People love great television, especially awards shows like the MTV VMAs where hundreds of artists gather annually to celebrate the top music videos of the year. The show has become popular for its jarring and shocking moments as much as the actual awards. In anticipation of the big night (September 12, 2010), check out our top 10 list of the most wildest and jaw dropping moments in VMA history.
From the bizarre opening act by a seemingly sedated and winded [lastfm]Britney Spears[/lastfm], a stage invasion by a furious [lastfm]Kanye West[/lastfm] during [lastfm]Taylor Swift[/lastfm]'s acceptance speech to an actual brawl between [lastfm]Kid Rock[/lastfm] and [lastfm]Tommy Lee[/lastfm], these are the Top 10 Memorable VMA Moments. Watch them all below and be sure to check out great lists and galleries by our friends at Radio.com's Daily Top 10.
10. OK GO performs "Here It Goes Again" Ever since [lastfm]OK Go[/lastfm] performed their synchronized treadmill dance routine at the 2006 MTV VMAs, they went from being a viral sensation to bonafide Pop stars.
9. Lady Gaga and Kermit The Frog There were tons of hot couples like [lastfm]Beyonce [/lastfm]and [lastfm]Jay-Z[/lastfm] at the 2009 MTV VMAs, but [lastfm]Lady Gaga[/lastfm] and her date Kermit the Frog were the beyond the most fabulous that night.
8. Britney Spears Gives Up Britney Spears' VMA 2007 opening number was meant to be her big comeback, but instead the fallen Pop idol gave nothing but a underwhelming performance.
7. Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera Kiss In 2003, all three pop queens lip-locked and shocked the world during a performance of [lastfm]Madonna[/lastfm]'s "Like A Virgin."
6. Triumph vs. Moby vs. Eminem Triumph the Insult Comic Dog interviewed celebrities on the red carpet in 2002. The entire video is hilarious, but moment worth noting is when [lastfm]Eminem[/lastfm] gets into a scuffle with the dog puppet operated by comedy writer Robert Smigel. Who knew [lastfm]Moby[/lastfm] could make people so mad?
5. Kid Rock vs. Tommy Lee At the 2007 VMAs, Pamela Anderson's ex-flames [lastfm]Kid Rock[/lastfm] and [lastfm]Tommy Lee[/lastfm]ended up brawling. Both were thrown out, and Rock was charged with misdemeanor battery.
4. Courtney Love and Madonna Cat Fight [lastfm]Courtney Love[/lastfm] interrupts Madonna's VMA red carpet interview with Kurt Loder. Classic moment is when Courtney apologizes to Kurt (watch @4:55 mark) and said, "Was I bumming you out, were you guys talking astrophysics or something?"
3. Bruno's (aka Sacha Baron Cohen) Butt Prank on Eminem For a moment, many questioned if the controversial Bruno and Eminem incident at the 2009 VMAs was completely staged. If it was a mere accident, wouldn't you think a real Slim Shady would've punched him the face?
2.Britney Spears Presents Michael Jackson with the "Artist of the Millennium Award" This was probably the most embarrassing yet memorable moments in VMA history. In 2002, Michael Jackson's birthday fell on the same day as the awards show. Britney Spears was asked to present him with a cake. During her speech, she called Michael "the artist of the millennium" but no such award exists. Then things took a turn for the weird…
1. Kanye West and Taylor Swift Mr. West spoiled Taylor Swift's victory moment when he ran up on stage, grabbed her mic and said, "Yo Taylor. I'm really happy for you. I'm going to let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!"
Do you agree with our picks? Then "like" our post or Tweet the link by using the buttons at the top of the page. Then come back to this site each Wednesday for hot lists and great galleries by our friends at Radio.com's Daily Top 10.
*** Photo from the personal collection of Scrapple. And a HUGE Thank You to Scrappy.
Don't get your hopes up. The Lady Gaga rumors never stop and now Gaga fans can add Madonna tour innuendo to the growing list of Lady Gaga headlines. The latest unconfirmed story surrounding Lady Gaga had it that Madonna desperately wants to tour with Lady Gaga in 2011. "Totally not true," a Rep from Madonna told the website, Gossip Cop.
We take unconfirmed reports with a grain of salt, especially from News of the World, but the story does have fantasy potential at the very least …
The Lady Gaga story had it that an anonymous source revealed that "Madonna is absolutely obsessed with Gaga… and desperately wants to work with her." Pushing things even more, the source without a name went on to say, "Basically Gaga can name her price," to join Madonna on tour.
Well, anyone can make up a story like that when they won't put their name on it. After Gossip Cop checked the information, a Madonna representative revealed "totally not true."
I caught this recently and it is still a blast. I don't always like "Chick Flicks" - especially if they involve Julia Roberts and/or someone young dying, but this is fun, and the women are neither angels nor demons.
Well, today was a BIG day in music history. It marked the beginning of what would become an icon in American music, It also marked the end of an icon in American music. First off, it was August 16, 1958 when Madonna Louise Ciccone entered this world. Today is her 52nd birthday, and below I have posted a video of my favorite Madonna song. It made it to #1 in 1989.
Nineteen years after Madonna was born, we lost Elvis. What can you say about Elvis Aaron Presley that you don't already know? We still miss The King. We miss him so much his estate makes more than $50 Million a year. The video below is a live version of the last single he had that made the Billboard Top-25 (#22 in 1977) and shows off his extreme talent as he READS the lyrics to a song he doesn't know the words to. By the way, in a mere 9 years, we will have been without Elvis for as long as he was on this earth……
I had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this one, I really did. The wife some how convinced me that spending over ₤100 each on tickets would be a good thing to do. Our seats were halfway back, up the side, and were easily worth more than all my previous Wembley gig tickets put together. I estimated I was in a 5% minority - 50% women, 45% gay men, the rest reluctant husbands/boyfriends. This was going to have be very very very good not to seem like a total waste of money, I mean, I don't even like Madonna, save for (literally) a couple of tracks that I'll put up with if in an exceedingly good mood.
