Disclaimer: I actually like Logic. I admire his creativity, his passion for his art, his sincerity, and how prolific he is. We also have a shared admiration for Nas, Kill Bill, and a certain blue-eyed crooner from Hoboken. Still, the following has to be said.
I picked up on Logic with 2017's Everybody, then went back and listened to a lot of older stuff (Under Pressure, The Incredible True Story...) I then followed him through YSIV and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, until finally, with the 2021 release of Bobby Tarantino III, I was able to articulate Logic's place on the hip-hop landscape with this statement:
"Logic is the official poster boy for mediocre rappers."
Yeah, occasionally he'll wow you with a "1-800" or a "100 Miles and Running", but generally Logic is that dude who is technically proficient as a rapper but who doesn't quite have enough personality and uniqueness to his flow. Whose rhymes are serviceable, but not memorable. Whose beats are almost interesting... until you listen closer and realize they're actually monotonous. His latest LP, Vinyl Days, is another reminder of all this. It's also a reminder -- or should I say a summation -- of all the things Logic has spent seven albums, five mix tapes, and pretty much his entire career reminding you of. It also speaks to a couple of new developments in his life we seem similarly destined to hear about for the next decade.
He's bi-racial
You're alerted to this fact quite often whenever you listen to his lyrics. Oh yes, you'll learn fast that he was "a biracial baby... born to a black father and a white mother." You'll understand in no time that he's a "BLACKWHITEBOY" from a "half breed family" because, as he explains it, "I'm black again.. fighting for credibility from the lack of blacker skin"... It gets quite tiresome at times.
And hearing him going over this same ground again and again is even more tedious than Eminem complaining about his ex.
He's from a really rough neighborhood.
Yeah, so are Ice-T, Nipsey Hustle, Naughty By Nature, Gucci Mane, Future, 21 Savage, Lil’ Durk, NWA, Biggie, Eminem, Young Thug, and T.I., just to name a dozen. Spitting rhymes about the crime-ridden area he grew up in is yet another way Logic fails to set himself apart from other rappers.
He "grinded" and "worked for SO LONG" until he finally made it...
... even though he started in high school, signed with an independent label at twenty, and got a Def Jam contract at twenty-three.
He retired (but now he's back.)
Check the chronology: No Pressure - Released July 2020 Bobby Tarantino III - Released July 2021 Vinyl Days - Recorded 2021–2022. Released June 2022
So two albums and a mixtape in less than two years... When exactly during that brief time frame did he manage to squeeze in a retirement?
Stupid motherf**ker, oh, yeah, you got a deal But you spent your whole advance on a chain I invested mine in crypto, and now I'm sailin' out to Spain
And also:
Now I think I'm a good father figure 'cause I was sonnin' rappers before I was a father, go figure My cryptocurrency is in the seven figures.
Last month it was widely reported that the overall market capitalization of crypto assets had plummeted from about $3 trillion in November 2021 to now less than $1 trillion.
Hmm... Maybe this is why he needed to come out of retirement?
He's leaving Def Jam.
Mostly on good terms it seems but to hear Logic tell it, the label still owes him a lot of money -- although you wonder why this would bother him since he made so much in crypto.
He's the best rapper alive.
If you don't want to believe Logic himself the numerous times he's staked claim to this title, then perhaps you'll trust Morgan Freeman, who on the intro of Vinyl Days, informs "every other rapper in the game that Logic is the GOAT."
Boasting of this type has been part of hip-hop literally since Day 1 -- but with Logic you somehow get the sense that he actually believes this absurd declaration could be true.
It's not of course. He's not the greatest rapper of all time. Not the greatest of his era. Maybe not even the greatest from the state of Maryland, depending on how you feel about Wale.
Perhaps moving forward he'll be able to produce superior material that better demonstrates the abundance of talent and creativity he's been blessed with -- but no, right now Logic is simply a solid, often redundant, and mostly mediocre rapper.
