Madonna's Immaculate Reception

One of the things I like about The Lefsetz Letter is how it’s primarily in black and white. At work, I typically have about five or six windows up on my monitor, in varying sizes, efficiently switching between the panes as I do my fairly mundane job.
Which is why I try to surf the net as much as possible.
Now writing blog topics is a little tricky because I have to start and stop repeatedly, which doesn’t bode well for stream of thought composition. I’ll usually wait until a break or lunch, but even then, I’m too wrapped up in work related bullshit to think about music.
So in varying lulls, I’ll check my favorite sites and keep a sharp look out for supervisors who may be walking by and notice my surfing during company hours. There are those who don’t give a shit; I noticed one peer blatantly shopping for watches online, but she’s in a less traveled area.
The Leftsetz Letter’s format is perfect as it can actually look like the rest of my screens, meaning, it gives the appearance of me actually doing work as I’m reading it.
In a recent topic, Bob Leftsetz talks about Madonna.
I got the latest edition of Vanity Fair and immediately noticed how airbrushed, how artificial, how unusual Madonna looks now.
It bothers me.
I was one of those infatuated with her during that “chubby” phase in the 80’s, but this post has nothing with how I felt about Madonna back in 1985.
Leftsetz tackles many points regarding Madonna in a recent post. He speaks about the aforementioned appeal of that chubby girl next door whose drive to success was indeed part of the allure.
The God’s honest truth: it wasn’t until I got that copy of Vanity Fair until I considered Madonna had indeed gotten a few “enhancements” to stay youthful. I mean, doesn’t that defeat the entire foundation on what helped fuel her success? The idea that with a ton of drive, even that plain looking girl next door with an arguable amount of talent could become the crown princess of pop music? Yes, I said it: the majority of Madonna’s talent lays in her determination, not in her songwriting, vocal abilities, dance skills, etc. This doesn’t suggest that she doesn’t have talent, she has plenty, but it’s her drive that trumps everything else she was born with or achieved through osmosis or assimilation.
The biggest point of Bob’s original point for me was the fact that Madonna apparently has a top five single out.
Yes, Madonna’s “4 Minutes” was the number 3 song in the country last week, and I have never heard it.
I will admit to not being an active Top 40 listener. Who listens to radio, anyway? But it’s not lost on me, Bob Leftsetz, and I’m sure a lot of others out there at how irrelevant the Billboard charts are these days.
It wasn’t too long ago when I still knew the songs she did that didn’t even crack the top ten, but nowadays, she can have a certifiable hit and I wouldn’t be able to identify it.
I gotta believe, and Leftsetz confirms, I’m not the only one who hasn’t heard it. Hell, it even has Justin Timberlake on it! That fucker should be everywhere.
This reminds me of Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together,” one of the most successful singles ever, topping the Billboard charts for fourteen…FOURTEEN…consecutive weeks. When I learned this, I was flabbergasted that a song that spent over three months as the top song in the country could go by me unnoticed. When I looked to see what some of the longest running number one singles were, I could identify the majority of them, but one of the largest ever, the longest running number one single by any female artist, I couldn’t name at all.
My wife, who’s twelve years younger than me and still listens to commercial radio, couldn’t either, but then again she hates Mariah Carey.
Not that I lose any sleep over this, but I don’t think I’m entirely sheltered to the point where I should be able to recognize the number one song in the country. I mean, shouldn’t I be hearing in through some form of stimuli. The point is (again) how irrelevant these antiquated charts are and how fragmented the industry has become. The hits seem to be fueled by commercials themselves rather than commercial radio. It’s a time when my own parents could easily identify Fiest’s “1-2-3-4” over Mariah Carey’s “We Belong Together” even when the charting system should prove otherwise.
Again, I don’t lose sleep over this and one of the main reasons is that, before I go to sleep tonight, I’ve got to check out the new Madonna single.
Why I have to actively seek it out when it should be all over my head at this point is another topic entirely.