Cindy Lauper - did Madonna steal her career?

Ridiculous.

We've had quite a few threads about this over the years. It seems it was all Cyndi's own fault.

I think we've discussed this before. Cyndi has acknowleged that she never had the single-minded drive Madge had, didn't work the biz the way she did, and wasn't prepared to enter public celeb life the way she did. She was just happy to play her songs with her band, enjoy her fans, and pay her bills at it.

Cyndi is a class act who has never said anything unkind about Madonna, only that they are very, very different women.

No. Madonna's "Madonna" was released BEFORE Cindy's "She's So Unusual."

I was there.

If anyone has a gripe it's probably Grace Jones.

When I was a teen at the time , yes they were new on the scene at the same time. But even I knew Madonna would go the distance. ANd I even remember talking w/my cousins back in the 80s about both of these ladies...

Lauper's persona was just too weird for long term success in mainstream music.

What R7 said, plus Cyndi always seemed kind of fake? "I'm so nice and unusual" but then secretly bitchy behind the scenes? I don't know.

R4...true but Madonna's album was on shelves for a couple of years before it garnered a hit song. Madonna was not an overnight success.

It’s Cyndi, OP, you silly floozy.

The American public wanted a slut. Not a weirdo.

"She's So Unusual" was released when Cyndi was 30… so she was off to a bit of a late start...

And then on the second album that weird crap with the wrestlers....blech.

Cyndi’s weird outfits can only last so long. Lokok at gaga repeating cyndi’s footsteps

OP, No. Even at the beginning, they were totally different. I remember Tori Amos describing Lady Gaga as a "meteor" around the time of Bad Romance. It was a great description and I think she and Cyndi Lauper both have that in common. They were both really huge one minute and expected to be long-lasting hitmakers, but their success turned out to be a fluke. Both of them seemed to gravitate towards weirdness and doing what is great art (in their minds, at least) versus what is entertaining. Madonna has always been more in-tune to what is popular than Lauper (well, at least until 2005 or so).

She was held back by her heartbreaking psoriasis.

Cyndi is 3/4 of the way to an EGOT.

Additionally, if Madonna did steal some of the thunder that Lauper had, then Adele did the same thing to Lady Gaga. Both Madonna and Adele had records before they really hit it big, but once they hit it big, it's like they basically wiped out the other female artists who were popular around the same time.

Cyndi is closer to Deborah Harry than to Madge.

Blondie paid their dues in the NYC club scene for a couple of years before they exploded with Parallel Lines. By 1978, Debbie was already 31 or 32. She didn't release solo material until 1981, and those recordings seem driven more by her impulses to work with certain producers/musicians than to predict any curve in what would sell.

As discussed all over DL, Debbie was also sidelined in the mid-80s by caring for BF Chris Stein and his autoimmune disease. Like Cyndi, she's ambitious, but never single-minded to the degree Madge has always been.

PS: Debbie and Cyndi have toured together over the years. Can anyone confirm that they're buddies?

I'd like to think that they are.

PPS: I stumbled upon this one! My guess is late 80's/early 90s.

Deb and Cyn support reproductive rights/NOW together!

"Cindy Lauper - did Madonna steal her career?"

You guys make me laugh so much!

Yep. And she's also the reason why Angelyne and La Toya Jackson aren't the huge massive artists they should've been too.

cyndi has talent. but madonna has the hutzpah to hone in on trends and steal them from folks. madonna is the penultimate social climber...she was just climbing the popularity charts instead of social circles.

Lauper got locked into that goofy personna and then all the stuff with wrestlers was odd. Not that Madonna had much of a film career but she was more castable than Lauper. (although Lauper did win an Emmy for a Mad About You episode.)

Her later albums never produced many hits. Madge was still cranking them out for much longer.

I think Cyndi Lauper wanted to be popular, but she also wanted to make a certain kind of music. Her first album was full of hits, her second album had some, and then her third album didn't do well at all. While Madonna was always laser-focused on doing what she needed to do to be famous and popular.

I don't think Madonna ever thought she was trying to create great art. That's what kept her commercially successful for so long.

Amen R26.

I never ever understood the wrestlers, And now she does nothing w wrestling, was a beaux a wrestler or a manager?

I agree that Cyndi just took the wrong turn for the True Colors album. (Something Madonna largely managed to avoid for 20 years, except for Erotica.) Cyndi stayed weird when she needed to tone it down. 1986 was culturally a lot different than 1983. More conservative. Bruce Hornsby instead of Culture Club.