In the first few moments of the MTV's launch 41 years ago today, we were greeted with those words courtesy of The Buggles and their prophetic "Video Killed the Radio Star", the very first video shown on MTV. Then, for the next ten years, we watched as the fledgling channel expertly polished, refined and improved its brand, content and image. Along the way, the 24-hour music channel became the single most significant television experience for Generation X, which at the time comprised the most important segment of America's youth. But by the early 90's MTV faced a difficult decision -- one that would completely redefine its identity and alter its pop culture legacy. Here's the story of how MTV came to that crossroads and the path it ultimately chose.
The truth is that MTV arrived with little fanfare back on that first day of August, 1981. It was a simpler time for Americans in terms of our ability to keep ourselves entertained without benefit of personal computers (coincidentally introduced by IBM just a few days later), Sony Playstations, or even VCRs. Indeed, as hard as it is to believe, this was a time when the majority of Americans were also limited to three network channels, a few local stations and PBS. Cable television changed all that. Originally intended for populations living in mountainous and remote locations, cable TV was, by the early 80’s, quickly spreading to both urban areas and their surrounding suburbs. Most Americans at the time had barely even heard of MTV. The channel was largely considered to be just another basic cable station with novelty programming that could best be described as "pop or rock music songs typically set to creative visuals or the artist's live performance."
It was tough going at first. Operating on a shoestring budget, with only five on-air personalities and a handful of production people and executives, MTV struggled its first two years but somehow still found its audience – high schoolers and college age young adults. What MTV offered back then is very similar to what Napster would provide a little less than two decades later, that is, a fresh new way to source and experience music. The record industry was floundering, coming off of some of their worst sales years ever. The glory days of the 70’s when everyone was eager to run out and buy the latest LPs by Peter Frampton, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Styx and Heart were over. Disco, and to a lesser extend AOR, were dying slow deaths. New musical genres (punk, new wave, rap) were emerging and what’s more, many of these new styles were, in one way or another, actively discouraging record sales. Early rap records, for example, were often recorded on tape and sold out of the trunks of cars in the artists' local neighborhoods. Many of the most popular punk artists were either British and/or their recordings were not as readily available as other artists. The time was just right for MTV to enter, establish some common ground, and offer an exciting new platform of content for a wide range of music listeners. Despite having little more than a hundred videos to begin with, the idea of “seeing the music” was so appealing to viewers that “Hey, did you see so and so’s new video?” soon became a common question on high school and college campuses. Clearly, it had a lot to do with the fact that at the time, outside of a concert venue, there was no opportunity to experience your favorite music artists visually. The ability to view your favorite performer singing their latest hit but also have it presented in a stimulating and creative way was one of the most innovative developments in music since the invention of phonograph.
"Lying awake intent on tuning in on you..."
MTV’s popularity grew rapidly, thanks in part to the fact that the channel came about at virtually the same time as two other innovations in the music/recording industry – the Walkman and the compact disc. Sony debuted its portable personal cassette player in 1979 and by 1982 (MTV’s second year) had perfected its design and was on its way to selling over 100 million units. Just about the same time (1982) the compact disc was introduced and was soon recognized for offering superior sound quality and being the music format of the future. The CD and the Walkman led to tremendous growth in music sales throughout the decade (see chart below) and increased interest in popular music in general.
MTV can also take credit for another music industry trend of the 80’s. The channel can take sole responsibility for breaking a number of iconic British artists here in the states, the result being something akin to a second British Invasion. Out of necessity (rather than some visionary decision making) the first two years of MTV saw a flood of English artists receiving heavy rotation on the channel -- mainly because, initially, Brits were the main ones making music videos. Going back to the mid 70's, when artists like Queen and David Bowie experimented with the music video, English artists had always gravitated towards the medium. As a result, they were the ones ready when MTV came looking for content. Enduring artists like The Police, Eurythmics, Billy Idol and Duran Duran owe their careers to MTV, and one hit wonders and lesser artists like Naked Eyes ("Always Something There to Remind Me"), Spandau Ballet ("True") and Adam Ant ("Goody Two Shoes", "Strip") experienced their brief stints at the top courtesy of the channel.
