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hate her, but chances are you have some strong opinion of Madonna. If you've read my other chartopper columns it comes as no surprise that, for the past 20 years, I've adored her! And she continues to inspire me with each new album. For the next few months, in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the release of her very first record, I'll be looking back at Madonna's amazing career and talking about each release! We'll have some fun trivia with great prizes so stay tuned and please keep reading Chartoppers: Madonna! Email me at chris@fredflare.com. I'd love to hear your stories about Madonna! Xxoo, Chris Click here for Chartoppers: the 80’s! |
 What’s your all-time fave song to dance to? Is it Blondie’s "Call Me"? Deee-Lite’s "Groove is in the Heart"? Or are you new school and love to jack it to Beyoncé’s "Crazy in Love"? Or maybe you’re wild and love to do "The Macarena"? My fave is, of course, "Vogue"! Even though 13 years have passed since it first pumped at Berlin, my favorite dance club in Chicago, I still find this hit to be the perfect dance floor gem with a great message: you are fabulous! In 1990, with "Vogue" at the top of the charts, Dick Tracy in theaters everywhere, the Blonde Ambition tour in full swing and the release of her fifth studio record I’m Breathless, Madonna was, to say the least, fabulous! Gosh, this lineup of breakneck-paced projects could really make your head spin. But it was Madonna’s records that were spinning then, and spinning by the millions they were. With the release of I’m Breathless we see Madonna at the very tiptop peak of her career. A lot of people don’t really consider I’m Breathless an "official" Madonna record since it’s more of a period piece but I decided to put it in this lineup because it was, nonetheless, a full set of brand-new Maddy material. I’m Breathless, a soundtrack of sorts, is also an homage to the Breathless Mahoney character that Madonna played in Warren Beatty’s blockbuster film adaptation of the comic strip Dick Tracy. This is the first time we see M step out of the pop arena and into another musical genre altogether with big band numbers and some serious cha-cha-cha! With only a few songs from the record that are actually in the film, Madonna still manages to create a cohesive collection of tunes that you could totally imagine Breathless belting out at the local Prohibition hot spot. The only exception is, of course, the chartopping mega-hit "Vogue". "Vogue", the sole modern tune on the record, has lyrics dedicated to old school Hollywood glamour, so somehow it fits just fine. Let’s investigate I’m Breathless track by track... The set opens with "He’s a Man". "He’s a Man" begins with that whole "you dirty copper" talk as Madonna sings about, well, her man. Here we find her bad-ass guy fighting evil and getting the bad guys, but he still better find time to tend to Madonna’s needs or she’s gonna go get her gun from somebody else! Next up is the Stephen Sondheim-penned "Sooner or Later". This torch song, complete with a grand piano and shuffle drum actually won Madonna an Academy award for Best Song. Hooray!!! Here, too, she’s singin’ about her man and she’s gonna get him good! Boy, Oscar, she got you good, all right! Remember the 1991 Oscars when Madonna performed the song in her Marilyn incarnation? I loved it and thought she looked amazing, but I didn’t love the rumors of her dating her Oscar escort, Michael Jackson. You gotta love those publicity stunts, though. I’m just glad she went home with Oscar and not Michael. No hanky panky between Mo and Jacko, thank you very much. Which brings us to "Hanky Panky", the second and final single from I’m Breathless. This song is basically about, well... spanking. Hmm, my bottom hurts just thinkin’ about it... Madonna says herself, "there’s nothing like a good spanky!" Oh, I just love her. She cracks me up! By the time I’m Breathless arrives at "I’m Going Bananas" and "Cry Baby" it’s a cuckoo silly ditty fest. "I’m Going Bananas" has Madge singing in a crazy funny baby voice with a Spanish accent. She’s going bananas over - you guessed it! - her man. "Cry Baby" is also about her man, but this time he’s an all too sensitive boo-hoo wah-wah type. This is actually a great song to put on when you’re depressed since it’s almost as if Madonna is right there trying to make you laugh and cheer you up, telling you to wipe those tears ‘n strike a pose, ‘cause when you’re confident you’re hot and that’ll take you far. Words to live by! With "Something to Remember" we arrive at the emotional core of I’m Breathless. I always thought this sad song about losing at love referred to Madonna’s ex, Sean Penn. I think that his phantom was still kind of around at this stage in the game. Even in Truth or Dare, when asked who the love of her life is, Madonna replies simply, "Sean." Aw, it was so sad. I’ll turn into a cry