Except for True Colors and Change of Heart, the album is blah and she seemed so out of touch. A Night to Remember is much, much better. But it was too late. (And, even then, she was too outside the mainstream to garner more than one hit.)

that guy who was her manager/boyfriend at the time was into the wrestlers and thought it was funny.

I've read she thinks that whole thing was a mistake.

I can remember as a kid wanting to see her theme to the Goonies on MTV but you always had to sit thru like five minutes of wrestler stuff before the song started.

"All Through the Night" was my favorite of her songs. To this day, I still listen to it over and over. Oddly, she never released a music video (I believe that it was just concert footage or something). I was really young when she and Madonna hit in the early 80's (3 yoa) so I can not add any anecdotal knowledge here. Generally speaking, Cyndi did seem much less mainstream than Madonna. Her videos and production lack polish and almost appear to be filmed on a camcorder by a distant uncle. She was cute in a very counter culture sot of way, but never had Madonna's looks or sex appeal. There is no shade in that, but I do see where she was more of a Lana Del Rey vs. a Katy Perry if that makes any sense (well, Lana is gorgeous - so I am referencing music here). Looking back, she has achieved far more critical "artist recognition" than Madonna ever will and perhaps rightfully so.. I love both artists, but in different ways.

What set Madonna apart from Cyndi in the 80s was her sex appeal.

Thought Cyndi is a more talented musician, I think Madonna is more intelligent.

Cyndi is definitely more talented. Listen to the last 10 seconds of Calm Inside the Storm. Then listen to Lucky Star.

Both Madonna and Lady Gaga studied fame like they were getting a masters in it. Madonna made it easier for Lady Gaga by putting together a master playbook, step by step of what you had to do. Lady Gaga just managed to do what Madonna did, by studying her and Warhol, in about a quarter of the time and is as practically well known and as wealthy. Both these ladies wanted to be mega famous and any kind of art was on the back burner.

Cyndi, I am sure, saw herself as an artist navigating a pop culture world. Madonna is a pop culture shaman who grasped on to any art that would make her more famous. Madonna was desperate for fame, by any means necessary and she got it. She just came around at a time when caring about fame was declasse and you had to pretend you were a true artist. Lady Gaga came about at a time when wanting fame was not only OK, it had become performance art.

A truer equivalent would be Pink is the new Cyndi Lauper. Two woman stuck in a look that they can never completely shake. Once Madonna was done with one persona, she shed it like a skin and became something else, always keeping her audience guessing. People were more excited about what Madonna would become just as much as what her new music would sound like. That's really what kept her relevant for so much longer. That and constantly forcing herself in our face by latching on to whoever was most relevant at the time and sucking the lifeblood out of them - from Anthony Kiedes to Britney Spears (literally, you can almost see the moment Britney's spirit left her during that Madonna VMA performance) on up to Nicki Minaj to the Fat Jewish. Madonna knows you always have to be where the light is shining the brightest.

[quote]I don't think Madonna ever thought she was trying to create great art. That's what kept her commercially successful for so long.

I don't think that's true. Many of Madonna's videos and concert vignettes are works of art. And her musical style has evolved over time, some of which, in hindsight seem ahead of their time, compared to what was being played on top 40 radio. So there's definitely a drive to create good art, if not great art.

Cyndi Lauper acknowledged that what Madonna had that she didn't was business smarts, marketing skills, and a knack for manipulating the press. Cyndi shied away from all that and left the business part to her managers and record company and ended up fighting them when she realized they didn't have her best interest in mind. Madonna shrewdly surrounded herself with people who would do her bidding, kept them in check, and took an active part in managing her own career.

...speaking of Debs Harry.

DAMN R34 - that was amazingly well written and rings true IMO. All artists crave some level of fame, attention, financial reward and celebrity. Only a meager few place that drive as their defining purpose above all else. In the art world, Damien Hirst comes to mind..

"I don't think that's true. Many of Madonna's videos and concert vignettes are works of art. And her musical style has evolved over time, some of which, in hindsight seem ahead of their time, compared to what was being played on top 40 radio."

Wrong. Every Madonna video was a copy of some other artist's great work. Not that this is a bad thing. But the ideas were not original to her. And even the sound of her music was based on the producers she chose to work with. It was like picking out stocks on the stock market. She has an great ear for emerging talent when it's price is low. She was able to spot a great sound from somebody relatively unknown to the broad world and use them before anyone else did. She did not originate the sound, she popularized it.

Okay, "Material Girl" is ripping off "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," "Express Yourself" is ripping off "Metropolis" and "Bad Girl" is ripping off "Looking for Mr. Goodbar." But what about, say, "Burning Up"? "La Isla Bonita"? "I'll Remember"? "Don't Tell Me"? What are those videos ripping off?