The first thing that struck me on entering the Arena was the scale of the stage set - there was just so much of it. Walkways suspended from the ceiling, podiums, risers, platforms and all kinds of stuff that would have filled a fair few dozen trucks. She hadn't even come on stage and already I was beginning to appreciate that she might have spent a fair bit putting this show on. Her actual entrance (fnar fnar) was a little underwhelming, I think I was probably expecting her to abseil down from roof, or fly in by personal jetpack, but she just ran on dancing, to Vogue. I have to say, I never would have thought that I would say what I'm about to say next. Ever.
From the moment she opened her mouth to the very last farewell, I was amazed, enthralled and utterly gobsmacked by how good it was. It took the concept of live performance to a totally new level for me - every song brought a different stage set, a different accompaniment, a different set of dancers and a different lightshow. Slick is not the word - a huge amount of set changes went on virtually undetected in between songs, for one song (don't remember which) she wheeled out a troupe of skateboarders on a full size half-pipe. Her dancers (no idea if it was many dancers with few costume changes or few dancers with many costume changes) were, as you'd expect, ultra-professional, it was like the corps de ballet at the Kirov (not that I've ever been to the ballet, but you know what I'm driving at). The interplay between the live music and the video screen, during the one (no idea, can't be arsed to research) featuring Missy Elliott, was just stunning. It was so slickly put together, it's as if she was actually there.
Musically, however, the highlight for me was 'Material Girl'. A track I usually wouldn't give you tuppence for (like, er, all of them), Madge came out with a Les Paul strapped to her, apparently playing a new guitar riffy version all by herself. Not sure if it was merely for show, after all, she has been accused of lip-synching so miming the guitar is hardly beyond the realms of possibility, but it really didn't matter. She rocked, the song rocked, and above all she looked great wearing a guitar. All in all, a brilliant, brilliant show, I left thinking my 100 pahnds was well spent. A bargain even, given the scale of the whole thing. Shows of this magnitude are not put on cheaply.
Subversion is contextual, historical, and above all social. No matter how exciting the "destabitizing" potential of texts, bodily or otherwise, whether those texts are subversive or recuperative or both or neither cannot be determined by abstraction from actual social practice. - Susan Bordo
White women "stars" like Madonna, Sandra Bernhard, and many others publicly name their interest in, and appropriation of, black culture as yet another sign of their radical chic. Intimacy with that "nasty" blackness good white girls stay away from is what they seek. To white and other nonblack consumers, this gives them a special flavor, an added spice. After all it is a very recent historical phenomenon for any white girl to be able to get some mileage out of flaunting her fascination and envy of blackness. The thing about envy is that it is always ready to destroy, erase, take over, and consume the desired object. That's exactly what Madonna attempts to do when she appropriates and commodifies aspects of black culture. Needless to say this kind of fascination is a threat. It endangers. Perhaps that is why so many of the grown black women I spoke with about Madonna had no interest in her as a cultural icon and said things like, "The bitch can't even sing." It was only among young black females that I could find die-hard Madonna fans. Though I often admire and, yes at times, even envy Madonna because she has created a cultural space where she can invent and reinvent herself and receive public affirmation and material reward, I do not consider myself a Madonna fan.
Once I read an interview with Madonna where she talked about her envy of black culture, where she stated that she wanted to be black as a child. It is a sign of white privilege to be able to "see" blackness and black culture from a standpoint where only the rich culture of opposition black people have created in resistance marks and defines us. Such a perspective enables one to ignore white supremacist domination and the hurt it inflicts via oppression, exploitation, and everyday wounds and pains. White folks who do not see black pain never really understand the complexity of black pleasure. And it is no wonder then that when they attempt to imitate the joy in living which they see as the "essence" of soul and blackness, their cultural productions may have an air of sham and falseness that may titillate and even move white audiences yet leave many black folks cold. Needless to say, if Madonna had to depend on masses of black women to maintain her status as cultural icon she would have been dethroned some time ago. Many of the black women I spoke with expressed intense disgust and hatred of Madonna. Most did not respond to my cautious attempts to suggest that underlying those negative feelings might lurk feelings of envy, and dare I say it, desire. No black woman I talked to declared that she wanted to "be Madonna."
Yet we have only to look at the number of black women entertainers/stars (Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, Vanessa Williams, Yo-Yo, etc.) who gain greater crossover recognition when they demonstrate that, like Madonna, they too, have a healthy dose of "blonde ambition." Clearly their careers have been influenced by Madonna's choices and strategies. For masses of black women, the political reality that underlies Madonna's and our recognition that this is a society where "blondes" not only "have more fun" but where they are more likely to succeed in any endeavor is white supremacy and racism. We cannot see Madonna's change in hair color as being merely a question of aesthetic choice. I agree with Julie Burchill in her critical work Girls on Film, when she reminds us: "What does it say about racial purity that the best blondes have all been brunettes (Harlow, Monroe, Bardot)? I think it says that we are not as white as we think. I think it says that Pure is a Bore." I also know that it is the expressed desire of the nonblonde Other for those characteristics that are seen as the quintessential markers of racial aesthetic superiority that perpetuate and uphold white supremacy. In this sense Madonna has much in common with the masses of black women who suffer from internalized racism and are forever terrorized by a standard of beauty they feel they can never truly embody.
