"Madonna was definitely well into that scene and part of it, even if an anomaly. Sonic Youth knew her and created the band Ciccone Youth at the height of her success. According to them she also dated their indie legend friend Michael Gira (The Swans). So she was ensconced in that whole No Wave/Mutant Disco scene in some way."
Yep, anomaly was right. I had a friend who worked at Danceteria, Madonna had to fuck fug Danceteria DJ Mark Kamins to get her shit demo record played there. She'd stop at nothing to be get noticed.
Michael Gira, huh? Madonna fucked a lot of downtown music scene guys, no surprise about Gira.
She was constantly couch surfing and fucking different guys to make any sort of connection, that was simply what she did, that doesn't make her important to that scene, just a very ambitious user. The question should be, who didn't she fuck and fuck over?
Don't act if you know it all about the downtown NYC music scene of that era, you do not. You sound like someone who read some Madonna biography and is simply repeating what they read.
I was part of that scene, I am not a musician, but knew tons of them, besides being friends first with many of these guys and girls, I also worked in the music business.
I had friends in bands,for example, the original Ramones drummer used to play rhythm guitar in a close friend's glitter rock band before forming The Ramones.
I knew a ton of people in that downtown scene, they were musicians, artists and gallery owners. I have friends who bought lofts for $20,000. They were part of that scene when Soho was gritty and scary, not the current mall for the wealthy which is what Soho is today.
Madonna was not an important part of the downtown scene, stop trying to push this ridiculous myth, if anything, she was on the peripheries, she played in certain venues when clubs like Max's were dying.
Posting a photo of Madonna with dark hair holding a guitar proves nothing. A cousin's band played at CBGBs in their dying days, the band was unmemorable, as were Madonna's performances during those days.
In the waning days of true experimentation in that scene, club owners were booking anyone with some tenuous connection to 'punk' or 'new wave'.
I hung out with other native New Yorkers who were in bands and others who were trying to make name in the art world, not some annoying nasally voice nothing from Michigan. Most of my friends bands became famous. I am not here to brag, it's not important to name people I've known since I was a teen. These people were my friends, some of them became very famous in the music and art worlds.