Into the Groove the song, was almost completely original.

Guys did not want to fuck Cyndi...

Just one example... there are many.

here you go R39. And if you can't find your exact examples there, there is plenty of proof that some original of each of those concepts probably exists somewhere.

All artists copy. They are either inspired by works created before them, or they outright steal. Pablo Picasso himself famously said, "Good artist copy. Great artists steal." It doesn't make the art any less worthy or less great. My earlier comment about some of Madonna's videos and concert vignettes being works of art still stand, regardless if they were copied or inspired by the past or if they were done with collaborators.

Again I'm not saying it's a bad thing necessarily. I'm just saying you can't give Madonna credit for those ideas. You can give her credit for a lot of other things.

Here's the difference. A true artist finds a muse to create. A mega star becomes a muse to inspire true artist. The goal for someone mega famous is to become big enough that true artist are dying to create and work with you and you are able to control their output. Cyndi being and artist and Madonna being a star. The problem with being an artist is that you exhaust your own personal well of creativity, it burns out. If you are a muse, you are constantly evolving feeding off of those creating for you. You never tax your own creativity actually creating. You use it to illuminate other's work - which is much more efficient for a long lasting career.

Trust me, the person who wrote "When I get lost in space I can return to this place, 'cause, you're the one," is not the same person who wrote, "If you don't like my attitude, you can fuck off. Just go to Texas, isn't that where they golf?"

Actually one of my prouder moments was when I was able to track down one of Madonna's writers on twitter. In the Ptown cemetery, there is a headstone with that exact quote from Madonna's "Nothing Fails" written on it. It was left by a guy who's lover had died from AIDS and this is where he comes to be with him. I took a picture of the headstone and sent it to the writer on Twitter. He was actually pretty moved by it - someone choosing his words to mark their final resting place. That is an artist. Madonna would probably just see a fan.

"Sky Fits Heaven" was one of the more interesting tracks on RAY OF LIGHT.

I'm curious how much they paid Max Blagg. At least, on some level, someone acknowledged that this was plagiarism.

Love the Blondie clip. That’s one of the Harry-Stein compositions on the new album. Fantastic drumming by Clem as usual!

[quote]Trust me, the person who wrote "When I get lost in space I can return to this place, 'cause, you're the one," is not the same person who wrote, "If you don't like my attitude, you can fuck off. Just go to Texas, isn't that where they golf?"

Written by the same person who wrote, "You were my lesson I had to learn / I was your fortress you had to burn / Pain is a warning that something's wrong / I pray to God that it won't be long." Her songwriting partner Rick Nowles raved about Madonna's "deep, poetic, and intelligent" lyric writing. I think as with most singer-songwriters, sometimes you come up with winners, other times you come up with real clunkers. "I Love New York," with its mad-bad-glad rhymes, is so puerile that sometimes I think it's meant to be satire.

But who has the stinkier pussy? Who????

The Power of Goodbye video, "inspired" by Humoresque.

Cyndi killed her career by refusing to spell her name correctly. Back then things like this counted a lot.

Cyndi wrote a hit Broadway show. She's hardly worrying about True Colors royalties.

Some people are too stupid to post.

R9, Madonna's album was on the shelves 3 months when Lucky Star was released. What a dope you are.

I can't envision a teenager in the 1980s masturbating to an image of Cyndi Lauper.

Come on now...Madonna is a world-class pimp.

Think about it. . .

I thought Cyndi was related to Capt. Lou Albino.

R26 nailed it.

Audiences are sick of Madonna not performing her old hits.

Audiences are sick of Cyndi performing 'Time After Time' over and over and over and over again.

Who'd fuck Cyndi Lauper?

Lauper lives with her family at The Apthorp on Broadway and 79th Street. It's a gorgeous building that is known for not having the most spectacular views. It would be more prestigious were it on Riverside Drive or CPW.

She must be doing quite well. She wrote the lyrics to Kinky Boots, which had been a smash success and is still running on Broadway.

She couldn't pull off the crazy goofy persona. Poor marketing image.

Cyndi seems to have a baby-voice, not that I'm a fan of Madonna. They're both kinda light pop divas. Hell, Kelly Clarkson and some of the country girls - Shania, Reba, etc. - sing rings around those Kim Kardashians of the music world (and I don't pay attention to the stupid narcissistic awards). Art is art - and neither one of them is art.

There is ONE thing I will NEVER forgive Madonna for...

Making non-artists like Britney Spears possible.

Madonna is in a league with Elvis and the Beatles. Cyndi had the typical 80s/early 90s career of two hit albums, than a lesser hit then fade out.

