by Carrie Brownstein

Madonna? I just wish she'd talk about herself more.
Long live the revolution in the arts!

Sent by Tom Hendricks | 11:52 AM ET | 04-28-2008

very well said. i admire her for lasting so long (however she did it), but could care less about the music either way. very much a brand, and good for her i guess.

Sent by sarah | 11:59 AM ET | 04-28-2008

I see Kanye West as a new Madonna-ish figure. I'll admit that "College Dropout" lived in my car for a month or two (and...yes...I still have urges to listen to it now and again: "We weren't supposed to make it past twenty-five, well, the joke's on them, we're still alive"; sorry), but over time he just became contrived, even before his whole "George Bush doesn't like black people" thing. "Musicians" like this come along now and then. You think they're gone, but then they come back and you realize how easily amused the average human being is.

We have a freestanding display of "Hard Candy" at the record store because the manager is a big Madonna fan. All I can think is, "No. Please. Put that away, Madonna."

The only good thing Madonna has done for the world is "Like a Virgin," and that's only because Quentin Tarantino got "Reservoir Dogs" out of it. That entire movie is about the "Like a Virgin" speech. Think about it.

Sent by Nick L. | 12:18 PM ET | 04-28-2008

"She is someone who will do anything to seem current, so much so that everything she does reeks of disingenuousness and desperation."

I couldn't agree with this more. I find her cringe-worthy because of this, and I think of her having Bjork pen songs for her at the peak of Bjork's rise to stardom the most embarrassing example of this.
For me, the song 'Into the Groove" is Madonna's most interesting and danceable offering. Nothing after that seems remotely relevant or at all soulful. In fact, it all feels like it's just trying to hard to be relevant, but always misses the mark.

Sent by Coco | 12:25 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I wouldn't consider myself a fan or anything, but it's hard not to like Justify My Love and Like a Virgin.

One of the things that those songs have in common are that they are dripping with sexuality. Her unabashed promotion of female sexuality has made her a hero to quite a few women.

I do agree that her current material is below sub-standard. And the British accent she started using? What was that all about?

Sent by Chad Bly | 12:29 PM ET | 04-28-2008

Talentless Fame.

Sent by Chiles | 12:43 PM ET | 04-28-2008

she lost me after that giant conical bra and ponytail look.

Sent by Rick | 1:00 PM ET | 04-28-2008

i work with a guy who love love loves madonna, if you get him started on the topic of madonna he will talk to you about madonna for the rest of his shift. while i'm in the back doing dishes he'll pop in and sing lines from her new song where she raps about lattes (lattes?) and inform you that she's quite daring. i usually try to muster a smile but all i can think of is how terrible it is that he's been so brainwashed by madonna. i typed madonna a lot.

Sent by jacob s | 1:01 PM ET | 04-28-2008

Despite the questions you ask at the end, it sounds like you really want to know 1) how old each of us is ('cause now we know your age! ::) ) and 2) what our first show was. I'll bite:

* I'm 30.

* First show was in 1984 (I was seven or eight)... it was Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble with the Fabulous Thunderbirds opening. Sounds cool until I tell you where it was: Midland, Texas.

Sent by joe | 1:06 PM ET | 04-28-2008

There were a few tracks off of Music that I enjoyed, but that's about it.

Sent by Adam | 1:08 PM ET | 04-28-2008

madonna may be everywhere but if i have to watch one more iron man trailer or anything remotely related to anything iron man i'm throwing my tv out the window.

which i should get around to doing anyways.

Sent by paulb | 1:08 PM ET | 04-28-2008

hmmm. I generally agree with all that is being said here-I have certainly not been interested in anything Madonna has done in the last 20 years. However, I was in 5th grade in 1985 too and I used to come home from school and turn on MTV. Madonna was all over MTV for years and I guess I associate her to some degree with those days. I didn't own her records but I heard her everyday on MTV. I think perhaps that there was a time when her music was less contrived and seemingly desperate-84-88 maybe? I don't know. I still like to hear Get into the Groove maybe once a year. ::shrug::

Sent by ryan | 1:18 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I find her music a useful tool for conjuring up old memories. When I'm at a store and one of her songs comes on, it'll remind me of a time in the past when i was at a store and one of her songs came on.

my 5th grade self is so jealous of your 5th grade self! i would have died if i could've gone to that concert. I got that album for my birthday that year and I listened to it A LOT.

