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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2019 22:38:35 GMT -5
 You be the judge! She looks like a dominatrix who had an accident with her whip! Meanwhile, Bruce Springsteen looks like he's headed to the feed store......  He reminds me of the farmers who i grew up around, especially in the early 70s. Pretty sure Springsteen isn't using a cheap gimmick to sell his new album, though...... |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2019 22:39:13 GMT -5
Madonna and Adam Ant should collaborate on a personna...........
.........I mean album..............
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 14, 2019 22:42:23 GMT -5
I think I liked it better when it looked like she was going to give pro wrestling a try....  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2019 22:52:34 GMT -5
I think I liked it better when it looked like she was going to give pro wrestling a try.... Or giving a good Austin Powers treatment singing "Beautiful Dreamer" ... |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Jun 15, 2019 3:31:43 GMT -5
He reminds me of the farmers who i grew up around, especially in the early 70s. Pretty sure Springsteen isn't using a cheap gimmick to sell his new album, though...... So he's keeping the same gimmick he's always used? I don't mean this an an insult AT ALL, but Bruce has always sold persona-as-product, and I don't think his "hardworking lower middle class Jersey boy" thing is any less manufactured whatever Madonna's doing. It's a false construct - like any performer/audience relationship - and it's designed to smooth out the rough edges and improve marketability. Every professional musician eventually realizes that they are a product. Some try to fool their audience with delusions of "authenticity" - or tacitly allow their marketing team to do so - and some don't. Madonna strikes me as refreshingly honest, always has. That said, I rarely liked her music* - I'm more of a Cyndi Lauper guy. (* Like a Prayer is my mo-fo JAM, tho) |
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Post by The Captain on Jun 15, 2019 5:27:16 GMT -5
He reminds me of the farmers who i grew up around, especially in the early 70s. Pretty sure Springsteen isn't using a cheap gimmick to sell his new album, though...... So he's keeping the same gimmick he's always used? I don't mean this an an insult AT ALL, but Bruce has always sold persona-as-product, and I don't think his "hardworking lower middle class Jersey boy" thing is any less manufactured whatever Madonna's doing. It's a false construct - like any performer/audience relationship - and it's designed to smooth out the rough edges and improve marketability. Every professional musician eventually realizes that they are a product. Some try to fool their audience with delusions of "authenticity" - or tacitly allow their marketing team to do so - and some don't. Madonna strikes me as refreshingly honest, always has. That said, I rarely liked her music* - I'm more of a Cyndi Lauper guy. (* Like a Prayer is my mo-fo JAM, tho) My father was the popular music critic for Pittsburgh's biggest newspaper for 17 years, and he could not stand Madonna at all. He said that she was all show and no substance and that she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, and that if it weren't for MTV, she would have spent her life swinging from a pole in a strip club in Detroit. I've never been a big fan of her music, but I will leave "Material Girl" on the radio if I happen to come across (it's a catchy little pop song), and "Like a Prayer" is a pretty good song as well. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jun 15, 2019 6:50:11 GMT -5
He reminds me of the farmers who i grew up around, especially in the early 70s. Pretty sure Springsteen isn't using a cheap gimmick to sell his new album, though...... So he's keeping the same gimmick he's always used? I don't mean this an an insult AT ALL, but Bruce has always sold persona-as-product, and I don't think his "hardworking lower middle class Jersey boy" thing is any less manufactured whatever Madonna's doing. It's a false construct - like any performer/audience relationship - and it's designed to smooth out the rough edges and improve marketability. Every professional musician eventually realizes that they are a product. Some try to fool their audience with delusions of "authenticity" - or tacitly allow their marketing team to do so - and some don't. Madonna strikes me as refreshingly honest, always has. That said, I rarely liked her music* - I'm more of a Cyndi Lauper guy. (* Like a Prayer is my mo-fo JAM, tho) I was merely joking about him looking like a 1960s farmer, in that photo; but, that said, he's been pretty consistent with his image, manufactured or real. His music is real enough, though I can take or leave most of it. Not really my music; but, I don't dislike it. Madonna is pure marketing and always has been, as can be judged by all of her recent media appearances in the ridiculous eye patch. When I worked for B&N, we got a remaindered French language edition of her Sex book and the photos were about a provocative as the average perfume ad (only with worse photography). I recall seeing magazine covers with that stupid boxing/wrestling look and laughing at it. She needs the gimmicks to sell the "music." That said, I like some of her early songs, though usually not the bigger hits. I can still recall her first interview on MTV, with Mark Goodman (at least, I'm fairly sure it was with him), where she was someone who had charted on the Dance lists, but was crossing over to the Pop charts. That was about the last time she portrayed shy and humble. Next thing you know, after 3 or 4 videos of her dancing around in thrift shop wear and bustiers, she's rolling around on the MTV Video Awards stage, singing "Like A Virgin," which no one was prepared to believe. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,201 
