Say which flavour you like and I'll have it for you: Suedey's Madonna top 50

It's really tough at this point because I genuinely adore all of the songs. I think apart from my top 10, all the songs from 34-11 would be interchangeable at any given day given my mood etc.

And yes I'm determined to finish this! Look at me Moopy - I don't think I've ever made it this far in any of my top 50s before.

If I finish this I'll do a top 100 albums of all time..
 
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34. Impressive Instant (Music, 2000)
Key remix: Peter Rauhofer (2001)
Key live version: Drowned World Tour (2001) ​

Let’s rewind back to September 2000 please: a triumphant post-Ray Of Light Madonna had scored another Number 1 single with ‘Music’ and the album release was imminent. This marked the peak of the UK’s love affair with Madonna in my opinion – she came this close to that ‘national treasure’ category at this point: She lived here, had a British other half, and the infamous accent was in its infancy. Well, I for one am glad she smashed it all into smithereens in true Madonna fashion. In any case, I remember buying the album from HMV Oxford St. on the day of release and taking pictures with the massive album cover poster outside with some other Madonna forum loons (good times, good times). But the best memory of that day for me was when I rushed back to my flat to play the album only to hear it from the flat next door – and the song was ‘Impressive Instant’ with its unmistakable bassline pulsating through my thin Hammersmith walls.

​


Anyway, ‘Impressive Instant’ is one of her best ‘singles that never were’, as it were. We’ve told the story many, many times, but it bares repeating: Madonna.com had a poll for the next single from the album, and ‘Impressive Instant’ won by a landslide. She liked the idea and remixes were commissioned (check out Rauhofer's remix above - it's a banger-ish.) Warner Bros, however, wanted ‘Amazing’ instead as it was more commercial – they pressed promo CDs and were planning on using the live performance from Drowned World Tour as the video. She disagreed. They butted heads. She took ‘Amazing’ off the tour setlist and a fourth single never materialised. So the only people who lost out were the fans – but at least we still have the Drowned World Tour live performance (which would have made a good live video by the way…)
 
Funnily enough I was looking at Madonna’s Acclaimed Music songs list (I think it’s from there) and Impressive Instant I THINK was the only non-single in the Top 50... I think the nearest one after that was Sky Fits Heaven. I might be remembering incorrectly but still a good achievement. I remember it being received fondly and it was a winner on DWT.
 
funky said:
Also she was right about that single choice, but when has Warner Music ever been right about anything...
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To be fair, they were right about 'Frozen' going first (she wanted 'Ray Of Light') and '4 Minutes' (she wanted, erm, 'Candy Shop').

I think they also twisted her arm with 'Sorry' as the second single - she wanted 'Get Together' instead.

I miss the days when she had a proper record company.
 
Impressive Instant sounds so odd these days. In a good way. But it doesn't give me Marge. I guess because it's so Mirwais.
 
I missed many bops on the last page. Let's run through

Masterpiece - reminds me of my last year in London. I'm very attached to it. Probably the last time she served me a ballad I really stanned (alongside Falling Free)
Don't Tell Me - feels iconic these days, perhaps more than Music. That video just served us imagery dahling, it could almost have been a Gags creation
Skin - me and Ms @RaspberrySwirl will always stan this dirty gay sex and drugs anthem
Take a Bow - I love this soppy shit. BUT... before Madonna, there was... Face... and I
Sanctuary - I don't know her
 
Loufoque said:
I missed many bops on the last page. Let's run through

Masterpiece - reminds me of my last year in London. I'm very attached to it. Probably the last time she served me a ballad I really stanned (alongside Falling Free)
Don't Tell Me - feels iconic these days, perhaps more than Music. That video just served us imagery dahling, it could almost have been a Gags creation
Skin - me and Ms @RaspberrySwirl will always stan this dirty gay sex and drugs anthem
Take a Bow - I love this soppy shit. BUT... before Madonna, there was... Face... and I
Sanctuary - I don't know her
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The Dress You Up shade tho. I screamed!
 
I, of course, enjoy Dress You Up. It's like a basic version of Stefani Joanne's Fashion '08 from Confessions of a Shopping Addict or whatever Oscar bait she was involved with back then.
 