Not to say that English artists were the only ones benefiting in those early days. American artists scrambled to take advantage of the new outlet MTV provided and early videos by Cindy Lauper, The Cars and The Go-Go's, among others were MTV staples. At the time, it was a great example of a symbiotic relationship: artists make videos that get played on MTV; more people watch the channel to see the video, thereby giving the single/album more exposure and increasing sales; and finally, more people watching MTV meant more advertising dollars for the network. Everybody was happy.
Over the years, MTV got its legs, matured and perfected the art of shameless self-promotion. Segments like "MTV News", the “I want my MTV” promos, and the MTV Video Awards(introduced in 1984) combined with the cooperation of the major record labels in providing not only content, but also access to their artists, helped MTV put an indelible stamp on the 80’s. In the process, MTV both capitalized on and helped perpetuate all of the decade’s biggest music trends, including the Michael Jackson and New Kids on the Block phenomenons, the emergence of rap/hip-hop, and the popularity of “pop metal” bands like Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and Poison.
All the while, MTV’s programming became more and more diverse -- yet always stayed true to it’s acronym: Music Television. New shows and specials began to appear: The Top 10 Video Countdown (1984), Club MTV (1987), a series of “rockumentaries”, Yo, MTV Raps (1988), The Grind and the groundbreaking MTV Unplugged (1989) evidenced the fact that it was still all about the music.
MTV hit its peak in the early 90’s – right around the time the original MTV-generation stopped watching regularly. It wasn’t that they were no longer interested, it was just that after college, and as they neared our mid-20's, they were cornered by careers and responsibility, Suddenly, checking out the new Guns N' Roses video wasn’t as important as getting up for work the next day. MTV brass likely took notice of a dip in ratings and tried to formulate a response to what was then, the first decline in viewing since the channel’s inception.
The result was an excessive (and in many ways unwarranted) revamping of MTV’s programming. Back in the 80’s, MTV had begun supplementing its video programming with reruns of The Monkees, animated series like Speed Racer and the old Beatles and Jackson 5 cartoons, spring break coverage from Florida, and their first original regular series, the game show Remote Control. Then suddenly, as the nineties rolled in, more new shows began to appear (among them, House of Style, The State, and additional game shows like Singled Out) -- all of which had nothing to do with music.
MTV further pushed its programming envelope with the animated anthology Liquid Television, which launched Mike Judge's Beavis and Butthead and provided a showcase for other independent animated productions, including the cult classic, Æon Flux. Equally innovative and groundbreaking was MTV's 1992 documentary series The Real World, which doesn't get nearly enough credit for being the first reality show of its type since An American Family aired on PBS in the 70's.
Make no mistake, this was the beginning. Fair warning had been given: MTV was in the process of casting aside Generation X -- the generation that had watched so religiously and made the network a success. MTV would soon belong to Gen Y (and not long after, Millenials.)
This clip from The Simpsons satirizes MTV's marketing approach toward programming.
Many faithful MTV viewers tried their best to roll with the changes, figuring these new shows might provide an acceptable break from MTV's video dominant format, despite being wholly inappropriate for a channel called "Music Television". And while the aforementioned The Real World and a few other shows proved to be popular and lasting, many others, like Dead at 21, were poorly received and short-lived (no pun intended.)
Perhaps it was the distraction offered by home video and the new DVD format. Maybe it was the explosion of the internet and home gaming systems like the Sony Playstation (introduced in 1994.) It might have been the meddling corporate influence of Viacom -- the multi-billion dollar entertainment conglomerate that purchased MTV in 1985 -- or maybe MTV simply went as far as it could with its all-music format. Whatever the reason, as we entered the early 2000's, MTV made its choice to consciously and permanently change its identity. Music videos would need to give way (almost entirely) to alternative programming.
