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Eldergays: What was it like to live in the days of Madonna's fame? Why was she so famous?? I don't quite get it?

Her music is meh.

She was not hot in any way.

She seemed like a jerk.

by Anonymousreply 38October 23, 2018 9:18 PM

It was the end of the world as we knew it. The normalization of shitty taste.

by Anonymousreply 1October 23, 2018 7:30 PM

She showed her tits. She was the Britney Spears of her era. She was washed up in the 90s. Then she went to Britain the 2000s and revived herself. Europe loves shit. Then she divorced one of their own and they turned against her. Now she's a washed up old slapper again.

by Anonymousreply 2October 23, 2018 7:32 PM

We didn’t get it back in the day either. She was very good at self-promotion and exploiting other people’s talent. Some guys don’t see past blonde.

by Anonymousreply 3October 23, 2018 7:34 PM

Madonna CHEATED as the fame game, kid. She did all kinds of crazy shit for publicity back in the 80s and 90s. She relied on SHOCK VALUE to keep herself in the public consciousness. Google her publicity stunts and see for yourself.

by Anonymousreply 4October 23, 2018 7:36 PM

This is just sad.

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by Anonymousreply 5October 23, 2018 7:39 PM

She was culturally challenging and path-breaking, embraced gays when homosexuality was widely seen as a perversion, the music was damn good. She was exciting and the buzz around her was exciting. And she did not give a shit about what anyone thought or said about her.

by Anonymousreply 6October 23, 2018 7:39 PM

She rolled around the stage once in a wedding dress at a Shriner's Convention and the world was never the same.

by Anonymousreply 7October 23, 2018 7:41 PM

[quote]embraced gays when homosexuality was widely seen as a perversion,

but that was a stunt. When that no longer worked, she went on to the next one.

by Anonymousreply 8October 23, 2018 7:42 PM

When she first hit the big time there was an air of authenticity to her since she'd worked with credible musicians and producers. She harnessed the power of the music video as MTV became a big thing. She managed to look 'street' when she first started out yet would scrub up well for those iconic music videos like Material Girl. She used controversy to her advantage and became a household name ridiculously quickly. Sadly, she's tarnished her legacy by trying to continue to be relevant. She should have stopped releasing music after Confessions.

by Anonymousreply 9October 23, 2018 7:46 PM

Whether I liked her or not I always admired her tits R5.

by Anonymousreply 10October 23, 2018 7:46 PM

She had a thing for crucifixes, and I mean she had a THANG for 'em. She was a fraud of sorts in that she did not offer maximum talent and ability to her audience. She was a media/pop culture sensation. She was like a mediocre consumer product that somehow caught on and everyone had to have it - like jelly shoes or mini skirts. And she knew it, laughing all the way to the bank.

by Anonymousreply 11October 23, 2018 7:47 PM

This was my first introduction to Madonna up close and personal. 1984. Look at her.....

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by Anonymousreply 12October 23, 2018 7:51 PM

She never embraced this gay.

by Anonymousreply 13October 23, 2018 7:51 PM

To me is was like when eminem became famous, someone wanted her to be a star and did everything to make it happen.

by Anonymousreply 14October 23, 2018 7:52 PM

Look up the personality traits of a sociopath. She ticks every. single. Box.

by Anonymousreply 15October 23, 2018 7:54 PM

Many of her videos are gorgeous works of art.

by Anonymousreply 16October 23, 2018 7:57 PM

She was as sick a fuck as Reagan.

by Anonymousreply 17October 23, 2018 7:58 PM

She brought sex appeal to MTV in a much more direct way than anyone before her (Pat Benatar, Cyndi Lauper, Blondie) and while she played with pushing boundaries, she always remained safely within the limits of what the culture and the media could handle.

She forged a bond with teenage girls and they stuck with her as she moved from the Boy Toy/East Village style into a more sophisticated look.

She varied her musical output to include mass appeal ballads like "Crazy For You" and "Live to Tell" which helped her expand her base.

She moved successfully into movies ("Desperately Seeking Susan" was a hit and she received good reviews for it), appeared on Broadway, and developed relationships with film stars (like Sean Penn, obviously) and established casual relationships with icons like Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, George Harrison, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Cher, etc. Being photographed with people like this gave her credibility.

Throughout the 80s her fame grew every year, she racked up many very good pop hits, and ended the decade with a critically acclaimed album ("Like a Prayer") and many more hit singles. She was seen as a rare artist who continued to grow and develop her craft. And the gossip about her being a bitch wasn't as prominent, or at least, it was balanced with stories about her AIDS work, her relationships with her siblings and father, the loss of her mother as a young girl, etc., which all humanized her.

I don't think anyone in 1989 would have thought she'd become the odd 60 year-old she seems to be in 2018.

by Anonymousreply 18October 23, 2018 7:59 PM

This was the 80s/90s OP so when used the word virgin in a song it was shocking, especially because she sang about being “like a virgin” and not actually a virgin. She wore a cone bra, she wore a black bra under white tshirts, she baited religious people with her views and controversial videos, she sang about considering abortion in papa don’t preach, she had a very public and turbulent relationship with Sean Penn, she released the sex book, she dated women, she was obnoxious and rude a lot, she released a the sex book and she released truth or dare where Warren Beatty accused her of being an attention seeker on camera.

