Angela

Never heard that one before.

When my niece was 2-3 (she was born in 1995), this was her jam. I had bought the CD single and she'd use my CD player and play this over and over. (She ruined that CD). In her pampers, she'd just hum and spin, hum and spin. Too cute. If only YouTube was around back then she'd have been immortalized and embarassed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6B418iJw5Q

She was sort of like the boy here but with more balance and passion (and just the pamper), lol.

Sunday indeed.

The SIL is talking about how pissed [sIL] was the night before Whitney passed. She didn't want Whitney to go to that party. SIL/Whitney are in the pictures outside the club where Whitney looks drunk and SIL looks agitated at the whole situation. So Oprah goes there and asks her what really happened in the club that night.

SIL liked/likes Bobby Brown.

Hopefully this is not just a case of great editing to make something look more interesting than it is. I wasn't initially planning a date night with this special until those clips dropped.

Michael Buble (or some dude) did a nice remake tribute of Exhale (Shoop, Shoop) today on Ellen. ETA: It was Robin Thicke, not Michael.

Extra: Whitney's sister-in-law tells Oprah she can't say she believes Bobby introduced Whitney to drugs. That the worlds "reality" and the reality are two very different things.

I thought this was going to be all fluff, especially due to "Mother Theresa" SIL, but I guess not.

The leather suit and bondage (chains represent bondage, correct?) takes me back to one of Madonna's other responses to the Sex (Erotica/JML/BoE) controversy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS6FCoq349o

ETA:

Looks like there was a listening party in Los Angeles yesterday. So these are the statewide reviews and they're still rather good...

Billboard: http://www.billboard...006416552.story

Five minutes after an aerobic workout on the dance floor, we're in her private booth, where she's spilling her guts about relationships and how things just didn't turn out the way they planned. Then, another five minutes later, we're back to dancing up a storm to a song like "Gang Bang."

Yes, "Gang Bang."

The track is one of the album's many stand-outs. It's a dark, throbbing tune that is twisted and surprising and altogether pop-tastic. (Yes, that's a word.)

"Gang Bang" Commence freaking out, hard core Madonna fans, as "Gang Bang" is the song you've been waiting for. It's dark, clubby, driving, thumping and altogether sickening. (Meaning: It's fantastic, y'all.) Consulting our notes, the scribbles include the words "OMG," "dubstep breakdown" and "GOD THE BEAT." So yeah, it's freaking amazing.

Examiner: http://m.examiner.co...ght-on-steroids

• Our favorite track on the album is “Love Spent,” an amazing electro-ballad that is beautifully sung and produced. We were told that an acoustic version of the song is set to be released.
  
• Our second favorite song is “Gang Bang,” which is wild, scary, and sexy all in the same breath.

MTV: http://www.mtv.com/n...onna-mdna.jhtml

One of the highlights is "Turn Up the Radio," which sounds like it was born to be this summer's feel-good anthem. It's bright, happy and fun, all about letting go of the past. Over Martin Solveig's sunny production, Madge sings, "It was time I opened my eyes/ I'm leaving the past behind/ Nothing's ever what it seems/ Including this time and this crazy dream."

LA Times: http://latimesblogs....aline-rush.html

And "I Don't Give A," produced by Madonna and Solveig, is a Daft Punk-style banger in which she addresses divorce: "I tried to be a good girl, tried to be your wife/Diminished myself, and swallowed my life/I tried to become all that you expect of me/And if it was a failure, I don't give a ..." There's a dose of dubstep -- replete with deep bass-drop -- on the track, right before Nicki Minaj jumps in to reinforce Madonna's argument: "When I let a dude go that's his loss/I was cutting those checks I was his boss," she sings, before declaring, 'I'm not a businesswoman, I'm a business, woman."

The final of the bonus tracks is by far the most personal; called "Best Friend," it's a love letter to a former beau, and listening to it you can't help but draw the conclusion that its intended recipient is Ritchie. For someone who's so often "a business, woman," "Best Friend" is one of the most personal and moving songs of her career.

Thanks for the links. We're going to need q back in here to embed

30 minutes in. Great stuff.

I was going to say this is back when VH1 used to focus on music but saw they were doing a C. Aguilera BTM edition earlier tonite - from 2010, but all the same.