Like many black women who have stood outside the culture's fascination with the blonde beauty and who have only been able to reach it through imitation and artifice, Madonna often recalls that she was a working-class white girl who saw herself as ugly, as outside the mainstream beauty standard. And indeed what some of us like about her is the way she deconstructs the myth of "natural" white girl beauty by exposing the extent to which it can be and is usually artificially constructed and maintained. She mocks the conventional racist-defined beauty ideal even as she rigorously strives to embody it. Given her obsession with exposing the reality that the ideal female beauty in this society can be attained by artifice and social construction, it should come as no surprise that many of her fans are gay men, and that the majority of nonwhite men, particularly black men, are among that group. Jennie Livingston's film Paris Is Burning suggests that many black gay men, especially queens/divas, are as equally driven as Madonna by "blonde ambition." Madonna never lets her audience forget that whatever "look" she acquires is attained by hard work-"it ain't natural." And as Burchill comments in her chapter "Homosexual Girls": I have a friend who drives a cab and looks like a Marlboro Man but at night is the second best Jean Harlow I have ever seen. He summed up the kind of film star he adores, brutally and brilliantly, when he said, "I like actresses who look as if they've spent hours putting themselves together-and even then they don't look right." Certainly no one, not even die-hard Madonna fans, ever insists that her beauty is not attained by skillful artifice. And indeed, a major point of the documentary film Truth or Dare: In Bed With Madonna was to demonstrate the amount of work that goes into the construction of her image. Yet when the chips are down, the image Madonna most exploits is that of the quintessential "white girl." To maintain that image she must always position herself as an outsider in relation to black culture. It is that position of outsider that enables her to colonize and appropriate black experience for her own opportunistic ends even as she attempts to mask her acts of racist aggression as affirmation. And no other group sees that as clearly as black females in this society. For we have always known that the socially constructed image of innocent white womanhood relies on the continued production of the racist/sexist sexual myth that black women are not innocent and never can be. Since we are coded always as "fallen" women in the racist cultural iconography we can never, as can Madonna, publicly "work" the image of ourselves as innocent female daring to be bad. Mainstream culture always reads the black female body as sign of sexual experience. In part, many black women who are disgusted by Madonna's flaunting of sexual experience are enraged because the very image of sexual agency that she is able to project and affirm with material gain has been the stick this society has used to justify its continued beating and assault on the black female body. The vast majority of black women in the United States, more concerned with projecting images of respectability than with the idea of female sexual agency and transgression, do not often feel we have the "freedom" to act in rebellious ways in regards to sexuality without being punished. We have only to contrast the life story of Tina Turner with that of Madonna to see the different connotations "wild" sexual agency has when it is asserted by a black female. Being represented publicly as an active sexual being has only recently enabled Turner to gain control over her life and career. For years the public image of aggressive sexual agency Turner projected belied the degree to which she was sexually abused and exploited privately. She was also materially exploited. Madonna's career could not be all that it is if there were no Tina Turner and yet, unlike her cohort Sandra Bernhard, Madonna never articulates the cultural debt she owes black females.
In her most recent appropriations of blackness, Madonna almost always imitates phallic black masculinity. Although I read many articles which talked about her appropriating male codes, no critic seems to have noticed her emphasis on black male experience. In his Playboy profile, "Playgirl of the Western World," Michael Kelly describes Madonna's crotch grabbing as "an eloquent visual put-down of male phallic pride." He points out that she worked with choreographer Vince Paterson to perfect the gesture. Even though Kelly tells readers that Madonna was consciously imitating Michael Jackson, he does not contextualize his interpretation of the gesture to include this act of appropriation from black male culture. And in that specific context the groin grabbing gesture is an assertion of pride and phallic domination that usually takes place in an all-male context. Madonna's imitation of this gesture could just as easily be read as an expression of envy.
Throughout [many] of her autobiographical interviews runs a thread of expressed desire to possess the power she perceives men have. Madonna may hate the phallus, but she longs to possess its power. She is always first and foremost in competition with men to see who has the biggest penis. She longs to assert phallic power, and like every other group in this white supremacist society, she clearly sees black men as embodying a quality of maleness that eludes white men. Hence they are often the group of men she most seeks to imitate, taunting white males with her own version of"black masculinity." When it comes to entertainment rivals, Madonna clearly perceives black male stars like Prince and Michael Jackson to be the standard against which she must measure herself and that she ultimately hopes to transcend.
Fascinated yet envious of black style, Madonna appropriates black culture in ways that mock and undermine, making her presentation one that upstages. This is most evident in the video "Like a Prayer." Though I read numerous articles that discussed public outrage at this video, none focused on the issue of race. No article called attention to the fact that Madonna flaunts her sexual agency by suggesting that she is breaking the ties that bind her as a white girl to white patriarchy, and establishing ties with black men. She, however, and not black men, does the choosing. The message is directed at white men. It suggests that they only labeled black men rapists for fear that white girls would choose black partners over them. Cultural critics commenting on the video did not seem at all interested in exploring the reasons Madonna chooses a black cultural backdrop for this video, i.e., black church and religious experience. Clearly, it was this backdrop that added to the video's controversy.
In her commentary in the Washington Post, "Madonna: Yuppie Goddess," Brooke Masters writes: "Most descriptions of the controversial video focus on its Catholic imagery: Madonna kisses a black saint, and develops Christ-like markings on her hands. However, the video is also a feminist fairy tale. Sleeping Beauty and Snow White waited for their princes to come along, Madonna finds her own man and wakes him up." Notice that this writer completely overlooks the issue of race and gender. That Madonna's chosen prince was a black man is in part what made the representation potentially shocking and provocative to a white supremacist audience. Yet her attempt to exploit and transgress traditional racial taboos was rarely commented on. Instead critics concentrated on whether or not she was violating taboos regarding religion and representation.
