100 SCORE: 7.567 2015 PLACEMENT: DOWN 16 - 84 of 210 (7.554) HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 13 (@eatyourself @OSHi @Phonetics Boy @Andy French @BreatheBox @unnameable @joeee @DinahLee @phoenix123 @Remorque @happiestgirl @Music Is Life @Weslicious) LOWEST SCORE: 3.5 x 1 (@aaronhansome...?) MY SCORE: 6/10 The name of the phenomenon sweeping the western world as people refuse to wear masks during a global pandemic and swiftly contract the virus, my nickname in prison, and now, the name of the first song out of the Top 100 of the Madonna Discography Rate. "White Heat" leaving the rate means that True Blue has no remaining album tracks, and has nothing but its 80% bulletproof singles run remaining. I'm not surprised, and not entirely disappointed either. The general accepted mythology behind this one is that it was actually been swirling around for a while long before True Blue came out, cycling through a few alternate titles ("Get Up, Stand Tall", "Dangerous") before eventually becoming what we know it as now. I think it came from the same sessions that "Love Makes The World Go Round" was birthed from with Patrick Leonard, which Madonna performed at Live Aid in 1985, two years before anyone would hear the studio version. The title comes from the movie that the vocal sample in the track comes from: White Heat, a 1949 movie starring James Cagney as... oh, y'all know how I feel about movies. But yes, that's him doing the "A coppa!" introduction, in what I can only assume is part of some thrilling denouement where the pigs catch up to his undoubtedly charmingly nefarious character. Madonna has a major thing for classic movies, so I'm not surprised to find it here, all about... holding someone up with your love? Holding someone at lovepoint? The US is in dire need of love control, I guess. Hell, some of you in this thread could maybe do with some restraint as well. My thoughts? I'm... whelmed. Look, it's not entirely its fault, but let's face it: look at what it shares an album with. Why on earth would I put any stock into "White Heat" when it sits between two of the greatest pop singles of all time? What does it offer other than being yet another proficient 80s bop? I like it more than the title track and the other album tracks, but that's not exactly high praise. It just doesn't stand out. If you removed the film sample at the start of it, it would have no real defining features that makes it stand out from Madonna's best work of the time. "White Heat" was performed as part of the relentlessly energetic Who's That Girl Tour, and received a relentlessly energetic performance, which is available to watch below for your viewing pleasure while simultaneously making you wonder what you've done with your life, sitting on your ass for the last five months. I mean I hiked over twenty miles this weekend, so I can listen with the clear conscience, but the rest of you? Get up, stand tall, etc.
‘White Heat’ is great for me. It’s the perfect bridge between two of the greatest dance-pop songs ever and one of the greatest ballads ever. Happy to see it’s just scraped its way in to the top 100.
White Heat is definitely one of the 80s songs that was starting to overstay their welcome. It's a cute 7, which doesn't really cut it at this point.
Exactly. "White Heat" is the definition of a whelming song, so its time has come (I think I gave it a 7, too). It is the strongest album track from "True Blue", but I don't really consider it top 100 worthy.
White Heat - 9.5. This is an album highlight for me. In White Heat Jimmy Cagney plays a gangster with a mother fixation. When I was young I didn't get the word 'bust' in this context so I thought she was singing about her um, decolletage. I love everything about the song but I would have had the line be 'Put your hands up against the wall.' The song's in my Top 50.
It took me 25 years before I realized Jimmy Cagney was not, in fact, referring to a cup. "Howdya like that boys, a cup."
99 SCORE: 7.579 2015 PLACEMENT: UP 34 - 133 of 210 (6.677) HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 10 (@AllGagaLike @Phonetics Boy @torontodj @joeee @Bleu Noir @clowezra @Filippa @acl @FrozenNight @tommylander) LOWEST SCORE: 4 x 2 (@matthew. @Ramalama) MY SCORE: 5.5/10 (It's so strange to start an elimination post with a double digit number rather than a triple digit number.) Me, watching this slowly scale up from the 120s, into the 110s, into the 100s, and... finish at 99. Like... what is the point? A nothingy song on an album full of nothingy songs, and it manages to the be the emptiest of the lot. A redux of "Beautiful Stranger" with none of the joy and the naughtiness of the original. I mean, okay, I can kind of accept it if I think of it as a cute update to Madonna's 80s songs as she talks about cute boys cutely, but other than that, I'm not entirely sure what there is to return to. Every single thing it can do, something in Madonna's catalogue does it better. Why listen to "Amazing" when you can listen to amazing pop music instead? The most interesting thing about "Amazing" was that it was one side of a tug of war between Warner and Madonna when it came to deciding what the fourth single from Music was going to be. Madonna wanted nonsense banger "Impressive Instant", while the label wanted "Amazing" purely for the fact that it sounded similar to "Beautiful Stranger", which had been massive at the time. Madonna didn't want to repeat herself, however (then girl, why did you record it in the first place?!) and it resulted in a stalemate where no fourth single was released. Cute fact? Outside of I'm Breathless - which doesn't really count - this was Madonna's first ever album to not spawn a fourth single. Let that sink in. Madonna went seven album campaigns and nearly twenty years before serving anything less than four singles from an album. And some of these girls have spent a decade barely getting past two singles. I can't. I did see someone mention either in here or in the General thread that, as part of the above dispute, Madonna took "Amazing" off the setlist of Drowned World so they couldn't even use it a live recording as a video for it, but I can't find any record of it ever being on the setlist to begin with online. Was it meant to be on the setlist and she pre-emptively scrapped it? However, putting "madonna amazing" into Google does not provide the most informative of answers. The Internet is stanning though, I can tell you that much. If any of y'all have the proper info, feel free to clarify!
Lucky Star Borderline Burning Up Holiday Material Girl Angel Like A Virgin Dress You Up Papa Don't Preach Open Your Heart Live To Tell True Blue La Isla Bonita Like A Prayer Express Yourself Till Death Do Us Part Promise To Try Cherish Oh Father Keep It Together Spanish Eyes Vogue Erotica Deeper And Deeper Bad Girl Waiting Thief Of Hearts Words Rain Survival Secret Inside Of Me Human Nature Sanctuary Bedtime Story Take A Bow Drowned World/Substitute For Love Swim Ray Of Light Skin Nothing Really Matters Sky Fits Heaven Frozen The Power Of Goodbye To Have And Not To Hold Mer Girl Has To Be Music Impressive Instant I Deserve It Don't Tell Me What It Feels Like For A Girl Paradise (Not For Me) Gone American Life Hollywood Love Profusion Nobody Knows Me Nothing Fails Intervention X-Static Process Mother And Father Die Another Day Easy Ride Hung Up Get Together Sorry Future Lovers Let It Will Be Forbidden Love Jump Isaac Like It Or Not Give It 2 Me Miles Away Devil Wouldn't Recognize You Living For Love Devil Pray Ghosttown Bitch I'm Madonna (Feat. Nicki Minaj) Joan Of Arc Rebel Heart Medellín (Feat. Maluma) God Control Crave (Feat. Swae Lee) I Don't Search I Find Into The Groove Crazy For You Who's That Girl Causing A Commotion Justify My Love Rescue Me I'll Remember I Want You (With Massive Attack) You'll See Beautiful Stranger Time Stood Still Celebration
It’s a surprisingly strong bop, but the sample does some heavy lifting in terms of making it feel important. It was White Heat time.
