Madonna's MDNA Album & Singles Chat- Page 20

[Luscious]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 7:35pm

"MDNA poised to be biggest tour of all time"

Wish I was as big of a has-been as Madonna.

Updated On: 8/8/12 at 07:35 PM

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 7:37pm

I'm looking forward to seeing her tour (month and a half left), and I don't think it can be argued that it's a success, but all these broken records with each tour kinda irk me considering she significantly ups the already expensive ticket price with each show. And yes--she obviously can get away with it and enough people will pay it (incl;uding me, though there I found it funny that I have second tier tickets for around $175--and if I had gotten just 4 rows ahead of me that jumped to *$350*). Odd that that HuffPress post mentions JLo's first tour--was that known as a massive tour? I remember nothing about it...

I do love that soundcheck video--thanks for posting. WHen did she start doing soundchecks with an audience?

I wonder if she'll mention anything about the St Petersburg gay "propoganda" law--though I guess it's the law in Moscow now too, and she didn't (but good for her for breinging some attention to Pussy Riot).

[Luscious]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 7:46pm

The higher ticket prices argument can be made about just about anything, including theater, movies, etc. Prices are always going up. The fact of the matter is, people are still willing to lay out a large chunk of change to see her - apparently, even some people with a considerable amount of disdain for her.

Updated On: 8/8/12 at 07:46 PM

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 7:50pm

Eric is the law not just in SP? Now sure if its Moscow as well. She will say something about in during Thursday nights concert as she is giving away free pink bracelets on the door to signify being against the law.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 8:21pm

Luscious--definitely agree. Sorry, I admit it was hypocritical especially since I have tickets, and paid for them. But, to use an example, when I pay around 100 for floor tickets to see Kylie Minogue's tour which was rumoured to be one of the ost expensive ever staged, and it really doesn't look less elaborate than the MDNA tour, you do sorta wonder about where all that money is going. It's not quite the same, for me, as ticket prices just rising in the 7 years since I saw Confessions (actually, I admit I was angered by Sticky and Sweet, a tour I found really disappointing and cheap looking, and yet it cost quite a bit more for the same seats that Confessions' a far more elaborate seeming tour did just a few years back.) But of course, if people will pay, including myself (though Iw ould never pay top price), than that says it all. Still, I think it's worth bringing up. (For the record, just because I don't like everything she does, I don't have disdain for her as I think I've made clear enough to people in this thread...)

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 8:24pm

Sond and Dance--that's good to know about the bracelets, I hadn't heard.

Moscow has banned gay pride for 8 years in a row, but the gay propoganda law hasn't been passed yet, like it was in St Petersburg--you're right. I wasn't sure. Apparently it's still being debated in Moscow (http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/04/20/468123/moscow-gay-propaganda/?mobile=nc )

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/8/12 at 8:30pm

As Song and Dance said re the pink wristbands, etc, in St Petersburg:

http://www.towleroad.com/2012/08/madonna-announces-pro-lgbt-pink-wristband-demonstration-at-st-petersburg-concert.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/08/20128783022294283.html

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 10:19pm

As expected Madonna spoke out last night in Russia (Saint Petersburg) and handed out pink wrist bands to the audience. Needless to say the church and the devout followers of the government were angered and burnt her images in the street, the deputy Priminster also labelled her a whore. However it didn't stop her and everyone had a good time at the show and her fans were unharmed.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 8/9/12 at 10:30pm

I believe he called her a "retired whore". I thought immediately--as any BWW visitor likely would:

"I am still called an Admiral--'though I gave up the sea, long ago".

Apparently, the phrase used by Dmitry Rogozin--this according to a reporter from BBC World News--has the most brutal connotations possible, akin to "the C-word".

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 12:43am

Cancer?

[Addison D.]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 1:42am

Nope; I'm a Virgo.

[CAX]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 4:22am

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

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 7:54am

Cax i think that has to be the best thing ive read on this thread by any of us, great post.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 8/10/12 at 8:16am

Cax...you managed to sum up my thoughts about Madonna better than I've been able to in these threads.

Posted: 8/10/12 at 6:59pm

Cax,

As I manage to dry the tears falling from my eyes, I need to quote Lynette at the end of 'Officer and A Gentleman' as Richard Gere carries Debra Winger off in his uniform...

"WAY YO GO CAX! (clap clap clap) WAY TO GO!!!!"

