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Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
Material Girl in an Imperial World Edition Part 2
00:46:45
Pet Shop Boys coined the term “imperial phase” to describe a pop star’s untouchable era. In the ’80s, Madonna lived it.
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- [00:02]
Chris Melanfi
This podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance Fiscally Responsible Financial Geniuses, Monetary Magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds because Progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it. So your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance, Progressive Casualty Insurance company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
- [00:48]
Unknown Host
Get the Angel Reese Special at McDonald's. Now let's break it down. My favorite barbecue sauce, American cheese, crispy bacon, pickles, onions and a sesame seed bun, of course. And don't forget the fries and a drink. Sound good.
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I participate in restaurants for a limited.
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Time.
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Chris Melanfi
Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic, and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One Series. On our last episode, we broke down the concept of the imperial phase, a 21st century name for a phenomenon that dates back to the beginning of popular music fandom. It describes the moment when an artist seems to have the secret of pop and can score a hit with seemingly anything. I offered 10 chart rules for how you can identify an imperial phase, from streaks of number one or top ten hits to improbable hits to how the phase ends. Having broken down the concept, I'm now going to walk through one of my favorite imperial phases, an unprecedented, maybe unrepeatable chart streak by Madonna. This is not the first Hit Parade episode to focus on the chart history of the woman born Madonna Louise Ciccone, in 1958 in Bay City, Michigan. Seven years ago, in our Veronica Electronica edition of Hit Parade, we dove deep on Madonna's 90s music, particularly her pivot to what was then called electronica, culminating in her triumphant 1998 album, Ray of Light. In that episode, we mostly ignored Madonna's hits of the 1980s, which I'll admit was a bit quirky and unorthodox. Doing a Madonna show and skipping the 80s is kind of like doing an Elvis Presley show and skipping the 50s, by the way. Don't tempt us. We could still do that.
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Unknown Host
We can't go on together. We're suspicious.
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Chris Melanfi
Anyway, this month we will rectify that oversight in our Madonna coverage, because her first decade wasn't just imperial, it was one of the great chart runs in Hot 100 history. Now, Madonna's 80s phase does not adhere to all of the imperial rules I just laid out. She's never replaced herself at number one. Her big hits were mostly before the digital era, so she's never placed more than two or three singles on the Hot 100 at once. But Madonna's five year run of hits from 1984 through 1989, which I submit was one long imperial phase, checks a lot of the boxes. In many ways, it's an archetypal imperial phase. It took Madonna about a year to ramp up to imperiality. Her self titled Debut LP on Sire Records arrived in the summer of 1983 and soon enough she cracked the top 40 with Holiday. By January 1984, Holiday peaked at number 16. About five months later, Borderline became her first top 10 hit, peaking at number 10 so far, this was a strong but not exceptional chart run.
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Unknown Host
Feels like I'm going to lose my mind you just keep on pushing my love over the waterline.
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Chris Melanfi
Two things happened in the early fall of 84 that turned Madonna into 80s pop's new Imperial queen. First, the video for her next single. Lucky Star, the final hit from the debut album established Madonna as a fashion icon. With a lacy navel bearing outfit that would inspire scores of Madonna wannabes, Lucky Star eventually reached number four. Madonna's first top five hit, Starlight Starboy.
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Unknown Host
The star I see tonight Starlight Starboy make everything all right Stop right then.
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Chris Melanfi
As we discussed in our Hit Parade episode about the hits of 1984, Madonna delivered the most talked about performance at the first MTV Video Music Awards in September of 84. In a disheveled bridal gown, writhing on the VMAs stage, Madonna debuted the title track from her forthcoming second album, Like a Virgin. By December, Like A Virgin would also crack the top five and a week later it became Madonna's first number one hit. It would spend six weeks at number one through January 1985. Remember I said, one sure sign of an imperial phase is a streak of top 10 hits. Madonna did better than that. Starting with Lucky Star and Like a Virgin, she kicked off a streak of top four five hits that would last the rest of the 1980s. The next single in the streak was the one that gave Madonna a nickname. She has spent the rest of her life trying to live down most people's future. First exposure to Material Girl was when its video arrived at the start of 1985. An homage to Marilyn Monroe's performance of the song Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, the video was metatextual satirizing Madonna's glamorous public image while making her even more glamorous. Material Girl is also just a catchy phrase. To this day, headline writers cannot resist calling Madonna the Material Girl.
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Unknown Host
I am a material girl.