More new shows appeared that had even less to do with music: Celebrity Death Match, Cribs, Undressed at Eight, The Blame Game, and Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County to name a few. Moreover, in efforts to emulate the success of network TV hits Survivor and Big Brother (which both aired on CBS, another Viacom property) reality TV like Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, The Osbournes and Punk'd would become cornerstones of a new MTV seeking to remake itself as a full-blown network, with original series, specials, game shows, the entire gamut. Music content would be limited and decidedly aimed at a twenty-and-under demographic, which meant an abundance of Britney, Christina, Mandy Moore, Jessica Simpson and boy bands NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. "Mature" artists -- Madonna, Prince, Hall & Oates, Janet Jackson and others -- who had built the network during the 80's were relegated to MTV's sister channels MTV2 and VH1. (Ironically, both of those channels would soon follow the same course as the original MTV, shifting their focus from music to mostly lifestyle and reality programming, reruns of acquired sitcoms, with only daily blocks of videos, typically shown very late night or early morning.) Total Request Live began its remarkable run around this time. One of MTV's few remaining music-oriented shows, TRL spotlighted pop and hip-hop videos (introduced by teenage "woo-girls" screaming shout-outs at the top of their lungs.) Before long the "new MTV" was fully formed and the remainder of its programming came to be dominated by inane "semi-reality" shows like Jackass, Road Rules, Pimp My Ride, Date My Mom, and Lovelines. By 2010, MTV ended the charade and officially dropped the words "music television" from its logo and channel description. "MTV" was now simply a name.
"If I was young it didn't stop you coming through..."
Abandoning music for reality programming... Forsaking older generations in pursuit of younger/teen audiences... Were these smart decisions? Financially speaking, the answer is almost, "Definitely yes." Business-wise, it's always smart to cater to the demographics from which the money is coming. It became clear that this was in fact the case as early as the mid-90's. That's when businesses of all types had begun marketing to kids.
With the passing of the 1980's, young people -- who until that point had been barely tolerated (mostly seen and not heard) -- started to gain more and more influence over their parents, and in turn, those parents' dollars...
How so?... Let's rewind.
Throughout the 90's, the U.S. economy was strong. Indeed, between 1993 and 2000, the United States exhibited the best economic performance of the past three decades. Unemployment was down; the stock market was up; and the personal saving rate was plummeting. In short, people had money, were willing to spend it, and (when it came to parents) their children were often the beneficiaries.
Businesses of all types recognized an opportunity. Restaurants and hotels remade themselves as "kid friendly." The MGM Grand and other Las Vegas hotels spent millions on amusement parks and other family-oriented attractions. Suburban malls (traditionally the gathering place for high schoolers and pre-teens) added youth retailers like Hot Topic and Tilly's. Disney, after the massive success of their new animated features The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, continued to crank out their G-rated fare -- and then merchandised the hell out of it.
So with pleasing the kids now a priority -- not just for their helicopter parents, but for all of society -- Viacom (like Disney) began tweaking the marketing strategies of its entertainment properties. MTV was first on the list and its programming was radically adjusted to appeal to an even younger demo than when the channel first launched. Such a change, execs figured, would attract their sought after youthful audience and the avalanche of advertisers looking to tap into that market.
"In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind, we've gone too far."
And so it was, and so it continues. Each generation (or half generation) of MTV viewers is now aggressively marketed to and indulged before they (and the content they love) get unceremoniously discarded. Right now, it's all about targeting Gen Z, whose constituents (almost poetically) are very often the sons and daughters of those teenagers who made MTV what it was back in 1981.
Difficult as it is to face and sad as it may be, it can be no other way. Though they once were close and had great affection for each other, in time Wendy Darling had to grow up... and Peter Pan remains forever young.
I recently drove from California to New Jersey in three days...
That's right, three days.
Here are the takeaways and some of the high (and low) lights:
Yuma, Arizona is unfathomably hot.
I don't mean really really hot; I mean not suitable for human beings hot. I don't even know how plant and insect life can survive hot. I stopped there to buy a sandwich, got out of the car, made it halfway through the parking lot, and was ready to turn back. Matthew Broderick in Biloxi Blues described it quite well:
There are no bagel shops in Odessa, Texas.
I spent the night there, got up and wanted to have a quick breakfast. So I asked Siri where the closest bagel shop was... She showed me a bunch of donut places...
