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Madonna

Certain Songs #1072: Madonna – “Ray of Light”

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Album: Ray of Light
Year: 1998

I’m obviously not to be trusted on this subject, but not only do I think that “Ray of Light” is Madonna’s greatest song — over 15 years into her career! — it’s one of the greatest songs of the 1990s, if not the whole 20th fucking century.

A mongrel mashup of pop, rock, and techno (and you might notice some sneaky trip-hop beats snuck in there as well), “Ray of Light” sounds like it was beamed in from the 25th century. The good parts of the 25th century.

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Certain Songs #1071: Madonna – “Express Yourself”

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Album: Like a Prayer
Year: 1989

While the massive gospely title track to Madonna’s 1989 Like a Prayer album got all of the attention because of the controversy surrounding the “blasphemous” imagery of the video — and it went to number one anyways — “Express Yourself” is the one that eventually got to me.

It could just be me, but I hear classic girl-group Motown all over this one, like a huge Diana Ross and the Supremes — updated, of course, for the late 1980s dancefloor — empowerment anthem. With an absolutely massive singalong chorus.

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Certain Songs #1070: Madonna – “Who’s That Girl”

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Album: Who’s That Girl
Year: 1987

As no doubt has been incredibly obvious over the past thousand-plus songs, dance music has never been my forte. But it was obvious from the first time that I saw the “Lucky Star” video on the MTV that Madonna Louise Ciccone was going to be somebody to reckon with.

And so when Like a Virgin came out, I snagged a promo copy from KFSR to see if I could make heads or tails out of it, and while I could understand why “Material Girl” and “Like a Virgin” were great pop songs, they didn’t really do it for me, even as she battled Michael Jackson, Prince, & Bruce Springsteen for mid-80s inescapability.

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17 Musical Moments to Die For

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Camper Van Beethoven play a house party in Fresno, CA in 1985.It has been four months since I’ve done one of these, a far cry from my original plan of doing one a month, and I can’t promise when the next one will be, or even if there will be a next one.

So, really quickly, the ground rules. These aren’t about artists, or albums, or even songs, but rather, moments: that piece of a song that draws you into it; that piece of a song that you wait to happen again; that piece of a song that is running in your head when you can’t sleep; that piece of a song that you find yourself humming at inopportune times.

That piece of a song that you can’t live without.

This is the ninth in a series: The first one had 25; the second one had 24; the third one had 23; the fourth one had 22; the fifth one had 21; and the sixth had 20; the seventh had 19 and the eighth had 18.

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Medialoper’s 2008 Ducking The Shoe Awards

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George Bush ducking the shoe.“Ducking the Shoe” is a phrase coined by Daniel Fienberg a couple of days ago on Twitter to mean “escaping even the most minor of punishments for extended errors or misdeeds.”

Well, yeah.

So in the spirit of George W. Bush’s ninja-like ability to duck a shoe thrown at him from point blank range, the following people and things spent 2008 getting away with shit that they really should have been busted on.

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