I enjoy popping onto this thread every once in a blue moon primarily because I feel it's a good representation of how polarized M's fanbase is.
I have added a few words to the conversation but for the most part I've been content to observe. Namo and Sandman are the most vocal in the fold on all things Madge and I get a hoot out of clocking the back and forth.
After reading the last 3 days worth of posts, I'm struck with a few questions.
Is it feasible for M to be everything to every one of her fans at all times?
Do we, as the fans, ever see the '(wo)man behind the curtain' or rather is the whole POINT of our relationship with her (through her work) to observe the illusion, take what we like and discard the rest?
Is there another artist of M's star wattage who has continued to shake things up creatively the way she has? To the same effect? Have they had the same longevity?
These questions pop out to me because of the passion with which I've seen point and counterpart argued on this board and over more than a few drinks in homes and bars over the years.
Hack? Genius? Whore? Electro Earth Mama? Kabbalist? Con artist?
It seems to me that the very thing a lot of people here have bemoaned (X,Y,Z albums were rubbish, but T,W, THOSE were FANTASTIC!) should be the thing we celebrate about this artist. That her work lends itself to be argued. I'm by no means saying one must love every bit she puts out to sell, but a fan can find some love for the fact that the artist is still trying to make output. Sometimes lazily, some times desperately... and though some of the products may seem reductive (snicker at will...) but somewhere in there hides the possibility of genius.
I suspect once she's dead and a retrospective can assembled, people may find that for all her controversy shenanigans, M's focus has largely been a singular thrust: entertain em.
The skeptics will likely call money her sole motivation, while the FanATICS will say she did selflessly for them. Somewhere between those extremes, I think, lies another answer. Her discography will likely reveal a roadmap of a flawed perfectionist trying to accomplish a nearly impossible task... Fighting the clock, struggling to maintain relevance with every element in the game is against her.
What she should be able to see is that she's done it all before.
Call me a sap, but she impresses me.
I think the discography has taken us on the journey o her life.
We, the fans/consumers, have seen the signposts, been given the option to cheer her on, or turn away, too horrified to watch.
She's flawed, but who isn't? It's that disconnect that makes her intriguing to some people. Her (admittedly constantly changing) logic is a great example of how two contradictory impulses can occupy the same person... You can record a french house album after a british electronica album and before a whatever we'd call American Life album and be the same artist.
Because we can and do and she demonstrates so much of that in her music and her shows,. Don't like the new stuff? Well, put on the old stuff.
I find it enjoyable to pull up her albums and put the player on random shuffle. The fact that she can sing the profound lyrics "You're so consumed with how much you get, you waste your time with hate and regret..." one day and have the verve to utter "I like to singy singy singy like a bird on a wingy wing wingy" on the next album (and with a straight face no less?) is a sign for me she can't take herself too seriously.
I'll admit, like some others on here have said, I used to take and defend Madonna a lot more seriously (I really joined the M Army Circa ROL) but in recent years I've come to take the position that because the ball keeps rolling, you have to roll too, and keep up.
As may have said , she could do a follow up to ROL (and God my 1998 self would f*cking love that) but she could also record a country album or a spoken word album. Or do some crazy ass Cosmogology-Bjork Nuttiness and it'd be okay because she's still working things out. We don't have to agree to like that, but I think we could agree to respect the player and the masterful way with which she has played the game.
Updated On: 8/10/12 at 04:22 AM
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