I asked again and the same thing happened. Upon further investigation, I learned that most of west Texas was devoid of bagels and I would need to go about 90 miles to get one. If Kramer from Seinfeld was with me he would loudly be declaring the following:
After leaving Texas I wound up in something called "Texarkana".
As near as I could tell, this is some odd, hybrid region of the country that combines the oppressive heat of Texas with the mind-numbing hick-dom of Arkansas. Needless to say, I kept the windows rolled up and sped through it as quickly as possible, lest I encounter any of the the local yokels.
Also while n Arkansas, I stopped at a convenience store and picked up a couple of bags of Rap Snacks.
What are Rap Snacks you ask? Well they're just plain old potato chips and other salty snacks offered in packaging with pictures of Migos, Notorious B.I.G., and even Cardi B. What's interesting is that Rap Snacks seem to be more popular and widely marketed throughout the south. It's a sobering reminder of the subtly racist tropes and stereotypes that still exist and continue to be perpetuated in this country and across every strata of our society... apparently even our consumer products packaging.
While driving through the south I was careful not to run afoul of sheriffs like Buford T. Justice and J.W. Pepper.
By far, the most tedious part of the drive was through Virginia.
Governor Youngkin, please prioritize making your highways less boring because while driving through your snoozefest of a state, this almost happened to me twice:
Those QPCs are quite odiferous.
There are SO many rest stops in Pennsylvania and every single one of them has a McDonald's. The result is, you can smell quarter pounders up and down the highway for miles.
The Donnas are the best driving music band of all time.
The all-girl band's distinct mix of hard-charging rock and simple but fun punk-pop (e,g, "Pass It Around", "Are You Gonna Move It For Me", "Fall Behind Me") is infinitely listenable and kept my foot on the accelerator for hours at a time.
Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in our galaxy...
That's only about a dozen or so less than the number of bugs that splattered on my windshield over the course of my 2800+ mile journey. When it's that many bugs, combined with the 70-80 mph speed, the bugs (or what's left of them) get practically permanently embedded in the car's windshield and hood. And then you throw in the heat -- at some points upwards of 100 degrees -- and the mess all gets baked in and actually becomes part of your vehicle. Seriously, by the time I arrived in NJ the front half of my car looked like this Jackson Pollock...
I have no idea what inspired this but I was showering one day last month and it just came to me that Cher's jangly ballad from 1971, "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves", would blend well with B.o.B's pulsing, singalong/rap hit "Magic" from his debut album, The Adventures of Bobby Ray. Ostensibly, the two tunes couldn't seem more disparate. They were released almost 40 years apart, and while Cher's song paints a melancholy portrait of racism, teen pregnancy and prostitution, B.o.B's track is an irresistible hunk of ear candy and the perfect jam for karaoke or singing into the mirror.
And though I'm not a deejay, sound engineer or music producer, I just couldn't shake the remix I had in my head, so I figured I'd give this mashup a try. A bit of warning, it starts a little rough but gets better and better as it goes.
As far as the rumored All-Star Michael Jackson Tribute Concert is concerned, right now I'm still trying to separate fact from fiction. I'll stay on it but in the meantime, if there is a show, here's a few things it must include:
Sheryl Crow performing "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", the song she and Michael dueted on when she sang backup with him on the Bad tour.
Mariah Carey crooning "You Are Not Alone".
Usher recreating the Motown 25 "Billie Jean" performance.
Madonna doing anything (because she can.)
A tender performance of "Gone Too Soon" by John Legend.
The Jonas Brothers trading verses on the "I Want You Back/ABC/The Love You Save" medley.
Bono doing "Man in the Mirror".
Seal covering "The Lady in My Life".
A bluesy John Mayer version of "Who's Loving You".
Black Eyed Peas taking on "Wanna Be Starting Something".
Prince, Slash and Eddie Van Halen ripping it up on "Beat It" and "Black or White".
Alicia Keys playing and singing "She's Out of My Life".
Lady Gaga doing "Smooth Criminal".
Diana Ross holding back tears on "I'll Be There".
Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie closing the show and leading everyone on "We Are the World".
No one seems to be broaching this subject, but it's entirely possible.