(Personally, I love jumping from album to album too and hear all the crazy diversity M has managed to produce over the years. I love hearing something from Hard Candy next to Dick Tracy Sondheim stuff, to her first album, to electronica, to folktronica of American Life to COnfessions...That's when you can really appreciate Madonna for what its worth) Updated On: 8/10/12 at 06:59 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 8/11/12 at 2:51am

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 8/11/12 at 10:11am

Believe me, I do not think Madonna is above criticism. And there's certainly a bunch of things I wish she would do differently. I wish she would have continued down the road of experimentation she started with American Life. I'm sure those albums would have been more interesting than anything she's released since. Unfortunately that album was savaged. And she started playing it safe. And that's disappointing.
But I think it's weird that articles are written like that about someone who just had the highest rated super bowl half time show in history and is currently on a record grossing, sold out world tour.

[Addison D.]

Posted: 8/11/12 at 10:57am

That snarky fashion critique REALLY rubs me the wrong way. Where, exactly, are the 21st-century rules for "age-appropriate" fashion options for a 54-year-old person? It seems to me that one widely-accepted litmus test would be the relative physical fitness of the body of the wearer, which even the "critic" is compelled to acknowledge is both "awesome" and "rockin'". (And why in the world would you type the word "rocking" as "rockin'"? You aren't saving any key-strokes.)

I would also posit that even a singer who puts out mediocre music is contributing infinitely more to the cultural life of our planet than a "writer" who spends their time bullying singers about what they wear. As the kids used to say--"Get a life!"

Updated On: 8/11/12 at 10:57 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/11/12 at 11:38am

Doesn't anybody see that by constantly writing about what a great body she has, even in the midst of the kind of fashion criticism that goes back to Mr. Blackwell, they just reinforce the poor lady's pathology?

[Addison D.]

Posted: 8/11/12 at 11:42am

Perhaps, Namo, but being terrified of getting older--the more palatable substitute for being terrified of death--is, I suspect, too pervasive and powerful a pathology to be greatly increased or diminished by the editorial content of the the "Who wore it better?" page of 'US' magazine.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/11/12 at 12:14pm

But EVERYBODY does it. Every single article, every single blog post, soooo many of the posts in this thread, decry the sexism and ageism the poor beleaguered Madonna faces (as if she were the first ever to endure those slings and arrows) but make it a point to explain how GREAT she looks. It's like a snake eating its tail.

Meanwhile, back to the singles and album discussion:

I listened to the four "Turn Up The Radio" remixes on Spotify. Yes, from beginning to end. I will say this. Two of them are much better than the original mix. Naturally, the Martin Solveig mix comes closest to sounding how the single should have sounded in the first place. If I were trying to save some face on this project by getting it to sell, I'd do a campaign with the line: "Turn Up the Radio" Now with 60% More "Hello"!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/11/12 at 12:50pm

*falls of chair* Namo we agree on something, i think some of the remixes are better than the original. I do like the original but i agree with your initial comment ages ago that it could have been a really great fun Madonna song if the chorus would have built to something bigger (i do like the build in the bridge though).

As for the body/dress sense thing etc. She DOES have a great body and whilst many say she does she is also criticised a lot for looking all muscle, veins in arms etc etc, not everybody writes how great her body is. Madonna will also want to look youthful (don't we all) i don't think that's a bad thing. And let's be honest Cher wears far far worse.

Also whilst some of her fashion sense is questionable and sometimes to tacky or to youthful i really dont think her wearing a short dress and boots is a disgrace, i thought she looked great.

One of the worst ones of the past few years was that god awful thing she wore to the Oscars party that looked desperate (see through net and fur) when the year before she got the look so right and looked fantastic

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/11/12 at 1:11pm

I swear to you, I would not pretend I hate something she releases if it is good. I have always maintained this fact. I was the exact music listener Madonna could have blown away if she had released a fantastic MDNA instead of the one she did. It's like the volleyball was served with the Super Bowl performance and ready to be spiked over the net, but she, as it were, dropped the ball.

And I have to say, yet again, that when you lament sexism and ageism as a major cause of her current sales difficulties, you undercut your righteous indignation when you write, "Madonna will also want to look youthful (don't we all) i don't think that's a bad thing. And let's be honest Cher wears far far worse."

Ya know?

(And for the record, I'd prefer to look like an alluring silver daddy.)

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/13/12 at 9:26pm

Yet another piece about poor Madonna--while nothing really new is said, I thought it was a decent read anyway. http://www.polarimagazine.com/features/everybody-hates-madonna/

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 8/14/12 at 7:54am

Well as i say Namo, we will have to agree to disagree on the album. I think it has some of her strongest songs on in years but ima huge fan of dance music so that album is totally geared towards to me.