Category Archives: Madonna

The wait for a rather simple remix album seems worthy of the wait for a proper original studio album, and maybe that’s because we haven’t had a new Madonna release since 2019’s ‘Madame X’. We are definitely due for more, and this is hardly enough. A collection of Madonna’s 50 #1 Dance Chart hits (a record-breaker for any artist in any single category), ‘Finally Enough Love’ encompasses everything from ‘Holiday’ to ‘I Don’t Search I Find’, a lyric from the latter giving title to this opus (which could also be considered as GHV4?) It comes out, in its full incarnation, tomorrow. While I put this on my Amazon Wish List, the days of me eagerly waiting for and instantly going out to purchase a physical format of the latest Madonna release are long gone. That said, there’s always a bit of magic in the air when Madonna does anything, even if it’s a re-issue of songs that every true fan already owns. Here’s looking forward to the next musical chapter, and may it come sooner rather than later.

The track listing of the entry compilation is as follows, and for those we have already chronicled in the Madonna Timeline, click on the title for the link:

1.    “Holiday” (7” Version) 
2.    “Like A Virgin” (7” Version)
3.    “Material Girl” (7” Version)
4.    “Into The Groove” (You Can Dance Remix Edit)
5.    “Open Your Heart” (Video Version) 
6.    “Physical Attraction” (You Can Dance Remix Edit)
7.    “Everybody” (You Can Dance Remix Edit) 
8.    “Like A Prayer” (Remix/Edit)
9.    “Express Yourself” (Remix/Edit)
10.    “Keep It Together” (Alternate Single Remix) 
11.    “Vogue” (Single Version) 
12.    “Justify My Love” (Orbit Edit)
13.    “Erotica” (Underground Club Mix)
14.    “Deeper And Deeper” (David’s Radio Edit) 
15.    “Fever” (Radio Edit) 
16.    “Secret” (Junior’s Luscious Single Mix)
17.    “Bedtime Story” (Junior’s Single Mix)
18.    “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina” (Miami Mix Edit)
19.    “Frozen” (Extended Club Mix Edit)
20.    “Ray Of Light” (Sasha Ultra Violet Mix Edit) 
21.    “Nothing Really Matters” (Club 69 Radio Mix) 
22.    “Beautiful Stranger” (Calderone Radio Mix)
23.    “American Pie” (Richard ‘Humpty’ Vission Radio Mix) 
24.    “Music” (Deep Dish Dot Com Radio Edit)
25.    “Don’t Tell Me” (Thunderpuss Video Remix) 
26.    “What It Feels Like For A Girl” (Above And Beyond Club Radio Edit)
27.    “Impressive Instant” (Peter Rauhofer’s Universal Radio Mixshow Mix) 
28.    “Die Another Day” (Deepsky Radio Edit) 
29.    “American Life” (Felix Da Housecat’s Devin Dazzle Edit) 
30.    “Hollywood” (Calderone & Quayle Edit) 
31.    “Me Against The Music” (Peter Rauhofer Radio Mix)  – Britney Spears feat. Madonna
32.    “Nothing Fails” (Tracy Young’s Underground Radio Edit) 
33.    “Love Profusion” (Ralphi Rosario House Vocal Edit) 
34.    “Hung Up” (SDP Extended Vocal Edit)
35.    “Sorry” (PSB Maxi Mix Edit) 
36.    “Get Together” (Jacques Lu Cont Vocal Edit) 
37.    “Jump” (Axwell Remix Edit)
38.    “4 Minutes” (Bob Sinclar Space Funk Edit)  – feat. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland
39.    “Give It 2 Me” (Eddie Amador Club 5 Edit) 
40.    “Celebration” (Benny Benassi Remix Edit)
41.    “Give Me All Your Luvin’” (Party Rock Remix) – feat. LMFAO & Nicki Minaj
42.    “Girl Gone Wild” (Avicii’s UMF Mix)
43.    “Turn Up The Radio” (Offer Nissim Remix Edit) 
44.    “Living For Love” (Offer Nissim Promo Mix) 
45.    “Ghosttown” (Dirty Pop Intro Remix)
46.    “Bitch I’m Madonna” (Sander Kleinenberg Video Edit)  – feat. Nicki Minaj
47.    “Medellín” (Offer Nissim Madame X In The Sphinx Mix) – Madonna and Maluma
48.    “I Rise” (Tracy Young’s Pride Intro Radio Remix)
49.    “Crave” (Tracy Young Dangerous Remix) – feat. Swae Lee
50.    “I Don’t Search I Find” (Honey Dijon Radio Mix)

Holiday, celebration, come together in every nation!