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Chris Melanfi
The Material Girl video helped spur the Like a Virgin album to number one in February 1985, where it held for three weeks on the Hot 100. Material Girl, the single reached number two. Meanwhile, also in February, a movie appeared in theaters, a coming of age melodrama called Vision Quest, starring Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino, and in a cameo as a bar singer, Madonna, who was singing a song that wasn't on her own album. More remarkable, that song was a delicate ballad. Crazy for your was another sign of Madonna's growing imperiality. First, it was a hit with an unexpected sound, and second, she now had too many hits. The Vision Quest soundtrack interrupted the flow of singles from the Like a Virgin album. Reportedly, executives at two labels, Sire and Geffen, bickered with each other over which Madonna songs could be released as singles. They compromised and Crazy for your was issued by Geffen as a 45. A second Madonna track from Vision Quest called Gambler went unreleased as a single. That was the compromise. This release made Crazy for your eligible for the Hot 100, where it climbed through the late winter and spring of 85.
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Unknown Host
Still in time. If you read my mind you'll see I'm crazy Flies.
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Chris Melanfi
Finally, in May, Crazy for your ejected USA for Africa's We Are the World from the number one spot, a giant killing feat that indicated Madonna was now a bigger deal than the most star studded single of the year. The fact that Madonna was not invited to We Are the World only made the irony more delicious. By then, another movie, this time starring Madonna, was in theaters.
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Unknown Host
And you can dance for inspiration. Come on, come on, come on I'm.
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Chris Melanfi
Waiting Get into the thru the the film was Desperately Seeking Susan, a comic caper starring Rosanna Arquette as a housewife obsessed with the life of an enigmatic hipster played by Madonna. And like Vision Quest, it featured a great Madonna song, Into the Groove. Only this one was not officially a Hot 100 hit, as we discussed in our B Sides episode of Hit Parade. After the dispute over Vision Quest, Madonna's label elected not to issue Groove as a single in America for fear it would divert radio attention again. Talk about imperial. Madonna sacrificed a major hit to the whims of the major label system. And not just any hit. Arguably her greatest dance floor song, into the Groove, was not allowed to even chart in America, in the UK and several other countries it was a single and reached number one in the us.
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Kevin Bendis
Sire.
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Chris Melanfi
Put into the Groove on the B side of a 12 inch single, making it eligible for Billboard's dance charts but not the Hot 100. The A side of that 12 inch was the like A Virgin track Angel. The non release of into the Groove may have been a miscarriage of chart justice, but it must be said that Angel, Madonna's take on new wave synth pop produced by the legendary Nile Rogers, was itself a pretty great song. When it peaked at number five in June of 85, it kept Madonna's top five streak going. By then she was on her first headlining tour, the Virgin Tour, and while on the road she shot a video for her next single Dress you up. Dress you up captured the peak of Madonna mania. The video showed a concert audience filled.
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Kevin Bendis
With wannabes cloning her look, floppy hair.
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Chris Melanfi
Bows, lace gloves, lingerie worn as outerwear. When the single became another number five hit in October of 85, it put a bow on Madonna's most imperial year. But Madonna's multi year year imperial phase was far from over. We'll be back momentarily. This episode is brought to you by Defender for those who embrace the impossible, the Defender 110 is ready for the adventure. This vehicle has been reimagined with modern design for a new generation of explorers. With a striking exterior that boasts compelling proportions and Precise detailing, the Defender 110 masterfully combines style with capability. The Defender is built with a durable, lightweight monocoque architecture to provide extra strength for your next great adventure. And its tough, rigid body design exudes confidence, so when you're behind the wheel, you will too. Engineered to meet challenges head on and tested to the extreme, the Defender empowers you to explore with confidence and embrace the impossible. Whether you're off road or on ready for a wide range of adventures, the Defender family also features the two door Defender 90, the Defender 110 and the Defender 130, which seats up to eight. A vehicle made to go further, the Defender 110. Learn more at Land Rover USA. Defender.
