Madonna

Madonna assumed her mantle of dance pop dominance with the massively successful hits "Material Girl," "Dress You Up (In My Love)," and especially "Like A Virgin" when this album took over the world in 1984. The astonishingly resourceful diva nailed down a million-dollar image that was equal parts classy babe, innocent sex object and unstoppably determined artist.

In the early Sixties, when girls were first carving their niche in rock & roll, the Crystals were
singing about how it didn't matter that the boy they loved didn't drive a Cadillac car, wasn't
some big movie star: he wasn't the boy they'd been dreaming of, but so what? Madonna is a
more, well, practical girl. In her new song, "Material Girl," she claims, "the boy with the cold
hard cash is always Mr. Right/'Cause we're living in a material world/And I am a m... More >

If a woman wants to sell herself as a sex fantasy I'll take a free ride--as long as the fantasy of it remains out front, so I don't start confusing image with everyday life. But already she's so sure of herself she's asking men and women both to get the hots for the calculating bitch who sells the fantasy even while she bids for the sincerity market where long-term superstars ply their trade. And to make the music less mechanical (just like Bowie, right?), she's hired Nile Rodgers, who I won't blame for making it less catchy. (Grade - B)