Everybody Hates Madonna
It seems these days that everybody hates Madonna, writes Little Bastard. But do the critics reveal more about their assumptions and prejudices than they do about her?
Everybody loves to hate Madonna. The media, the public, and (if current news reports are to be believed) the French. But if Madonna is the contemptible creature she is made out to be, exactly how did she become the most famous woman in the world when she operates in a medium where an artist’s popularity is paramount?
After offending French right-wing politician and leader of the Front National, Marine Le Pen, by superimposing a Swastika on her forehead in a video backdrop to her performance of ‘Nobody Knows Me’ on her MDNA World tour, Madonna took to the stage of intimate Olympia Club in Paris for a one-off appearance, treating her French fans to a portion of her MDNA tour (with some added surprises). The next day the tabloids and music blogs ran wild with claims that she was booed off stage after just 45 minutes, that her “fans” apparently called her a “slut” and then demanded refunds. Even reputable papers and online magazines took to mud-slinging about the gig, even though, it would seem, none of them was actually there.
The public’s hatred of Madonna is nearly as old as me. 30 years ago she was a flash in the pan dancer with too much ‘puppy fat’ who couldn’t sing. 20 years ago she was a ‘slut’, critisised for talking frankly about sex in an attempt to do something about the growing AIDS epidemic by (in part) taking her clothes off. That book, Sex (1992), is now considered by some as a crash course in true feminism (whilst for others a crass course), but at the time it had her labeled as a thoroughly unprincipled scarlet woman.
2012 sees Madonna in a very similar position to 1992. After her marriage to Sean Penn ended, which formed the basis of her confessional and critically acclaimed Like A Prayer album, Madonna found herself craving fun and stepped out onto the New York gay club scene. Clubbing had always been a big part of ‘single’ Madonna’s life, and in the early ’90s, when raving was at its height, Madonna’s feet were firmly on the dancefloor, and that seeped through into her music. 20 years on, Madonna again finds herself single, after the demise of her marriage to Guy Richie, and once again her feet have lead her to the dance floor, embracing the “cougar” tag the media has branded her with. From its drug referencing name, to the dark dancefloor of ‘I’m Addicted’ and the murderous ‘Gang Bang’, to the disco glare of current single ‘Turn Up The Radio’, MDNA is one big night out. Taking you through the highs, the lows, the dark, the light – it’s the epitome of a heavy night of clubbing, as your friends get you drunk to help you forget your recent relationship crisis. In the same way Erotica was a concept album about love in an era defined by AIDS (and influenced by the New York gay scene), MDNA takes us on a ride through the eyes of a newly single woman. There’s reckless abandon, there’s resentment, there’s power, there’s control, there’s euphoria and there’s regret.
I’m of the opinion that if an album of this power had been released by a ‘younger model’, it would be considered a break through, but for someone who has been at the head of the industry for half her life, she is treated as if she’s constantly jumping on bandwagons. What critics seem to forget is, in this case, Madonna IS the bandwagon. From ‘Holiday’, ‘Into The Groove’, ‘Express Yourself’, through to ‘Vogue’, ‘Deeper And Deeper’, ‘Ray Of Light’, ‘Music’ and ‘Hung Up’, Madonna has released a catalogue of the most defining dance floor moments of the last three decades, and the quality of MDNA has done nothing to change that. ‘Turn Up The Radio’ is essentially ‘Holiday’ for the iPod generation, just as ‘Music’ was for the CD generation.
With that in mind, let us examine the three evils of Madonna that are getting everyone hot under the collar:
Politics. Money. Nudity.
The biggest criticism of both concert goers and press alike over the past few years has been Madonna’s overtly political statmements, whether against the Front National or the American President, or even suggesting which way people should vote. In 2012 the press take umbrage over this, yet in 1990, when she draped herself in an American Flag to take part in MTV’s ‘Rock The Vote’ campaign to encourage young unengaged voters to go to the polling booths, it was apparently ok. The standards are double, and all too obviously so. The press (and the federal government) don’t mind Madonna being political, but only when it’s on their terms. Her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour was full of political statements about feminism and safe sex (including her saying “hey boy don’t be silly, put a rubber on your willy” at performances during ‘Into The Groove’). It’s an artist’s raison d’être to challenge the political landscape and this has always been a part of Madonna’s work. Her shows have become more intensely political. It’s not surprising that when Madonna fills video screens (spanning the entire stage) with images of fascist world leaders and impoverished countries for all to see, it makes her audience (and the tabloid press failing to deliver the same message) uncomfortable. But it’s not her political statements that make me uncomfortable, for I see the value of her using her fame to make people reconsider the material aspects of their lives. It’s charging her audience far above par for the privilege.
