Monolithic Gaze
23rd October 2008, 10:58 AM
But it was Madonna's spirited performance of Like A Virgin while rolling around onstage in a wedding dress accessorized with a belt that said Boy Toy during the very first broadcast of the MTV Video Awards that transformed her into pop royalty sharing throne space with the decade's other two giants, the much more musically gifted Michael Jackson and Prince.
She's still on top, her favourite position. Where are they?
While Jackson, Prince and Madonna all benefited from their popularity in gay clubs, and all riffed on queer culture to some extent —each affecting an androgynous, outrageous and supercharged sexual persona —only Madonna credited the gay community. In fact, she glorified it.
After all, we gave her a leg up —and have kept her legs in the air ever since.
Unlike Jackson, Madonna did not go supernova and disintegrate. Nor, like Prince, did she retreat into solipsistic self-indulgence, disregarding what fans wanted in favour of artistic creativity. (Don't get me wrong, I love Prince, but when Madonna is repeatedly dissed for being arrogant, we need to remember that compared to the aloof megalomania of Prince, Jackson and a whole swack of ageing male rock stars and blinged-out rappers, she's the girl next door.)
At one point in Prince's up-and-down career, the diminutive funkster from Minneapolis changed his name into an indecipherable squiggle, something Madonna would never do, knowing the importance of her brand and sticking to it.
http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/Why_we_love_Madonna-5730.aspx
She's still on top, her favourite position. Where are they?
While Jackson, Prince and Madonna all benefited from their popularity in gay clubs, and all riffed on queer culture to some extent —each affecting an androgynous, outrageous and supercharged sexual persona —only Madonna credited the gay community. In fact, she glorified it.
After all, we gave her a leg up —and have kept her legs in the air ever since.
Unlike Jackson, Madonna did not go supernova and disintegrate. Nor, like Prince, did she retreat into solipsistic self-indulgence, disregarding what fans wanted in favour of artistic creativity. (Don't get me wrong, I love Prince, but when Madonna is repeatedly dissed for being arrogant, we need to remember that compared to the aloof megalomania of Prince, Jackson and a whole swack of ageing male rock stars and blinged-out rappers, she's the girl next door.)
At one point in Prince's up-and-down career, the diminutive funkster from Minneapolis changed his name into an indecipherable squiggle, something Madonna would never do, knowing the importance of her brand and sticking to it.
http://www.xtra.ca/public/Vancouver/Why_we_love_Madonna-5730.aspx