. At that point, like I've said, I think Madonna would have had some negative backlash no matter what she did as she had gotten so big.

Yeah, I guess I do agree with that to a point.

As for the Sex book--you can see it very easily online if you're curious.

I am not. I become disillusioned when I see a famous person naked too much. So, yeah I've seen more than enough of naked Madonna

I'm looking at the singles list from Erotica. From video play: I did like Deeper and Deeper. I liked the different sound of the single Erotica. I also enjoyed Bad Girl, Rain and the remake of Fever (the Fever video was pretty ne...cool).

Color me a little bit surprised, Gang Bang (really? really?? really??? lol) has been the only single/snippet to win me over almost instantly so far. The beats are not drowning her voice out as much. The music is a little bit less generic. I look forward to hearing how the longer version of this one sounds. This song should have been titled Bang Bang from the sound of it but I guess Gang Bang is more interesting a title choice.

Back when MTV aired videos beyond the hours of 4 am to 6 am...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB_vjpRhLxM

Woman In Love is pretty dang fantastic. As is Memories.

I was 11 or 12 at the time, and I remember going on a school trip to the library and some boys in my class trying desperately to see if they had the book (I think there was a rumour they kept a copy you had to read IN the library, but now I'm thinking that's probably not very likely at the library we were at...)

Or much any library, hee.

I think in some ways she would have had somewhat of a backlash anyway--and it's not like Erotica was a huge flop, but I do see some of it as her fault. Sex isn't very graphic (a lot of it is kinda dumb--the diary sex fantasies, umm her and Vanilla Ice lol, or pseudo arty), and of course it's barely a blip now in the era of internet porn and celeb sex tapes, but...

See, the thing about sex tapes is they all lie and use "oops, somebody else leaked it." Save lying, it's almost equivalent to Madonna's Penthouse and Playboy spreads - she admittingly did take nude pictures before her career got started but she didn't do it for the purpose of them being spread in the worlds two largest soft-porn magazines when she was famous. There's a victim element to it.

To this day, if a young female or male person who was a hit with young women (and men) - teenagers - was openly and willingly exposing everything on the street and in a book about sex I STILL think it would still be an issue. Madonna opened the door for hot, sexy & controversial videos but nobody could open the door for bringing that much blatent nudity and soft core porn to the mainstream. Yes, you can push the envelope pretty dang far with intelligent craftsmanship but opening it is another story.

There's no denying the book and the video (Justify My Love) sold well but eh. I've never seen the book and I didn't even think about buying the Erotica album so I can't really judge the album. Circa Sex, since childhood I've seen a picture or two and I did see Madonna "hitch-hiking" nude via the news way back in the early 1990s.

For some reason I only have left the plastic cover and accompanying material for Bedtime Stories out of the three Madonna albums, Eric.

I see that her old label, through Rhino is releasing a box set of all her major albums (so exclusing compilations, I'm Breathless and soundtracks--which means no Vogue or other major tunes) this month to capitolize on her promo I imagine. It's not a bad deal--$50 or so for all the albums in a box set, in individual paper sleevs, but I have them anyway

I was just looking through my old tapes (not video tapes). First I was sad that I have not one cassette player in my life anymore lol. I have the Like A Prayer album, I have the Immaculate Collection album and I have the Bedtime Stories album (all on cassette). I'm not sure why I bought that last album, I liked Bedtime Story (lets get unconscious baby) but I only loved Take a Bow from that set. I also have the "One Sweet Day" single (Mariah), hee. Cyndi, Bette and Celine round out my collection (all greatest hits type albums).

That 92-93 period was scathing for her. She was overexposed, and you couldn't turn on the TV or read a magazine without something talking about her. Up until that point there had been a careful balance between the music and the image she was trying to convey, and the music was lost in the shuffle during that era.

In more ways than one. I don't blame the press. She was being a (rebelling) exhibitionist past a functional degree. The more the press was on her the more she wanted to say f-u, f-u, f-u, instead of "you may have a point." Reminds me of parents and a child.

The transition was quite brilliant though from Erotica/Justify My Love/Sex to Bedtime Stories (45 to 90 degrees) to strong ballads and Evita (90 to 135 degrees) then to ultimately motherhood and Ray of Light (135 degrees, she'll never do a 180, lol).

