, Nahual said:

Judging by most of the entries, this seems more like a "Greatest Singles" list than a "Greatest Songs" ranking. I genuinely believe that Madonna has better songs in her catalogue than those 3. 

Also extremely surprised that Beyonce didn't top the list. I guess the check didn't clear this time. :hallwaylaugh:

It will happen in the future, new generation of fans-journalists is coming and i doubt they will be objective when it comes to lists like these :rip:

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On 9/15/2021 at 5:23 PM, Nahual said:

Judging by most of the entries, this seems more like a "Greatest Singles" list than a "Greatest Songs" ranking. I genuinely believe that Madonna has better songs in her catalogue than those 3. 

Also extremely surprised that Beyonce didn't top the list. I guess the check didn't clear this time. :hallwaylaugh:

"Nearly 4,000 songs received votes" says the introduction. People answered how they felt, I guess, and it's funny that it comes to singles mostly. Not very  surprising given the choice of voters, clearly anglo-american and industry-oriented.

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This was voted for by artist and industry people. They generally recognise songs that have impact but also some musical and euphoric quality. Something that moves you. I think they chose the three correct songs from M’s career. All three have a "more than the sum of its parts" quality and sort of take you somewhere when you play them. They elevate a part of your spirit. They embody Madonna.

Express Yourself and Frozen are amazing in different ways but they don’t have the ingredient that evokes the same kind of energy as the three chosen. I think they got it really right. 

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