KIT.jpg

33. Keep It Together (Like A Prayer, 1989)
Key remix: Single Mix
Key live version: Blond Ambition Tour (1990)
​
Another song that is enhanced and entranced to a different spectrum altogether thanks to its epic live performance on the Blond Ambition Tour – and if you haven’t seen it, well it’s Gay History 101 so do your homework: it is 8 minutes of a master at the art of live performance. The song itself is, of course, marvellous and serves as yet another ‘ode to the family’ on its parent album, the colossus that was Like A Prayer. Lyrically I really enjoy this, and I think it is probably one of her most autobiographical songs ever. The vocal harmonies with Nikki & Donna are the definition of chef’s kiss.

​


The album version itself might sound a little bit dated but I assure you the single remix (which the live version is based on) is the definitive one to reach for. It was a single in the USA after the relative floppage of ‘Oh Father’ and it did fairly well there, going top 10, but had little staying power. Anyway, I frequently reach for this even in 2021 and I think it’s been unfairly forgotten by her. Sidebar: the single sleeve is one of my favourites of hers of all time and I wish I had the T-shirt that Ollie has on Truth or Dare.
 
Loufoque said:
I, of course, enjoy Dress You Up. It's like a basic version of Stefani Joanne's Fashion '08 from Confessions of a Shopping Addict or whatever Oscar bait she was involved with back then.
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Sorry but Dress You Up destroys Fashion! (And I love Fashion! and its basic afness)
 
Loufoque said:
I have never cared for Keep It Together. I always felt that Jump was a better sonic update of it - I'm not quite sure why.
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I totally get it and lyrically it's also a sister song but I prefer KIT by far. Spoiler alert but 'Jump' does not feature in my top 50. I used to love it but recently just went off it. I remember @Ag hating it back in the day and referring to it as 'Dump' and somehow that has really stuck with me.
 
Surprised to see Keep It Together here, thought it was generally treated like the bad apple(?), black sheep? of the album. I love it though, both sonically and lyrically. I love her family songs.
 
Was Why’s It So Hard about la famiglia too? I can’t remember but the last part of that one is lovely too and for some reason reminds me of Keep It Together.
 
Suedey said:
I totally get it and lyrically it's also a sister song but I prefer KIT by far. Spoiler alert but 'Jump' does not feature in my top 50. I used to love it but recently just went off it. I remember @Ag hating it back in the day and referring to it as 'Dump' and somehow that has really stuck with me.
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Yeah it felt too easy for my liking. I don't enjoy songs called Jump or Work.

I totally underrated the album at the time, despite it very obviously being RIGHT MY THING.
 
RaspberrySwirl said:
Surprised to see Keep It Together here, thought it was generally treated like the bad apple(?), black sheep? of the album. I love it though, both sonically and lyrically. I love her family songs.
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Only if you’re taking the brothers and sisters parts literally. It’s more of a “why can’t we all get along and respect each other” call of arms to the human race in general. Good song though.
 
Love Jump, thought not as much as I once did. I always preferred it over Get Together because the latter was filtered disco and I found it light compared to the clubby filtered disco that was around at the time from the likes of Tom Middleton, Cassius, Laurent Garnier and others. But I feel like time has been kinder to it. It has a darker, more mature mood and atmosphere, in a Jessie Ware kind of way, which gives it more longevity than Jump.
 
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32. I'll Remember (Something To Remember, 1995)
UK chart position: 7
Key remix: William Orbit​

“I’ll Remember” holds the dubious distinction of being one of three US top 10 singles that she has never performed live (“This Used To be my Playground” and “Rescue Me” being the other two). And yet it is one of her biggest hit singles in the USA – stuck for weeks at no. 2 behind “I Swear”. It was released during a very interesting period in her career – a stop-gap ‘panic mode’ ballad single reminding us that she was still a ‘soundtrack queen’ (she recorded it for pal Alek Keshishian’s With Honours film). Madonna backlash was at an all time high, and yet it still managed a respectable few weeks in the UK and was massive in the USA. Of course she blew all the good will out of the water when she appeared on David Letterman shortly afterwards and infamously (legendarily) swore her way through the programme and basically called him out for the middle aged misogynistic ‘white guy’ humour he levelled at her at the time.

Nevertheless, it is easy to dismiss “I’ll Remember” as mid-‘90s Madonna gloop but I just love its warmth. Those layered synths intertwine with vocals perfectly, and the strings towards the end another atmospheric touch. The adlibs and slightly throaty “I’ll remember”s towards the end are fantastic.