Why are you writing about this though? I didn't know she had a new album coming out, but there are lots of great new albums. Why not review the new Old Haunts album, or use that album as a touchstone for an entry about how much you hate riot grrrl, eg?

Sent by ld | 1:37 PM ET | 04-28-2008

You've hit the nail on the head once again Ms B, and if a 50 year old bag of bones flashing her crotch to any sucker who'll look is 'liberating female sexuality' I'm a dingo.

Sent by Julia | 1:50 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I had reason to be at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony when she was "honored." The night was amazing -- Gamble and Huff, The Dave Clark Five, Leonard Coen, Patti La Belle, Joan Jett... and Madonna. The press covered it like the evening was hers, but in all honesty, she was the biggest drag of the whole evening. Thank GOD Iggy Pop followed her with his version of "Ray of Light."

Her contrivance and utter disinterest in... anything of actual interest was freakishly displayed in a room of people who you know, actually care about music.

Sent by Liz | 1:55 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I thought Madonna was Courtney Love's older brother.

"Madonna is the most successful female vocalist of the entire rock era and it takes far more than being smart to do that. Madonna, like Elvis, will always be regarded as a pioneer of the music industry. Some of these other artists need to get over it and stop attacking Madonna over pure and simple envy. She has earned her spot in history. If anyone has the right to dismiss another artist, its Madonna. Alas, she has too much class to do anyways but it would be justified if she did, she will always be the Queen." from MySpace -- Stop hating on Madonna. I'M SERIOUS! : P

Sent by tim! | 1:58 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I think that when I do engage with Madonna, it's not when I'm "listening to music"--it's more when I'm trying to disengage from something. When life becomes too complex, then it's time for Vogue or Cherish or Like a Prayer. It's different than when I'm Rocking Out to some of my favorite real bands. It's about getting out of my head. Even then, though--it's just the early stuff. Nothing post-Immaculate Collection.

Sent by mernlar | 2:09 PM ET | 04-28-2008

Here are the arguments for Madonna that I've heard over the years:
1. She's such a great business woman!
2. She really knows how to make herself into a business!
ummmm
3. She can constantly remake herself, which spoofs the concept of fashion while profiting off it.
4. She's a woman who's really great at making money!

These arguments can and have been made about Oprah, and the two were compared frequently in the 90s. I think celebrity is horrible for women and Madonna maybe didn't suffer so much from the sexism she exploited. But I see her fighting age rather than embracing it. The younger she tries to look, the more anti-feminist she'll be.

But the music? Uch. I didn't even like it in 1985. I took the Cyndi Lauper side in my class's Madonna vs. Lauper debate. Not that I'm cool. I just always distanced myself from the popular.

Sent by Elizabeth | 2:19 PM ET | 04-28-2008

Madonna hasn't been a total vapid void of commercial disparity...okay, she has been.

But thanks in small part to her, David Fincher was able to be brought upon the film world.

But I guess she made up for it by wiping Guy Ritchie of any talent he might had had.

So I guess its a wash - she is a total vapid void of commercial disparity.

Sent by Clemente | 2:50 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I grew up on Michael Jackson, New Edition (All of NE's spin offs aka, Bobby Brown, Bell Biv Devoe, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant, and any other side things) and EnVogue.

Never really dug Madonna however...

I still have most of the CD's of those above groups... they just wont buy them at the CD places (no resale value) is what i was told.

But I look back on Michael and Janet, EnVogue... all those pop/dance type groups... What is the draw to them? Almost none of them write their own songs... for the most part. They dont play instruments. Yes they do sing well, and they can dance...

I just, last year, put on some of those CDs for the first time in a LONG LONG time... probably not since 95 or 96 when I was DJ'ing a bit at parties. I have no idea how that music, continues to be so... popular?

But I will say, all of Madonnas songs, MJs, Janets, Boyz II Men... I could do without probably,

BUT

EnVogues - Free Your Mind
Is still a GREAT song (high 5's to whomever wrote that one? Im going to guess Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis? maybe? but im too lazy to dig through 1000 cds to find out)

btw, I believe you did a preview to this blog back at Cochella in 06, I seem to recall you talking about Madonna and the Beastie Boys during that show... which always reminded me of how Hendrix got boo'ed off the stage when he opened for the Monkees...

