[PROLOGUE] I used to work at an independent record label / distributor / store in the late 90s, early 00s (sadly, the store and distribution portion of the business was essentially scraped last month as iTunes and the like continue their march). Anyway, to many that admission implies I am a music snob, which I guess is somewhat true. But not a music snob in the record store clerk asshole way (record store clerk – extinction, circa 2004 – you will be missed even though you were often an asshole), if someone bought a boy band CD or bad hair metal, I would always think: if they get some level of joy out of that music like I get out of mine, well, that is cool. Now, it did not stop me from mercilessly ripping apart the music at some point, but I tried to make a distinction between the consumer and the item consumed. Not always successful though. My simple point is that if people experience joy from music, I am mostly happy for them.
One day I was working at the label / store and was railing against commercial radio at the time (I have always had a strange love affair with radio, aha, a future post I see): “Britney Spears should go fuck herself, Christina Ag-whatever and her terrible vocal acrobatics, which of course means a desire for Mariah Carey and her voice to vanish forever.” So I am railing on and on, and everyone in the store is amused but did not share my frustration. I was also writing for the local independent newspaper at the time, so I announced my next piece would be on the state of popular, commercial music, etc. My friend Chris quietly said, “it’s not necessary, everyone knows they are shit, what they represent, how they got on the radio – why give it any attention, just let it go away.” His zen-like approach to popular entertainment and the mediums that cover it, support it, propagate it struck me. And so I did just let it go – at least externally. My internal screeds continued, mostly to myself, sometimes to others. This stuff is disposable; it does go away, replaced by the next over-sexualized female artist or wannabe fourteen year old playa talking about his junk and the lovin’ he gives out.
But last Monday the Google news page had some clever headline that sadly caught my eye about Elton John dissing Madonna. Short story: Madonna won an award over Elton. Elton basically said it was a joke, Madonna was a joke, and she is a desperate narcissist (go Elton). As we worship at the altar of media relations, publicists, and image management, of course Elton apologized a few days later. But this got me thinking about my friend Chris and what he said: just let it go away.
Jump to 2012 and it did not go away – it has simply metastasized into a 50 plus year old woman who is still considered by far too many people to be (a) an artist and (b) culturally significant. So, what if it is doesn’t just go away? What if it is considered as important to our history, our culture? What if it is given stature and respectability? And by the “it” in this post I mean Madonna.
First things first – acknowledgments to Madonna. I thought about burying this information in the middle of this post or excluding it altogether, but it is important to the story, I am not simply a hater. I own her Like a Prayer album, the song “Oh Father” is amazing, plus Like a Prayer, Express Yourself, Cherish, Love Song, Keep it Together are great pop songs. I also bought a completely bootlegged greatest hits album on the streets of Cuernavaca, Mexico because it had Beautiful Stranger and Ray of Light, two more great pop songs that I still play to this day when the mood strikes me.
I just pulled my copy of the Like a Prayer album and found an insert regarding AIDS that was included. So, this brings me to my next acknowledgment. This album came out in 1989 while a lot of this country was still using tragic phrases like the gay-plague and gay-cancer in reference to AIDS. I know Madonna has a huge following in the glbt community, and I applaud her efforts to advance issues and challenge stereotypes and bigotry. Likewise, I have heard from many a female friend that Madonna was empowering during their teen years. Madonna challenged the old-boys network and often found great success. As women were still struggling to find role models of powerful women, women succeeding at business, women leading organizations and institutions, I do not disregard this importance. And of course Madonna challenged the puritanical nature of our society when it came to s-e-x; she said sex is good, put it in our face and said deal with it – again I applaud her (but I need to return to this later and potentially problematize the rhetorical significance of her symbolism). Lastly, she has remained in the game for nearly thirty years, that type of longevity in the entertainment business means something, although I am not entirely sure what that is or how significant it is.
So, as I said, I am not a hater. To be honest, I had not given Madonna much thought until I saw that headline on Monday and since I had begun blogging over the past few weeks, light bulb went off. I had of course thought about the state of image management, persona, pop music and such for quite some time and Madonna gives me a vehicle to explore here below.