You would also would have had to be living under a rock not to have noticed that Madonna has started taking her clothes of again. When she stripped in 1992 her book Sex flew off the shelves. However, in 2012, in a society obsessed with youth, the complaint is that she is too old and should cover up. Even when a woman looks like she is in her 30s, must she really behave like she is in her 60s? This attitude is a brazen sanitising of female sexuality. It’s that double standard again, and so Hollywood continues to churn out rom-coms in which women fall for men that are more than twice their age, promoting the ideal of the ‘silver fox’. Men can be attractive, and appealing, and virile despite having crossed the 5-0 shadow line. Yet Madonna must not wear skimpy shorts or leotards with low cut tops. She must not stand in front of people in her leggings and a bra. And she definitely MUST NOT expose her nipple, because women over 50 are not desirable to anyone.
I’ve seen more brazen sights walking down Brixton’s Electric Avenue on a Saturday night … from people half her age!
Madonna’s point this time is “I’m 5 fucking 4 and I own it!” and I don’t blame her for trying to make 50 sexy. All that said, she is as much as the poison as she is the antidote, and the double standard at work here is hers. The current boundary Madonna is trying to push is our perception of age. And why should a woman in her 50s have to sit back while the world (and all the silver foxes) pass her by? But there’s the rub: in her attempt to challenge the ageism built into our society, she has done everything to keep herself looking as young as possible, rather than ageing gracefully. The plastic surgery and invasive treatments undermine her message. She wants us to accept her as a sexual being in her 50s, but does so by trying to look 30. Her modus operandi is pandering to, and perpetuating, an ageist ideal which is a conflicting message that should invite criticism.
Clearly, I don’t hate Madonna. In fact, I think she’s incredibly talented. I’ll freely admit that she’d be far less without the producers she works with or the controversy she creates – but that’s all part of her artistry. Like David Bowie before her, and Lady Gaga since, she is a true Pop Artist, and her music is as much about politics as it is about having fun. From the day she stepped out as a white girl on the underground New York dance scene singing music that was still associated with black women, to writhing around in a wedding dress at the MTV Music Awards and simulating masturbation live on stage despite the local police warning of her imminent arrest, she has always courted the controversy of politics, sexual or otherwise.
And so why all the virulently negative press? Why do we seem to enjoy hating Madonna so much? Is it because women secretly wish they could look like her at 50 (or even 30 in some cases)? Is it because men shudder at the fact they still want to have sex with a 54 year old woman? Or are we terrified that such a powerful force in the world is not an American President or a Government figure, but a female pop star in her mid-50s? Perhaps that’s what it really boils down to: the patriarchal West is terrified of a woman with that much power.
Madonna’s career spans my entire life, and she shows no signs of slowing down. Yet the world’s press are always quick to trash her. She is not infallible, clearly, but the criticism riots in unacknowledged double standards. The media obsession with putting artists on a pedestal only to push them off again is monotonous. All too often, the criticisms levelled at Madonna reveal the assumptions and prejudices of a press that does little more than reinforce a conservative status quo.
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Excellent reading!
AIDS is not a gay illness. Stop trying to portray it as such. It’s very homophobic to link the two.
As for Madonna, she’s good at hijacking the victimhood of others to make it seem as if she’s the victim herself. That’s how she makes money. Nuff said.
How old are you?
Well, it doesn’t matter. You can use many tools to learn about something.
For a fact, AIDS and HIV were considered strictly “gay” in the 80s and early 90s.
Those are the decades that any homosexual would be seen as a potential HIV positive person and the lack of education on the subject, and general ignorance led people to believe heterosexuals would not get infected because Aids was a “gay” disease.
Madonna’s association with the gay community happened at a time where the gay community was stigmatized as sick and dangerous. While at the same time, gay artists such as George Michael and Elton John hid in the closet and tried their best to avoid any association with the gay community in order to save their careers. Elton John even married to a woman to pretend he was straight!
Madonna was the face and the voice not only for HIV infected people, but for the entire gay community, as a spokesperson for general health – helping educate the population on the Aids issue and raising awareness about it, how people could get infected and tolerance.