Sent by Kramer | 2:58 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I'm not a fan of Madonna or her music, but I will admit that it must take some talent as well as some well calculated maneuvers to have lasted as long as she has. However, at one point in history Madonna was one of the biggest stars in the world and that definately has lended a hand in her remaining in the spotlight for so long. I think at this point in her career she more or less has to "do what she does best" in order to stay current and keep her fan base. If Madonna had ever made any sort of change in the direction of her music it would have had to have been done earlier on in her career. Making changes to her music now would also seem like a grasp for attention, which is really too bad.
To me, her career as it stands right now reminds me of bands from the 60's and 70's who are still touring around playing the same songs and hits from their heyday, except in Madonna's case she is playing new material which sounds like her old stuff, but because it is new, fan's eat it up.
It must have been pretty cool to see the Beastie Boys open for her. Was that the tour where they had the giant dildo's on stage?

Sent by ryanj | 2:59 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I've always thought that madonna died from overdose (or whatever) in the eighties and has been replaced by a drag queen since then. I can't think of a woman less feminine than madonna.

Her records are always the same, a mass-oriented rerun of what was hip and underground a few years back. Take away all that might sound interesting from early-mid 90s electronica, make it radio friendly and you have ray of light.

Sent by Fernando | 3:11 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I have this thing where sometimes I think I like Madonna and some nagging part of me endlessly is trying to talk myself into it but in all actuality, I don't really like Madonna. Like someone above said, "Into the Groove" is the best song she's ever made. Most of Madonna's songs are so overplayed I can't listen to them. I can get myself to listen to "Dress You Up", "Nothing Really Matters" sometimes "Lucky Star", and for some reason, the songs from "Who's that Girl?" but that's about it. For a brief flicker of time I could listen to the Ray of Light album but seriously probably every album of hers sucks.

What's more important though is what the fug is up with her dancing? Is it just me or does it seem like despite her taut and youthful physique, she dances like you'd imagine that old lady in "The Wedding Singer" dancing? Like all elbows and uncomfortable thrusting...I noticed it a few videos back and thought it was a gimmick. I saw her recent video with JT this week by happenstance and was pretty galled. IDK, I don't hate on her but like you said, her music is contrived pop that doesn't even make sense anymore. She's way too out of touch with reality to make music for the people. When someone's got to "rap" about lattes and pilates, they've sort of run out of creative inspiration, no?

Oh, I'm a 28 year old female from NJ to answer the "Who listens to Madonna?" question. I would like to see her in concert too, but I don't remember why anymore. Maybe just "because"?

Sent by Coleen | 3:54 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I think Madonna isn't really going to matter much to anyone thinking in the usual rockist terms -- you know, you're not "significant" unless you write your own songs, play instruments, record "classic" albums or songs that aren't "guilty pleasures", etc. And she's not going to count as anything other than a heavily overpromoted annoyance to anyone who doesn't like dance music, period.

I happen to like dance music, and I dug quite a few of Madonna's singles in the '80s but didn't really care for her image in the context of that time, but I grew to like her a lot more in the '90s. Her collection of singles (Immaculate Collection) has probably gotten played as much as anything I own, and I've like individual albums like Ray of Light just fine.

Recently, I haven't "thought" about her much or played much recent music, but Dancefloor Collection from a few years ago was a fun listen. She's always been a shape-shifter, and I guess I could make some profound comment about how two of the biggest fans I know are my sister (a big fan of the way Madonna has adapted to trends) and a close gay friend -- both seem to admire Madonna's adapability, her sly wink at the hedonism she seems to celebrate. Neither person finds the purported earnestness of most indie music particularly relevant to their lives.

But I'm not sure that would play very well with this crowd, based on the tenor of the comments so far. I do agree with Carrie's general assessment of her as a brand, and I think it's fair that a number of people don't care much about her beyond her celebrity at this point.

Sent by Max | 4:32 PM ET | 04-28-2008

to me, she's more of a business woman. and it's pop music, so whatever sells, right? though i'm pretty much certain that this album won't even sell that well. might end up doing worse than "american life".. i really hope so actually..

Sent by Shuai | 4:46 PM ET | 04-28-2008

Personally, I can do without her.

Sent by Mr. Orange | 4:47 PM ET | 04-28-2008

When I was in high school I felt suicidal and ashamed of whom I was. My best friend cranked 'Express Yourself" in my bedroom and told me to just dance and shout and cry it out. I listen to that song and smashed around my room for hours and at the end of it all there were punched holes in my walls and bruises from where my hands were hitting down on my legs. It became quiet in my room and I was too tired to dance or to cry anymore but I felt ok, you know, I really felt ok, I no longer felt ashamed. Maybe you think she is contrived or a brand but to many out there she (like any outside influence) has had a strong and sometimes unexplainable impact on their lives.

