Madonna 60 år

New York Times om Madonna

Madonna fyller 60 år i dag. Det er det all mulig grunn til å feire. Hun er den artisten gjennom tidene som har hatt flest topp 10-singler i USA, 38 i tallet, foran Beatles med 34 og Michael Jackson med 29. Og for oss som ble voksne og flyttet hjemmefra på 80-tallet, var hun den viktigste innholdsleverandøren til det nye medielandskapet, med MTV i spissen.

New York Times feirer Madonna i dag med et stort oppslag med overskriften "60 Times Madonna Changed Our Culture". Det er naturligvis å overdrive en hel del og man kan diskutere om Madonna først og fremst forandret kultur, eller om hun var tidlig ute med å treffe og forsterke nye trender. Men uansett har hun utvilsomt vært mer betydningsfull enn de aller flest andre artister. Jeg hadde særlig sans for tre innslag på listen til New York Times:

Nummer 54 på listen lyder: She had a rare run of five great albums in a row (and then some), der de skriver:

"Madonna had a five-album, great-album streak that lasted from 1989 (“Like a Prayer”) to 2000 (“Music”) and included “Erotica,” “Bedtime Stories” and “Ray of Light.” She had a letdown with “American Life” in 2003, when her ambition — and her rapping — seemed to get the best of her. But she rebounded in 2005 with “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” then “Hard Candy” (when she was 50), “MDNA” and even “Rebel Heart,” all of which are better than you think, and part of the reason for their being underrated is the exact occasion for this birthday party. We don’t know what to do with female artists — especially pop stars — still great in middle age who refuse to phone it in, in a stadium or the studio. She knows the culture thinks she should be taken out back and shot, which is maybe why the gun has become almost as prominent an image in her work as the crucifix. She’d rather shoot first."

Jeg er ikke helt enig i sammensetningen av rekken med store album på rad slik den beskrives her. Jeg mener at den begynte tidligere og at i hvert fall "Like a Virgin" (1984) og "True Blue" (1986) er selvsagte på min liste, mens  "Erotica" og "Music" ikke er like høyt oppe hos meg.

Innslag nummer 32 på listen lyder: She put the "M" in MTV.

"Madonna’s clips have given the network more media headlines than any other artist. And no other performer has used music video to serially elaborate their personas with a finer mix of creativity, beauty and edge. While Michael Jackson went the more-is-more route, spending additional money, extending the lengths and blowing stuff up, Madonna deepened the richness of the images through gorgeous pieces like “Open Your Heart”; widened the breadth of her concepts (“Frozen”); and emboldened her content (more than one of her videos has been deemed unsuitable for broadcast). She worked with Herb Ritts (“Cherish”), David Fincher (“Express Yourself”), Mark Romanek (“Rain”) and Jonas Akerlund (“Music”), and many others lucky enough to have her name among their credits.

Og så er naturligvis nummer 1 på listen viktig nå når hun fyller 60: She is fighting the pernicious idea that older women don't matter. Der de blant annet skriver:

"-People say I’m controversial, Madonna told an audience of music-industry peers in 2016. “But I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around.” Sexism was the demon that haunted Madonna’s early career, but for two decades — maybe longer — it’s had an equally unwelcome sibling: ageism. Madonna was a pioneer of welding her voice to her image, and in a culture consumed with critiquing how women look, and controlling how they use their bodies, she’s been on the front lines — a seductress and a battering ram. But as she’s continued to be a force while she deigns to grow older, she’s faced a new frontier of abuse. There has never been a pop star writing and performing at her level, and demanding a seat at the table, at her age. Why wouldn’t Madonna demand it?"

Hun hadde for øvrig et "half time show" i Super Bowl i 2012, det mest sette i historien med 114 millioner TV-seere, flere enn de som så selve kampen. Den videoen får jeg komme tilbake til på bloggen i morgen.