Such as the Bangles, Debbie Gibson, Taylor Dayne, Expose and so on.

She did herself no favours with getting into the wrestling thing and become a "joke" rather and a serious artist, but she would likely have faded out. She didn't have the team of PR like Janet Jackson nor the voice of Whitney or Mariah.

She had a typical run, and it's no more fair to compare her to Madonna than to ask why Olivia Newton-John and Diana Ross faded so fast after 1984. They had some of their biggest hits in the 80s but got pushed aside for the new. (Indeed both ONJ and Diana Ross had their two biggest hits each in the 80s)

Madonna and Cyndi are both half Italian. Madonna on her dad's side and Cyndi on her mom's side.

Cyndi was so talented, but she had no fucking clue how to present or market herself. That exaggerated accent, her goofy-dumb persona and, as several people mentioned, that stupid association with wrestling. You just couldn't take her seriously, which means short shelf life. Whatever you want to say about Madonna, no one doubted for a second she wasn't sharp and savvy. Even when she was tarted up to 11, you knew she was laser-focused.

Cyndi Lauper at the VMAs in 1984. WTF?

R65 Yeah I watch Cyndi's interviews and she comes across as a bimbo a majority of the time. It's kind of disappointing, I don't think she's dumb, just lacking in media training.

Madonna says dumb things from time to time, but she is a smart person overall and is able to articulate herself well.

Madonna had plenty of ditzy moments, but she knew when she needed to come across well. Here she is after her first major image overhaul accepting an award from a "respectable" film set (ha ha). She may be slutty, but she's no bimbo.

And LOL, she and Tina Turner were up against Barbara Mandrell.

Both these women started their pop careers in their late twenties which is unheard of now. Pop stars start at 16/18 now and are coming from disney shows or simon cowell.

Madonna ALWAYS mesmerized. We all knew that she was no great vocal talent. She was never a Whitney and she never tried to be. She was a STAR from her first public moments however and she literally built a franchise on that quality alone. Her looks were a plus but she worked her ass off to make the best of what she had...and made it that much better. She was no great singer, but in the era before auto-tune - she eeked out the best vocals that were possibly capable and then some. Her domineering yet playfully sexy personality must have been a stretch to "live" 24/7 but she did that just that. She avoided drugs and booze yet acted as if she partied 24/7 and fucked just as often (she didn't). Like a chameleon, she reinvented herself constantly and set trends before anyone was aware that we needed new ones. I don't care what she stole from who - she was both a magician and a genius. Musicians do not come any savvier than Madonna. Cyndi was cute for a moment and somewhat talented - perhaps more than Madonna from a songwriting perspective. Again, she was no great vocal talent either. What she lacked was that "It factor" - Madonna had it and she did not.

[quote] Lauper lives with her family at The Apthorp on Broadway and 79th Street.

On 74th. It's the most fucked up, legally complicated, dysfunctional apartment building. I wonder how she's managing.

Also the famous continental baths (Bette Miller sang to gay clients there) were in its basement.

Who's the closest current pop star to 80's madonna? Certainly not swift as that bitch can not move or have any performing ability, she sells albums though. I can't think of anyone miley? Lol, selena, ariana, camila?

Beyonce is the Madonna of this generation obviously. Both show girls, both chameleons. Although you get the feeling Madonna led her PR machine and Beyonce is being led by one. The era of mega stars like that is pretty much over. In the long run, it's too risky to invest that much behind one person who will eventually crash and burn. Beyonce's has had a great run now, going on 20 years.

R72, Beyonce is similar to Madonna for sure, but I agree with you in the fact that she certainly is not the brilliant mastermind magician that Madonna was and is. Beyonce is beautiful but hardly sets trends the way that Madonna did. Neither is a phenomenal singer and both are great showman types - so you are completely correct in making the comparison.

I think there were a variety of factors which gave Madonna the advantage: was too long of a wait between Lauper’s first too albums, the pro wrestling thing made her look ridiculous, her squeaky persona came across as phony, and the material on her third album wasnt promoted hard enough.

Don't really agree about Beyonce at all. Can't really think of anything by her that really captured the whole of the public's imagination in the same way as Madonna did, some of the things she did with Destiny's Child but that's about it. Madonna was the figure-head of several massive zeitgeist moments in popular culture. I do think that Bey has more authentic talent than Madonna, and is more likable.

No way Lauper would have gone any further if Madonna hadn't come on the scene. She never had the talent or star appeal to go to the next level. She was more of a one hit wonder that managed to get a few hits. I always picture her standing in front of a trailer park on the rare occasions that I think about her.

The Apthorp is not on 74th. That's the Ansonia, another cray-cray building.