Sent by MaryBeth | 4:59 PM ET | 04-28-2008

I enjoy a few old hits from Madonna, and I did enjoy most or more than a few songs off of her confessions on a dance floor album. I think I listen to her because I do like to dance. Anyways I'm not excited or even planning at all to listen to her new album. It's a subject I dare not to explore. I attempted to check it out on myspace and it really threw me off because there were a few song titles that reminded me of other artists and even her album title is a movie title. Well I shouldn't judge it but I don't think I'm going to listen to it.
I honestly thought madonna was finished after confessions, that would have been a good closing hit..
rock n roll por vida

Sent by Danielle | 5:11 PM ET | 04-28-2008

The first concert I ever saw was Bob Dylan when I was ten. Thanks, Dad!

I must say that on the rare occasion that I go dancing, and an early Madonna song comes on, everyone seems to know every lyric, and it's fun and kind of oddly comforting. So if there's value in shared ubiquity, I think that's called nostalgia, and Madonna certainly can credit herself with that. I know very little about what she's been up to in the last five-to-ten years, but there was a time when she did seem to be toying with Catholicism in a way that felt, um... noteworthy? I don't know, I'm Jewish. But people seemed highly moved (?) by her sexual and religious manipulation. And though I always felt highly removed from her theatrics, I felt certain that she was influencing our collective conscious in some grandiose way. She scavenged queer culture and black culture for genuine expression, claimed it, and then put it forth to the mainstream public in a sort of very large-scale show-and-tell. I probably never would have heard of vogueing if not for Madonna, for what it's worth. I think there was a time when she was edgy. I think in a past incarnation she held relevance. But her schtick has gotten pretty predictable. She's irreverent, we get it. And these days when she comes up in conversation, usually it's just to talk about how preternaturally fit she is.

Sent by Carolyn | 6:53 PM ET | 04-28-2008

Unfortunately, there's very little any one little blog is going to be able to do to de throne the institution that is Madonna. At this point, she is as embedded, culturally, as one can be. And frankly, I doubt anyone can actually be a true judge of Madonna's music if passing by on the radio. When one barely needs to publicize, there's a certain amount of artistic freedom that allows one to do, well, whatever they like.. be it banal or not. And, the hilarity lives somewhere in the quiet little fact that Madonna has actually managed to craft herself into something of an artist, while nay sayers predicted her demise. Scoff all you want, but I dare you to actually scrutinize the body of work and not begin to see glimmers of worth.

Sent by Nicholas Carriere | 7:44 PM ET | 04-28-2008

Not everything that's produced needs to be earth-shatteringly new. If that were true, there would be little value in most music and art, and most musicians and artists should give up their dreams and go back to grad school (although I take you wouldn't necessarily disagree with that statement).

I think that there's something to be said for artists who take the same thing that lots of other people do, and who do it better. That's why I like Madonna. Her albums aren't masterpieces of musical innovation, but they're damn good variations on a commonplace--and all too often poorly done--theme. That's good enough for me.

Sent by Justin | 7:51 PM ET | 04-28-2008

She does have good arms. I sort of wish I had her arms.

Sent by ryan | 8:11 PM ET | 04-28-2008

As a gay dude I am expected to fawn all over Madonna the way so many of my fellow queens do to this day. I, like you, adored her in my youth. And while I can still enjoy a "Burning Up" or a "Holiday" or even an "Express Yourself", I find her so vapid and empty and soulless that I cannot for the life of me comprehend her continued existence as a "musical" entity. Add to that all of her bullshit spirituality and desperate attempts at Serious Political Commentary in he recent songs and I am astonished that she sells more than a handful of records these days.

Oh, and also, she rapped on one of her albums that came out this century. That alone should be criminal enough to warrant her exile from the pop charts forever.

Sent by chriso | 8:26 PM ET | 04-28-2008

In contrast, you have Costello releasing an album (only on vinyl w/ a free download of the album until May) at the same time. No reinvention (although a hell of a lot of aliases, Declan), no mass marketing or advertising at all (although the album does come with a MOMOFUKU stencil you can spray paint around town), just straight rock recorded in the span of 6 days. (See guitar intro to track no. 7, Stella Hurt, if proof of straight rock needed.)