You clearly have no clue about the Aids epidemic, about the gay community over the last 4 decades and above all, about Madonna.
Suggesting Madonna “hijacked” causes to victimize herself is the same as saying “I am the most clueless person on Earth”. Tell that to Elton John, who was deep in the closet when Madonna was BRAVE enough to speak on behalf of the gay community. There’s nothing “victimized” about her actions then, or now. It’s always been about bravery, about doing what was right.
I call victimize oneself when one hides in the closet and blame it on people’s intolerance (instead of fighting intolerance, like Madonna did). You need to get a grip, honey.
Please do good use of the Internet your parents pay for and do some valuable research on the topics you attempt to discuss.
Madonna claimed to be for gay rights but marketed herself like a Playboy model to appeal to heterosexual men who hate gay guys. She’s a fake in my view.
Wait! She’s fake because she defended the gay community and at the same time was sexually appealing to straight men?
You have to be a confused child to say such things.
What does one have to do with the other? What does one’s beliefs have to do with what they wear and how they look? In case you pretend you don’t get it, beliefs here = her position on gay rights, whilst I refer to her looks and what she wore = “Playboy model that appealed to heterosexual men”.
Not to mention that there is another major RED FLAG that clearly shows how little you understand of Madonna’s career and persona:
She has incorporated and applied to her work gay iconography, gay references and queer aesthetics since day one. So actually, your argument is completely flawed. In a way or another, Madonna was introducing the queer culture to the heterosexual men you say she sold herself to. You can’t have it both ways.
Her work has always been queer (Fosse, voguing, same sex references, etc) and you say she was selling herself to the gay crowd, right? Thank you Madonna, for presenting and feeding gay culture to heterosexual men when they didn’t even notice.
CORRECTION:
Her work has always been queer (Fosse, voguing, same sex references, etc) and you say she was selling herself to the STRAIGHT crowd, right?
Thank you Madonna, for presenting and feeding gay culture to heterosexual men when they didn’t even notice.
Playboy model style never had much to do with Madonna’s style.
lol
What the eff are you on ?
“Madonna claimed to be for gay rights but marketed herself like a Playboy model to appeal to heterosexual men who hate gay guys.”
- WTF are you talking about? Maybe you should have lived during the rising of AIDS and how the gays were being blamed of the disease. The public won’t even be near a gay man too afraid to get the disease. Yet somehow, Madonna had empowered them promoting safe sex. You just come off as dumb here.
The conclusion of this article is laughable and false. The reality of the matter is that Madonna has only been able to stay in the spotlight because of all her antics throughout the years- antics that she KNEW would get attention and piss some people off. She doesn’t have any real talent. She doesn’t even have the voice, charisma, or charm to make up for that. She will always be remembered for ‘controversy’ rather than any significant contribution to the arts. The fact that she politicizes her tours shows that she couldn’t care less about the craft of music. Her attention-whoring just comes off as desperate and pathetic. There are modern popstars who are more deserving of legend status than the talentless Madge- Beyonce, Christina, and Gaga. They all have more talent than her but have not managed to outdo her in attention-whoring. They shouldn’t have to resort to that anyway.
It’s actually funny when people like you try to convince yourselves that Madonna stayed in the spotlight because of controversy and “attention-whoring”, instead of her talent, which can be backed up by a dozen brilliant albums with solid and often groundbreaking music.
Attention-whoring, controversy, scandal? Why wasn’t Michael Jackson on top form in the last two decades before his death? You know, sexual scandals, shaking his own baby outside a hotel balcony, disfiguring himself with countless surgeries. Or you don’t see any of these as scandalous behavior, attention-whoring and controversy? Is it normal to shake your baby TO PHOTOGRAPHERS outside a balcony?
Why didn’t Paris Hilton’s album do well? Flashing her vagina is the best way to get attention, isn’t it?
And what about that awful Lady Gaga dressed up like a clown in every red carpet she attends? Not attention-whoring”? Needless to say that her music to this day has been generic contemporary pop. While Madonna created masterpieces like the albums Ray of Light, Music, Like a Prayer and Erotica over the years.
It’s pretty obvious that attention-whoring, scandals and controversy do not make a long career in music. The music speak for itself. i doubt you can find someone that will tell you they bought Madonna’s albums because of her nipple-flashing.
Talk about talking too much without any reasonable content!
