Madonna -- Material Girl

 

Welcome to the weekly Reminiscings of Youth for this Thursday. I heard that Madonna was coming out with a new album sometime later this year. I went WOW since for a guy like me who's nearing retirement age, I first knew about Ms. Ciccone when I was in my late teens. Man, has this been a career for her!

Since hearing her for the first time back in 1983 for "Holiday", it was pretty much Madonna everywhere for the rest of the 1980s. I'm not sure how many nicknames she's picked up during that time, but one of them was The Material Girl because of that January 1985 single, "Material Girl", and it's the nickname that I usually associate with her (I just read that she hasn't been too fond of that one, though).

As with a lot of her hits, "Material Girl" was all over the airwaves and the music video was on heavy rotation on the local video shows with her going all Marilyn Monroe. Songwriters Peter Brown and Robert Rans wrote the lyrics to show that Madonna was all about the glam and goodies but the music video impressed upon the viewers that she was quite the opposite. The melody itself hit me as a synthy and slightly sinful song for Madonna done up in a cutesy yet sly fashion, and it was quite the change to see the lady done up in a totally different fashion compared to her previous videos. I also forgot that there were a couple of other celebs involved in the video: Keith Carradine and Robert Wuhl.

"Material Girl" reached No. 2 on America's Billboard and No. 4 on Canada's RPM. So, what else was hitting the record stores in Japan in January 1985?

Yutaka Ozaki -- Sotsugyo （卒業）

Yoshie Kashiwabara -- Lonely Canary （ロンリー・カナリア）

Seiko Matsuda -- Tenshi no Wink （天使のウィンク）

Madonna -- Holiday

 

It took its sweet time but it's finally here...American Thanksgiving! Of course, on behalf of everyone at "Kayo Kyoku Plus" including Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico, I hope everyone down in America is having a Happy Thanksgiving with all of the trimmings. I realize that Kayo and her feline manager/pet are living in Canada and Japan, but heck, they seem to enjoy celebrating holidays all over.

As an appropriate holiday song on the weekly Reminiscings of Youth, I'm going with Madonna's "Holiday" from September 1983. I mentioned this song when I posted about her "Borderline" which came out several months later. And as I said there, it was often the time that my family were in the car driving around Toronto doing errands in the evening so we got to hear the old local radio station CFTR doing the "Top 6 at 6" countdown. Madonna's "Holiday" was often at the top of the list and at the time, I was like the many people who had thought that the late Bobby Caldwell, behind the amazing "What You Won't Do For Love", was black. I had assumed that Madonna herself was black after hearing "Holiday" many times.

So, cue ahead several months, and I would finally get to see Ms. Ciccone performing at what I think is "Top of the Pops" from the UK. I first saw three backup dancers prancing away on the stage and once I heard the singing, I started wondering where Madonna was. And then I find out that the young lady in the middle is singing away, and that was Madonna! Well, count me gobsmacked! That's how I made my first acquaintance with the Material Girl.

"Holiday" was created by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens-Crowder with the producer being Jellybean Benitez as an antidote of sorts to all of the bad news that seemed to be infesting television at that time. Folks need a holiday and certainly we could all use a similar musical antidote right now. The song has always been upbeat and infectiously catchy with Madonna's plaintive vocals begging for that vacation in happier climes. The song reached No. 32 in Canada while in the States, "Holiday" got as high as No. 16. As one website put it, Madonna's classic is one of the most memorable songs of the 1980s up there with Rick Astley and Pet Shop Boys.

Now, what was also being released in the same month as "Holiday"? Well, the first of the three below came out on the same day as Madonna's tune.

Akina Nakamori -- Kinku （禁区）

Naoko Kawai -- Unbalance （ＵＮバランス）

Checkers -- Gizagiza Heart no Komori Uta （ギザギザハートの子守唄）

Madonna -- Like a Prayer

 

Welcome to another weekly Reminiscings of Youth article, and indeed, I was one of probably billions of people who managed to catch the real trailer for "Deadpool & Wolverine" a few days ago. Yep, it certainly was interesting alright; I only hope that the movie actually lives up to the hype. I've been burned by trailers from both the Marvel and DC universes recently since a few of their recent movies were somewhat less than what the trailers had been promising. 

In any event, pop culture fans have been going ga-ga over the trailer and as a result of one song being used in there, they've also apparently been flocking to Madonna's "Like a Prayer" which was the Material Girl's title track from her March 1989 album. It isn't even one of my favourite Madonna songs but it fits unusually well in "Deadpool & Wolverine" for some reason and not just because one of the two anti-heroes dubbed himself Marvel Jesus (which I truly hope he is for the MCEU).

I still remember the fact that the video for "Like a Prayer" got a worldwide prime-time premiere on television as it dragged a lot of controversy behind it. It even got admonished by the Vatican and other religious organizations for some of the images although today, people would probably be shrugging about what all the tumult was about back then. And yet, the song hit No. 1 in many countries. In fact, it would be easier to list the nations where it didn't peak at No. 1...which included Japan where it only went as high as No. 30. 1989 was the year when I went overseas on the JET Programme and I don't really recall much news on "Like a Prayer" in the remaining half of the year when I was residing in Gunma Prefecture.

Well, let's see what won at the 1989 Japan Record Awards.