Dude beat up Rihanna. And by all indications, it was particularly horrific. We’ve all heard all the gruesome details. Among other things, he threatened to kill her, split her lip, and choked her unconscious. So where will Brown go from here? It seems the public is fairly apt to forgive all types of celebrity misbehavior these days. Why in just past year or so, we’ve been momentarily appalled by (and then quickly re-embraced) stars caught in scandals involving sex tapes (Kim Kardashian), gambling (Charles Barkley), expletive-filled tirades aimed at their children (Alec Baldwin), racism (Don Imus), husband stealing (Denise Richards), perjury (Lil’ Lim), assault and battery (Naomi Campbell), drunk driving (Heather Locklear), anger issues (Christian Bale), plus plain old fashioned drug abuse and marital cheating (too many to list.)
But this thing with Brown seems a little different. Those who batter and abuse women are judged very harshly by the public. As the D.A.'s office builds its case against Brown, each day it seems more and more details are leaked, the alleged severity of Rihanna's beating gets worse, and this entire episode gets uglier and uglier. Some evidence even suggests that this wasn’t an isolated incident and that Brown had a history of abusing his girlfriend.
But beating up Rihanna in particular, the darling of the R&B/hip-hop world, could prove to be career-suicide for Brown. With Rihanna’s popularity, her beauty and her image being what they are, if this was 1960, this would be like someone beating up Doris Day.
The two incidents this draws comparison to are when Sinead O’Connor tore up the picture of the pope on Saturday Night Live, and Mel Gibson’s sexist, anti-semitic rage after he was stopped for drunk driving. O’Connor was massacred by the press and the Catholic community especially, and her career was never the same. The jury is still out on Gibson, but Brown would do well to take a page from Gibson's book by doing the following:
Issuing a statement accepting responsibility for what he’s done and face up to any punishment levied against him. And not that weak-ass apology he made yesterday where he stated he was, “sorry and saddened over what transpired.” No, Brown needs to get specific, get sincere, and get truly repentant.
Admitting he has a serious problem and enter treatment. Real, professional treatment, not “counseling from his family and his pastor.”
Completely disappearing from public view -- for at least a good year and a half. Dropping out of the public eye (a la Mel Gibson) will go a long way towards stemming the tide of public outrage that’s engulfing Brown right now.
And even if he does all this, Brown will almost certainly have to face the judgment of the music community, which might not be as forgiving as the general public. Consider this:
Rihanna, who is just turning 21, is like a little sister to many in the R&B/hip-hop realm. Chris Brown and her were poised to take their places as the crown prince and princess of that particular kingdom. After what’s happened, many of hip-hop’s “elders” (including Kanye' West, Timbaland, and others Rihanna’s worked with) may feel protective of her and collectively, they could effectively black-ball Brown and squash any hopes he might have for a comeback. Kanye' (who toured with Rihanna) has already referred to her as his “baby sis” and stated that he would do anything and everything for her. And Jay Z, who was largely responsible for Rihanna’s breakout record, "Umbrella", is rumored to be furious with Brown. Jay Z has been one of hip-hop’s biggest names for a decade and no doubt wields considerable influence in the industry. Could Jay Z (together with Kanye' and others) use their power to get Brown “blacklisted” in the hip-hop world? Brown needs to hope that no further revelations come out about this, and that he can somehow avoid jail time -- two things that would make an already nearly unfixable situation even worse. Brown has already lost endorsement deals, had performance offers rescinded, and lost a ton of fans. And because Brown’s smoother, sexier singing style appeals more to women, he’s bound to lose a good deal of this, a large portion of his following. Anyone else remember another musical couple, Ike and Tina Turner, and the similar scenario they went through years ago? Ike used to beat on Tina routinely. How’d that turn out?
Tina went on to multi-platinum albums, multi-Grammy wins, and multi-millions. Ike died in 2007, his contribution to music (which was not insignificant) largely forgotten and having never shed his reputation as a wife-beater. Though he’s just 19, with a lot of time to reshape public opinion, if Chris Brown doesn’t play his cards right, he may be facing a similar fate.