He was right, she was the queen of seeking attention. Good attention, bad attention, she didn’t care as long as everyone was looking at her. It made her very famous and very rich.

by Anonymousreply 19October 23, 2018 8:05 PM

I was much older than the Madonna crowd; I was 62 back when she hit the scene back in1983-4. But, I still loved her music. I loved Like a Prayer, I Vogued as I dressed up Victorian. Music was great back then. The 80s had great music.

by Anonymousreply 20October 23, 2018 8:07 PM

I don't know about her early days, but I can tell you that when "Ray of Light" was released I was in high school and that album was *the shit*. It was everywhere, radio, TV, remixes in the clubs on the weekend, everybody had the CD including our parents. She was musically relevant and celebrated in the musical press. In those days she was famous for a kickass album, not her tits. I don't know what happened after that, she gradually lost "it". Nobody seems to have any respect for her anymore.

by Anonymousreply 21October 23, 2018 8:09 PM

R20, that would mean you’re currently in your late-90s?

by Anonymousreply 22October 23, 2018 8:14 PM

She showed her tits and ass all the time, OP. Like I said before, she resorted to SHOCKING the world into noticing her. Her songs are not memorable. Don't get me wrong. I was there eating her up just like everyone else, but of course hindsight is 20/20. I see it all quite clearly now.

by Anonymousreply 23October 23, 2018 8:15 PM

....

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by Anonymousreply 24October 23, 2018 8:17 PM

Back when Ray of Light came out, yes, R22.

by Anonymousreply 25October 23, 2018 8:17 PM

....

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by Anonymousreply 26October 23, 2018 8:21 PM

....

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by Anonymousreply 27October 23, 2018 8:22 PM

r27 Who's that boy?

by Anonymousreply 28October 23, 2018 8:24 PM

^Vanilla Ice

by Anonymousreply 29October 23, 2018 8:26 PM

That guy in R27 is hot.

by Anonymousreply 30October 23, 2018 8:29 PM

She was considered bold and controversial during the mid-80s, a nice suburban girl who decided to go bad without feeling any shame about it. She expressed the belief that a (white) girl could be sexually uninhibited, dress inappropriately, dance with hot gay men, and cavort with sexy black and latino men without being stigmatized by it.

It was her independent spirit that enticed so many of us to her. Yeah, many others thought she was indecent talentless hag who needed to quickly disappear from the entertainment scene, but her determination to continuously push the envelope during her relevancy caused many to embrace her even more.

by Anonymousreply 31October 23, 2018 8:44 PM

Gotta give her props though, it was great fun at the time. She didn’t come from money and didn’t exploit nepotism. She created Madonna through sheer will power and didn’t want to repeat herself. The singles were great and videos were often better. Timing was perfect. There was such joy in a lot of the early records especially her debut. Heard “Like a Prayer” in a club recently and it was rapture.

by Anonymousreply 32October 23, 2018 8:44 PM

Really, r29? Vanilla Ice? Who knew he was ever hot?

by Anonymousreply 33October 23, 2018 8:45 PM

[quote]Gotta give her props though, it was great fun at the time.

No, I don't, and no, it wasn't.

by Anonymousreply 34October 23, 2018 8:45 PM

I want to hear more from the guy in his 90s. Please start a thread and tell us about the truly olden days!

by Anonymousreply 35October 23, 2018 8:50 PM

Yesterdays, yesterdays

Days I knew as happy, sweet sequestered days

Olden days, golden days

Days of mad romance and love

When gay youth was mine, sooth was mine

Joyous, free and flaming life then truth was mine

Sad am I, glad am I

For today I'm dreaming of yesterdays

by Anonymousreply 36October 23, 2018 8:53 PM

Madonna broke all the molds and all the roles for women in music. Before her, women were a packaged product: staged, created and used then disposed of when tastes changed. A lucky and talented few made come backs.

Madonna upended the entire male dominated business by making herself the product - and in a Bowie-esque move, shed the characters she created and invented new music, characters from what was currently happening around her, around the world.

She invented perpetual reinvention, making it possible for every young artist after her to own their art. Her influence on MTV - which dominated pop culture from its launch through the early 2000’s owes much of its success to Madonna and her artistic and business influences.

by Anonymousreply 37October 23, 2018 9:03 PM

Madonna had fun music and was a product and influencer of the MTV (music TELEVISION) generation moreso than most others. As she reinvented herself she just hit this cultural vein and never let up until around 2000.

Certain looks became instantly iconic and imitated, like her Boy Toy, Material Girl, and especially Blonde Ambition (think cone-bra) looks. Her music videos tapped into this with endless controversy ("Pedophilia" in Open Your Heart, abortion in Papa Don't Preach, and Like a Prayer is a study in itself) keeping her relevant so it wasn't just about the music, but about the overall package. Her tours were amazing and also huge for the time. She was free of handlers and really experimented with this and it was pretty unheard of for the era.

Vogue was a total smash breakthrough in this regard and was probably the apex of Madonna's popularity. Erotica kept her in the news (and is an iconic, but misunderstood era) but she started becoming "too much" for the square states and dipped off the radar. But came back respectably (as a new mother) with Ray of Light and Evita. After that the Internet gen / MTV's fade / her aging really dimmed a shine on her and never was able to catch back on.

I mean, just look at Gaga. There is a REASON people (rightly) crowed about her "ripping off" Madonna's career. She had a lot of the same notes in her career and blew into a it a little TOO quickly and people really turned on her. It's only lately she's really starting to turn a new leaf on her career with this movie.

by Anonymousreply 38October 23, 2018 9:18 PM
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