Madonna’s body of work is richer and more varied than Michael Jackson’s or anyone else in pop music’s catalog. That is a fact. No one in pop music has released such a musically rich material one after the other like Madonna has.
And even though whenever people recognize the geniality of her body of work, they try to take the credits from her and it is always “the producers she worked with”. But the thing is:
Stuart Price’s best work was with Madonna.
Stephen Bray’s best work was with Madonna.
Patrick Leonard’s best work was with Madonna.
William Orbit’s best work was with Madonna.
Mirways’s best work was with Madonna.
It pretty much is LOGICALLY UNDENIABLE that Madonna has a lot of talent to direct her work in whatever direction she wants to go.
No matter who she works with, and how different her collaborators are from each other, there is a clear LINE and CHARACTER that connects all of her works, from Madonna (the first album) to the amazing MDNA. And guess who is the only person that has been involved in the creation of all these songs and albums? Madonna herself.
The fact that most of the people she has worked with were never able to create anything relevant without her hand says a lot about her work in the studio.
So please, at least try to have an intelligible reason to HATE Madonna. This “she has no talent” thing is so utterly ignorant and clueless that it is a shame.
Madonna has NEVER created a ‘masterpiece’ song or album. Pop music in general is just mediocre….and Madge is one of the worst at it. She also pandered to gullible gays- something that a lot of modern popstars have taken up. Bottom line- Madonna won’t be remembered for any contributions to music.
Earlier you praise Beyonce and Gaga and then you say that pop music in general is crap? So what do Beyonce and Gaga do? Opera?
It goes to show that you are one those frantic, reactionist, obsessive haters who have to attack on any celebrity that happens to take your dislike.
I bet that in 3 years from now it’ll be Gaga herself to you.
“Earlier you praise Beyonce and Gaga and then you say that pop music in general is crap? So what do Beyonce and Gaga do? Opera?”
I missed that
Beyonce and “Gaga” are way more generic than Madonna
I didn’t ‘praise’ them at all. I just said that even *they* have more talent than Madge, and are therefore more worthy of legend status.
“Madonna won’t be remembered for any contributions to music.”
- You know she’s done more than just music right? She has inspired both gay men and women as well. A little research please.
She pandered to gays….and the gullible, sheepish ones fell for it. They’re pathetic, but not as pathetic as Madge’s try-hard antics and pandering throughout the years.
No, there is brilliance among Pop music, too.
I agree, most of it nowadays is shit
but Madonna’s best work is not part of that …
She is already remembered for those great Contributions
“Bottom line- Madonna won’t be remembered for any contributions to music.”
She already IS remembered for her music.
Holiday, Like a Virgin, Into the Groove, Vogue, Like a Prayer – those are not only HITS, they are CLASSIC POP SONGS.
They are written in the history of music. They represent the sound of an era, hon.
Madonna already IS remembered for her music. And I mentioned those because I wanted to keep things in the 80s. I can mention other CLASSIC pop songs she has made and performed in the 90s and 00s as well.
The people you mentioned and praised, lady Garbage, Beyonce, they have had hits, but they failed to produce one single CLASSIC. Mainly Gaga. At least Beyoince, with Destiny’s Child, had a few songs that marked an era (the beginning of the fall of MTV). But gaga, poor little thing. With the most promoted album in the history of music, the girl only had a few hits but failed to turn them into something meaningful for the music industry of this era. Even Adele stole her thunder.
This Amy is NUTS, Madonna has yet to make a bad album critics always eat her up. Like A Prayer was a masterpiece of a album. So was Ray Of Light and Confessions On A Dance floor. True Blue was remarkable.She is in the book of world records over and over, that means she will be remembered, plus she has sold more albums than anyone globally besides The Beatles, Billboard lists Madonna as the most successful Solo Artist of all time.
Sorry but the idea that her career has remained consistently successful for 30 years just because of controversy is ludicrous. At the end of the day it’s her staggering catalogue of hit songs, most of which she had a hand in writing, that have kept her successful.
And yes, she does generate controversy, sometimes obviously calculated, other times not so, but what I think is impressive about Madonna is that almost all of the controversy she’s caused through the years has been linked to her work. It’s her videos, lyrics, performances, and viewpoints that have caused controversy. She didn’t go the way of so many others who have kept their names in the papers by getting involved in silly love trysts, gaining/losing weight like Christina, having a public breakdown a la Britney, a drug problem, etc.
