The Definitive Madonna 75........Part 1a Feb 11 '10    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music The Dirtchamber Sessions, Vol. 1 by The Prodigy From $11 Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 The Bottom Line Let the debate begin! Preamble: So here we are, at the real beginning of what makes Madonna the artist she is today, the meat and potatoes of her career so to speak. Beyond all of the hoopla and controversy of her career, what will remain is her contribution to music, her legacy if you will. And now without further adieu.......... 75. X-Static Process-American Life(2003): "Jesus Christ, would you look at me?/Don't know who I am supposed to be" It's funny and sorta kinda ironic that I begin this Best of ....list with a track from Madonna's widely panned, yet often misunderstood American Life, considering I did the exact same thing with my Worst Of ...list. But unlike I'm So Stupid, which is the very definition of a travesty of the highest order, X-Static Process finds Lady M at her most subdued, fragile even. With the lyrics of X-Static Process telling a cautionary tale of being so in love with someone that a person loses their identity along the way, one has to speculate if the song comes from Madonna's own personal experience with her now ex-husband Guy Ritchie. And as thoughtful and well written as X-Static Process's lyrics are, I am most duly impressed with how lovely and mature her voice sounds when paired with only an acoustic guitar. It just goes to show that even going into Madonna's third decade of being the defacto Queen of Pop, when she lets down her guard somewhat and loses her facade of impervious pretensiousness she kinda earned at the turn of the new millenium, Madonna could still be no less than impressive. 74. Love Don't Live Here Anymore-Like A Virgin(1985): "You abandoned me/Love Don't Live Here Anymore...." This Rose Royce song was the very first of Madonna's collection of hit or miss cover songs and thankfully, it stands out as a highlight from M's sophomore effort, aside from the hit singles. Now I've read other people's reviews of Like A Virgin that like to criticise Madonna for not being a very good singer, technically or otherwise and they often point to Love Don't Live Here Anymore as an example of her inability to stay on key with the song, which to be fair at this point of her career was kinda true. But let me play devil's advocate for a moment and offer up my opinion on why LDLHA works excellently because of Madonna's flawed pitch problems. Simply put her interpretation of this 1976 love gone wrong tear jerker simply swings because of the emotion Madonna puts behind the lyrics; sure her voice warbles and is strained throughout the song, but all of her vocal imperfections gives the song an aire of believability that gives me the shivers at least once while the song is playing. It might not be one of her best vocal efforts of her career, but to me it's one of her most determined and honest and sometimes that is more important than if the song is technically well sung. Just do yourself a favor and stick to the Like A Virgin version, and stay far, far away from her overtly technical and altogether whitewashed kareoke version on Something To Remember. 73. Everybody-Madonna(1982):   "Dance and sing/Get up and do your thing!" Chart Position: #107 Bubbling Under Hot 100/#3 Hot Dance It's hard to imagine, knowing what we know now, that once upon a time in the early 80's that there was a music scene and a music industry without the spunky and altogether precocious 27 year old Bay City, Michigan native, but in the fall of 1982, that all changed with the release of Everybody, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone's very first single.Awkwardly produced, even for the synth and keyboard happy 80's, Everybody's production sounds cheap and flimsy like it was constructed by someone tinkering around with a My First Casio preset sound effect; and yes the lyrics-Madonna's entirely-are Idiot's Guide to Songwriting simple, but what saves the song from being ultimately forgettable among M's all time Hit Singles(which this song wasn't, by the way) is that Madonna's charm, charisma, and hungry determination to prove herself had never been so apparent than on her first single. Everybody just oozes personality and good times from every last sung note and set the stage for one of the most enduring and celebrated careers in music industry history. That's not too shabby from that aformentioned firecracker from suburban Detroit, confident that one day she would indeed rule the world. 72. Thief of Hearts-Erotica(1992): "Here she comes, Little Susie Ho-Maker/Thinks she'll get respect if she screws it" Brittle and obviously vicious to the point of being almost ridiculously camp, Thief of Hearts was tailor made for one of Madonna's primary target audiences: the overly dramatic and acid tongued, self centered gayboys. Madonna is nothing if not consistant, and she serves up some of her legendary bitchy attitude on silver platter, alternately dismissing her lover's bit on the side with an almost possesed determind assurance that she is indeed the better woman. Not that the song is about the cheating louse of an man anyways, because half way through Madonna switches tactics, taunting the other woman about her unsavory reputation with a true to life Madonna like confidence. And unlike some of Erotica's other tracks that scream of trying way too hard*coughSecretGardencough*,Thief of Hearts comes off 100% absolute Madonna and it makes for an entertaining listen. A word to the wise though-Do. Not. Mess. With. Her. Man. Because if Thief of Hearts is any indication, Madonna will be angry. And she will be out for blood. 71. Music-Music(2000):   "And when the music starts, I never want to stop/It's gonna drive me crazy," Chart Position: #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart(4 Weeks) Well who knew? Music, does in fact bring the bourgeoisie and the rebel together! Or at least the new generation of club conscious hipster cool kids with the song's almost underground hip hop like vibes and the old school era of Madonnabes that could still sink their teeth into a great big inescapable hook that by the 2000's was known as a surefire, copywrite pending Madge trademark. Spending 4 weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as Madonna's last Number One song currently, no song at the start of the 2000's could ignite a dance floor, straight or gay, faster than Music and Madonna, yet again, like she did with Vogue at the start of 90's, proved that she had absolutely no problem staying "current" or "one step ahead of the rest of the pack". If anything, Music just helped cement her legacy as one of the greatest Dance/Pop musicians in the history of music(no pun intended). After all there had to be a reason why they call the woman The Queen of Pop and Music  was just another feather in her cap of memorable singles. A/N:#1.....I know this part is five songs short, but I really wanted to get this posted so from now on, the list will be in five song installments....stay tuned for #'s70-66!

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