Well, it was going to happen eventually. 121 SCORE: 7.309 2015 PLACEMENT: NON-MOVER - 121 of 210 (6.892) HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 3 (@Phonetics Boy @godspeed @joeee) LOWEST SCORE: 3 x 1 (@Markus1981) MY SCORE: 7/10 So we finally reach the point where every album has suffered loss, and it's almost cruel that it's this track that falls first from Erotica, in the exact same place it landed five years ago. Still though, what a performance from Erotica. Surviving over a hundred eliminations, its lowest rated track not suffering a drop in standings and improving its score by nearly half a point, and literally everything on it guaranteed a score over 7.3. Clap for Dita, y'all. She earned it. I think this is a great track that maybe gets a little lost in all of Erotica's many setpiece tracks, but it carries heft all the same. It actually has a lot in common with what Madonna would go on to do on Bedtime Stories, I think, in the sense that it takes inspiration far more from of-the-time RnB than it does from the rest of Erotica's underground house palette. In this instance, I'm just going to jump straight to the live performance from The Girlie Show, because I think it's phenomenal, and does such a starkly amazing job bringing the song to life that talking about the studio version solely is kind of redundant. The preceding performance of "Deeper And Deeper" is a celebration of hedonism; dancing, flirting, nudity, humping, and excessive to the point that it ends in a big, sexy, ancient-times-style orgy that you see depicted on a stage rather than on the side of an antique Greek urn. But then we turn into "Why's It So Hard", and the mood inverts, and everything that was good and joyful about the last performance becomes shameful and scary. The dancers, who had been revelling in the contact and friction minutes ago, become slow and pained, reaching to Madonna for comfort and compassion as she implores the same kind of empathy from the audience. It's an amazing representation of the AIDS crisis at the time; how sex became something to be feared and to be ashamed of, and how even human contact became a privilege rather than something base and required, and it takes on additional meaning now as we eliminate it 2020, after months of the world being conditioned to treat proximity to others as a threat to our health. It's made all the more difficult when we realise that contact and sex are all connected to kindness and compassion and intimacy, and without one we risk losing the other... but we always have to strive to fight the fear and reach out, even figuratively, because love might be hard, but we cling to it all the same.
Still shocked Why’s It So Hard isn’t the deep cut classic I thought it was. I’ve seen many fan site rates where In This Life (which I love btw) was at the bottom and Why’s It So Hard is up there with the best?
I forgot to mentioned I looked at the 2015 PJ rate the other week and it was the first Erotica track out as well. Injustice. Doomed.
How is Did You Do It? not the first one out? Why's It So Hard was my (joint) lowest score - 6.5 - after that though. There's nothing wrong with it as part of the album, it just doesn't hold up as a singular track.
"This Used to Be My Playground" is one of her finest 90's ballads and I don't get why it constantly gets so mistreated. It's not perfect, though it is really touching and beautiful, both sonically and lyrically. I gave it a 9, but could've bumped it a bit, just for the sake of breaking the tie. Can't believe nothing from "Erotica" left before it. Edit: Oop, so it did lose a track in a tie. But "Why It's So Hard" is not the first song "Erotica" should've lost.
Why's It So Hard is made to pop off in a live setting, but on its own it's my least liked Erotica song. By the way, the album scamming 100+ places with no casualties thanks to Did You Do It?'s cut is justice
Not happy about Dear Jessie leaving. At all. Why’s It So Hard I’d rank in the lower half of Erotica (but it’s still good) but Fever should’ve been the first to go.
And that's our Top 120. 121 SCORE: 7.309 2015 PLACEMENT: UP 7 - 128 of 210 (6.784) 11 x 1 @Ramalama HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 13 (@Tigerlily @eatyourself @Angeleyes @matthew. @madgemad @elear @Andy French @fatyoshi @godspeed @torontodj @phoenix123 @wintersleep @Digital Ghost) LOWEST SCORE: 3 x 1 (@Markus1981) MY SCORE: 6.5/10 Well I kinda blew my wad on the last elimination and this is the sixth one I've done today and Miss @Ramalama provided me no commentary to use and Madonna has never performed it live so I might just bounce to my chambers? No? FINE. "Physical Attraction" leaving means that the debut is down purely to that incredible five single run that gave Madonna the foundation she would build her kingdom on, but it also leaves with a cute boost to its standing and score, so it's not a complete wash. Despite it being one of the few tracks on the self-titled that doesn't have Madonna on the credits anywhere, writer and producer Reggie Lucas (who produced the bulk of the album) insists that, while Madonna may not have written it, "Physical Attraction" was written purely for her after sessions had started, rather than it simply being a demo he had lying around. It was also the track that seemed to kind of break the ice between them, as he says in this interview with The Atlantic: "As a producer, you understood that your first job was to support people to achieve that end. You challenged the artist just enough to bring out the best in them and introduce them to audiences that they normally wouldn’t be introduced to. When I did “Physical Attraction,” that was just it. She was a little different. Madonna was wilder in terms of her look and image; I don’t know if her music was that much wilder than anyone else back then. I think her music was sexually freer and it predicted what was going to happen in the future. She was definitely an innovator when it became to being more suggestive, which was pretty cool. I thought it was great. So—mixing that with my musical background, Madonna’s first album was really a hybrid of her interests and mine. “Physical Attraction” was our starting point with that style. It did pretty well and she began to move forward with her career and sound." I would deeply recommend reading the rest of the interview, as not only is it a great insight, it also reminded me of the fact that some people thought Madonna was black when they first heard her on radio back in the day, mostly because it mentions that "Physical Attraction" was No.1 on the now-defunct Billboard Black Singles Chart?!?! MESS. But yes, the song is a bop. Those low, squelchy synths with Madonna's cool, airy vocals just dancing across the funk. It's probably the most low-key song on the album, so it maybe lacks a bit of a marquee moment, but it's a vibe all the same. I was about to say Madonna has never performed this live, but then YouTube threw up this video from 1982 recorded on what looks to be... not even a potato. Perhaps a French fry that's been stood on? It's really quite the wake up call to how long Madonna's career is when you see stuff like this. Even lovelier? The next video of her singing it during a soundcheck with fans in Amsterdam for the MDNA Tour thirty years later. QUEEN. The way she lights up when someone mentions it in the crowd and still knows the lyrics? That's my mum.