Will it sell as many copies as Madonna's album? Probably not, but I'm guessing there won't be half as many copies in the used CD section of your local record shop in 6 months either. Unless of course he decides to remaster it 3 or 4 times.

If I'm going to have to sell my soul on ebay yet again to afford tickets to a ridiculously overpriced concert, it will be the Police/Costello show, and not Madonna. Because Mr. Napoleon Dynamite still has what it takes to blow you away.

Sent by Mac Coldwell | 7:12 AM ET | 04-29-2008

I thank you sincerely for capturing what needed to be said about Madonna. I had been mulling over my "anti-Madonna" stance in recent years, only to realize that it was essentially giving Madonna too much credit.
I don't know if it's as bad as Ann Coulter, but it does seem like her existence is only derived from our mentioning of her. That if we stopped putting her in a headline or referencing her, she'd just disappear. So while I hope that she DOES disappear, I spoil that process by mentioning that hope.

Sent by Nick | 8:49 AM ET | 04-29-2008

Wow, how the masses have cowered. For what she was to my adolescence, I will always love Madonna, though I probably haven't bought anything of hers in more than fifteen years.

But don't you think it's problematic to discuss her only in terms of music? Culturally so much couldn't have happened without her. She's the bridge between 2nd & 3rd wave feminism.

Sent by Elizabeth | 10:00 AM ET | 04-29-2008

Strangely enough, we're listening to the new Madonna album right now in the office (my boss is a huge fan... he downloaded it before work this morning and brought it in).
To be honest, this is probably the first time I've ever listened to an actual Madonna album.
It's not the worst thing I've ever heard, but it's the worst thing I've heard today (and that's still saying something... "Plaster Caster" by KISS popped up on my MP3 player on the way to work).

Sent by Mike M. | 10:26 AM ET | 04-29-2008

As far as Madonna goes, I enjoy her the way I enjoy Starbucks... not at all, although everyone else seems to be really into it.

However, I kind of like her new single, if only because Justin Timberlake is a part of the mess.

Sent by stephanie | 12:05 PM ET | 04-29-2008

This group is pretty hard on Madonna over all. I think the truth is that she is not much worse or better than most of the music this blog supports. Neither has much substance or originality. No one is breaking ground. Bands are a bandwagon that's been going in the same rut for 45 years. It's last century old fashioned. And note none of the groups on this forum have had much if anything to say on the war, the earth warming, ending poverty, ending media consolidation, or anything else of much value. Like Madonna most of the lyrics are whiney and self involved.

Then too this forum is music only. The art revolution is about all the arts. Then we could talk about Madonna's role in the art revolution in painting.

She handed out the Turner Prize , the leading art prize in England, to Martin Creed. That in turn led to the 1/8/02 conceptual art event that 'ended all modern art' and suggested a revolution in that field too.
Overall I'd say this blog shouldn't throw stones just yet.

Sent by Tom Hendricks | 1:39 PM ET | 04-29-2008

I hear the name Madonna... I think of the TV term "jump the shark"

How many times can someone or something jump the shark? I think she's up to at least six...

Sent by Kellie K | 2:56 PM ET | 04-29-2008

I think that Madonna has current achieved a level of worldwide fame that few others have achieved. She is only receiving the corresponding hero worship that comes with being that sort of household name. At this point she has transcended her medium, much in the same way that Oprah, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods have.

I think her greatest hits stand up pretty well next to any of the modern pop artists. Yes, she should walk away now, but its pretty hard to leave the spotlight once you've been on top.

Sent by JC | 3:03 PM ET | 04-29-2008

For awhile there, like, oh, er, over 20 years ago, I think she really was a great force in pop culture, and her songs were fun, dancey pop songs. The only album of hers I did buy was Ray of Light because I first heard it in a sandwich shop in Madrid, so there was some nostalgic connection. But besides the title track, a decent dance track, it didn't do anything for me and ended up in a used CD bin somewhere not long after I bought it.

I do think she is iconic in a way; not in the sense that she represents late 20th/early 21st century womanhood, but she does stand for a certain kind of independence that was very new when she first became popular and tilted the conservative 80s on its side, which was a good thing, in my book. Without her, my experience with gay culture would have happened much later. (nb: I'm not saying I *like* this particular aspect of gay culture, but in central Illinois in the early 80s, the only place it existed for me was on TV.)

