I get your point, but if you rate based on the songs themselves and not their impact/live performances, which to me is a perfectly fair way to do it, some (emphasis on some, I'm obviously not talking about all of them) of the early songs left are really just cute throwaway 80s bops that could have just as easily been sung by Cyndi Lauper or any other big pop girl of the time. Seeing those beat songs that are actual masterpieces and show Madonna's artistry at its peak, and really couldn't have been released by anyone else, like Paradise (Not For Me), Forbidden Love and many of the other recent (and not so recent) eliminations is... not exactly ideal.
I mean, not really in the case of a discography rate where we're rating an artist's body of work within the context of their career. This isn't a case of BPG versus rating, this is a retrospective on Madonna's career up to this point in time. Combine this with the fact that pop, specifically pop singles have never existed in a vacuum and I just don't see how someone can take the material simply at face value without delving into the importance of these songs not just within Madonna's discography but also pop culture as a whole. To say any of her iconic 80's singles could be sung by someone else belies Madonna's involvement in both the execution of the songs and their respective success. The second half of your post veers a bit too close to '"real" music vs. "throwaway" music' which I don't believe was your intention, so I'm not going to address that.
I'm obviously not saying everyone should be rating based on the songs themselves, and while I do take context and and impact in consideration to a point, ultimately what's being rated here is the songs, and I just don't see what exactly is it that makes songs like Crazy For You or Dress You Up better than nearly all of the recent eliminations, aside from... their impact, I guess? I don't know, I prefer songs that show Madonna at her absolute best over ones that are just here because they're ~iconic classics~, despite not really comparing to most of what's left in terms lyrics, production, uniqueness, etc, but to each their own I guess.
On-toepic: Spoiler I genuinely have only begun to entertain the idea of toes/feet as sexual in my own life since this video. Her power.
Even the most rebellious of hearts have a finite amount of beats. Four albums down. 53 SCORE: 8.379 2015 PLACEMENT: DOWN 18 - 35 of 210 (8.387) HIGHEST SCORE: 10 x 33 (@Raichu @P'NutButter @maverick_79 @tylerc904 @JMRGBY @DJHazey @AllGagaLike @Suburbia @Mirwais Ahmadzaï @elear @fatyoshi @torontodj @Fuchsia @muddleddreams @Drew @Sideout @citoig @joeee @Miss Lange @phoenix123 @Lila @Filippa @eliminathan @Remorque @Digital Ghost @Holly Something @Markus1981 @sexercise @Music Is Life @FrozenNight @Weslicious @Touchofmyhand @Maki) LOWEST SCORE: 2 x 1 (@paperboyfriendd) MY SCORE: 9/10 *sound of a microphone clicking on and @RJF kissing his teeth* Well, that's the end of an ever so slightly surprisingly maligned run for Rebel Heart in the 2020 discography rate, but I think we would knew that it would come to a close with this, a song about the end of all things. Isn't it funny that so much Madonna's inspiration for this song came from the fact that, even back in 2014 when she wrote this song, it felt like the world was already slipping back into hatred and fear and intolerance, and that total annihilation was the only destination on such a path? It feels so far away now; reading about the track's conception, I can barely even remember the particular incidents that must have triggered her thought process because... well, it's been a fucking deluge of apocalyptic, hateful, backwards bullshit for the last five years or so, and the individual incidents are all starting to blur together in this world gone wrong. But it's just a funny (funny-weird, not funny-haha) thing to think about, how Madonna was... basically correct. Except sometimes it feels even more painful than what she predicted. The world isn't ending in some grand, epic collapse. It's ending with several little armageddons every single day that barely make us blink anymore. But then again, that's not nearly as romantic an idea as holding onto each other as tidal waves rise, buildings fall, and mountains turn to dust, so let's just move on. This very much feels like one of Madonna's biggest hits in the last twenty years in a lot of aspects. I actually think it was a pretty big radio hit for stations that cater to... well, the audience that grew up with Madonna and really only enjoy ballads and mid-tempos to be euthanised to at this stage, but that doesn't mean it's boring or bad. It's just got insanely broad appeal: a well-constructed, well-performed, romantic ballad with a massive, catchy chorus that doesn't involve her talking about her pussy or any of those scary techno noises your mum hates, and she didn't get decked during any of the (many) performances on television. It's just a winner all round. Although... would it be unfair to say that, while I can acknowledge how great it is, I'm not actually sure how much affection I have for it, hence why full marks eluded it on my end. What can I say? I've always got far more time for Madonna being a little more obtuse. But it's okay when she plays it straight too, as "Ghosttown" still plays to so many qualities she excels in. It's big, it's pop, it's emotional, it's romantic, and it's enduring. A very fitting song to carry an album that is all those things and more to the door of the Top 50... but perhaps appropriate that it goes no further. The song was performed... a lot. Like, a lot. In a video starring Terrence Howard as her love interest in a post-apocalyptic hellscape (www.forum.popjustice.com), Madonna... basically does her best Stevie Nicks cosplay in a top hat, a lot of ruffles, and a lot of spinning with a golf club and a cape. She also looks divine; that HAIR mama. Probably the best Rebel Heart look by far? Was that real or just a spectacular wig? Either way, it was sensational. Of course Madonna is not only one of the last survivors of the human race, but slaying while doing it. The rat from her bathroom also makes a cameo appearance. "Ghosttown" was actually missing from the original Rebel Heart setlist, before finally appearing on the New York stop in an emotionally charged debut. After that, it appeared sporadically in the acoustic roulette section. However, it made up for being absent on those initial dates by being performed literally everywhere else. I've picked just a few of my favourites below. The last one, an impromptu acoustic performance at Place de la Republique in memory of the victims of the terrorist attack in 2015... always gives me chills. Enjoy! Rebel Heart OUT.
