And I just bought tickets to see her in St. Louis in November! I got them through the regular Ticketmaster online sale at 10:00 am on March 5th. I’ve seen her three times in NY, Philly and Chicago so I wasn’t officially planning to go again. I assumed the tickets would be too expensive and that with all the pre-sales, the seats would be too far from the stage. So I was checking them out just in case… I was giddy after I bought the tickets!
I have to say she’s lost some of her appeal in recent years. I haven’t bought the last few cds and I haven’t seen the last few tours. But something about her halftime show reminded me about what I used to love about her. She really is a fantastic performer and she performed a bunch of my favorite older songs.
Whether you like her or not, there is something fascinating about her. Come on! Her career has lasted almost 30 years all while pissing people off the whole way! Think about all the pop culture references over the years. Here are a couple of random mentions:
1)In both the book and the movie “The Silence of the Lambs.” There was a poster of her from the “Lucky Star” days on the wall of the bedroom of the first victim.
2)In the movie “The Professional” that starred a very young Natalie Portman. There was a scene where she was dancing around entertaining the assassin and she did a version of “Like a Virgin.”
3)The awesomely hilarious spoof of herself she did featuring Wayne and Garth where they redid her “ Justify My Love video.”
4)Swear to God, as I am typing this, the Real Housewives of Orange County are having an 80’s themed bunko night and one of them is dressed exactly like Madonna!
Remember in 1991 she released the movie “Truth or Dare” which was a documentary-style movie that followed her on her 1990 “Blonde Ambition” tour. Being a huge fan, I loved all the back-stage and behind-the-scene footage of her and her dancers. Critics challenged the entire concept saying that everything she did was contrived and put on for the cameras. They insisted there was no way she could forget the cameras were there and actually be real. Well, fast-forward to the present day and ‘reality’ TV shows out-number scripted shows! She was ahead of her time. Brilliant!
Then in 1992 she published her “Sex” book (featured above in the pic). Of course I pre-ordered mine. Once it arrived, everyone I knew wanted to see it. No one wanted to admit to it but they all wanted to see it. And as they turned each page, they would comment out loud “she’s disgusting, she’s so weird, I can’t believe this, oh my gosh.”…as they continued to turn every single page and look at every single image. Whether you like her or not, she’s still fascinating.
There was only one woman I worked with who flipped through a couple of pages and stopped. Everyone one else looked at every page, complaining the entire time! Sometime during every party I’ve ever had, the book comes out. Everyone still wants to see it. The metal covers and the first 10 pages are no longer attached to the spiral binding!
The other book in the picture above is a hard-back, souvenir concert book from “The Girlie Show” that came with a special collector’s edition CD. This was my first Madonna concert I saw at Madison Square Garden! Yes, way cool!
The set of four, picture discs features an unedited, rare interview she did in London. They are vinyl and you need a turntable to listen!
So, yes, I’m still a big fan of Madonna, even though at times it feels like she’s gotten weirder as she’s gotten older, and as my co-worker’s wife says, “She has Gollum arms!” But as a marketer, you can’t ignore people like Madonna because they affect culture, language, fashion, art and life….whether you like it or not!