In the United States, Catholicism is most often seen as a religion that has [few] or no black followers and Madonna's video certainly perpetuates this stereotype with its juxtaposition of images of black non-Catholic representations with the image of the black saint. Given the importance of religious experience and liberation theology in black life, Madonna's use of this imagery seemed particularly offensive. For she made black characters act in complicity with her as she aggressively flaunted her critique of Catholic manners, her attack on organized religion. Yet, no black voices that I know of came forward in print calling attention to the fact that the realm of the sacred that is mocked in this film is black religious experience, or that this appropriative "use" of that experience was offensive to many black folk. Looking at the video with a group of students in my class on the politics of sexuality where we critically analyze the way race and representations of blackness are used to sell products, we discussed the way in which black people in the video are caricatures reflecting stereotypes. They appear grotesque. The only role black females have in this video is to catch (i.e., rescue) the "angelic" Madonna when she is "falling." This is just a contemporary casting of the black female as Mammy. Made to serve as supportive backdrop for Madonna's drama, black characters in "Like a Prayer" remind one of those early Hollywood depictions of singing black slaves in the great plantation movies or those Shirley Temple films where Bojangles was trotted out to dance with Miss Shirley and spice up her act. Audiences were not supposed to be enamored of Bojangles, they were supposed to see just what a special little old white girl Shirley really was. In her own way Madonna is a modern day Shirley Temple. Certainly her expressed affinity with black culture enhances her value.
Eager to see the documentary Truth ar Dare because it promised to focus on Madonna's transgressive sexual persona, which I find interesting, I was angered by her visual representations of her domination over not white men (certainly not over Warren Beatty or Alek Keshishian), but people of color and white working-class women. I was too angered by this to appreciate other aspects of the film I might have enjoyed. In Truth or Dare Madonna clearly revealed that she can only think of exerting power along very traditional, white supremacist, capitalistic, patriarchal lines. That she made people who were dependent on her for their immediate livelihood submit to her will was neither charming nor seductive to me or the other black folks that I spoke with who saw the film. We thought it tragically ironic that Madonna would choose as her dance partner a black male with dyed blonde hair. Perhaps had he appeared less like a white-identified black male consumed by "blonde ambition" he might have upstaged her. Instead he was positioned as a mirror, into which Madonna and her audience could look and see only a reflection of herself and the worship of "whiteness" she embodies- that white supremacist culture wants everyone to embody. Madonna used her power to ensure that he and the other nonwhite women and men who worked for her, as well as some of the white subordinates, would all serve as the backdrop to her white-girl-makes-good-drama. Joking about the film with other black folks, we commented that Madonna must have searched long and hard to find a black female that was not a good dancer, one who would not deflect attention away from her. And it is telling that when the film directly reflects something other than a positive image of Madonna, the camera highlights the rage this black female dancer was suppressing. It surfaces when the "subordinates" have time off and are "relaxing."
As with most Madonna videos, when critics talk about this film they tend to ignore race. Yet no viewer can look at this film and not think about race and representation without engaging in forms of denial. After choosing a cast of characters from marginalized groups-nonwhite folks, heterosexual and gay, and gay white folks-Madonna publicly describes them as "emotional cripples." And of course in the context of the film this description seems borne out by the way they allow her to dominate, exploit, and humiliate them. Those Madonna fans who are determined to see her as politically progressive might ask themselves why it is she completely endorses those racist/sexist/classist stereotypes that almost always attempt to portray marginalized groups as "defective". Let's face it, by doing this, Madonna is not breaking with any white supremacist, patriarchal status quo; she is endorsing and perpetuating it.
Some of us do not find it hip or cute for Madonna to brag that she has a "fascistic side," a side well documented in the film. Well, we did not see any of her cute little fascism in action when it was Warren Beatty calling her out in the film. No, there the image of Madonna was the little woman who grins and bears it. No, her "somebody's got to be in charge side," as she names it, was most expressed in her interaction with those representatives from marginalized groups who are most often victimized by the powerful. Why is it there is little or no discussion of Madonna as racist or sexist in her relation to other women? Would audiences be charmed by some rich white male entertainer telling us he must "play father" and oversee the actions of the less powerful, especially women and men of color? So why did so many people find it cute when Madonna asserted that she dominates the interracial casts of gay and heterosexual folks in her film because they are crippled and she "like[s] to play mother" No, this was not a display of feminist power, this was the same old phallic nonsense with white pussy at the center. And many of us watching were not simply unmoved-we were outraged.
Perhaps it is a sign of a collective feeling of powerlessness that many black, nonwhite, and white viewers of this film who were disturbed by the display of racism, sexism, and heterosexism (yes, it's possible to hire gay people, support AIDS projects, and still be biased in the direction of phallic patriarchal heterosexuality) in Truth or Dare have said so little. Sometimes it is difficult to find words to make a critique when we find ourselves attracted by some aspect of a performer's act and disturbed by others, or when a performer shows more interest in promoting progressive social causes than is customary. We may see that performer as above critique. Or we may feel our critique will in no way intervene on the worship of them as a cultural icon. To say nothing, however, is to be complicit with the very forces of domination that make "blonde ambition" necessary to Madonna's success. Tragically, all that is transgressive and potentially empowering to feminist women and men about Madonna's work may be undermined by all that it contains that is reactionary and in no way unconventional or new. It is often the conservative elements in her work converging with the status quo that have the most powerful impact. For example: Given the rampant homophobia in this society and the concomitant heterosexist voyeuristic obsession with gay life-styles, to what extent does Madonna progressively seek to challenge this if she insists on primarily representing gays as in some way emotionally handicapped or defective? Or when Madonna responds to the critique that she exploits gay men by cavalierly stating: "What does exploitation mean? . . . In a revolution, some people have to get hurt. To get people to change, you have to turn the table over. Some dishes get broken." I can only say this doesn't sound like liberation to me. Perhaps when Madonna explores those memories of her white working-class childhood in a troubled family in a way that enables her to understand intimately the politics of exploitation, domination, and submission, she will have a deeper connection with oppositional black culture. If and when this radical critical self-interrogation takes place, she will have the power to create new and different cultural productions, work that will be truly transgressive-acts of resistance that transform rather than simply seduce.