Our Queen Pop Icon Goddess Madonna celebrates her birthday today, and so we celebrate her legacy and body of work, just as she is about to release another greatest hits collection – this of her 50 #1 dance songs (yes, she’s had 50 #1 songs on the dance chart, far and away more than anyone else in the world, living or dead, and the most any single artist has amassed on any single chart). She’s celebrating in Italy this year, and though it’s been a bit of a rocky go of it over the past year (she’s had a break-up, been attacked by fans and non-fans alike for her plastic surgery and looks, and made a few questionable moves on social media) she seems to be plotting the next main Madonna event. Her appearance at Gay Pride back in June was epic and reminded everyone who the fuck she was, and always has been. 

My favorite Madonna songs shift and undulate, like the charts she once ruled. Depending on the season or the mood, certain songs come back into focus, while others fade more obscurely into the past. My top three, however, have remained static and in place for the better part of two decades. I’ll post the links here, in honor of the day:

3. ‘Vogue‘ ~ She gave good face.

2. ‘Like A Prayer‘ ~ She wanted to take us there.

1. ‘Drowned World: Substitute for Love‘ ~ She showed us her religion. 

All right America – do you believe in love?

For some of a certain age, the summer of 1989 was defined by Madonna’s ‘Express Yourself’ – and for those too young to remember that, it’s now a year-round anthem for whenever I feel like we need to kick some ass. And there is no time like the present for kicking some ass…

Whether you have to fight for the integrity of our great country, or have your eye on something smaller like simply making it through the workday, ‘Express Yourself’ is a ball-busting exercise in maintaining a belief in yourself, a striking reminder to say what you mean and mean what you say. Who better to deliver such a message than Madonna? 

“WITHOUT THE HEART, THERE CAN BE NO UNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE HAND AND THE MIND.”

Recaptured brilliantly by Madonna expert Matthew Rettenmund on ‘Boyculture’ here, Madonna’s return to her throne for Pride 2022 was a smashing success, and a tell-tale signpost of why we need her more than ever. Even with the snippets and clips alone, she proves she is still one of the most thrilling entertainers of any generation. She performed various versions of several career-spanning songs – ‘Material Girl‘, ‘Hung Up‘ and ‘Celebration‘ – all of them seductive, playful, exuberant and as fresh as when they each came out for the very first time. It was a pleasant, and badly-needed, recollection of what made, and makes, her so damn great. Personally, I just needed the celebratory revelry of dance, pride, and gay fabulousness that is the hallmark of her wondrous career. 

[See also ‘Vogue‘, ‘Where’s the Party?‘, ‘Cherish‘, ‘Music‘, ‘I Don’t Search, I Find‘, ‘Rebel Heart‘, and ‘Gimme All Your Luvin’‘.}

At the time of this posting the first format of Madonna’s dance hit collection – ‘Finally Enough Love‘ – will have been released, the perfect soundtrack to the summer that’s ahead. The full 50-song set drops later in August, and Madonna has been back in the promotional spotlight, performing at a Gay Pride event tonight to get us all pumped for the new release. While I’d prefer new music, Madonna’s classic dance vibes will easily do for the summer. ‘Vogue‘, ‘Turn Up the Radio‘, ‘Celebration‘, ‘Music‘, ‘Ray of Light‘ and ‘Express Yourself’ have all formed the backbones of summer sounds over the last three decades. Get up on the dance floor!

