Similarly, it's my most played Madonna album ever (AHHH)... simply because it came out at the peak of my music consumption. It doesn't have as much to do with the quality of the album as it does the year it came out. See also: Femme Fatale, Born to Die, Electra Heart, fucking Cinderella's Eyes...
My Madonna stan phase was middle-to-high school, so my most listened to albums are Music, American Life and Confessions... The other albums aside from maybe Immaculate Collection don't even come close.
I actually went into this rate expecting Turn Up the Radio to be one of the few higher scores I gave to MDNA as I quite enjoyed it when the album dropped only to find it’s completely curdled with time. The vocal production is bad across the album but it feels so stark here both due to the theme of the song and how there seems to be a build up on the bridge only for it to peak with some neutered explosion. It’s better than Girl Gone Wild but just barely.
And we bow out today with... 203 SCORE: 5.736 2015 PLACEMENT: 193 of 210 (5.387) HIGHEST SCORE: 9.5 x 1 (@DJHazey) LOWEST SCORE: 1 x 3 (@P'NutButter @Daniel_O @Ramalama) MY SCORE: 5.5/10 AHHHH this is so cute. Madonna's wee baby voice filled with attitude even then. Quite the improvement on its 2015 score as well. Popping up as the b-side to "Papa Don't Preach" in Europe, and "True Blue" in the US, it's a sweet bop about how it ain't no big deal. That's all there is to it. It's actually one of the first songs that Madonna had on her demo tape way back when she was trying to get a deal, along with "Everybody" and "Burning Up". There's a particularly amusing anecdote on Wikipedia about it was originally going to be the b-side to "Everybody"... until those in charge heard "Ain't No Big Deal" and just put "Everybody" on both sides of the record sksksk. It was produced by Stephan Bray, did a good chunk of work on Like A Virgin and True Blue, which is why I'm guessing they were able to get their hands on it for a b-side. He and Madonna had originally been dating for a brief while and remained friends after breaking up, being part of a band that went swiftly nowhere and defunct, before Madonna finally said she had had e-fucking-nough of this shit and wanted to go solo. Bray then released it as part of an unofficial compilation in 1997 along with other early Madonna songs he had lying about in the vault. The official release date of said compilation was deliberately timed to leapfrog off the press of Lourdes being born. Thus ends your hourly reminder that men are trash. Good night!
I shouldn't be surprised considering it gets a weird amount of hate around here, but...Ain't No Big Deal being axed before GAYLuvin'? Gals.
203. Ain't No Big Deal - 5.736 204. Turn Up The Radio - 5.727 205. Best Friend - 5.721 206. Graffiti Heart - 5.697 207. Hanky Panky - 5.691 208. Love Makes The World Go Round - 5.679 209. Back In Business - 5.67 210. Pretender - 5.661 211. Lament - 5.615 212. Cyber-Raga - 5.603 213. Incredible - 5.545 214. Jimmy Jimmy - 5.521 215. Now I'm Following You - 5.497 216. Ring My Bell - 5.424 217. S.E.X. - 5.373 218. Spanish Lesson - 4.997 219. Shoo-Bee-Doo - 4.948 220. More - 4.852 221. What Can You Lose - 4.436 222. Superstar - 4.391 223. Auto-Tune Baby - 4.121 224. Cry Baby - 3.367 225. I'm Going Bananas - 3.327 226. B-Day Song (Feat. M.I.A.) - 3.000 227. Hey You - 2.976
I'm a little bummed about Best Friend. The numbness to the production & M's delivery is offset by the deeply personal lyrics, which I think saves it. I feel nothing when I think of Turn Up The Radio. If it comes on, I'll listen. If it doesn't, I won't seek it out. It's just there. I get what she was trying to do with it, but it's not nearly as effective as the Sunday Girl demo.
It’s still so funny to me that they randomly play Turn Up The Radio on Radio 2 semi-frequently. Of all the Madonna songs.
Tomorrow, it's meant to be two hundred goddamn degrees in Glasgow with a few thunderstorms to boot. I'll be trying to run naked through any of them while also pondering making love in a train cross-country. Then I'll be sitting on my couch with a bag of ice on my crotch until the numbness spreads to my soul. Hopefully we'll get into the Top 200 amidst all that!
I didn't realize the Sunday Girl version was out there, I've been bopping to the ultra-LQ version that Solveig played at a set that one time. I would've probably scored the M version lower if I'd heard this in glorious HQ... Sunday Girl fits it so much better. Also, her performance on the MDNA tour was atrocious all three times I saw it, in the golden triangle we were slightly shielded by the overwhelming backing track, but in the seats... let me cover my ears a bitsy.
I’m not too bothered about Ain’t No Big Deal, it’s exactly what I expect from a b-side. It’s harmless though, I wouldn’t skip if it came on.
Apparently the crew didn’t even know about the length, literally just Madonna and her management. Tickets were the full MDNA tour price, shocking! I’m not sure what it was even for.
Ain't No Big Deal sounds wimpy and has a weak melody. If it had more oomph, it might work. I gave it a 4.
