Madonna & Me

Ahhh..... that collective sigh you hear from across the nation right now is that of gay men and Madonna fans (which, admittedly, are mostly the same crowd) after repeated listening of her new album, 'Confessions on a Dance Floor'. She leads it off with the stomping first single 'Hung Up' that infectiously samples ABBA, and keeps that tempo straight through 12 tracks. I hear influence from her entire catalogue here (Is that 'Burning Up' I hear in 'Sorry'? 'Papa Don't Preach' in 'Let It Will Be'? 'Secret' in 'Isaac'? Awesome!) and am very satisfied with the collection. (Well, mostly-- does she really feel like a dork when she's not in 'New York'?) Matt wrote earlier about 'daring' her to return to her provocative days with her next release and although there is nothing earth-shattering on it and I don't think the pope will be upset by anything in this release, its a welcome sign to see her delivering such a top-notch dance album.

I've loved her since hearing 'Holiday' on the radio on the way to the YMCA one afternoon (I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday but I remember exactly where I was in 1983 when I heard that track???) and thinking that the DJ said the singer's name was Macdonna. As with any gay man my age, her influence on my life has been pretty huge, so with that, I present my top 5 Madonna moments:

Material Girl video
Ahh, 1984-- Swim team and stickers took up most of my time, but I was also beginning to discover music. One of the best parts of going to visit my Dad every other weekend was that he had cable (we didn't get it at home until 1987!). Once we got to his house, I would bolt back to my room, turn on MTV, and be glued to the tube pretty much the whole time I was visiting. And there she was, in that iconic pink dress, singing about cold hard cash, and being carried around by a host of handsome men. Although I would be years off from understanding that those guys probably had something to do with my interest, this would remain my favorite video and song for many years to come.

Vouge
Vouge came out the summer of 1990 as we all turned 16 and my group of friends was discovering the level of freedom having cars afforded us. Whether it was going to the mall, seeing a movie or just hanging at a house, we pretty much had something to do every night that summer. One warm night, we were all packed in my car (aka "the Party Max") on the way to a carnival and stuck in traffic, inching along to get a parking spot in the field next to the firehouse. I'll never forget blasting the song over and over with my friends Bethany and Tracy hanging out of my sunroof vouging, while the rest of us in the car laughed and danced along. Years later at Bethany's wedding, she would request this song, we'd all dance to it and laugh like we were 16 all over again.

Erotica Album
The fall of 1992 had me leaving the comforts of home for the 'big city' of Pittsburgh and college. One of my first days at school, I went out wondering around the city, admiring the tall buildings and verve of the city streets, and happened upon a large record store. This was a far cry from the small shop in the mall where I grew up and I was immediately engrossed-- a forerunner to the hours I now spend in Virgin Mega-Stores and on iTunes. I bought 'Erotica' that day and although it was mostly panned by critics, it quickly became my favorite release of hers to date, and accompanied me on many long drives back and forth between Pittsburgh and Hanover. The album had it all-- the sexy and frosty sounds of title track, 'Bye Bye Baby' and 'Words'; the twirling highs of 'Fever' and 'Deeper and Deeper'; the button-pushing of 'Where Life Begins' and of course, the soulful depths of 'Bad Girl' and 'Rain'. It reminds me of a big time in transition in my life and I think still stands as her most balanced album.

Ray of Light
How can you not love this song? Combined with the video, this was Madonna returning to her roots and showing us all how it's done. (Parallels could certainly be drawn with this and 'Confessions') But it's a little thing that endears this song to me. Remember the hip movements she makes in the video when she sings 'Earth shall be as one...'? When I first met Christian in the spring of 1998, this song was huge, and one night just a few days into our relationship, we were out at a club, the song came on, and we laughingly mimicked the move. It became an inside joke between us and ended up on the CD we gave out at our wedding because of the joke. So every time I hear the song, I think of being young, falling in love, and Christian. In other words, exactly what great music should do.

'Music' Remix
So she was popular again, and she kept the good times rolling in 2000 with the release of 'Music'. We were keeping the good times rolling as well, as we were knee deep in the days of experiencing what it meant to be young and gay in a big city. Nation was the club we hit most often, and it was of the warehouse mega-club variety, where anyone who was anyone was there pretty much every Saturday night, or so we thought. One of the two or three biggest remixers of the time, Hex Hector, did a mix of the song that played off the good time lyrics 'Music... makes the people... come together...' and had some serious peaks and valleys to the beats. Whatever DJ was playing the club always seemed to play this mix at the 'right time' to get the crowd in a frenzy and send the fun factor into the stratosphere. We still go out dancing from time to time and certainly still have our share of fun, but this mix reminds me of many of those crazyawesome nights when many of the best friendships that I still have today were being forged under that giant disco ball at Nation.

So I'll keep listening to 'Confessions' and reflect over the good times her music has brought me over the years. Where will the next significant Madonna-moment be for me? I don't know, but I'm just glad she's back to making the good times music she does so well.