Suffering Madonna fatigue isn’t something to which I’m all that accustomed. For decades she has done little to no wrongs, but these last few years I’ve had issues with some of her choices, and, worse, I’ve found myself not even caring what she does. The world has indeed gone topsy-turvy in the midst of a pandemic, and all bets are off. Seismic shifts are now the norm, and things I once held as forever stable have melted away like the flimsiest of sandcastles. 

Maybe I’ve just aged beyond the time when music makes the same strong impression it made in my youth. I’ve heard others describe similar circumstances, this loss of passion over a certain song and melody, the kind of obsession that once allowed me to play a song on repeat for hours and days and weeks on end. Very little stirs me that strongly these days, and part of me mourns that. 

The latest upcoming release form Madonna – ‘Finally Enough Love‘ – 50 of her #1 dance hits remixed and compiled in a sprawling collection – doesn’t kickstart that passion either. Partly because it’s a rehashing of whats been done before – sounds like these are mixes most of her fans have already heard. Hoping for some new twist, but not expecting it. Her recent remixes of ‘Frozen‘ on Tik Tok have also left me largely unimpressed. Once upon a time Madonna operated in the mode of not bothering with something if wasn’t going to be epic. Those days are done. 

And I’m oddly at peace with it. 

Today marks the anniversary of Madonna’s epic ‘Like A Prayer’ album. For those of us old enough to remember the spring of 1989, this will always harken to that heady time of burning crosses on MTV, and a darker, more somber and serious Madonna than we’d ever encountered before. It remains a masterpiece that holds up – a timeless classic rooted in solid songs and musical brilliance – and it has endured because of its universal themes. Let’s revisit its track-list, link by exuberant link:

1. Like A Prayer
2. Express Yourself
3. Love Song
4. ‘Til Death Do Us Part
5. Promise To Try
6. Cherish
7. Dear Jessie
8. Oh Father
9. Keep It Together
10. Spanish Eyes
11. Act of Contrition

There was something raw and tender about the winter of 1998. Living in Boston at the time, and following the bloody trail of my bruised but not yet broken heart, I longed for love as I got lost in the muck of desire and decadent depravity. It wasn’t a sexual awakening I was seeking, or even a blooming of the soul, it was the acceptance of not knowing where I was meant to be, and greater than that an acceptance of realizing I might never know. It was the journey of almost every early-twenty-something – both lost and found, both elated and despondent – and I embraced it as much as I pushed it away. 

That March, Madonna released her best album to date, ‘Ray of Light’, the album that changed her career, solidified her status as an artistic force (when she so desired), and gave her lifelong fans cause for celebration and reflection at once. The music was especially moving for me – one of those moments of youth where music collides with the magical time of the early twenties – and in each song I found something in which to marvel, to ponder, to wonder. 

The witching hour of the midnight release at Tower Records on Newbury Street arrived and the new Madonna music poured forth from the sound system. After rushing back with album in hand, I hastily put it on the stereo and laid down on the cold wooden floor. My silly retail job – the very first job I procured on my own, and one that I loved so dearly because I was so good at it – would begin in just a few hours. It didn’t matter. Madonna’s voice – the one that guided me throughout my childhood, the one that had shaped me into the young man I was – sounded throughout the empty rooms. Born out of night and darkness, born out of the depths of winter which echoed with frozen memories, it was music to soothe the soul. Looking back, I realize it was music of meditation, even if I was decades from meditating. 

Today marks the 24th anniversary of the American release of ‘Ray of Light’, and with the day comes the remembrance of the night I flew through Copley Square and the front yard of Trinity Church on roller blades, my black coat fluttering wildly behind me as I screamed loudly into the night air. It recalls the fall I said hello to a new love and the following winter in which I said goodbye. It brings back the loss of innocence, torn from the firmament of my youth like a little falling star. More than that, it shines a sliver of light on a past that feels both dimmer and brighter than it probably ever really was, cracking open the heart like a frozen drop of water cracks open a rock. 