​

You may or may not know that, in a manner not too dissimilar to ‘Don’t Tell Me’, the song had already existed by songwriter Richard Page. Madonna and Shep Pettibone came in, changed the lyrics and (in that great Ciccone fashion) turned it into something a bit more elevated. He acknowledges as much in this acoustic performance - and I was hoping she'd dust it off and perform it in a similar fashion to this on Tears of a Clown or even Madame X tour but it was not meant to be.
 
BoysForSeles said:
Only if you’re taking the brothers and sisters parts literally. It’s more of a “why can’t we all get along and respect each other” call of arms to the human race in general. Good song though.
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Well yes and no. The lyrics are heavily autobiographical.

I got brothers
I got some sisters too
Stuck in the middle
Tell you what I'm gonna do
Gonna get out of here
I'm gonna leave this place
So I can forget every single hungry face

It's pretty much the Ciccone family story...
 
Suedey said:
View attachment 1484
33. Keep It Together (Like A Prayer, 1989)
Key remix: Single Mix
Key live version: Blond Ambition Tour (1990)
​
Another song that is enhanced and entranced to a different spectrum altogether thanks to its epic live performance on the Blond Ambition Tour – and if you haven’t seen it, well it’s Gay History 101 so do your homework: it is 8 minutes of a master at the art of live performance. The song itself is, of course, marvellous and serves as yet another ‘ode to the family’ on its parent album, the colossus that was Like A Prayer. Lyrically I really enjoy this, and I think it is probably one of her most autobiographical songs ever. The vocal harmonies with Nikki & Donna are the definition of chef’s kiss.

​


The album version itself might sound a little bit dated but I assure you the single remix (which the live version is based on) is the definitive one to reach for. It was a single in the USA after the relative floppage of ‘Oh Father’ and it did fairly well there, going top 10, but had little staying power. Anyway, I frequently reach for this even in 2021 and I think it’s been unfairly forgotten by her. Sidebar: the single sleeve is one of my favourites of hers of all time and I wish I had the T-shirt that Ollie has on Truth or Dare.
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What a song! I must take issue with your assertion that the album version is "a little dated" though. How could it, when it sounds so much closer to it's timeless inspiration Sly & the Family Stone? The single remix has a much more early 90s dance sheen. The album version is timeless.

Anyway, the song is an overlooked gem and that Blond Ambition performance is *chef's kiss*.
 
I've often wondered over the years, whether the "Just givin' to get something" line in "Keep It Together", was a little nod to Joni Mitchell's "People's Parties". It's from Joni's album "Court and Spark", which I seem to recall Madonna saying she loved as a teenager.

"Some are friendly
Some are cutting
Some are watching it from the wings
Some are standing in the center
Giving to get something"
 
Bluejeans said:
I've often wondered over the years, whether the "Just givin' to get something" line in "Keep It Together", was a little nod to Joni Mitchell's "People's Parties". It's from Joni's album "Court and Spark", which I seem to recall Madonna saying she loved as a teenager.

"Some are friendly
Some are cutting
Some are watching it from the wings
Some are standing in the center
Giving to get something"
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I never got that reference. Good call!
 
Oh I’ll Remember <3

ye shall never call it gloopy though, my God! It’s a career high and actually I thought that you’d have it higher Suede, I get that everything from now on is like 11/10 anyway but I thought this was right in your lane, Madonna or not.

Bitch for never doing it live though. WTF?
 
funky said:
Oh I’ll Remember <3

ye shall never call it gloopy though, my God! It’s a career high and actually I thought that you’d have it higher Suede, I get that everything from now on is like 11/10 anyway but I thought this was right in your lane, Madonna or not.

Bitch for never doing it live though. WTF?
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Oh I am calling it gloopy out of love of course and also to get @dUb's attention because it fulfils his criteria.
 
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Suedey said:
Well yes and no. The lyrics are heavily autobiographical.

I got brothers
I got some sisters too
Stuck in the middle
Tell you what I'm gonna do
Gonna get out of here
I'm gonna leave this place
So I can forget every single hungry face

It's pretty much the Ciccone family story...
Click to expand...
We were talking about Why’s It So Hard not Keep It Together.
 
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