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Erotica 30th Anniversary October 20th, 2022


RUADJAI
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I love this album and era. I had it on cassette as a kid. I remember my Dad being horrified when I was watching the premiere of the music video and I didn't understand why or why it wasn't played on tv again after that. He blocked me from going to The Girlie Show but my mum bought me the vhs and I had to hide it under my bed and only watch it when he wasn't home :lol: 

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After being disappointed with I'm Breathless, and slow and sappy This used to be my Playground, this guy flipped out the first time he heard Erotica on the radio! I was 13. I also remember hearing Deeper and Deeper on the radio for the first time. I was conflicted with the reuse of the vogue lyrics. Now i don't mind it.

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I was 16. Just started to go out. I bought the vinyl and I was in love with the typography and the design. I couldn't afford to get the Sex book thou. I bought it 5 years later when I moved to London.

I never realized or care about the negative press she received from it. I always thought she was dragged around for one reason or another and being a non conformist suit me well and made me feel identified. I bought a couple of Spanish magazine that came with an extra 'Sex Book sample with about 10 photos. I made a school project with it ( we had to choose a famous personality) Was a massive portfolio with Madonna's tits in the cover I copied the silver/gold writing. I reused the work to postered my  bedroom walls with them.

My Mum thought she was funny and so powerful for not giving a toss about the media and embrace her body and sexuality. She loved Justify my Love's video.

I used to dance in clubs during the weekend, and  I used to vogue so when Deeper and Deeper came out I was thrilled.

The Girlie Show made me love the moment even more. The whole concept behind it. Dancers being androgynous, the weimar cabaret, the burlesque. I thought she look so beautiful and fragile with the short hair, but so powerful and full of energy.

It was a period of transition  and learning in my life and it was the right soundtrack for it.

When Bedtime stories came after I actually felt underwhelm. I was worried that she was doing again soft spoken vocals and after seeing " Truth or Dare" fearing she was losing her voice.

The day of today still a favorite and a album that I listen back to forth.

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Erotica was the first Madonna CD I bought, in 1993, few days before The Girlie Show Tour land in my city, Rio de Janeiro. Everyone was talking about Madonna on TV, newspapers, magazines, schools, streets, bars, everywhere. It was the first Madonna´s tour in Brazil. It was just impossible not to know she was coming for a sold out show in the biggest stadium of the world at the time, the Maracanã Stadium.

I was 10 years old. Did not get everything she was singing about on the record, but I knew that was something special, different and not recommended for kids at my age. Loved it! 

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I was 2 when this album came out. :silly: So I fully didn't discover this album till I was in middle school when I managed to find a full download of the album on Limewire. It felt like the holy grail at the time, after hearing everything from Madonna to American Life, but leaving this one last. I loved it after the first listen. The combination of the jazzy hiphop influence to the sexy house basslines. Hearing her experiment with different vocal stylings. It was unlike anything else in her catalog. 

Seeing that I was only 13 at the time, a lot of the lyrical themes went over my head. It wasn't until my mid 20's when I was able to fully experience these themes in real life, and really comprehend what "Erotica" was all about.

The emptiness and sadness in "Bad Girl," and the desire to "fill the void," the struggle in accepting the reality of a breakup in "Waiting." To the intense passion in "Rain" with finding a lover that will ease the pain. It's powerful. Disguised as an album of pure "Sex," in actuality, the album is quite mellow and expressive. Exploring all the pains that love can bring (outside of the bedroom that is), the loneliness from heartbreak, the self reflection, and really navigating life as an adult. "Erotica" is like a diary for someone growing up in their 20's/30's; it's a true "return of saturn" moment. It's why I love this album so much. I've associated so many life events through the years to this album and to specific songs. 

Erotica Forever.

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11 minutes ago, deathproof said:

I was 2 when this album came out. :silly: So I fully didn't discover this album till I was in middle school when I managed to find a full download of the album on Limewire. It felt like the holy grail at the time, after hearing everything from Madonna to American Life, but leaving this one last. I loved it after the first listen. The combination of the jazzy hiphop influence to the sexy house basslines. Hearing her experiment with different vocal stylings. It was unlike anything else in her catalog. 

Seeing that I was only 13 at the time, a lot of the lyrical themes went over my head. It wasn't until my mid 20's when I was able to fully experience these themes in real life, and really comprehend what "Erotica" was all about.

