"But I think the most controversial thing I have ever done is to stick around."
This was the Madonna that was launched upon an unsuspecting world in 1982. Her characteristic look – a melange of second-hand threads, dyed hair, often with a hat perched on top – accompanied a raft of dance pop songs (Everybody, Lucky Star, Holiday) that quietly revolutionised pop music for the next decade. There were hints, too, of something more underground. Madonna, by then 24, had spent the last few years dancing in clubs like New York’s Fun House – in the images shot for her self-titled debut, there’s a chain around her neck. Even amid the pop fluff, there’s a hint of the magpie Madonna.
Prancing around a red velvet set nicked straight out of Marilyn Monroe’s ‘Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend’ Madonna – complete with shimmering diamond jewellery and an entourage of adoring men – is lavished with gifts and attention in one of her best known videos. Parodying the superficiality of fame, Madge might coyly declare that she’s a ‘Material Girl’ over a Nile Rodgers-produced beat, but this isn’t a superficial song about being wooed by expensive gestures and cash-grabbing from hapless men. Instead, Madonna’s singing about mastering the rules of our greedy society, playing its lead culprits at their own game, and ensuring that she gets every single penny she’s owed.“Experience has made me rich, and now they’re after me,” she sings sweetly. “I don’t let them play, no way,” she warns elsewhere.
With its house and disco beats, Madonna's "Vogue" from her I'm Breathless (1990) album became one of the biggest hits of her career. In addition to the music, the track's lyrics also gave way to nostalgia, harkening back to the Golden Age of Hollywood as evident in Madonna's spoken rap section in the bridge where she name-drops a bevy of cultural icons:
Greta Garbo, and Monroe
Dietrich and DiMaggio
Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean
On the cover of a magazine
Grace Kelly; Harlow, Jean
Picture of a beauty queen
Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers, dance on air
They had style, they had grace
Rita Hayworth gave good face
Lauren, Katherine, Lana too
Bette Davis, we love you
Ladies with an attitude
Fellows that were in the mood
Don't just stand there, let's get to it
Strike a pose, there's nothing to it
Vogue, vogue
July 31, 1987
Madonna's love for bustiers began to bubble up as she performed in Chicago during the "Who's That Girl" world tour. The black leather and zipper-detailed one piece mimicked the eye-popping peep-show outfit made famous in her "Open Your Heart" video.
Jan. 28, 1985
No one had to ask who's that girl when Madonna hit the red carpet of the American Music Awards in a sultry Jean-Paul Gaultier corset dress and her signature strands of beads, crucifixes and pearls. It was edgy, with just a hint of the elegance to come.
Sept. 9, 1998
At the 1998 Academy Awards, Madonna walked the red carpet wearing one of Jean-Paul Gaultier's chic skirts paired with a black silk over-garment by Olivier Theyskens, resulting in a look that was both poetic and graceful.
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July 13, 1985
Madonna performed for a packed house at the Live Aid benefit concert at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, looking a bit like a gypsy woman gone glam. It was the first time since making it big Madonna stripped away the blond and let her natural roots show.