After more than three decades on top, Madonna has never been more relevant, more powerful or more interesting than she is at this very moment. How in the world does she do it? I’m writing about Madonna. Again.
In one of those full circle moments Oprah tends to get very excited about, my first professional journalism assignment came in the form of writing a review of True Blue, the Detroit native’s album released in 1986. As an ambitious writer/editor of 21, I took the job very seriously. Just a day after turning in my earnest critique (a rave), I arrived in Manhattan to start my dream job at Esquire, magazine home to some of my writing heroes Tom Wolfe, Gay Talese and John Gregory Dunne. It had been a very good week.
The first time I heard Madonna was back in 1982 during my first semester at Tulane University. As I hurried to get dressed to meet friends for a long night of New Orleans’ particular brand of debauchery (how I do miss those days), I heard a voice I couldn’t place coming from my roommate’s radio — female, African-American, sounding a bit like a grittier Jody Watley. The song was “Everybody,” Madonna’s first released track, and something about the song, her voice and her one-word moniker struck a winning chord with me. Her second hit, “Holiday,” an irresistible happy dance confection, solidified that this Madonna was the next hot R&B female vocalist and I wanted to hear more. You can imagine my shock when I first laid eyes on Madonna on MTV burning up my screen in her video for “Borderline”–her first Billboard Top 10 smash –and discovered that Madonna was, in fact, white and blonde! Who was this Madonna? I was hooked.
It’s surreal recounting the early days we were first introduced to the ambitious life force tornado bursting with in-your-face bravura that became the all-encompassing, omnipresent, intergalactic superstar with a Biblical name.
From the moment we laid eyes on Madonna–with crazy fishnet stockings, dirty jeans and fingerless lace gloves–she had us under her spell. As the singer once famously said to a reporter, “Love me or hate me, but you have to deal with me.” And dealing with her is something the world has been doing with wide-eyed fascination for more than three decades. There’s no stopping this woman.
Click HERE to read the full article by Huffington Post