I came across a clip of this doccie last week and had to watch the film. Found it on YouTube today. It's called Truth or Dare or In Bed with Madonna (she hates the latter) and documents her controversial Blonde Ambition Tour of 1990. It was released in 1991 and did exceptionally well becoming the highest grossing doccie ever. Today it is the 8th highest grossing doccie.
Here it is all neatly chopped up and ready for online consumption. Madonna - Like you've never seen her before…
In 2005, Madonna dropped the world like a discoball. She created one of the decade's best albums as she had created her entire career: by producing a self-context so great that it becomes the world's Pop conscience. If "the main problem with 2008′s Hard Candy was that Madonna seemingly didn't care," and "with American Life she cared too much, to the point where it came across pushy and self-important," 2005′s Confessions on a Dance Floor was the perfect medium where she cared-enough-to-count. Madonna's greatest strength is her narcissism. She is Pop, and Confessions is nothing short of a brilliant response to Madonna's answer to her own morning inquiry: "Mirrors, mirrors on the ball: whose four minutes saves them all?"
Madonna collaborated with British DJ Stuart Price (aka The Thin White Duke) to produce a sonic landscape based solely on herself. The atmosphere is the concept: pure, unadulterated Dance Pop. The gapless wonder gallivants glamorously through an hour-long soundscape; it is Madonna's Magnum Opus and sonic aesthetic: timeless, constant, substantive within its style, and forever cosmic vintage.
Confessions opens with the track that won't hold back: "Hung Up." The intro is perfection as the head of an album that is paramount as a complete body of work. The faded clock sets the steady baseline and increasing urgency; the sole voice: "Time goes by… so slowly… time goes by… so slowly;" then comes the faint bass as a third wave building the back-beat riding along in tandem with airy synth; the bass descends as the synth rises to a fever pitch over the open hi-hat, before they all drop like four-on-the-floor.
"Hung Up" is the antithesis of 2005 pop culture - it was five and a half minutes long in the midst of ringtone tracks; it was distinctly Euroelectronic in a sea of generic Americana Top 40; it was completely detached and irrelevant in a time of political satire and topical everything. Most importantly though, it came from Madonna in face of general Pop skepticism - and because of that it is the H.B.I.C. of singles last decade.
What follows the masterful "Hung Up" is an electronic blueprint symphonic. Madonna lays the groundwork for the next generation with the anthem for digital era dance Pop: disco 2.0. "Get Together" samples Pink Floyd's "Time" and segues into an album that is a continuum of pulsating beats and hypnotic riffs. The electroacoustic layers create an atmosphere reminiscent of Dark Side of the Moon. Track-by-track the album ebbs and flows between heavy four-on-the-floor beats and vaporous vocals like a laser light lullaby. "There's no love, like the future love… come with me," echoes as an invite to see what the future feels like. If it feels anything like it sounds, it feels like fame.
Madonna constructs an environment where she can reflect and release; and for the once "Most Famous Woman in the World" - right below the rotating spotlights - the dance floor is her confessional. Confessions tandems lyrical content with the rhythms below to reflect the rise and fall of fame. The album peaks as electric guitars screech over double time kick bass and heavy synth keys in "I Love New York" while Madonna calls "If you can't take the heat, get off my street." Then, two lone violins usher in "Let It Will Be" over cellos as the signature aerial vocals sigh "Now I can tell you about success, about fame, about the rise and the fall of all the stars in the sky - don't it make you smile?" As much as Confessions is a stylistically vapid sonic spectacle, it is also a quite astute perspective on fame… the rise and the fall of the stars in the sky: Ziggy played guitar, Madonna rides on lucky stars. "Now I can tell you the place where I belong… it won't last long… the lights they will turn down… Just watch me burn."
Whether igniting the future of Pop culture, or going down in a blaze of glory, Madonna is an eternal flame. While she may be known as the Material Girl, Confessions reflects her underrated lyricism when she goes metaphysical and writes breakthrough rays of light: "Remember remember and never forget, all of your life has all been a test; you will find the gate that's open, even though your spirit's broken. Open up my heart, and cause my lips to speak; bring the heaven and the stars, down to earth for me." If "Hung Up" is the head of the album, "Isaac" is the soul. It blends indigenous rhythms with smooth syncopated basslines, and beautifully crescendos to a stratospheric strobe peak before leveling out as the steady penultimate pillar track.
Confessions is just that: it is purely Madonna. It being so deliberate and thorough in its sonic aesthetic is why Madonna is the Queen. Instead of making songs that fit with the mainstream, she put out an album that - as a gapless track trumped contemporary singles - made the mainstream change its mold to fit her sound. Dense bass, atmospheric synth, and echoing distantly detached vocals, the new sonic aesthetic: speak softly, but carry a disco stick.
Confessions came at a time when Madonna was on the brink of imminent irrelevance - again. American Life was all but a mainstream flop - though it was a well solid album, all things being equal. The Re-Invention Tour all but capstoned an illustrious career - in a Hall of Fame welcome-to-the-401k kind of way. Maroon 5, Hoobastank, Kelly Clarkson, and Britney sitting atop the charts all but branded Madonna's sound with the kiss of death. A marriage to Guy Ritchie, residence in the UK (with a half-accent to boot), and Ladies Home Journal cover all but solidified her place on a Victorian couch with a cup of Earl Grey to accentuate her undoubtedly gray locks.