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Post by Confessor on Jun 15, 2019 8:48:16 GMT -5
Madonna is pure marketing and always has been... I'm not much of a Madonna fan, but I really think that this statement is both a little harsh and completely inaccurate. I mean, yes, of course Madonna has always been a media chameleon, transitioning through a multitude of different images over the years, but that's also pretty much what great pop music is all about! She's no different in that respect to the likes of David Bowie or Prince or Michael Jackson. But the thing is, all the marketing in the world won't help you if you don't have good songs. Popular music history is littered with largely forgotten acts who looked great, but didn't have a decent record to save their lives. Madonna, on the other hand, has had a 30+ year long career precisely because she writes and performs great, great pop songs. What's more, a fair few of her classic pop singles actually have social, sexual or inter-personal themes, which elevates her songwriting into the same confessional pop milieu as John Lennon, Gwen Stefani, Elvis Costello, and the aforementioned Prince (to name just four). Make no mistake, beneath the flashy videos and eye-grabbing, hyper-sexualised image changes, there is plenty of substance to Madonna's music. Her multi-platinum selling greatest hits album, The Immaculate Collection, is a veritable masterclass in sharp, savvy, insanely catchy pop songwriting. The fact that she's not universally regarded as a pop genius at this point by the critical cognoscenti -- particularly male rock critics and so-called "real music fans" -- has more to do with sexism and thinly-veiled misogyny than any lack of talent on Madonna's part. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Jun 15, 2019 8:53:55 GMT -5
This society is totally obsessed with style over substance. She delivers what people want. That is all.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 15, 2019 9:15:48 GMT -5
This society is totally obsessed with style over substance. She delivers what people want. That is all. Like 99% of all pop stars, but with more success than most because she's quite good at producing catchy tunes. Most pop stars in Madonna's class are to music what Jim Lee is to comics. No Will Eisners or Jack Kirbys in terms of innovation, but pretty good at giving us the best of what a formulaic product can be. |
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Post by Icctrombone on Jun 15, 2019 9:27:17 GMT -5
Didn’t someone say that 90% of everything is crap ? We need the Jim Lee’s of the world and it’s nice when you get a Kirby.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 15, 2019 9:51:03 GMT -5
to Me, Madonna looks like she's trying too hard here -- but she's been trying too hard for at least the past 5 years.
(the last album was atrocious too. . . seriously, this was crap, and THIS was the single???:
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jun 15, 2019 10:53:34 GMT -5
Yeah, I'm with Confessor on this one; I'm also not a big fan (although I like several of her songs quite a bit), but I do respect her. And I think Confessor's comparison to Bowie in terms of her many image changes is quite apt - and ol' Ziggy Stardust (or is it the Thin White Duke?) was rarely criticized for being kind of a pop culture chameleon, quite the opposite in fact.
Also, Madonna never did anything as pretentious as change her name to an unpronounceable symbol (and I'm saying that as someone who's much, much more a fan of Prince's music than hers).
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Post by Icctrombone on Jun 15, 2019 12:03:26 GMT -5
to Me, Madonna looks like she's trying too hard here -- but she's been trying too hard for at least the past 5 years. (the last album was atrocious too. . . seriously, this was crap, and THIS was the single???: Actually, I'm surprised that she is still recording. She's been around for almost 40 years, way past the shelf life of most Musical acts. |
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Post by The Captain on Jun 15, 2019 12:09:11 GMT -5
to Me, Madonna looks like she's trying too hard here -- but she's been trying too hard for at least the past 5 years. (the last album was atrocious too. . . seriously, this was crap, and THIS was the single???: That may be, honestly, the worst "song" I have heard in my entire life. If the Apocalypse has a soundtrack, that's got to be on the album. |
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