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Kevin Bendis
This episode is brought to you by Discover. If there's one thing to learn from the entertainment industry, it's just how easy it is to earn a reputation, even if it doesn't reflect who celebrities really are. For example, everybody thinks that Discover is a card that isn't widely accepted, but in reality, it's accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. Yeah, 99%. So maybe now you'll think twice before judging a book by its cover, unless it's a celebrity cookbook. In that case, judge Away, based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com credit card One other thing that happened to Madonna in her crazy 1985 she married actor Sean Penn. We won't go too far down that rabbit hole. Suffice it to say, it was one of the major tabloid stories of that year. Their August 85 wedding in Malibu was a C, complete with helicopters flying overhead. But besides adding to her center of the culture status, the Sean Penn story began to bear career fruit for Madonna in 1986, starting with her first hit of that year, a dramatic torch song taken from the soundtrack to a movie starring Sean Penn. The movie, co starring Christopher Walken, was called At Close Range and the song Live to Tell. With heartbearing lyrics about insecurities, secrets and doubts, Live to Tell was Madonna's most theatrical single to date. Though it was nominally promoting Penn's movie, which was not a major box office success, the song seemed to lay bare Madonna's feelings of vulnerability post marriage. Because there was no soundtrack album for the film and Madonna's next LP was not yet released, fans were compelled to buy the Live to Tell single, which fueled the song up the Hot 100. It soared to number one by June of 86, succeeding partially due to the strength of the song and partially due to the public's fascination with all things Madonna.
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Unknown Host
Inside of Me.
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Kevin Bendis
A few weeks later, Madonna released her third album, True Blue. Live to Tell was included on the album and served as its first single, but the LP's second single was even more headline grabbing, a story song about a pregnant teenager begging for her father's approval and controversially declaring that she would keep the baby. Papa Don't Preach scrambled Madonna's public Persona. After several sex positive singles, she sang about the consequences of that sexuality. Conservatives found themselves defending the song's message, while pro choice progressives decried it. The song became part of the Reagan era culture wars, but the controversy was good for business, and the song, awash in disco strings, was also a bop. Papa Don't Preach soared to number one by August of 86, the first time Madonna had scored back to back Hot 100 chart toppers. Billboard later named it 1986's song of the Summer. The True Blue album turned out to be a hit song jukebox, generating five top five hits, the most of any Madonna lp. Its third single, the title track, True Blue, an homage to the girl group sound of the early 60s, reached number three in November of 86. The fourth single, Open youn Heart, a throbbing banger that benefited from a racy video set in an arty peep show with Madonna as the main striptease attraction, became the album's third number one single. In February of 1987. And in perhaps her most imperial move to date, for the album's fifth single, Madonna went with a Latin flavored bop with flamenco guitar and a title in Spanish, the tropical, breezy La Isla Bonita. In the video, Madonna played a flamenco dancer. La Isla Bonita reached number four in May of 87, by which time True Blue was quadruple platinum on its way to 7 million in sales. Across its run of singles, Madonna had tried torch balladry, neo disco, retro, rb, electro dance, even Latin pop. All were hits. And while Madonna was exploring her stylistic breadth, a new wave of Madonna imitators was crowding the charts. Further evidence of her elite status. Whether it was Regina's Baby love, a number 10 hit in the summer of 86, Stacy Q's two of hearts, a number three hit in the fall of 86, come on, come on, two of.
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Unknown Host
Hearts two hearts that need us more two of hearts, I need you, I need you.
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Kevin Bendis
Or the earliest singles by Debbie Gibson like Only In My Dreams, a number four hit in the summer of 87.
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Unknown Host
As real as it may seem.
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Chris Melanfi
The.