Ghosttown got a 9.5 out of me - it just eludes a ten due to some mixing weirdness, but it’s become one of my favorite latter-day Madonna songs in these last five horrid years and a source of solace. It absolutely should have been a much bigger hit than it was.
So "God Control" is officially Madonna's best song of the last fifteen years. That's... tea actually. REMAINING SONGS Borderline Burning Up Holiday Like A Virgin Dress You Up Papa Don't Preach Open Your Heart Live To Tell La Isla Bonita Like A Prayer Express Yourself Till Death Do Us Part Cherish Oh Father Vogue Erotica Deeper And Deeper Bad Girl Rain Secret Human Nature Bedtime Story Take A Bow Drowned World/Substitute For Love Ray Of Light Skin Nothing Really Matters Sky Fits Heaven Frozen The Power Of Goodbye Music Impressive Instant Don't Tell Me What It Feels Like For A Girl American Life Hollywood Nothing Fails Intervention X-Static Process Die Another Day Easy Ride Hung Up Get Together Sorry Future Lovers Jump God Control Into The Groove Crazy For You Justify My Love Rescue Me Beautiful Stranger
I’m sorry but Confessions doesn’t need all of those songs in when there’s only one song from the last 15 years.
Medellín AND Ghosttown?! (FUCK - I should have given Medellín my 11.) @nanafan @ABoy’sGot2Suffer4Fashion @paperboyfriendd - come outside. I just wanna talk.
2015 PLACEMENTS: 35. Ghosttown - 8.387 39. Living For Love - 8.324 46. Devil Pray - 8.162 61. Joan Of Arc - 7.912 66. Rebel Heart - 7.843 68. Bitch I'm Madonna (Feat. Nicki Minaj) - 7.735 76. Iconic (Feat. Mike Tyson & Chance The Rapper) - 7.642 92. Inside Out - 7.343 100. Hold Tight - 7.24 104. Addicted - 7.186 109. Veni Vidi Vici (Feat. Nas) - 7.088 113. Holy Water - 7.01 118. Messiah - 6.946 125. Best Night - 6.838 127. Body Shop - 6.804 129. HeartBreakCity - 6.765 131. Unapologetic Bitch - 6.76 137. Wash All Over Me - 6.593 140. Beautiful Scars - 6.564 142. Borrowed Time - 6.5 159. Graffiti Heart - 6.147 173. Illuminati - 5.897 191. S.E.X. - 5.456 202. Autotune Baby - 4.471 SCORE: 6.984 I touched a little on this last night since I knew it would come up again today, but do y'all think we sometimes put unfair expectations on Madonna based on her past? Setting precedence and holding people to standards is good and fine, but is it maybe asking far too much of someone to always be producing things that stand up to their absolute best when their absolute best has defined a good part of our culture? Especially in a field that is creative, and therefore susceptible to peaks and troughs? Music isn't a science; it isn't something that you can create a recipe for and replicate to the same results over and over. So therefore it's illogical to expect the same feelings, the same effect, the same power, each and every time, and resent Madonna for not being able to hit these highs again and again. I mean, she did hit those highs again and again. More than anyone ever will. But it shouldn't be something that we expect, and take for granted. So... I kinda want to let this album and Madonna as an extension, live a bit. She wanted to make a big stupid pop album with every popular name going and she did it. She did it really well, in fact. She sat in her studio and through sheer force of will corralled and pulled these DJs and songwriters and producers and fellow megalomaniacs into giving her long bouts of their short attention spans and produced an album that was, against all odds, unmistakably her across nearly thirty tracks with God knows how many fingers in her pie by the end. It proved that she was here, and that she cared again. She gave it a promo blitz that would have most of today's pop girls cowering even deeper into their duvets than they already do, running eras through selfies and Twitter indiscretions. She gave it a tour that was one of her best. She gave it her undivided, ferocious attention, and there really is no better thing for any album to receive. It suffers in 2020 from sounding a little of its time, but also not. As a pop jukebox bursting at the seams, it actually manages to be fairly enduring despite the unmistakable 2015 sheen to it all, purely because the songs are there. And for all the talk of how badly it was doing throughout the rate, it's not really fallen by a lot; just over a tenth of a point. So much for recency bias. So yes, still a great album. For it to be this big and still almost hit a 7/10 average, five years away from all the great memories we have of it, is pretty good innings. I'll always be grateful for the upswing it presented. She cared again, and still continues to care. Again, I say: there will never be anyone else like her. Over thirty years in and still pulling it out of the bag. Queen.