The emptiness and sadness in "Bad Girl," and the desire to "fill the void," the struggle in accepting the reality of a breakup in "Waiting." To the intense passion in "Rain" with finding a lover that will ease the pain. It's powerful. Disguised as an album of pure "Sex," in actuality, the album is quite mellow and expressive. Exploring all the pains that love can bring (outside of the bedroom that is), the loneliness from heartbreak, the self reflection, and really navigating life as an adult. "Erotica" is like a diary for someone growing up in their 20's/30's; it's a true "return of saturn" moment. It's why I love this album so much. I've associated so many life events through the years to this album and to specific songs. 

Erotica Forever.

Amazing summary 

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9 hours ago, Jet said:

It was a magical time to be a fan. It was hard seeing her bashed so much on everything but so inspiring to see her standing up and not backing down. It was also interesting to see who the intelligent and open minded people of the press/tv were at the time who understood what she was saying and applauded her for doing so. She was on every tv channel, every news paper and magazine, all over the place and everyone had an opinion. The album is my favourite of all time. The videos are some of her best and the photo shoots were perfection. I would not be who I am today if not for erotica. Maybe life would have been a bit more simple if my mind hadn’t been opened the way it was by the erotica era but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I was 16/17 and it was one of the best times of my life.

To quote Deathproof…erotica forever.

Did you get into bdsm and group sex as a result?

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34 minutes ago, animalinstinct said:

It’s now October.

No news about a deluxe reissue of Erotica 30. 

F_ck you Warner and Madonna!

Aw you poor thing, you still had your hopes up lol.

Always keep your expectations low with this stuff and don’t be surprised when these “curated deluxe editions” never happen.

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23 hours ago, Jet said:

It was a magical time to be a fan. It was hard seeing her bashed so much on everything but so inspiring to see her standing up and not backing down. It was also interesting to see who the intelligent and open minded people of the press/tv were at the time who understood what she was saying and applauded her for doing so. She was on every tv channel, every news paper and magazine, all over the place and everyone had an opinion. The album is my favourite of all time. The videos are some of her best and the photo shoots were perfection. I would not be who I am today if not for erotica. Maybe life would have been a bit more simple if my mind hadn’t been opened the way it was by the erotica era but I wouldn’t change it for anything. I was 16/17 and it was one of the best times of my life.

To quote Deathproof…erotica forever.

This is beautiful.  Thank you for sharing.  I was actually married to a staunch Southern Baptist and expecting my first child when this album came out.  I was a dad two months later.   It was a tumultuous time as I was struggling with school, work and family.  There was so much hope in the record for me though and it may me dream of things that I had not dared before.  I actually slow danced with a neighbor guy to rain in his apartment.  It felt so taboo but so good.  I was so innocent then.  I was 20 and he was 24 and I had such a crush on him.... Maybe I still do.  Lol. I may be a grandfather of three now but I am living my Erotica truth and married to a pretty cool guy.  I actually came out to my wife about the same time but we stayed together for 13 more years (15 in all).  The conversion therapy did not take and I chose the bathhouse over the church house.  (Actually, I have never been to a bathhouse but I still chose) Haha.  A very special record at a time when it seemed that noone but Madonna loved gay people.  I wanted to be that brave and I eventually got there.  

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As much as i love this album i had and still have reservations about it. First, i think some tracks would benefit from being edited of a 1 minute down and the Pettibone tracks are not well produced. Deeper and Deeper especially, a song i adore but i could never get over how badly it is produced or maybe mixed. I think Madonna wanted to make a grunge album but using house hence why she chose to use the 8 track demos and transfer them on 24 track to make it sound raw**. I don't think it works. I wish she would have used Jeremy Lubbock for the Deeper strings too (as in This Used....) or the NY philarmonic (used for In This Life). The album is very busy. But lyrically there is an evolution from her previous ones, she started using poetry on Erotica and she's also more vulnerable. On Like A Prayer she showed vulnerability as an adult hurt by her childhood, on Erotica it's more as an adult her by her current life. A song like Bad Girl is very earnest. Even the title track is not about sex, there's an inner battle when she's saying Erotica and lt sounds like an alter ego is replying Romance (even insisting  later in the track), a battle between good and bad Madonna, a struggle between lust and love. Erotica is my favourite track on the album. I think that Erotica/Romance would have made a great name for the album because most of the songs are about failed romances and yearning for it. 

I remastered* Erotica for a personal use so it's not perfect, i did it from CD source, and even on this cheap attempt the album benefits greatly from it, the bass is incredible (but no album benefits best from remastering than Like A Prayer, it's incredible how buried everything is on this album mastering). She really is at her lyrical best on Erotica. 

*funnily, while remastering it i accidentally sped up a bit Where Life Begins and it sounded like That's The Way Love Goes.

** 

 

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