Agree with you about the “Love Song” collaboration. It was hyped big time prior to the album release but does sound more like a B-side from Prince.

Not a big Madonna fan but that “Like A Prayer” video was pretty ambitious for its time. Hard to believe that was two decades ago.

I was 8 years old when LAP came out and totally oblivious to any of the higher cultural significance and analyzations going on, I just knew how it felt. Everything that this chick touched at that time was thrilling and larger than life for people my age and I yearned to be just like her. I'd liked her very much since I was four and had heard the songs from her Like a Virgin album, but now I was totally obsessed, and everywhere I looked then there was a new Madonna manifestation to feed that obsession. I also remember how, just a few years later, all the kids in my little Episcopal school turned on her for being terrible and disgusting, and then it wasn't so much fun to be a huge Madonna fan.

However, such ardent worship can never really be forgotten; I can still remember that crazy, intense awe I experienced as a spectator of Madonna's artistic output of the time period. I'll always have an affinity for her music and a special affection for my girl no matter what. I think I made a good choice in who to be a fan of as a kid- she's now an icon!

A better description of her entire career, I haven't read. She's still trying, too. The squares have a lot higher threshold of indignation these days.

“The inversion of sexual exploitation into its own form of control”–that's the kind of thing porn stars like Sasha Grey say to explain their career choice. Might be more aesthetically appealing if they set it to a beat and kept it under five minutes.