Tomorrow the Madonna Timeline returns with something billed as something to remember, but it’s not one of the strongest entries. Some Madonna songs can be no more than filler, and fodder for memories. In this preparatory post, we see some of her latest online shenanigans. What I would give for her lighting and filters… 

The latest murmurs of Madonna have her working on a collection of her 50 #1 Dance hits for this fall (late summer?) as well as casting her movie biopic. I wish I could get more excited over both of these projects, but Madonna’s strength has never resided in re-hashing. Re-inventing, yes. Revolutionizing, absolutely. Re-treading… not so much, even if a Madonna re-tread is still often more spectacular than most pop stars’ virgin tracks. 

Speaking of virgins, I see that her classic ‘Like A Virgin’ song is used now in a Virgin cruise ship commercial. Once upon a time, that song was controversy and untouchable for commercial purposes. Clearly, times have changed. A cruise ship commercial. Dear God. 

Tomorrow, we return to the glory days. May there be a few more in the future… 

Returning to Warner Brothers, Madonna seems to be making a dance retrospective her first project if we are to piece together her otherwise nonsensical Instagram and social media posts of late. She’s been hinting at a non-stop mix of her 50 #1 Dance Hits, which sounds more like a throwaway promo track for some greatest hits album. Ho-hum, but I’ll take it as we haven’t had any music from her since 2019’s ‘Madame X’ opus. In the meantime, let’s look back at some classic Madonna moments to remind us of the power and say she once held. 

‘Like A Prayer‘ – the majesty and might… she took us there. 

‘Vogue‘ – strike a pose, there’s nothing to it.

‘Express Yourself’ – come on girls, do you believe in love?

‘Live to Tell’ – will I ever have the chance again?

‘Deeper and Deeper’ – think with your heart not with your head.

‘Ray of Light‘  – someone else will be there through the endless years.

‘Music‘ – do you like to boogie woogie?

In the age of social media where tweens run amok and everyone hides behind a fake name and filtered image, even the most durable and classic of pop stars have a hard time escaping the awfulness that comes from giving anonymous losers any sort of platform. That goes for this blog as well, so I’m not above admitting I’m occasionally part of the problem. The difference is that I don’t hide who I am – you got my name and face and body, and if you want any sort of respect you should reciprocate the honor. 

With that said, it seems a good moment to address all the Madonna-bashing that goes on when she does just about anything these days, and to remind myself, and anyone reading this, of how lucky we are to have such an icon still living her life and causing a commotion. Do I always agree with her? No. I never have. But I can do so in a thoughtful and respectful way. I find her Instagram-heavy focus of late cringe-worthy not because she’s too old to pose in such pictures, but rather because they seem to be detracting from her legacy of music and drama. Besides, anyone can be Insta-famous these days – Madonna was a star long before social media was even born, and remains so even in this age of social media madness. Madonna’s presence on Instagram, while mandatory these days, is almost a foot-note in her pop culture accomplishments. Still, it gets her points across, and currently that’s celebrating her body – a Madonna tradition that goes back to when she first bared her belly-button and writhed across the MTV Music Awards stage while crooning ‘Like A Virgin’. 

She did a stunning spread for V Magazine in which she and Steven Klein paid more homage to Marilyn Monroe, as seen in the accompanying photos. Yes, they’re airbrushed and edited to the point of caricature, but that’s partly been the point of Madonna since the beginning – she makes us wonder how much is real, how much is fluff, and how much really matters. She registers in an increasingly-chaotic and random universe where information and images are thrust so quickly and voluminously at us that it’s a wonder anything registers at all. To get anyone talking about you these days is a major accomplishment when you consider the trending topics on Twitter any given morning.

Madonna remains a master at this, and positing her body and image as exhibit A for four continuous decades, and not letting up anytime soon, is pretty damn impressive. Making some bold and courageous artistic statements along the way (and usually far ahead of their time) is what has cemented her status as artistic icon. Wrapping it all up with some indelible music has left us with a musical legacy and timeline filled with memories and history (and anyone having a rough day should simply consider one of her multiple greatest hits packages to immediately lift the mood). 

Your opinions of Madonna prove that she still matters – stop hating and start celebrating.