The 1990 HBO broadcast of the Blonde Ambition Tour was such a huge event during the summer of 1990. It really helped set the stage for a lot of modern pop tours. I still consider that era her peak in not only popularity and cultural relevance, but in artistry.

Highest rated non-sporting event ever for HBO at that time.

She still has the same back-up singers? I was watching a clip from I think S&S Tour and they looked like the same back-up singers.

I was reading some old articles the other day.

Before "Sex" and After "Sex." The bolded part is so accurate.

I was pushing the envelope with "Justify My Love,’ but when I put out Sex, that’s when the big steel doors came down on my head. It’s like, you can push the envelope, but you can’t open the envelope.

But why not? The book was hugely successful.

Yes, but I’ve been hanged in the public square ever since. There are the people that liked the book and didn’t like it just on a taste level, Of whatever. And then there are people who just were horrified by it and didn’t even bother to look at it or read it. I divide my career from before and after the Sex book, Up until then, I really was just being a creative person working and doing things that inspired me and I thought would inspire other people. After that, I suddenly had a whole different point of view about life in general. Ever since that book, I think there are the people that look at me and go,"Oh man, she just went off the deep end, she went too far. I can’t deal with her, she disgusts me," And then I think there are other people who go, even if they didn’t like the Sex book, "Oh well, she survived that and she goes on and she continues to do what she wants to do," in spite of the fact that the press beat the shit out of me. Very few people came to my rescue. It was an incredibly eye-opening experience.

You can’t be a pop star and have an opinion. Some unknown entity can put out a magazine with erotic photographs, but a famous person young girls identify with can’t do that and make money off of it. I think men can deal with those fantasies when a man is in control of them and in charge, like your father and his magazine. It’s a man’s point of view, it’s a man’s fantasy. Sex was my fantasy, and I made money off of it. That is a no-no.

Then there was just a lot of imagery that grossed people out in the book. A lot of people were really disgusted with the men that were together with men. They were fine, you know, with my naked ass all over the place.

I'm not sure why she tries to make that about men and women even though she may have a point. The fact is along with gay men, young girls and teenagers made up her fanbase and she had a very public frickin naked, sex-ed up times infinity period. I was 12ish at this time and that's not what i wanted to see...because I was 12. Then lets add in the parents she upset greatly, lol.

I fit in the latter group but she's really lucky she was able to climb out of that somewhat successfully, very successfully. It wasn't all luck at all, it was business savvy and that's why I got respect for her. She could have not gotten back up from the beating she took for that period. That was a big ass hole she digged to jump into.

Thanks, q I think that's probably my favorite clip due to the genuine surprise and shock. That, and because it was an epic grouping and Coffee Talk was funny s--t.

Eric, yeah I watched Forbidden Love (CT) way back when I was looking at old concert footage. It's pretty good...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUGaBEKpfnw

I know she'll probably never work with her brother again (for good reason) but the BA tour was so tight. Excellent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD7abnTQBzk

The lists. This one obviously has a british lean. Yeah, it's not the easiest thing to mesh the different genres and the different elements each artist brings. Ontop of that it's kind of a WTF to include the younger kids with, so far, much shorter spans like Gaga and Adele (both who are IMO very talented) so high up (more like VH1 did) when you're doing 30-40 year lists but I get that to a point.

I take it that the last half of the album (on the standard edition) which is produced by William Orbit who did all of Ray Of Light will be the moodier, more ballad heavy part (a bit like her Music album I guess which is front ended with more dance tracks, and then becomes more moody and sombre by the end). I admit, I still like a Madonna album to be more dancey than not, but I do love her ballads--I just think if there are too many the album can get mired in Madonna's teenaged poetry navel gazing.

I've always been more of a ballad lover with every singer except maybe Eminem, Missy Elliot and Jay-Z. I am that music fan, lol. I loved Mariah Carey when she was doing ballads and couldn't stand her behind when she started with hip-hop. I love pop friendly dance music though. Madonna is obviously a great pop dance hit singer and I enjoyed all of her dance singles pre-dating the Erotica album (and after - Ray of Light, Music, Don't Tell Me, Sorry are all good quality, catchy songs) but I've always gotten more hyped about the ballads. Also, from the first two singles from this next album I don't feel she is exactly putting much effort in her dance music. Sort of weak lyrics, the beats overriding the singing. Maybe my mind will change on that, maybe it won't.

