I guess it’s all in perspective. I see Madonna as one desperately trying to cling to her past musical success, but she’s old and lumbering on stage at the Grammy’s, to me it looked almost as embarrassing as the Superbowl half time crap she did. She’s become the William Shatner of pop. Her voice was never really anything to write about. Thank god for autotune! The areas she did try acting and directing were a disaster.
Cyndi Lauper on the other hand is the first woman in history to win a Tony award for the lyrics and musical score for KinkyBoots in 2013 and is the toast of Broadway.
I’m sure Madonna was the first for doing something? Oh yeah take off her clothes.
Funnily enough, I was going to link to “I Fink U Freeky” by Die Antwoord because the song is awesome (no link since it’s probably NSFW - it is available on Youtube though).
Huh? Madonna is really good in “A League of Their Own”. And I quite enjoy the song on “At Close Range”. I never really paid much attention to her pop stuff. She was easy on the eyes at times. That was about it for me. “Madonna: Truth or Dare” is really interesting just for the backstage looks and the cameos.
Yeah it’s awesome! All I really want from performers is to do their own thing and try and bring some art to the table. I defend the hell out of Lady GaGa when people try and lump her in with Kei$ha*, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande and so on.
*Though I’ve come to appreciate Kei$ha if she really was just a Mensa member who decided to become a millionaire by creating a pop persona out of nothing.
Eh, she was very much a bit player in “A League of Their Own” compared to who she had around her. She had the name but not the acting chops. After that, it was all downhill.
That would be Syracuse, NY. We don’t get many acts coming through here, being buried under snow much of the time. But Benny Mardones is looked upon as a rip-roaring huge success, is constantly showing up an putting on a concert with his same old repertoire. Probably hits up Buffalo and Rochester, too.
Funny, I was just thinking of her when someone mentioned Dido upthread.
Both British female recording artists who broke out in the early 2000.
Both have ties to downtemp/trip-hop electronica groups (Faithless for Dido, Frou Frou for Imogen).
Both prominently featured in movie and TV soundtracks of the time.
But while everyone probably recognizes “Hide & Seek” (A.K.A “The OC song”), I don’t know that she was ever predicted to become a huge star.
You’re looking at the past decade. Madonna was one of the top 2-3 biggest pop stars for 20+ years, but yes, is pushing it now 35 years on in her career. While Cyndi dropped off the radar for about that same period after her mega-success of She’s So Unusual, and hadn’t really recaptured it, but has found a new way to express her wonderful musical talent in her songwriting work on Broadway.
More power to Cyndi for her success, but you are selling Madonna way, way short. Not “as a matter of perspective” - simple fact.
Bay City Rollers got quite a bit of hype…first introduced on Howard Cosell’s (massive hype generator)
Saturday Night TV variety. Lot’s of insinuations about being the next Beatles. Mild USA success, did well in Great Britain, proving their taste isn’t always good.
I thought it was weird when she turned up on an avant-garde jazz album by the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Turns out she was married to the AEC’s trumpeter, Lester Bowie.
Not sure what the size of the part she played had to do with her ability to play it. I am no Madonna fan, but she did a superb job as an actor in that movie. (I actually remember being impressed that she agreed to play something other than The Star…)
I think her dad really put money behind her, and when she didn’t take off they did a whole image makeover and got her act to “take” and some point. It seems like it’s been working the past couple years.
I remember reading a blog post from a (rap, mostly now instrumental) producer who was hired to work with her back when she used her real name and lips. I found it interesting at the time, since he had produced some of the more notable indie hip-hop music of the early 00s (which is mostly what I was into then).
What’s really notable about that guy is that he was twice a 1-hit wonder with the same song, almost a decade apart. How many times has that happened? There’s probably a thread about that here somewhere.
The closest thing I can think of is Sheriff’s “When I’m With You”. It was a minor hit in the early 1980s, and a monster hit when it was exhumed a few years later. As for the rest of the songs on their album, which AFAIK was the only one they ever released, I heard it described as “warmed over Boston”.