Madonna's genius though, is in her ability to recreate relevance when she seemingly needs it most - when the Pop world forgot themselves under the illusion that she was no longer Pop. She is the adrenaline shot to cure Pop culture comas, and the jagged little pilldealer to get the disco ball rolling. First and foremost though, she is the Madgesty of Modern Pop's Manor. Confessions on a Dance Floor is Madonna's 2005 reflection on herself as the Queen, her renaissance for the kingdom, and the necessary reminder that even after the lights go down, you can still dance in the dark - forget-she-not.
Pertama bertemu dengannya di sebuah hotel di ski resort, tempat paling sempurna untuk menemukan manusia es, memang. Lobby hotel begitu riuh dengan anak muda yang ramai di situ, tapi manusia es duduk sendiri di kursi sudut yang letaknya paling jauh dari perapian, diam membaca buku. Meski sudah hampir malam, tapi cahaya dingin pagi awal winter terlihat mengitarinya.
“Lihat! itu si manusia es,” bisik temanku. Waktu itu, aku sungguh tak tahu mahluk apa itu manusia es. Temanku juga. “Dia pasti terbuat dri es. Itu sebabnya orang-orang menyebutnya manusia es”. Temanku mengatakan hal tersebut dalam nada serius seolah dia sedang membicarakan hantu atau seseorang dengan penyakit menular.
Manusia es tinggi, tampak muda, tegap, sedikit bagian rambutnya tampak putih seperti segenggam salju yang tak meleleh. Tulang pipinya tajam meninggi seperti batu yang beku, dan jarinya embun beku putih yang seolah abadi. Namun begitu, manusia es terlihat seperti manusia normal. Dia tidak seperti lelaki yang bisa kamu sebut tampan memang, tapi dia terlihat begitu menarik - tergantung dari bagaimana kau melihatnya. Dalam suatu kesempatan, sesuatu tentang dia menusukku sampai ke hati. Aku merasakan hal tersebut terutama saat memandang matanya. Tatapannya senyap dan transparan seperti serpih cahaya dalam untaian tetes salju di pagi musim dingin.. seperti kilatan kehidupan dalam tubuh mahluk buatan.
Aku berdiri beberapa saat memperhatikan si manusia es dalam jarak. Dia tidak menoleh. Dia hanya duduk diam, tak bergerak. Membaca bukunya seakan tiada seorangpun yang ada disana selain dirinya...
In 1998 Madonna highlighted a profound talent which she had not touched upon previously and which she has not been able to reach since. Still, Ray of Light stands up today as a stunning record - one filled with thought provoking, well produced and well written songs - each with good variety and pacing. From the collection the opening track Substitute for Love is my favourite. This is a brilliant song about the two dimensional nature of fame, a drug which can take you to great but shallow heights but which is no replacement for a real genuine feeling of self-worth and happiness. If Madonna had stayed down this path she might have gone on to become one of the true meaningful greats instead of settling for her Queen of Pop monikker. This record proved that she is better than that.
BEST LINE: I got exactly what I asked for / Wanted it so badly / Running, rushing back for more / I suffered fools so gladly.
pagi ini bangun tidur langsung pipis dan trus masuk kamar lagi, baca buku belum lagi buka internet.
lagi baca buku dua: chakrabirawa dan manjhali (ayutami) - yang ketundatunda bacanya - serta buku biografi gadis kecil dari yaman bernama Nujood. Umurnya 10 tahun, dan dia janda. "salah satu perempuan paling hebat dan paling berani yang pernah saya kenal," begitu komentar hillary clinton tentang si bocah kecil yang dinikahkan bapaknya saat umur 9 tahun di negeri tandus tersebut. kejadiannya maret 2008, cerita itu ditulis jurnalis perancis tahun 2009.
di halaman 139 buku berjudul bahasa indonesia SAYA NUJOOD, USIA 10 DAN SAYA JANDA, aku terhenti. ketika peristiwa yang paling dia inginkan: perceraian akhirnya bisa dilakukan prosesnya... dalam hati, saat kepala anak kecil Nujood tak bisa menguraikan argumen-argumen pengadilan yang terjadi antara orangtua, pengacara, hakim dan suami monster yang dibencinya, nujood berkali-kali menjerit..., "aku sudah muak dengan pertikaian orang dewasa yang membuat anak kecil ini menderita. hentikan! tolonglah.."
dan aku tertegun
aku merasakan hal yang sama. perang dan konflik di luar sana sangat melelahkan.., yang kulihat atau cuma yang bisa kubaca, yang kusaksikan belakangan dengan detak jantung atau yang cuma kudengar melalui kotak televisi: anak-anak terlantar di sepanjang rel kereta senen, orang-orang sakit yang banyak ditahan nggak boleh pulang karena nggak bisa bayar biaya perawatan, orang-orang di rusia yang sekarang tiap hari ada aja yang mati karena udara panas akibat climate change yang makin mengganas, putusan2 MUI tentang kiblat yang terus berubah dan tak masuk akal, israel yang lagi-lagi bikin ulah di gaza, kebijakan negeri arab yang membolehkan untuk nggak puasa karena suhu udara di sana sekarang mencapai 50 derajat dan itu diprotes warga islam di negara arab lainnya (termasuk di indonesia yang beritanya tersebut nggak disebarkan), plus....
belum lagi konflik-konflik atau pertikaian di sini... dalam lipatan-lipatan kehidupan personal, dalam detak-detak jantung yang degupnya bisa kita itung.