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Kevin Bendis
Madonna sound, or rather the perky dance pop sound Madonna had codified and then evolved away from, was blanketing the charts. Remember my rule. Nothing says imperial like an imitator. This wave of emulations gave Madonna the freedom to flex sonically reinforcing her status as the apex predator of pop. Well, at least as a music star. Madonna's movie stardom was another matter. Metro Goldwyn Mayer presents Sean Penn Madonna Shanghai surprise in 1986 and 87, Madonna starred in back to back movie bombs. Shanghai Surprise. Her exotic adventure with her husband Sean flopped so hard it nearly bankrupted former Beatle George Harrison, whose production company had bankrolled the film. And 1987's screwball comedy who's that Girl? Fared not much better. She's beautiful, she's impulsive, she's Madonna. As we now know decades later, despite her many attempts over the years, Madonna never fully converted her musical star power to Hollywood acting, although she would fare better in the 90s. As for these notorious 80s flops, which came at the apex of her fame, they would seem to negate her imperiality. But I would argue quite the contrary. In music, Madonna proved as imperial as ever. She confirmed it by dominating the charts twice with songs from one of these bombs. The title track of the who's that Girl soundtrack was what you might call a quickie mashup, a ready made. It combined the throbbing bass line of Open youn Heart with Latin flavor and even Spanish chorus lyrics like La Isla Bonita. By the time who's that Girl, the song reached the Hot 100's top 10 in the summer of 1987, who's that Girl? The movie had already tanked at the box office. But a couple of weeks after that tanking who's that Girl? The song was number one on the Hot 100, and the soundtrack wasn't even done spinning off hits. Causing a Commotion was Madonna by numbers, the kind of dance pop she was mostly outgrowing? Regina or Stacy Q could have scored with it, but for Madonna it was a number two hit in the fall of 87. In a way, this was the ultimate imperial flex. Madonna was implying that no matter what became of her movie career, and even after a wave of musical imitators, she could always reclaim her sound and top the charts with it. Such is a queen's privilege for those keeping score. Causing a commotion had been Madonna's 13th consecutive top five hit on the Hot 100 at the end of 1987. To tide over her fans, she released a remix album titled you'd Can Dance that contained a new bonus track, Spotlight. But Madonna was about to step out of the Spotlight. She took 1988 off to deal with her crumbling marriage to Sean Penn. They would divorce by 1989, and to plan her next album. Some might argue that the lack of activity in 88 meant Madonna's imperial phase was over. But with hindsight, she was not about to cede her title as Queen of Pop. We'll be right back.
- [29:38]
Unknown Host
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- [31:11]
Chris Melanfi
Bahamas in all of her stylistic explorations, her fusions of dance pop with various genres, Madonna had never tried gospel. That changed with the title track of 1989's Like a Prayer. Madonna conceived the song as gospel and she even hired the famed Andre Crouch choir, which had just sung on Michael Jackson's own gospel inflected 1988 number one hit man in the Mirror. But Madonna's take on gospel didn't sound much like Michael Jackson or like a hymn, because it was Madonna. It sounded like a dance floor where Madonna finds her spirituality and her ecstasy. Like so many ambitious moves by artists in their imperial moment, this could have been a mess. Instead, it became one of Madonna's most acclaimed and beloved singles. Its video also stirred up the most controversy of any Madonna production to date, as its mix of religious iconography from stigmata to burning crosses, coupled with sex with a black Christ figure put Madonna right back into the culture wars again. The controversy even compelled Pepsi to drop a five million dollar ad campaign they'd been planning with Madonna. She got to keep the money. Like A Prayer soared to number one on the Hot 100 in just six weeks, her fastest rising hit since Like a virgin virgin in 1984, the start of her imperial phase. The phase was clearly not over yet. Yet again, to paraphrase Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant, Madonna seemed to know the secret of pop. Like Madonna's preceding studio albums, Like A Prayer was eclectic and packed with future hits. As we discussed in our remix episode of Hit Parade, its second single, Express Yourself, was reinvented by producer Shep Pettibone from a horn inflected Latin flavored jam into a sleek, throbbing house music anthem by the summer of AD 1989. The remix, which was the version heard in the music video, a multi million dollar Clip directed by future Hollywood auteur David Fincher in homage to Fritz Lang's Metropolis became the standard version heard on the radio. Yet again, Madonna was ahead of the curve, getting a house beat on top 40 radio ahead of a wave of house singles that would begin cross over on the pop charts later in 89. The combination of the original and the remix of Express Yourself pushed the song to number two on the Hot 100 by July. Then for the follow up, Madonna went from sleek to sweet. Cherish was a kind of sequel to True Blue, echoing the prior song's girl group energy with elements of doo wop and 60s sunshine. Pop Madonna even borrowed and interpolated a lyric from a 1966 number one hit by the association, also called Cherish.
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Unknown Host
Cherish is the word I use to describe.
- [36:15]
Chris Melanfi
Madonna's Cherish was her most optimistic and openly romantic hit of this period, a wistful song she wrote to cheer herself up after her divorce from Sean Penn. And it was another smash, reaching number two by October 1989, Madonna's record 16th consecutive top five hit in Hot 100 history. Only the Beatles had come close to that streak. That's when Madonna turned to a song that finally broke the streak. I Never Thought I, O Father was a beautifully orchestrated, baroque and very sad ballad. In the lyrics, Madonna mourned her mother, who died when Madonna was a child, and she exercised her feelings of resentment toward her father, who had remarried. In a career marked by often indirect expressions of Madonna's personality. Oh Father was perhaps her most personal single of all, and it was a strange fit on top 40 radio and the pop charts. Only an artist confident in her status releases a song like O Father as a pop single. It was Madonna's last imperial move of the 1980s, and it ended the Imperial phase. O Father peaked at number 20 the first week of January 1990, her first single since 1984 to miss the top 10, let alone the top five. Madonna would never be as imperial as her 80s heyday again, even though she did revive her status. Within months, 1990 top 10 hits like Keep It Together and the number one smash Vogue ignited a new wave of hits. Indeed, many Madonna Madonna fans, critics and observers, including Imperial Phase scholar Tom Ewing, argue that the early 90s was Madonna's last imperial phase, during which she scored her last major round of trend defining and trend defying hits like Justify My Love.