That was a long time ago, though, and a lot has changed. I'd be more impressed if she simply celebrated her middle age, i.e. Patti Smith or Kim Gordon, instead of trying to be eternally young and "relevant." Youth has nothing to do with innovation and currentness.

Sent by Michael | 7:25 PM ET | 04-29-2008

I have mad respect for Madonna. She produces, she writes, she dances, she sets global trends, and she has done so for 20+ years. Madonna is a pop culture icon and a force to be reckoned with. Did you know that she has had 61 top ten singles? Love her or hate her but you have to admit, she's an innovator, and she has been for a very long time. You say that the "phenomenon of Madonna perplexes me" - I would argue that she is revolutionary and a pioneer. I mean, come on....Justify My Love, Erotica, Vogue, Like a Prayer...

Sent by Jaime | 9:41 AM ET | 04-30-2008

There is nothing more annoying then aging hipsters with over educated mouths thinking they can speak with authority about pop culture...leave madge alone, let the girl dance and have fun while you settle in to watch some vanilla white movie about introspective 30 somethings staring Paul Ruffalo

I take offense to the word "hipster". I am an aging preppy. -CB "/em>

Sent by Bradley | 2:52 PM ET | 04-30-2008

I completely concur. I think she peaked with Like a Prayer. For most of her career she's come off like a "tabula rasa" with no real identity. With the exceptions of the Like a Prayer and Material Girl videos, I've never seen her break out of that cold, clinical, calculated (I love alliteration! what other "c" adjectives can I think of?) look which doesn't give off a freshness or aura of fun to it.

And is it just me, or is this the same feeling that anyone gets from Mick Jagger these last 20-odd years?

Sent by Paul | 11:20 PM ET | 05-02-2008

I also saw that "Like A Virgin" tour and no matter how much I tried, I would have never believed that night that the Beastie Boys would become so awesome.

Sent by Gina V. | 8:16 AM ET | 05-07-2008

To all the critics, the cynics of M,

Remember this:

Girls can wear jeans,
wear shirts, and boots...

Cut their hair short,
play sports...

Cause it's OK
to be like a boy...

But for a boy
to be like a girl...

is considered degrading.

Cause you think that
being a girl is degrading.

But secrectly
you'd love to know
what's it like

wouldn't you?

what it feels like for a girl....

Absolutely No Regrets -
Phoenix from the Flame-
Madonna Forever.

:)

Sent by M. Theory | 1:15 PM ET | 05-10-2008

Holiday is a remarkable song. Like, really, really good. Other than that...

Sent by Tina T. | 3:44 PM ET | 05-13-2008

I'm a 34 year old Madonna vetern and I just can't help it, I still love her. Despite knowing better not to, her music is just so simplistic at getting out hard feelings/truths sometimes. Early 90's, "You'll See" got me out of a violent/abusive relationship with a boyfriend. I played that song over and over again until I believed it, and left him. Much like comment made by MaryBeth, re: Express Yourself. I think Madonna's unabashed "empowerment" stands to annoy a lot of those who feel "empowerment" is a heady characteristic only available to women who don't wear dresses, have short haircuts, and hold a subscription to BUST.

Madonna is like a cartoon: As an art, cartoons don't get much respect in the world, but the simple truths they sometimes share are fundamentally priceless. So I'd go easy on her CB, you can still respect while despise.

Sent by Patti | 2:17 PM ET | 05-15-2008

I admire you and I admire her.

I remember when Coachella was happening and both of you were going to perform.
I thought that was the most awesome day ever. I was going crazy when you guys were onstage while wearing a Madonna T-shirt.
I don't care. Hate me if you must. Break her into a thousand pieces if you like..
I'd still admire, respect and like you.

Sent by Karla | 5:46 PM ET | 05-15-2008

She has a pretty good voice, or at least had, although she hasn't often used it to its best advantage. "La Isla Bonita", "Like A Prayer", and in particular "Live to Tell" were all good showcases for her singing; the last one was used as the theme for At Close Range, a movie that starred then-husband Sean Penn as well as Christopher Walken. The movie is worth seeing for one of Walken's last bits of genuinely good acting before he devolved into funny but repetitive self-parody.

Never owned a Madonna record. Now she just seems to be famous for being famous, my generation's Liz Taylor. Maybe I'd feel differently if I could dance. *shrug*

Sent by Halloween Jack | 11:43 AM ET | 05-16-2008