baby soon if we don’t move on... Madonna does so quickly as she throws in one last showgirl bonanza, "Back in Business". When we get to the songs "More" and "What Can You Lose", both also written by Sondheim, we’re in full Dick Tracy finery as these two songs appear prominently in the film. I love "More" so much because it’s very Material Girl. Madonna loves her man (surprise) AND her diamonds, but still wants, you know... more. "What Can You Lose", a duet with Mandy Patinkin, who also played the character 88 Keys in the film, is a lovely melancholy song about the risks of confessing your love to someone who might not love you in return, something we can all relate to. They sing, "With so much to win, there’s too much to lose." We approach the finish line with "Now I’m Following You, Part 1 & 2", a twin set of retro song duets with Madonna and Mr. Warren Beatty. In "Part 1" we get tap dancers and boogie woogies as M and W go back and forth about who’s on top. Then the record skips us into "Part 2", a mixed-up pumped-up drumbeat version. It kinda reminds me of "Dancin", Olivia’s duet with the Tubes off the Xanadu soundtrack, when two eras of the same song combine for pure pop fun. When the loverz finish up singing together, the lights go down and the bass line pumps as Madonna belts out her über hit "Vogue". "Vogue", dedicated to old school glamour, is also a celebration of the underground dance craze known as "vogueing" where striking a pose, walking the catwalk and looking fabulous is key. If you’re feeling a lil’ rusty with the moves check out the film Paris is Burning. This is an amazing documentary about vogueing’s New York City origins featuring some folks on the fringe, gays, transgenders and transsexuals, all finding unity at the Ball, a dance competition of who’s more fierce n’ fabulous. If you haven’t seen it, go rent it immediately! Malcolm McClaren actually sang about vogueing first in the awesome jam "Deep in Vogue" but Madonna beautifully squeezes out the essence of this dance trend and makes it palpable for the masses. That’s what she does best. She’s genius at pinpointing trends and making them her own by adding a dash of her inimitable "you can do it!" The video for "Vogue" is brilliant, too. Shot in black and white, we see Madonna all 1940’s diva style with incredible dance moves and hot boyz in tuxes. Okay, people, trivia time: How many Hollywood stars does Madge namedrop in "Vogue"? Thinking, thinking, thinking... Hey, don’t cheat! Okay, she mentions 16 peeps, but can you name ‘em all… in order? Let’s sing it together… "Greta Garbo, and Monroe, Deitrich and DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean, on the cover of magazine. Grace Kelly, Harlow, Jean, picture of a beauty queen. Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, dance on air. They had style, they had grace, Rita Hayworth gave good face. Lauren, Katherine, Lana too, Bette Davis, we love you…" In 1990, yours truly was feeling pretty fabulous myself, thanks for asking. For the complete story check out my chartoppers: 1990 column, but for the Cliff note version read on… I was in college and living in the dorms, had many great friends and loved what I was learning in Architecture school. My fatal flaw was that I was trying to make my parents happy and have the perfect non-gay relationship. So I decided to follow a girl to Europe… to study, of course, but mostly to try and be with her. While I prepared for my year abroad I had a mad Summer of Fun, the high point being Madonna’s Blonde Ambition tour, which I saw twice. I even got a dark ponytail extension and wore my all-black spandex outfit with combat boots to match her "Vogue" performance look. And somehow I still thought I wasn’t gay. Well, it made sense at the time... So I got to Europe and set up shop in Versailles, France - that’s were my school was - but quickly caught on that it wasn’t going to work between me and the girl. Turns out she was actually following someone of her own to Europe... Oh well. I decided to make the most of it and spend quality time with this other girl... Madonna! I’m Breathless, her newly released Immaculate Collection and any other remix tape I could fit in my backpack became constant companions. Maddy and I had a blast as we spent the year exploring as much of Europe as we could during independent study trips. We went to 14 different countries and had the time of our life! We partied with Gaudí in Barcelona, sketched across Rome, saw the Wall come down in Berlin, but nothing was more glamorous than me ‘n Mo riding the Paris Métro while "Vogue" thumped on the Walkman! It was quite a journey. This period in Europe was actually the first time in my life that I was away from my watchdog-like parents. I was free! I could go wherever I wanted and do whatever I desired. And I realized who I was. I was a fabulously talented gay boy from Joliet, Illinois, with dreams as big as the sky… 09/01/03 |