So, first things first: what is she? She calls her self an artist, a musician. I would say more like a performer, dancer. But, looking through these liner notes, she is given a writing credit for many of her songs, often the lead credit. Many of her other hits were written by others, and this is nothing new as the Brill Building churned out hit after hit, same thing with Motown, Memphis, Nashville, and so on. Back to her getting credit for writing these songs. How exactly does she do this? Part of mythology is that she played drums in a NYC punk band, well, that is complete shit. She began “learning” the guitar a few years ago and I remember seeing her play, it was pretty sad. She started learning her first instrument twenty-plus years into her career. So how does she write songs? Hum to musicians. There has been many a claim to plagiarism of others music and lyrics that have followed her as well, not sure if or how many of these claims were ever adjudicated? So, again, why does she receive credit for writing any of her songs? Yes, she has written lyrics, but often she changes a line or two in the song brought to her by collaborators and professional song writers. Some of the lyrics she has acknowledge writing from beginning to end are so inane and pedantic, it is no wonder she recently said she cannot listen to a lot of her songs. And I know the work she has done with William Orbit lately was done by William Orbit. No, I was not in the studio, but Madonna is a life sucker, she figures out what is hip and happening at the time, co-opts it as her own creation, packages it, and sells it under the label Madonna.
Two quick asides: (1) how in the world she still gets away with the English accent transformation she experienced is beyond me. She should be mocked, laughed at, ridiculed any time she opens her fucking mouth. (2) She is a terrible actor, she has been given countless acting opportunities with serious directors and respectable actors, and other than the time she played herself essentially (League of Their Own), she has been an unbelievable, inauthentic performer on the movie screen.
Now back to the biggest issue. As far as I can tell, Madonna’s best talent is creating media spectacles. But is not the business of celebrity just a different but brilliant and nefarious and diabolical revenue stream for media conglomerates. The same folks that put up the money for the business of Madonna also sell the magazines that keep us interested. Media relations people, brand managers, advertising executives, publicists are the true guardians of the gate these days. Perception is reality, and they make it so and repeat it ad nausea. But really how hard is it to create a media spectacle these days when it is all done under the same roof? The monster needs to be fed, and Madonna has the meat it wants. But this is applauded, rewarded; this is what passes for artistic achievement? So, if I frame Madonna as a performance artist, maybe I could go a bit easier. But she claims to be an artist, musician and gets away with it from too many people. And does this manipulation raise concerns about the intent behind her advocacy; was it all just good business. Maybe the intention does not matter as I would say on whole the positives out weigh her motivations regardless.
And Elton was right, she is a narcissist. Check out this letter she wrote in 2004, endorsing Wesley Clark (really?) for president (I used this letter in my persuasion class, the students had great fun ripping her apart):
I've never done this before. But life is about taking risks is it not?
I know that people seem to pay attention to everything I do. Big or Small. Ridiculous or Sublime. So I am hoping they pay attention to this:
I am supporting General Wesley Clark for President.
Not only as a "celebrity" but as an American citizen and as a mother. I want my children to grow up with the same opportunities that I had – to know and understand what's going on in the world and to travel that world safely and with pride.
I am writing to you because the future I wish for my children is at risk.
I now remember watching her commercial, I mean documentary, Truth or Dare many years ago and Warren Beatty asking her: why are you doing this, why are you letting cameras follow you. Madonna had some stupid, vapid response. Warren finally said, you are not capable of living off camera, there is no reason to. And that probably sums it up, she is a media personality at best and her work is simply about maintaining that. I guess it might be said that Madonna is aware that others are watching her and as such works to control and manipulate the gaze, I will await Thesaurus’ take on that.
I stumbled across this quote just now from her one-time brother-in-law, the musician Joe Henry, who said:
"I've known her since I was 15 and she was 17, longer than I've known my wife. We have had a great relationship, and part of that was because I never needed anything from her. I recognised that we were in two different occupations. Not to disparage one ounce of her musicality, I was always of the belief that her persona was her career. Whether she was making a movie or writing a song or punching a photographer, it was all pushing a persona forward, and that was the real body of work. I was never tempted to slip a song to her at thanksgiving."
If I would have found this quote earlier, probably would have saved some time, but I had fun just letting it go.
No comments:
Post a Comment