I haven't really given any mind to a Madonna album since Ray of Light or Music. Since I will be listening to this album due to it being attached to my concert ticket and due to her most likely singing at least several singles from it during her concert, I'm looking at this one with a more critical eye.

Being it's a UK paper, I'd say this is a less biased to the positive side review, heh. The critic is Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph. I'm looking forward to hearing Falling Free. I've always liked Madonna's ballad side just a little bit more than the dance side: http://www.telegraph...ack-review.html

I see the paper also recently did a Pop's 20 Greatest Female Artist of the Rock & Pop Era list: http://www.telegraph...le-artists.html

10. Patti Smith

9. Lady Gaga

8. Adele

7. Amy Winehouse

6. Aretha Franklin

5. The ABBA Girls (For realz?)

4. Debbie Harry

3. Kate Bush

2. Tina Turner

1. Madonna

ETA:

PopJustice Review: http://www.popjustice.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6074&Itemid=9

The Saturday Night Live Edition...

1986: An apology of sorts...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYEHX1l5NX0

1991: Madonna Justifies Her Love to Wayne and Garth....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKuqCcrL6oU

Link to a clearer version of the same clip: http://www.dailymoti...0-featuring_fun

1992: The Mike Myers & Dana Carvey years of SNL, sigh. This is a great clip - Mike, Madonna, Roseanne and a surprise appearance by Barbara Streisand. This one is a link. I have no idea how to embed from Hulu: http://www.hulu.com/stand_alone/1e955a55038a0f4028dee01826d18cac?lcname=ESEABidkZWZhdWx0Q2FwdGlvblN0eWxlBgMxBi1pc1RyYWlsZXJTZWxlY3RvclZpZGVvAgYXcG9wb3V0U3RhcnQEAAYhc2l0ZUxvY2F0aW9uUGF0aAEGFWluUGxheWxpc3QCBh1kZWZhdWx0UXVhbGl0eQQBBh9kZWZhdWx0TGFuZ3VhZ2UGCW5vbmUGIWFkU2VsZWN0b3JPcHRpb24BBhVwb3BvdXRUaW1lBUJzXnFmQZAABjl2aWRlb1RyYWlsZXJTZWxlY3RvckFkVW5pdElkBP////8GI3BsYXlsaXN0QWRVbml0SWRzCQMBBIXGEQYTY29udGVudElEBIGXmF0GFWN1cnJlbnRQb2QEAAYtc2VsZWN0b3JWaWRlb0NvbXBsZXRlZAIGEWF1dG9wbGF5AwYXY3VycmVudFNsb3QEAA==&continuous_play_mode=4&continuous_play=on&continuous_play_sort=#in-playlist

1993: Madonna has a special invitation for a member of the Clinton family...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssGuKaHv9-g

2010: The Live Clip AND The Rehearsal Clip of Lady Gaga and Madonna...

Madonna: What the hell is a disco stick?

Lada Gaga: I think you know.

Priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqzM0wpWMUo

You think Madonna would forget?

You never know. Sometimes love makes you really stupid. Well, she does have at least 100 million good reasons not to forget one the next time (if there is a next time).

Yeah i was going to post that Attitude magazine. It certainly makes the album sound way way more interesting than Hard Candy. Take it with a grain of salt though--Attitude is always always glowing towards the gay divas (Kylie, Madonna, Gaga, etc)

Thanks for the heads up on biased critics. So, I'll definitely wait to hear what Billboard, Entertainment Weekly and the Daily News says before I get my hopes up for at least a couple of good songs on the album. GGW, single No. 2, sounds like something a music company could have gotten out of a drunk and high B. Spears after connecting her to a few machines.

So Madonna's cute 24-year old boy-toy/boyfriend has proposed, supposedly.

I'm of the opinion of do whatever the bleep ya want but don't forget to get a pre-nup before each and every future marriage. Heh.