....tentang cinta yang merepih dan musnah, tentang kata-kata yang membusuk di dinding janji, tentang serapah yang tak bermakna, tentang kata-kata yang kehilangan arti serta peristiwa-peristiwa yang berkelebatan begitu cepat serta bikin kita lelah saat menjalaninya, tapi sadar akan kebaikan makna dari apapun peristiwa yang telah dilalui dan terjadi, ketika hal-hal tersebut telah berlalu...
semuanya bikin capek. lelah. begitu banyak airmata yang menetes diam-diam, begitu banyak pertikaian.. yang kecil dan yang besar. yang menjalar diam-diam dan selesai diam-diam. yang melilit dan membuat suram lalu menjadi kemilau di tikungan atau membusuk teronggok di tepi jalanan dalam hati yang dingin sepi... merepih sendiri...
membaca Nujood tadi di halaman 139, aku ingin turut menjerit bersamanya ....,"aku sudah muak dengan pertikaian orang dewasa yg membuat anak kecil ini menderita. HENTIKAN!" - that what Nujood said to me, 'n I'm listening...
kanak dalam hatiku pagi ini juga turut berteriak. aku ingin berteriak dalam nafas dan nada yang sama dengan Nujood,
"aku sudah muak dengan pertikaian orang dewasa yg membuat anak kecil ini menderita!" ucap anak kecil dalam diriku yang dah lama hilang tertelan pertikaian dan masalah orang dewasa yang menimpa....
HENTIKAN! aku mau udahan... aku mau jadi anak kecil lagi. aku mau menghayati dunia tanpa harus menjadi orang dewasa aku sudah muak semua bagiku terlalu berat aku mau kembali mendengarkan burung-burung pagi: yang aku duga mereka tidak seperti kita. suara itu tak pernah membenci...
aku mau jadi kanak lagi...
~~dari sepenggal surat untuk teman, kukirim tadi pagi bersama angin musim semi...***
__________ bagian paling bawah tentang burung pagi yang suaranya tak pernah membenci, diambil dari status GM di facebook hari ini: 21 agustus 2010 http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=526197285
Madonna! How I love thee. The musical queen of Magnificent Bitches!
To celebrate (teehee) the big day, let's have a look at some of The Queen's bitchiest lyrics (along with some favourite photos of course).
If you're afraid, well rise above, I only hurt the ones I love.
Which leg do you want me to break?
Noone ever takes what's mine.
You think you're so much better than me, but your actions speak louder than words
And how can we forget Human Nature. It contains a line that sums up all I love about Madonna and her attitude: I'm not you're bitch, don't hang your shit on meHappy Birthday To A Very Special Magnifcent Bitch!
Aku telah belajar tentang labirin dan terowongan Sekarang, inilah waktu yang tepat untuk mandi matahari di pantai
Tetap denganmu Yah denganmu...
Kamu yang sudah pergi namun masih lekat di kepalaku Mari, mari... Kita bermandi matahari...
Dan gelombangpun datang lalu kita pun turun ke pantai Melesakkan kaki-kaki di pasir bergaram Menunggu sunset di ujung timur dan sunrise di ujung barat Menyalakan api kayu bakar di tengah malam Berdua kita pegangan sambil menatap bintang...
Di ujung bukit karang, seseorang melihat api itu menyala, tapi tak ada kamu Seharian, dia melihatku mandi matahari, turun ke pantai, melesakkan kaki di pasir bergaram, tapi tiada seseorang lainnya di sampingku. Hanya aku sendirian...
Juga saat menunggu sunset dan sunrise Juga saat menyalakan kayu bakar dan menatap bebintang Seseorang di ujung karang melihatku hanya sendirian...
Orang itu tak tahu, Aku baru saja belajar tentang labirin dan terowongan...
Ringing in another year a few days early, Madonna was busy celebrating her birthday in London, England on Saturday night. While she turns 52-years-old on Monday (August 16), the Material Girl got all dolled up in a sexy silver frock as she arrived at the swanky Shoreditch House party locale.
Clutching a gold cross and wearing a crucifix necklace, Madge joined up with boy toy Jesus Luz and fellow guests including Paul Whitehouse, Billie Piper and Claudia Winkleman for the weekend soiree.
I Lima menit sebelum kereta berangkat perempuan itu berkata kepadanya, "Orfeus, aku tak akan kembali."
Dihalte dusun itu ia terdiam. Dan peron terbujur. Dan loko tak bergerak. Bangku, jam, tiang lampu, seakan hanya tableau. Pintu gerbong tetap tertutup.Tangga tetap mengidap debu dan tak ia lihat jejak.
Apayang bisa dilakukannya? Ia, tersenyum, mencoba mengulurkantangan, tapi hanya menyentuh syal: "Euridice,tempat ini terlalu sering mengucapkan selamat tinggal."
II Pada pukul 7:10, sep stasiun mengenakan petnya, dan melambai.
"Lihat,Orfeus, selalu ada sinyal yang sampai."
III Rel yang meregang sampai ke hutan seperti dua frase tak bersentuhan –
"Euridice!" orang-orang mendengar suara itu "Euridice!" tebing menyahut.
IV "Pada tiap tikungan kali kau akan dapatkan aku menyanyi dengan merih yang merah.
Aku mencarimu, Euridice, sampai kau hilang lagi."
V Seperti basah hutan sehabis badai
Seperti asap panjang yang tak singgah
Pekik peluit lepas yang tak dipastikan
Barangkali di sana yang hilang akan selalu dikekalkan.
VI Kemudian Orfeus bercerita: "Aku menghelamu dari gelap bawah-sadar. Tubuhmu lembab air tanah. Rambutmu tersibak seperti arus hitam, dan sedetik kulihat bekas pada pelipis: kematian. Sebuah liang yang memutih, meskipun samar, seperti tera. Barangkali ia telah tertoreh di sana, sebuah tanda mula, seperti titik genetik, seperti tilas tak tersentuh. Benarkah kulihat kau senyum, bibirmu yang kembali fana? Aku menghelamu dari dingin, Euridice."
