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The forthcoming issue of Rolling Stone has a cover interview with Madonna, and it has a doozy of a revelation for those of us who love her post-Like A Virgin era: For some reason, the Material Girl is not a fan of awesome pieces of her back catalog like “Cherish” and “Into The Groove,” regarding both as entrants in “the most retarded songs I’ve written” derby. Uh, so what, Madge—you think that song about New York making you feel like a dork, or the one where you actually use the phrase “double shot-tay,” is somehow better? Really now. Clips of those two tracks, after the jump.
This was the video that made me want to be Madonna. Oh sigh.
(And speaking of “really now,” what’s up with her using “retarded” all the time lately? Is it a way for her to feel like a cool mom in front of Lourdes’ friends?)
Madonna Looks Back: The New Issue Of Rolling Stone [RS]
Madonna – Cherish [Dailymotion]
Madonna – Into the Groove [Dailymotion]
It’s a way for her to feel like a cool mom in front of Jesus’s friends.
“Into The Groove,” alongside Kylie’s “Locomotion,” were my favorite songs as a child. If Kylie can embrace her cheesy past, so too should Madonna. Having said that, I don’t wish anybody to have to relive their hairstyle from the late 1980’s.
It hardly sounds to me like she’s disowning the songs or anything… but you can see what she means about that optimism bordering on youthful naivete, right? Understandable if she can’t entirely relate to them (though that hasn’t stopped them from being classic, and she’s still playing Into the Groove on tour).
Um, if there were more songs as “dumb” as this nowadays, the pop landscape would be quite a bit more interesting (not to mention enjoyable). Sigh.
I think the issue is that if, when she was younger, so many people wanted to “be her”, how can she top that or even equal that kind of impact as a 50 year old woman, aside from, I dunno, owning up and becoming Barbra Streisand or something? Also, I think it’s important to remember that her entire career is one of constant collaboration with a revolving door of writers, producers, visual artists, etc.– and she’s bound to have mixed feelings about so many of those collaborations. A song like “Into The Groove” is so perfect for us as a listener, especially those of us who remember when it was a new single that so perfectly encapsulated the beauty of the times; for her, however, it probably reminds her of a time when she wasn’t yet fully in charge of her material, her image, her career, and her cultural cache. She’s nothing if not insanely hard on herself and her own material, so it isn’t surprising that she wouldn’t see those old tunes with rose colored glasses. I’ve never seen Madonna as the type who would go through her old material and go “Oh yeah, that song ruled. And so did that one. Oh and that one was great also.” Like a lot of middle aged self-flagellating superstars, she is the type to always think that what she’s working on right now is her best work; if she didn’t think that, she’d probably have a complete meltdown, I’d imagine.