Thirty-five years ago Madonna unleashed the iconic ‘Like A Prayer’ album upon a somewhat-suspecting world – a majestic and monumental album that has remained one of her most powerful musical statements all this time later. It formed an integral backdrop to some of the most formative years of my life, coming out at a time when I was thirteen going on fourteen – which is a key portion of life when music is often what matters most. I was lucky in that respect – lucky to have been alive and fully aware in the era of ‘Like A Prayer‘.
While that feels like a long time ago, it’s testament to Madonna’s enduring relevance and power that her recent take on the title track is still a compelling watch – see below before we go back in time…
In March of 1989, I was but a wee 13-year-old at Wilbur H. Lynch Middle School in Amsterdam, New York. It had been a school year plagued with illness – the wreckage and remaining lung function of a difficult turn with asthma left me drained and often gasping for breath, while a burgeoning and debilitating onset of undiagnosed social anxiety kept my mental engagement removed and woefully private from my classmates. I was looking for a source of power in every sense, and my thirst for such inspiration was satiated as Madonna released the ‘Like A Prayer’ single.
It was, and likely remains, the best kick-off single for any of her albums (with the possible exception of ‘Vogue’) and it was a critical, artistic, and commercial smash. In my life, I was equally thrilled and terrified by it – the flirtation with blasphemy, the undeniable pop-hook mastery of Patrick Leonard’s music, and the assertion of this woman as artistic provocateur proved impossible to resist. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was that spoke so deeply to me, I just felt its power, physically pricked by its heat, and the abandon, when I fully gave in to it, was like some spiritual orgasm that shook my entire body out of its teenage trappings. (And at that point in my life the only kneeling I had done had been at church, serving as an altar boy.)
The full album ended up scaring the shit out of my Catholic-raised ass, so much so that I almost smashed it beneath a rock in my backyard as proof of my devotion to God. (And we wonder what might be wrong with organized religion…) Eventually, I came around, and maybe it was all those shirtless gods from the ‘Express Yourself’ video or the ‘Love Song’ duet with her iconic equal Prince.
The entire album was filled with sonic surprises, perhaps because Madonna was finally going deep, as she explored her imploding marriage on ‘Til Death Do Us Part‘ or the death of her mother on ‘Promise to Try‘. There were some light-hearted moments, such as the whimsical ‘Dear Jessie‘ and lushly-romantic ‘Cherish‘, but the main themes were family (see ‘Oh Father‘ and ‘Keep It Together‘) and religion (see ‘Pray for Spanish Eyes‘ and ‘Act of Contrition‘). It was a combustible combination, and a musical collection that stands up to the ultimate test of time.
Three and a half decades later, I still find inspiration and strength in listening to this album, and music that manages to last that long is an artistic achievement. I leave you with this performance of ‘Like A Prayer’ from her 1990 Blonde Ambition Tour. It’s the stuff of immaculate pop icon history, and set the stage for a few decades of indelible ‘Prayer’ performances. Only the most powerful remain.
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