Enjoy one of the final days of getting the leaderboard every day, because I'll be switching a remaining songs list once we hit the halfway point at No.114. Peace! 121. Physical Attraction - 7.309 121. Why's It So Hard - 7.309 121. This Used To Be My Playground - 7.309 124. Dear Jessie - 7.3 125. Heartbeat - 7.285 126. Inside Out - 7.239 127. Where's The Party - 7.188 128. Falling Free - 7.179 129. Crazy - 7.173 130. Nobody's Perfect - 7.139 131. I'm So Stupid - 7.127 132. Push - 7.112 132. I'm Addicted - 7.112 134. Masterpiece - 7.091 135. American Pie - 7.085 136. Body Shop - 7.061 137. Unapologetic Bitch - 7.058 137. Extreme Occident - 7.058 139. Looking For Mercy - 7.042 140. You Must Love Me - 7.024 141. Goodbye To Innocence - 7.009 142. Gang Bang - 6.939 143. Holy Water - 6.915 144. Gambler - 6.912 145. Think Of Me - 6.906 146. Beat Goes On (Feat. Kanye West) - 6.894 147. Beautiful Killer - 6.884 148. Hold Tight - 6.873 149. The Look Of Love - 6.824 150. Future (Feat. Quavo) - 6.8 151. Batuka - 6.791 152. Voices - 6.785 153. Best Night - 6.755 154. Veni Vidi Vici (Feat. Nas) - 6.752 154. Broken (I'm Sorry) - 6.752 156. Shanti / Ashtangi - 6.73 157. Addicted - 6.712 158. Iconic (Feat. Chance The Rapper & Mike Tyson) - 6.702 158. Ciao Bella - 6.702 160. Spotlight - 6.694 161. I Love New York - 6.652 162. Messiah - 6.639 163. Love Song - 6.621 163. I'd Rather Be Your Lover - 6.621 165. Supernatural - 6.615 166. Candy Shop - 6.588 167. Wash All Over Me - 6.561 168. HeartBreakCity - 6.558 169. Bitch I'm Loca (Feat. Maluma) - 6.548 170. Your Honesty - 6.524 171. Beautiful Scars - 6.461 172. Something To Remember - 6.458 173. Love Don't Live Here Anymore - 6.448 174. Over And Over - 6.433 175. Another Suitcase In Another Hall - 6.409 176. Stay - 6.367 177. Don't Stop - 6.339 178. Girl Gone Wild - 6.324 179. I Know It - 6.267 180. Act Of Contrition - 6.245 181. Fighting Spirit - 6.227 182. I Don't Give A (Feat. Nicki Minaj) - 6.203 183. It's So Cool - 6.191 184. Illuminati - 6.167 185. Funana - 6.161 186. Dance 2Night - 6.152 187. Borrowed Time - 6.118 187. History - 6.118 189. Sooner Or Later - 6.109 189. One More Chance - 6.109 191. Back That Up To The Beat - 6.076 192. Let Down Your Guard - 6.036 193. Killers Who Are Partying - 6.015 194. I'm A Sinner - 6.012 195. I Fucked Up - 5.964 196 - Some Girls - 5.933 197. He's A Man - 5.924 198. Give Me All Your Luvin' (Feat. Nicki Minaj & M.I.A.) - 5.921 199. Buenos Aires - 5.894 200. Super Pop - 5.848 201. Revolver (Feat. Lil Wayne) - 5.827 202. Can't Stop - 5.776 203. 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
Of course my second favourite song from the debut album leaves about 60 places after my favourite track. "Physical Attraction" is quite a gem and deserved more. To be honest, the rest of her debut can leave altogether and I wouldn't even blink. Don't get me wrong, all of the remaining songs from it are good, but I just don't really care for them.
Sorry queen. I wanted to write something special for that, but nothing was coming to mind. Even now I can't exactly put into words why this is my favorite Madonna song. It just takes me on a journey every time I listen, whether it's in my walking playlist in the middle of the day, or just lying in bed on a dark night. I don't think she's ever sounded smoother to these ears than on the verses for this one. I thought about being more strategic and giving my 11 to a song that might actually fare well (which would've been Borderline...), but I had to go with the heart. I suppose I'll take some solace that at least it wasn't the first 11 out?
Right. I’m here. It’s interesting now we’re finally getting into the MEAT. The songs leaving now can all be argued as a 10 to some degree. I’m proud of Where’s The Party making it this far because largely Madonna fans have no taste when it comes to that immortal bop. Of course the version to listen to is the You Can Dance version. Listen to that and come back and tell me it’s not a 10. I think Why’s It So Hard was always going to go first from Erotica because it comes in the last slog of an album that could feel a little heavy and impenetrable to casual/new listeners and maybe divorced from context of the time or if not paying attention it could seem a little simplistic.