Record of the Year: Wink -- Samishii Nettaigyo （淋しい熱帯魚）

Album of the Year: Anri -- Circuit of Rainbow

Best New Artist: Marcia -- Furimukeba Yokohama （ふりむけばヨコハマ）

Madonna -- Borderline

 

On this week's Reminiscings of Youth article, I bring you the second Madonna song to grace "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and nope, it's not her 1990 hit "Vogue", which I've already written as the first Madonna ROY piece. However, I guess you can consider the above photo of my copy of her "I'm Breathless" as a segue of sorts since the album does contain "Vogue".

Nope, we're taking things back to brass tacks with Ms. Madonna Louise Ciccone. We're returning to the early 1980s when I first heard the singer on the car radio sing "Holiday" which was frequently on the "The Top 6 at 6" on 680 CFTR when the station used to play music. And I think that was for a period of months before her 5th single hit the airwaves and the TV ones as well as the record shelves in February 1984.

Much has been written about Reggie Lucas' "Borderline" including the Wikipedia article for the song so you can take a look there about what went into the making of it as well as its effects. What I can say about it is that the song and the video are a couple of my very big icons in terms of my memories of the 1980s. Except for a viewing of her on a British music program performing "Holiday", that video of her dancing and posing in Los Angeles in "Borderline" was my introduction to the future Material Girl, and for me, it is my favourite image within her many personae...that street-smart woman with the tousled hair having the carefree life, at least before that photographer recruits her to become a model.

That Wikipedia article also goes further into the chord progressions and what-not about "Borderline", but suffice it to say, when I think about all of those Madonna songs that have come since then, I think this one is the freshest and most innocent-sounding entry. I used the adjective "carefree" in the previous paragraph, and I'll use it here as well to describe the music. And for me, if I were to ever head back in a TARDIS to 1984, I want "Borderline" to be the first song I hear when I step foot back into my high school days.

"Borderline" was Madonna's first Top 10 hit by hitting in at No. 10 on Billboard Singles chart, and it didn't do too badly in Canada either by striking at No. 25. But even more significantly, the singer anchored herself firmly in the world of pop culture globally.

So for today, we have No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 on the February 1984 Oricon chart when "Borderline" was released.

1. Seiko Matsuda -- Rock n' Rouge

2. Warabe -- Moshi mo Ashita ga （もしも明日が）

4. Alfee -- Hoshizora no Distance （星空のディスタンス）

Madonna -- Vogue

Chika Dance, meet Kaguya Vogue!

It should be a most interesting talk with my anime buddy on the phone tonight when it comes to the latest episode of "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai"（かぐや様は告らせたい）which is approaching the end of an eventful Season 2. My impression on the show in general has been that it's been hitting me as a mix of "The Big Bang Theory", "Frasier" and "Family Guy", and Episode 9 which I caught on Saturday has especially struck me as that last show with all of the pop cultural references ("Peanuts", for heaven's sake!). In fact, I think even Seth MacFarlane might have gone "Whoa!".

But as I hinted at the top of the article, a lot of fans of the anime had been wondering whether there would be another cute little dance by one of the characters to level up with or even top The Chika Dance that surprised viewers at the end of Episode 3 in Season 1. Well, what it lacked in length (all of 20 seconds) was more than compensated by the main character's stab at voguing just to get that calming ritual to be able to stand up to Miyuki's perceived advances. Heck, there was no coyness in hiding that it was indeed a parody of Madonna's "Vogue" if the viewers caught that image on Kaguya's smartphone (the feather boas opening the sequence sealed the deal). Lady Donna and "Pose" indeed! Certainly, the reactors in the reaction videos were once again delightfully caught off-guard.

Not surprisingly, the space under the music video for Madonna's "Vogue" on YouTube have been liberally peppered since the weekend with comments about the fact that "Kaguya-sama" had sent the writers there. So, once again, I have another Reminiscing of Youth article.

To be more precise, though, it should be a Reminiscing of J-Canuck's 24th Year since that was how old I was when "Vogue" was released in March 1990. Knowing about her since she came up with her early 1980s hits of "Holiday" and "Borderline", Madonna kept on hitting home runs out of the park throughout the rest of the decade, and she did it again at the beginning of the final decade of the 20th century with this song accompanied by a newfangled hand jive.

I was in Gunma, Japan at the time and naively (capital N) tried to incorporate "Dick Tracy", the 1990 film starring Warren Beatty, Al Pacino and Madonna based on the original comic, into my lessons at the junior high schools that I was teaching at. But, really, it was no dice with the students. It was even hard with "Batman" the previous year. "Vogue" did end up on the soundtrack for the movie, which I think is an underrated work considering how much effort was placed into the setting, costumes and makeup, etc., and yep, along with the CD single of the song, I did buy that soundtrack and it's on the shelf behind me. I will have to listen to that one again this week sometime.

"Vogue" hit No. 1 in Canada, America and even Japan, and ended up as the No. 5 song on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the year.

So, what were the Top 3 singles on Oricon for March 1990 when one of Madonna's most famous songs was released?

1. Lindberg -- Ima Sugu Kiss Me

2. Dreams Come True -- Egao no Yukue (bring down the volume for this one)

3. Hiroshi Takano -- Niji no Miyako e

As much as the three chart-toppers for that month enjoyed performing live, nope, they didn't get into the Vogue thing.