Madonna 1982-2012: 30 Years of Pop Genius

Great American Icon Posing

Madonna is one of the great cultural icons of the post-war era, easily as significant as Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Brando, or Brad Pitt. Indeed, given the fact that her first single debuted in 1982, thirty years ago this October, and that her new single is out now (ironically self-referencing), and that she is poised to play the Superbowl, it is time to marvel anew. I can think of few major recording artists of similar career span, other than Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan (Leonard Cohen, of course). Springsteen? Elvis, The Beatles - those other touchstones, lasted less long, as did Michael Jackson. Prince, also a genius, is sporadic, hit-and-miss. No other singer-songwriter of the 80s remains as relevant - indeed, Lady Gaga, and Lana Del Rey, to name two, make so sense without the context of Madonna. Typing out on Spotify her best songs, I came up with 50, before stopping - it seemed silly.

All Madonna albums are a little weak, but winnowed out, each yields at least a clutch of classics. The world of pop music is unthinkable without 'Express Yourself', 'Vogue', 'Like A Virgin', 'Like A Prayer', 'Holiday', or my favourite, 'Dress You Up', which first put me in touch with my inner girl, in a Larkin-lesbian fashion. Madonna has had some bad marriages and relationships, more silly phases than Yeats, and can't seem to really star in a good film (few other top notch performers have bombed so often onscreen); one thinks of Henry James failing at theatre as an equivalent of an American in London with genius singularly incapable of transferring their gifts from their chosen genre to another they desired to excel in. However, as she ages, she renews the idea of female beauty and drive and chutzpah, and increasingly threatens to out-Dietrich Dietrich.

There won't ever be another Madonna. She is still with us, and, if the fates smile, there is no doubt she will be singing fun, zeitgeist songs in 2022, perhaps even 2032. I have loved her from afar since I was 16, when she first appeared on my horizon, and have wanted her to be my big sister since then. I went to see her in Montreal with my mother for the True Blue tour in the mid-80s at the height of her first wave. I hope to meet her one day and write a song with her. In the meantime, I will simply have to strike a pose on my own.

IQ AND THE POETS - ARE YOU SMART?

When you open your mouth to speak, are you smart? A funny question from a great song, but also, a good one, when it comes to poets, and poetry. We tend to have a very ambiguous view of intelligence in poetry, one that I'd say is dysfunctional. Basically, it goes like this: once you are safely dead, it no longer matters how smart you were. For instance, Auden was smarter than Yeats , but most would still say Yeats is the finer poet; Eliot is clearly highly intelligent, but how much of Larkin 's work required a high IQ? Meanwhile, poets while alive tend to be celebrated if they are deemed intelligent: Anne Carson, Geoffrey Hill , and Jorie Graham , are all, clearly, very intelligent people, aside from their work as poets. But who reads Marianne Moore now, or Robert Lowell , smart poets? Or, Pound ? How smart could Pound be with his madcap views? Less intelligent poets are often more popular. John Betjeman was not a very smart poet, per se....

"I have crossed oceans of time to find you..."

In terms of great films about, and of, love, we have Vertigo, In The Mood for Love , and Casablanca , Doctor Zhivago , An Officer and a Gentleman , at the apex; as well as odder, more troubling versions, such as Sophie's Choice and Silence of the Lambs . I think my favourite remains Bram Stoker's Dracula , with the great immortal line "I have crossed oceans of time to find you...".

THE SWIFT REPORT 2023

I am writing this post without much enthusiasm, but with a sense of duty. This blog will be 20 years old soon, and though I rarely post here anymore, I owe it some attention. Of course in 2023, "Swift" now means one thing only, Taylor Swift, the billionaire musician. Gone are the days when I was asked if I was related to Jonathan Swift. The pre-eminent cultural Swift is now alive and TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR. There is no point in belabouring the obvious with delay: 2023 was a low-point in the low annals of human history - war, invasion, murder, in too many nations. Hate, division, the collapse of what truth is, exacerbated by advances in AI that may or may not prove apocalyptic, while global warming still seems to threaten the near-future safety of humanity. It's been deeply depressing. The world lost some wonderful poets, actors, musicians, and writers this year, as it often does. Two people I knew and admired greatly, Ian Ferrier and Kevin Higgins, poets and organise...

E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

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