Beyonce is over though and 20 year career? She started in 2000. Hasn't had a number one hit on her own, in nearly a decade

[QUOTE] do think that Bey has more authentic talent than Madonna, and is more likable.

Bey? Lollll

R78, exactly. I'm amazed how much Beyonce is promoted as being this huge star. She's definiely a star but globally she isn't even very popular and in America, she hasn't even had a number one single since Single Ladies.

Madonna had a phenomenal commercial career of course, with her David Bowie-like metamorphoses, but her popularity was largely hitched to her creative music videos, which are now passe. Her music was more calculation than execution, and younger people who didn't grow up with the hype are largely not impressed. Lauper's handful of authentic gems may outlast Madonna's torrent of industrial zircons.

R81, I don't agree with that at all. Madonna's old hits get played on the radio all the time and she is considered an icon even if she is a joke now.

[quote]Cyndi always seemed kind of fake? "I'm so nice and unusual" but then secretly bitchy behind the scenes?

Are you fucking insane r8? Madonna is one of the biggest cunts of all time. Also Madonna's style was a rip off of the kind of style Cindy wore which was the real "downtown" style at the time. Madge was always a commercial for mainstream fashion, nothing authentic about her and most of it stolen.

The Cyndi albums after True Colors weren't hits but I could listen to them over and over because I love Cyndi's voice. And most all of the songs are enjoyable to listen to they just aren't hits. I can put on any of her albums and listen all the way through just eating up her voice.

Well r82 you honestly don't think that most of her early hits are painful to listen to? I do. They are awful unless I'm remembering the music videos that went along with them. The only songs I don't feel that way about are her dance tunes, because I heard them in clubs they stand as fun songs to dance to. Vogue, Deeper and Deeper, Get Into The Groove, Music. Then some slower songs like Live To Tell, I'll Remember, Take A Bow (though the video plays in my head),

R85, I really don't think so, honestly. There is a reason The Immaculate Collection is her biggest album and the biggest selling compilation album by a solo artist. There isn't a single song on that album that sounds bad.

R86, Yeah it's because they are all different versions of the hits. So even her major fans who had all her albums would buy it.

Are they remixes 87?

Except for 2 new songs, yes, none of the songs are in their original versions.

Cyndi definitely took too much time off at the height of her career. True Colors didn't come out until '86, which was three years after She's So Unusual. Even though True Colors was a big hit, her momentum had slowed. She didn't change her image at all, and that mattered, she needed to change it up to hold people's interest. The WWF thing was a big mistake, she was a major pop star at the time and doing that wrestling shit was really downmarket for the kind of star she was at the time.

When Madonna first hit the scene, girls all over the country (and other countries) were copying her style, which was really fresh and unique for the times. Nobody wanted to dye their hair bright orange and shave a checkerboard into the side of their head.

Madonna's popularity was due in large part to her dance songs, Cyndi didn't really have any of those.

[quote]The WWF thing was a big mistake

She never learned.

While Madonna was on the road with her MDNA Tour, Cyndi was doing this...

As has been said upthread, I can't imagine straight guys in the 80s jerking off to Cyndi Lauper. I can totally believe they jerked off to early 80s, slutty "Burning Up" - era Madonna.

Just embarrassing. Fuck, you just won a Grammy and you have to inject that fake wrestling shit into your big win???

That sound you hear is Cyndi's stardom fading.

[quote] I can't envision a teenager in the 1980s masturbating to an image of Cyndi Lauper.

No, but Punky Brewster listened to her. That counted for something to a 5-year-old gay boy growing up in North Carolina.

Madonna could never let loose and take something deliberately frivolous and kiddie-ish (though calculatedly so) like this and elevate it to the level of fabulous:

Wiki says that Mark Mothersbaugh wrote the opening theme.

I don't think Cyndi [I hate people who spell their names like that] was all that talented.

I liked the song "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" but the album was weak.

Well Cyndi wrote the music for a Broadway musical and won a Tony award. Broadway isn't what it used to be but still, getting a Tony award is pretty major if you are in the arts.

She is also currently writing another musical based on the movie Working Girl.

Cyndi sang it under her real name. She also sang an old Al Sherman (father of Richard and Robert) ditty called "He's So Unusual" with vaguely gay-sounding themes for its day. Would Madonna have done that?

When Madge writes the songs, this is what we get:

"I don't like cities.

But I like New York

Other places make me feel like a dork."

Yeah, roll over Cole Porter and tell Ira Gershwin the news.

[quote]She is also currently writing another musical based on the movie Working Girl.

She won't be able to top the song Carly Simon wrote for that movie.

