Celebration

Yep. I'm talking about Madonna, that ageless mutton. I should be very lucky if I had her level of stamina when I hit 50!

My first encounter with Madonna was when I was still a young, impressionable teenager of 13. A friend bought a cassette and I happened to see the cover. It was a heavily made-up woman wearing very skimpy negligee. I thought nothing of it and played the cassette.

I didn't like the first track, and fast-forwarded it to the next track. When the next song began, I slowly savoured the lyrics, the slow-paced music, the guitar works. It was refreshing, it was new, and not to mention sensuous. Top it off with 'Bedtime Story' and finish it off with 'Take a Bow' - I was captivated. Totally captivated. I ended up borrowing and playing the tape for a week.

Much later, I found out that this singer, whose voice charmed me, was once a seemingly wayward artiste whose fore never seemed to extend beyond overt sexuality and total debauchery.

However, in retrospect, I realised how smart this woman was, and how she dared to push the envelope for performance art in an era where artists were mostly cowed by their contracts. Not saying that there were none, but as far as I am concerned, Madonna was a prime example of artists pushing and breaking boundaries. Not only in songs but also in video-making. She elevated it to an art form. See below.

Madonna dared, in an era where sex and the like was hidden behind doors, to showcase sex as an integral part of her art, and not to feel ashamed of it. Which is why I think her music is as fresh it is now as it was back then. You might not agree but there's the comment button free for you to abuse. Meanwhile, I'll just kick back and listen to the double CD CELEBRATION.