She’s the hardest working and most self disciplined woman in music, and she’s opened so many doors for women in the entertainment industry. Now she’s helping to open doors for older women, starting a dialogue about older womens’ sexuality, and exposing the incredibly ageist society we live in. So like her or not, as a woman you should give her props for that at least.
And to the above poster, Bruce..Just stop before you embarrass yourself even further.
HAHAHA Sure whatever. Then I guess she’s just stuck in the music industry because people have no choice….
“There are modern popstars who are more deserving of legend status than the talentless Madge- Beyonce, Christina, and Gaga.”
You must be joking, they are the cream of the generic crop.
“They all have more talent than her but have not managed to outdo her in attention-whoring. They shouldn’t have to resort to that anyway.”
“Gaga”, anyone ?
She heavily relies on “attention-whoring” because otherwise she wouldn’t get noticed, with her majorly generic and outdated music.
And she has outdone Madonna in “attention-whoring”, by far.
She doesn’t have half the style Madonna has shown, “Gaga” looks like some Eurovision pop fart
and makes the music to go with it
LOL You know it’s the delusional Monsters when they refer to Gaga art, high fashion, etc. They’re repetitive as fuck now.
Please all of them have mastered the art of attention-whoring, they all copied Madonna in one way or another. None of them are the package deal you get with Madonna. Madonna gets people to talk about subjects, she has a wonderful voice that for some reason she likes to speed up and sound like Britney but tartness sales. But never think Madonna is a real tart she just knows how to market her product..Madonna.
She continues as the most important and revered female performer of the last 30 years. No matter how the wannabes may try, there’s only one Madonna and no other female has or will have the kind of impact and influence that she has in entertainment/music.
She will only stop when she feels damn ready.
Nobody gives a crap about Madonna outside of her small and shrinking fanbase. Her fans are so delusional. Madonna’s music has never been interesting and the large majority of people know her mainly because of her antics. The only ‘impact’ she has had is setting the standard for female popstars to whore themselves out.
Amy (Bruce too), just stop. You’re not presenting any facts or shaping your childish hatred in any sort of logical argument. All you’re doing is spouting nothing but hateful OPINIONS and claiming those who don’t share your POV are delusional. Basically, you saw some people enjoying something and decided to come and arbitrarily throw a tantrum because they dont like/think the exact same things you do. Like a fascist.
If you really hold your outlook in such a high regard, then go out and set the world on fire instead of seeking out an article that objectively looks at something you’re so clearly biased and prejudiced against just to have something to piss on. Go make a name for yourself with zero skills or talent and only the ability to annoy and get under someone else’s skin. You’re doing a bang up job of that now and not raking in the bucks nor the adoration. So, there, your theory has been put to sleep.
Also, you use generalities and pathetic examples of allness when you shoot your poorly educated mouth off by claiming “NOBODY” execpt her fans care about her. Because that a whole helluva lot of NOBODY showing up to her shows.
Amen
You’re making yourself look more & more idiotic with each post. Thank you for the entertainment.
You know this is a crazy statement, the woman has 7 more #1 singles on The United World Chart than anyone period, Spent 58 more weeks at #1 than any artist period and has 15 more top 10 singles than anyone. YOU can not do that just by antics along! She according to Billboard is the MOST successful solo artist of ALL time and when they declared this she only had 10 studio albums. This year she broke multiple records her Superbowl halftime show was the highest rated event in TV history. Her MDNA tour is the top tour of 2012 and the album is the 5th best selling album of 2012. She will earn over 500 million this year more than she ever has.
A very well-written and acutely observed article. I totally agree that she is now perpetuating a double-standard myth herself and that’s why her message is all the more contrived. I’d love to see her work with Patrick Leonard or Stephen Bray again and leave the RnB-lite dancefloor well alone.
[...] Feature Article: Everybody Hates Madonna [...]
Great piece of reading!
i love madonna and she is the biggest star ever. In this world is enough hate. So get a life instead hating people. MADONNA BIGGEST STAR EVER. LIVING LEGEND
well the funny thing about this report is that you are claiming every one hates madonna while her 88 concerts has been fully packed with ppl and has the most antecedence per night.
so really do ppl hate her or just some celebs are a bit jealous. well after 30 years she is still number 1
The title’s ironic …
From the woman herself…
http://youtu.be/UESyrg0-upI?t=1m2s