Madonna was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame the first year that she was eligible, while Cyndi Lauper has yet to be inducted. I would rate Madonna as one of the five top women in pop/rock history, along with Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt.

[quote] I would rate Madonna as one of the five top women in pop/rock history, along with Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt.

Ahem.

Cyndi was a pain to listen to, her voice is too shrill. Madonna isn't much of a singer, but her voice is more pleasant. Plus madonna had better songs, cyndi only stand out singles were true colors and the world is stone, which were wasted on her, due to her aforementioned shrill. Frankly, I'm surprised she had such a longlasting career.

[quote] Cindy Lauper - did Madonna steal her career?

It's CYNDI, you fat whore!

As an artist Madge deserves recognition, but she is no song writer and putting her in a category with Aretha, Tina, Janis, Bonnie anybody that isn't some other over marketed pop princess (Britney) is insulting to the other female artists.

Madonna is/was a spectacle, the center ring in the circus. Not some great talent.

[quote] cyndi only stand out singles were true colors and the world is stone,

Uh, you're ridiculous. Please come back to the table when you learn to think. And spell.

Cyndi was just too much kitsch. We that got tired so did she. She didn't seem to know how to mature out of it. Lou Albano and newspaper skirts got tired.

Madonna is more driven, ambitious and greedy than Cyndi Lauper.

Enough with this tired comparison. Both women are talented -- Cyndi Lauper just cares less.

I've enjoyed them both, but I think they are complete unalike, so I'd never compare them. Cyndi didn't do herself any favors at first, with the artificial goofy persona, and her appearances with Pee Wee Herman and Captain Lou Albano.

I'm not a huge fan of Cindy's but I do like her. In my opinion Strut, from Sheena Easton, and She Bop were the best songs by females to come out of the 80s.

Songs I love by Cyndi that you probably haven't heard.

Maybe He'll Know

I Don't Want To Be Your Friend

Feels Like Christmas

Iko Iko

Sally's Pigeons

Unconditional Love

Bonnie "5 Hits between 1989-1995 And That's It" Raitt over STEVIE NICKS???????????

R113 kind of sums up Cindy's problem. I bought every one of her albums when she was really popular. I always liked the singles that were on the albums but other than those I usually ended up not caring for most of the rest of her material.

Bonnie didn't need a treadmill.

Janis and Bonnie are obviously not as important or impactful as BARBRA and STEVIE....

PAT BENATAR is more prominent in the grand view than poor Cyndi.

Found this while rummaging around her videos on youtube.

Poor, sad Cyndi's best song is a mere b-side...

[quote] Madonna was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame the first year that she was eligible, while Cyndi Lauper has yet to be inducted.

The Monkees are more rock 'n' roll than Madonna and neither are they. Meanwhile, Jann Wenner helped contribute to the 1985 Columbia Picture [italic]Perfect[/italic], which wasn't, so he's one to talk.

Hell, I'd put Annette Funicello in the R&R HOF before Madge.

Deborah looks unbelievably fantastic in that Doom or Destiny video. How does she do it? There are are times (before the wig comes off at the end) when she looks like the cloned version of 1979.

Great artists steal....from great artists.

Mediocre artists steal from people without power, from people who send them demo recordings, from people who do not have a high enough profile to complain.

There is a reason why so many young artists were warned off from trying to sign on to Matador.

It is funny how Madonna never ripped off anyone who was on the music charts....only people who were still playing in small clubs and desperate for a recording contract.

r123 that's not true at all.

That Pee Wee theme really is a gas!

I am getting old. How on earth can Jann Wenner still be alive?

R123, Madonna had nothing to to with Matador Records. The label she created was Maverick Records.

I think the producers sped up Lauper’s vocal on the Pee Wee Playhouse theme, it sounds too cartoonish even for her?

Thank you R127. My mistake.

Cyndi wasn't enough of a cunt to make it like Madonna did.

Madonna did anal on the first date.

Madonna had a lot of sex appeal at the beginning of her career.

Nobody wanted to fuck Cyndi Lauper.

[quote]I think the producers sped up Lauper’s vocal on the Pee Wee Playhouse theme, it sounds too cartoonish even for her?

Nope, she most definitely can sound like that naturally. If I remember correctly she used that 'annoying little girl' voice in the Live in Paris concert. If you haven't seen it you should, it's one of the best concert videos I've seen. Everything just works. Cyndi's got a great live voice although who knows how much of it is truly live. It's on Youtube but since I'm in Europe I've no idea if the links work in the US, I doubt they do.

BTW, someone earlier mentioned Madonna could never be as playful as Cyndi but I disagree. Madonna most certainly was trying to be funny and even used her own little girl voice many times.