President-elect Obama gets sworn in in just a few hours and the country is all excited. But not as excited as Madonna I'll bet. Caught her concert at Petco Park in San Diego back on election night and was able to snap the cell phone shot below. (Coincidentally, I took that pic in the moments captured in this video shared on YouTube by Madonna herself.)
After opening the show proclaiming, “I am so fucking happy right now!” Madonna went on to repeatedly express her unbridled joy after Barack won (the word came in about an hour before she took the stage.) She even incorporated an Obama video tribute/political commercial into the production for this tour. Though most in the audience were just as pumped about Obama, the show itself was a curiosity.
After opening 90 minutes late (maybe she was watching the early returns) Madonna came on and proceeded to do a two-hour (on the nose) show that largely ignored the entirety of her early career. Here’s the recap: To begin, I have to mention that Madonna is a physical stud. Absolutely buff. She sported multiple sleeveless outfits and you could see all the muscles in her very cut and vascular arms. I guess it shouldn't be that much of a surprise because for the whole two hours she sang (sometimes with the assistance of a lead backing track, but mostly live) while dancing her butt off.
As you’d expect, the set list included nearly all of the new album, Hard Candy, including nice performances of “4 Minutes”, “Miles Away”, and “Beat Goes On”. The only songs from the album she didn’t do were “Heartbeat”, “Dance 2Night” and “Incredible”. There was some very good production for “She’s Not Me” (where Madonna confronted a series of look-alike Madonna clones from the “Material Girl”, “Vogue”, and “Open Your Heart” videos) and also during her costume changes when there were some cool video montages that incorporated portions of “Die Another Day”, “Jump” and “Rain”.
But the disappointment began to grow as the show progressed and Madonna failed to perform any of her biggest hits from the eighties. Yes, she did “Borderline” and “Into the Groove” early on, and "La Isla Bonita" about halfway through, but those were the only cuts from her first FOUR albums (counting Who’s That Girl) that she performed. No “Holiday” (even though the lyrics would’ve made it perfect for celebrating the Obama win) no “Lucky Star”, no “Everybody” (another perfect song to perform live.) Also conspicuously absent were “Like a Virgin”, “Material Girl”, and “Dress You Up”.
There’s more… No “Crazy For You”, “Papa Don’t Preach”, “Open Your Heart” or “Live to Tell”.
I know this tour is to promote the new album, and I also know a lot of artists don’t feel like their early stuff is on par with their later material. Madonna herself has gone on record saying she doesn’t like some of her early records. But come on… how could she not do “Like a Virgin”?
And what about the stuff from the “middle-years”? There was no “Take a Bow” or “This Used To Be My Playground” (songs that could’ve served the dual purpose of slowing things down and letting her catch her breath while also showing off her voice.)
Throw in the more forgivable omissions of “Cherish”, “Who’s That Girl”, “Justify My Love”, and “I Love New York” and you see how Madonna could’ve easily done another hour of just hits.
So what songs were covered and what stood out? “Music”, of course, and there was a kind of Spanish production that began with “La Isla Bonita”, and led into some sort of odd fusion of Mexican and Eastern European fiddling/folk music/folk dancing that just didn’t quite work. “Express Yourself” was turned into an a cappella audience sing-along (and effectively ruined) but there was a very heartfelt and enjoyable rendition of “You Must Love Me”. Surprisingly, she also did “Human Nature”, off the Erotica album, and that was a highlight. But “Like a Prayer” was merely average and she forgot the words (twice) to “Ray of Light”. On that number, and a few other songs, Madonna also played (or more accurately, she strummed along on) guitar, including a pretty sweet Gibson SG. Unfortunately, she wasn’t amped up enough to really hear her, so what was the point? I guess I have bad luck at Madonna shows. Last time I saw her, years ago at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, there was an effing monsoon. (Seriously, animals were lining up two by two.) While dancing, Madonna slipped and fell at least twice then ultimately cut the show short -- and really, you couldn't even blame her.
But as for her November show, at least I’ll have a cool story about where I was when Obama got elected.
