Paglia on Madonna
dam...@pacbell.net
Madonna (1998, no. 6.) There's not much in it that we haven't heard
before. A few comments which might be new --
She says "Like a Prayer" "Mixes up Protestant and Catholic iconography
in an unnecessarily confusing way. Furthermore, by boppily dancing in a
skimpy black camisole in front of a burning cross, Madonna perhaps
trivialised and demeaned what is an atrocious symbol in the USA of
anti-black terrorism, arson, and murder by the Ku Klux Klan."
She says "'Ray of Light' is a very beautiful, contemplative album except
for a few moments of self-indulgent mawkishness. However, the idea that
this is Madonna's 'best work'... is simply wrong. 'Ray of Light' is
rich, high-quality popular music, but from the moment madonna arrived on
the scene in the early 1980s, she was making magnificent music for which
she has never been fully honoured by the music industry. Though she has
worked with an enormous number of producers, arrangers and co-composers,
she always gets the effects she wants. Her signature songs became
instant classics, and virtually everything she has done seems fresh,
despite constant airplay."
She says that "Some of her most wonderful music -- Lucky Star,
Borderline, Dress You Up -- is straightforward, empathic, mainstream
pop. Ironists never win the world's affection. Madonna is passionate
and direct, even when charging down the wrong path."
Damion