R132, yes obviously Maddie was a sexpot but Cyndi was quite sexy herself as well. I have a feeling there were tons of guys who would've gladly fucked her during Time After Time. She was a weirdo but she was cute and had nice tits.

Cyndi did try to play the sexpot image for a short time. Remember the hype about her "I Drove All Night" video? her appearing nude in it, and her "sensual" new look. The track was a great one, the song and video gained momentum and became substantial hits, except not the monster hit everyone was expecting from her. One month later Madonna dropped "Express Yourself" which did become a monster hit. Madonna's career flourished but she was never really able to escape the porny image after that.

Gaga and Cyndi are both ugly ladies who pretend to be more talented that they really are, it works at the beginning because of the funny and ridiculous fashion, after that the songs are not really good but 1 or 2 songs

R135 - I agree that neither is a great beauty for sure. Gaga has/had a strong fashion sense (that varied from absurd to haute couture) however and at times had that extraordinary body (in the early days). Cyndi was always more frumpy overall and never all that striking to speak of. Madonna was not born a great beauty but through disciplined exercise and diet transformed herself into a modern day goddess so-to-speak. The eight of her beauty was likely the Sex book era. Love or hate her - she was stunning naked.

R136, I agree. Madge was in peak form during this era.

Nudity was more shocking when Julie Andrews did it.

Sometimes Beyonce looks like she could be transgender while the other two are just postmenopausal.

Madonna has huge breasts and tiny nipples

Madonna's nipples remind me of FTM tits.

Agree with those who say Madonna was hungrier. But I think Madonna had long term plans, whereas I don't think Cyndi had one (hence, the unfortunate WWF decision). Watching some of those early award show and wrestling videos with Cyndi, they really are cringe-worthy and didn't bode well for her pop career.

I love She's So Unusual, and I think the problem with Cyndi was that her debut was just SO good that the follow-ups paled in comparison, even True Colours, which is a fine album, but it's just not as good as She's So Unusual. I think Madonna's first album has aged very well (and I think it's better than its more successful follow-up Like a Virgin) but Madonna knew her next album had to be bigger. And she also took the opportunity to set herself apart from the rest with her videos and award show appearances (the Like a Virgin performance on MTV).

I think 1986 is when we realized who was going to have the bigger career in pop music. Cyndi came back with True Colours, a pleasant ballad but her image was pretty much the same, just a little softer, but not as quirky or fun. Madonna ditched the bracelets, the long hair, the Boy Toy buckle and cut her hair, went blond, cleaned up, toned up and gave us Live To Tell, Papa Don't Preach and Open Your Heart. She became a global superstar and La Isla Bonita became another hit for her. Her marriage to Sean Penn also kept her in the press and the video controversies for Papa Don't Preach and Open Your Heart kept people talking about her.

Talking of Madge stealing other people's ideas/work/staging - you name it. This is Dead or Alive in 1989 - one year BEFORE Blonde Ambition. See any similarities between the opening number here and

I am R143 and I fucking hate Microsoft fucking keyboards. So, anger managed... "See any similarity between the opening number here and "Express Yourself" from Blonde Ambition, a year later?

R143, Have you seen the Express Yourself video released in May 1989, and Madge's performances of it at the MTV Awards in '89?

The only similarity I see are... stairs.

Cindy never has the sex appeal as Madonna did, she was more like a indie pop star, she was cool but never as ambitious and global as Madonna, who also use controversy and took more risk than Lauper

Cyndi's book (which I loved) she states she has a knack for "saying the WRONG things to the RIGHT people." She managed to offend Steven Spielberg at a meeting held to discuss his doing a video for her "Goonies" song, saying his idea "wasn't that creative." She also offended Quincy Jones at the We Are the World sessions so much that he went over to her and told her "Okay, you can just do your shit and leave!" Cyndi comes from a rougher past than Madonna and may have less social skills than she had.

Well Cyn has a Tony now, something Madge will never get.

And Cher has an Oscar, something Cyndi will never get. Cyndi has a Tony, something Cher's trying to get.

Think Lucy Riccardo imitating a pop star to accept an award at a ceremony and then watch the video at R65. Only the video lacks any good laughs because we are not in on the joke.

Although Lucy could have really had a field day with the wrestling connection, getting in the ring with Chynna and such.

There was never any true competition. Madonna always had her finger firmly on the pulse of the pop culture until maybe 10 years ago. Even her missteps were much bigger events than Cyndi's subsequent successes (think "Sex" book.) Don't get me wrong, I like Cindy and "She's So Unusual" is a great pop album but she never quite managed to shift successfully with the tides of the zeitgeist. Even "I Drove All Night" is a Roy Orbison cover and that's, more or less, the last big hit she's had since her peak of popularity.

r152, don't forget "At Last" in 2003.