- [39:34]
Unknown Host
Praying for you.
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Chris Melanfi
In late 1990, Madonna issued her first and ultimately best selling greatest hits collection, the Diamond Selling the Immaculate Collection, and chart followers took note of what she included and what she left off into the Groove. The classic shoulda been single was included, but Madonna left off several hits from her streak of 80s bangers, including Angel, Dress you Up, True Blue and both singles from the who's that Girl soundtrack. Remember who's that Girl? The song was a hot 100 number one. Imagine leaving a number one hit off a greatest hits compilation. I regard the Immaculate Collection as the bookend to Madonna's 80s imperial phase, her last flex with regal confidence. She was already shaping the narrative of her first decade, discarding what was expendable and enshrining her classics even more than the hit streaks by such legends as the Beatles or Taylor Swift. I consider Madonna's first and longest imperial film phase the epitome of the concept. And keep in mind no one has equaled that 16 straight top five single run. Nowadays, in the streaming era, when superstars routinely place piles of their album cuts on lower rungs of the charts, the conditions may never exist again for anyone to match Madonna's streak. Nope, not even Taylor Swift. It's always fascinating to study which hits an artist holds closest to her heart. In the decades since Madonna's epic streak, fans have noticed that the 180s song that always makes her concert set lists, even on tours where she is mostly ignoring her old hits, is the 1987 single La Isla Bonita, the final single from her True Blue album. Why this song? Madonna even included it on the imac Immaculate Collection in place of other hits from that era. Is she proud that she wrote and recorded a credible Latin pop song? Does she have happy memories of cosplaying as a flamenco dancer? Does she just like the melody? Who knows my theory? It's a fond memento of the period when Madonna could get away with anything, when it felt like her imperial phase would last forever. No Imperial phase does. That's why we call it a phase. But for a time back then, for Madonna on the charts, all of nature was wild and free. This is where she longs to be.
- [43:39]
Kevin Bendis
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Kevin Bendis. Kevin also produced the latest installment of our monthly Hip Parade, the Bridge shows, which are available exclusively to Slate plus members. In our latest Bridge episode, I welcome fellow podcaster DJ Louis xiv, who ranks legendary music stars in the pop pantheon and talks about how imperial Phases reflect these artists legacies. To sign up for Slate plus and hear not only the Bridge but all our shows the day they drop visit slate.com hit parade plus our supervising producer is Joel Meyer, and Slate's editor in chief is Hilary Fry. Check out Slate's roster of shows@slate.com podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. Until then, keep on marching on the one I'm Chris Mulanfy.
- [45:05]
Leon Nayfak
I'm Leon Nayfak and I'm the host of Slow Burn Watergate Before I started working on this show, everything I knew about Watergate came from the movie all the President's Men. Do you remember how it ends? Woodward and Bernstein are sitting at their typewriters, clacking away. And then there's this rapid montage of newspaper stories about campaign aides and White House officials getting convicted of crimes. About audio tapes coming out that prove Nixon's involvement in the COVID up. The last story we see is Nixon resigns. It takes a little over a minute in a movie. In real life, it took about two years.
- [45:39]
Kevin Bendis
Five men were arrested early Saturday while trying to install eavesdropping equipment known as the Watergate Incident.
- [45:46]
Leon Nayfak
What was it like to experience those two years in real time? What were people thinking and feeling as the break in at Democratic Party headquarters went from a weird little caper to a constitutional crisis that brought down the President? The downfall of Richard Nixon was stranger, wilder, and more exciting than you can imagine. Over the course of eight episodes, this show is going to capture what it was like to live through the greatest political scandal of the 20th century. With today's headlines once again full of corruption, collusion and dirty tricks, it's time for another look at the gate that started it all. Subscribe to Slow Burn now. Wherever you get your podcasts.