"Jangan menengok, Orfeus. Masa lalu selalu tak utuh lagi."
VII Tapi laki-laki itu menengok. Ia ingin tahu benarkah waktu hilang jejak, benarkah Ajal tertinggal, benarkah yang kini ada di detik ini. Ia ingin sebuah perjalanan pulang, (meskipun tak tahu apa artinya "pulang") yang asyik tapi lempang, selurus rakit sebelum muara di bengawan yang terlindung.
Act of Dishonor judul film garapannya. Fiksi yang beberapa di antaranya based on true story.
Sesaat setelah pemutaran dan buka puasa bersama, Nelofer yang lahir di afghanistan tapi telah 21 tahun tinggal di kanada bercerita tentang pengalaman temannya, seorang filmaker yang nggak bisa menyelesaikan filmnya. perempuan pemeran utama dalam filmnya, mati. dibunuh suaminya sendiri.
Semua bermula dari perang di afghanistan dan semua yang berhubungan dengan taliban. perempuan dilarang keluar dan sangat susah untuk melakukan aktifitas luar rumah. sang suami dari pemeran utama filmnya temen nelofer sedang pergi perang, dan itu biasa di sana. tak ada kegiatan dan diyakinkan oleh keadaan di desa yang aman, si perempuan pun berperan.
"Susah mendapat casting peran perempuan di afghanistan, itu terjadi terutama pada tahun 2001-an ketika kandahar dibikin," ujar nelofer, dan itu juga yang terjadi pada temannya yang fimaker sampai ia bertemu dengan istri dari sang anggota taliban yang suaminya sedang perang.
Diketahui oleh para tetangga kalau sang istri main film, dengan orang kulit putih pula, maka suami yang pulang perang jadi malu dan geram. maka tanpa ba bi bu, si istri dibunuh karena dianggap menjatuhkan kehormatan keluarga dan bikin malu juga.... film temannya nelofer tak rampung, dan sampai saat sekarang..., masih selalu sulit mendapatkan casting pemeran perempuan yang asli afghanistan.
Nelofer lahir di India tahun 1973, besar di kabul-afghanistan dan mengalami 10 tahun masa pendudukan soviet sebelum akhirnya ia dan keluarga bermigrasi ke pakistan, yang dari sana.. mereka bermigrasi lagi ke kanada.
Nelofer seorang perempuan sutradara, wartawan, pembuat dokumenter, penulis skrip... dan kandahar adalah film yang skrip-nya ditulis berdasarkan pengalamannya. Ia dikenal dunia melalui film Kandahar (2001)— yang disutradarai Mohsen Makhmalbaf. ia menjadi pemeran utama yang memerankan dirinya sendiri... seorang wartawan yang kembali ke afghanistan setelah perang...
Pada tahun 1996, Nelofer melakukan perjalan ke Afghanistan untuk mencari teman-teman masa kecilnya. Ketika itu negeri leluhurnya tersebut sedang dikuasai kelompok militer Taliban yang mengekang kebebasan khususnya kalangan perempuan.
Act of Dishonour (2010) adalah film terbaru Nelofer Pazira. Film ini berkisah tentang Mena, seorang gadis cantik yang hidup di sebuah desa terpencil Afghanistan Utara. Di desa itu hidup pula tunangannya Rahmat. Penduduk desa mereka yang memegang teguh adat istiadat setempat didatangi serombongan kru film dari Kanada. Momen ini mengawali persinggungan Mena dan penduduk desanya dengan dunia luar. Perjumpaan ini membawa pula ketegangan dan sekaligus pembelajaran bagi kedua belah pihak, dan dalam arti luas bagi dua budaya: Timur dan Barat.
"I don't make a film to make people like it. I make a film to make people think." begitu ucapnya di salihara, 12 agustus 2010.
setuju denganmu Nelofer..., tapi aku juga ingin agar orang berpikir tapi sekaligus juga menyukai pikiran tersebut. terarahkan pada pikiran yang sama dengan yang menjadi buah pikiran di dalam film yang kita buat..
"itulah kenapa pikiran harus ditawarkan, bukan?" tanyaku pada ruang dalam pikiranku sendiri...
I watched both Madonna's The Confessions Tour DVD and her Sticky and Sweet Tour DVD, and I thought I'd offer up an opinion on which one is better or which one might be better to buy if you were going to buy one.
Personally, I enjoyed The Confessions Tour better. It's very disco/dance-oriented, and that's the kind of music I really like. Plus, Madonna looked nicer, which is always a good thing.
However, Sticky and Sweet had a better all-around song selection-all of her most iconic songs got played, including some that I really wished had made Confessions, such as "Vogue," "Borderline," "Like a Prayer," "Ray of Light," and "Into the Groove."
I think, essentially, what it boils down to is what you like better: dance music or classic Madonna. If you're not very familiar with either except for the basics, Sticky and Sweet is probably your best bet. That being said, Confessions is great if you're really into the more in-depth parts of both.
Aging pop chameleon Madonna has borrowed Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich's brand new superyacht while filming W.E., the new Duke of WIndsor movie she's directing in the South of France. No, not the gargantuan Eclipse - we're talking about the 377-ft. Luna (above), the world's largest expedition yacht which Abramovich just took delivery of in April. The luxurious yacht provides convenient accommodation for Madonna as she films the movie's beach scenes, London's Daily Mail reports. Each day she returns via tender to the luxe yacht which features two helipads, a swimming pool, games room and sunbathing areas, along with a beach club leading down to a swim platform. Abramovich, who generously lent Madonna the ship, apparently bought the yacht to tide him over while the Eclipse is being completed; afterward it will act as a support vessel for the megayacht.