At Last is a great CD, one of her best.

I love that song from the opening number of Dead or Alive's show. Pete was so beautiful pre all the plastic surgeries, and what a voice.

Cyndi has had a great career. She'll always have "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "She Bop", "Time After Time" and "True Colours". These are iconic songs that will live forever. "Time After Time" is one of her co-writes and has been covered many times and will continue to make her money.

Say what you want, but Cindy was ALWAYS a better friend to the gays long before Madge realized its financial potential. When gays were not even seen on TV yet, Cindy wrote in a BlueBoy magazine line in one of her first songs.

cindy::::goddess of psoraisis

Madonna is Albert Schweitzer to Beyonce's Alfred E. Neumann.

You silly queens need to stop about the wrestling stuff. First it was about fifteen minutes of her career and she was there at the beginning when it started to become the multi-billion dollar industry it so today.

Madonna was the sexy sister and Cindi the funny one. She always used her sense of humor, the five seconds of "Girls Just Want to have Fun" shows that. No one will ever accuse Madonna of having a sense of humor. People love a funny old lady, no one wants to see a sixty year old with her tits out.

They are who they are and both successful in their own ways.

The Academy has fucked them over. Madonna has been snubbed way too many times. "Causing A Commotion", "Live To Tell", "Into The Groove", "This Used to Be My Playground" should have been nominated. "The Goonies song should have been too, that year "Surprise, Surprise" from "A Chorus Line", "Separate Lives" from White Nights", and "Sister" from "The Color Purple", really?

Cyndi is known to be difficult and saying the wrong things to the right people. She was always bitchin' when she was on Epic, I heard that story from Wendy Wild. who used to work there. This was around the time of "Night to Remember". She's the type who's never happy.

Another thing with Cyndi is that her ability to come up with original new material in the past 15 years or so has seriously diminished. I actually liked that album from about 10 years ago (the one that had "Into The Nightlife" on it) which contained brand new songs but, since then (and even before that album) she seems to be constantly recycling her 80s stuff, doing albums of covers, etc.

Cyndi did manage to write an award-winning Broadway musical.

Cyndi said in her memoir that she was raped by her own band in the early 80s. I think that event affected her greatly, and she may have decided to pursue a career based on talent rather than sex and shock tactics.

Madonna had no qualms about sleeping with anyone who could help her career. Nearing 60, she is still posing topless, and the hits accolades have disappeared.

She just wasn’t very good. And she was funny looking.

Cyndi Lauper is a whore, darling.

If Cyndi is a whore, what is Madge? You have to invent a new category of whoredom.

Cyndi said in her memoir that she “always said the right thing to the wrong people” like when she criticized Spielberg’s original take on the video for Goonies R Good Enough. He was so offended he dropped his plan to direct it, leaving the job to someone else. She joked she could’ve been directed by one of the greats but she couldn’t hide her initial disappointment with his lack of originality. So obviously this shows she just couldn’t play the game. Madonna, on the other hand, while no walk in the park- had a bloodlust for fame and success and would’ve shut up and let Spielberg do his thing. Madonna was just smarter.

There's only one Cindy Lauper but so many Madonnas. When I hear or see Madonna's name, I have no visceral reaction. When I see or hear Cindy's name I feel warm and happy. Granted it's only me saying this, but just the same, I don't feel embarrassed when I flippantly say I lover Cindy Lauper, but I never say I love Madonna for any reason. Cindy is a real person to me, Madonna is a topic on DataLounge and not so real.

Madonna is the queen of pop and a legendary gay icon...Cindy well just a one hit wonder

[quote]Cyndi has had a great career. She'll always have "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "She Bop", "Time After Time" and "True Colours". These are iconic songs that will live forever.

I just checked and in 2017 Cyndi's songs were licensed to 10 different TV shows last year from Supergirl and Stranger Things to The Orville and the Goldbergs.

The songs were: All Through the Night, Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Time After Time and of course True Colors.

Cyndi just doesn’t have the look and the IT factor like Madonna. While Madonna has always evolved to survive, Cyndi keeps repeating herself. Cyndi is a bore. Gaga is the new Cyndi

Don't cry for Cyndi, she has loads of money and a nice life.

Not everyone can be a superstar- otherwise there wouldn't be the term.. Cyndi still has a great career and a show running on Broadway. Not bad for a woman in her 60s.

Even opening for Rod Stewart, she is making $150k a show.

doesn't her husband David Thornton seem gay or bi?