It's kind of early in the process but it's not like Oprah's forcing the kid to do an interview. Nor do I think Oprah would pay for an interview although OWN is a sinking ship.

Can't fault any news personality for wanting these types of interviews as soon as they can get it either.

Not loving either single released so far. Nothing memorable so far.

A review from the UK from a magazine that got their hands on the album: http://www.attitude....VER+MDNA+REVIEW

Late-night You-tubeing again. I had never seen the Pepsi commerical before for obvious reasons (detailed write-up on the controversy: http://eightiesclub....d.com/id135.htm). I hadn't seen Whitney's Coke one either. I'd seen Michael Jackson's Pepsi ones.

Madonna:

The original:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8qtsUaoVak

Love the music in the remix (posted by the Pepsi company on YouTube, ironically):

Michael:

Whitney:

George:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysTNEGu0FCg

I love Coca-Cola taste waste over Pepsi, but Pepsi definitely puts more effort into their commercials.

Oprah Scores (an interview with Whitney's daughter that is)...

http://losangeles.cb...ughter-for-own/

The following is an excerpt of the Whitney Houston cover story in the March 15th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone, on stands March 2nd.

Diligent professional one moment, wild child the next: Those were the opposing sides of Houston in her last days – and, it turns out, much of her life. Blessed with a peerless combination of bravura lung power, model-perfect looks, and an image that was both warm and regal, Houston was that pop rarity: a genuine crossover star, juggling music and film, ­audiences young and old, black and white. "Because of her cousin Dionne [Warwick], she understood all those pretty-ass melodies from Burt Bacharach," says Narada Michael Walden, one of Houston's many producers. "But because she was young and from the era of Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna, she had soul in her too – those rhythms. She had both sides. Plus, she was so damn gorgeous. You couldn't say no to her."

But after she peaked with her 1991 version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and 1992's The Bodyguard, her fans watched as, year by year, Houston's demons were revealed to the world: Her voice grew huskier, her looks hardened. Her records, when they appeared, didn't sell as well as they once had; her live performances revealed a performer physically and vocally rusty.

People who worked with her still find it hard to comprehend her dark side. "A lot of us talked about that, and no one could come up with an answer," says Gerry Griffith, the A&R man who brought Houston to Clive Davis' attention around 1982. "Where is that rebellion coming from? It didn't come out for a while." When it did, it came out in force, nearly destroying her personal life, career and music.

From the start, Whitney Houston was a child of both the church and the charts. Her mother, Cissy, was a Newark, New Jersey-born soprano powerhouse who sang backup on classic records by Franklin ("Ain't No Way," "Chain of Fools") and Van Morrison ("Brown Eyed Girl"), and toured with Elvis Presley (when she was a member of the Sweet Inspirations). Her cousin Warwick had crossed over to pop in the Sixties and Seventies with hits like "Walk On By" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" Whitney, born in 1963, inherited her voice from her mother, and her elegant good looks and strong will from her father, John Houston, who worked variously as a truck driver and for the city of Newark, and who would later manage his daughter's career.

When Whitney was four, her parents moved her and her two brothers to suburban East Orange, New Jersey, where many black families relocated after the Newark riots. Houston was a shy kid; her grade-school principal recalls Houston standing in line, tightly holding her classmates' hands, her head down. When Houston's godmother, singer Darlene Love, would stay at the family's home while on tour, she shared a bed with "Nippy," as Whitney was called. "I was pregnant at the time and she'd go, 'What do you want, what do you want?' " Love recalls. "There was a store on the corner where she'd run down the street and buy fruit for me. So charming from Day One."

To read the rest of this cover story, pick up the March 15th, 2012 issue of Rolling Stone, available on stands and in Rolling Stone All Access March 2nd.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/cover-story-excerpt-whitney-houston-20120229

Is TMZ everywhere? I guess people send them footage as well. Extra picking up on a TMZ story (footage of Whitney watching the SuperBowl/SB half-time show with friends)...

http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2012/02/video_whitney_houston_watching_madonnas_superbowl_halftime_show.php?adid=trendingstories

If they're indeed doing that now I do believe the stories that Whitney was pretty close to broke at the end.

Couldn't they have found another way to make some cash? That's kind of creepy. It's her funeral.