Blond Transition: Madonna: “Papa Don’t Preach”
In 1986, Madonna was about to risk everything. She didn’t record Still Like A Virgin or Still a Material Girl; gone were the rosary beads, the “Boy Toy” belt buckle, a tangled nest of brown hair in a bow, and the lacy, underwear-bearing wedding dress. Instead, True Blue became the more mature sound and, like a song on the album, the physical manifestation became “White Heat.” For Madonna, and as the decades would later confirm, she believed: If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway.
The first single, “Papa Don’t Preach,” marks this transition. The track starts with a brief overture, yet the popping bass chords, hard drum line, and percussion take over, reminding us that although she’s more serious, she’s not a fuddy-duddy. Madonna being the brilliant visual artist she was (and still is), it’s the accompanying music video that best illustrated this determined new direction. When the bass chords begin, the camera starts low as well, capturing a pair of black slip-ons, feet walking at a purposeful pace to the beat. And as the camera pulls up, it’s like a countdown to a liftoff: “Four”: fitted jeans (no lace); “Three”: the mid-drift (nothing bared, no provocative buckle); “Two”: a tucked-in, long-sleeve shirt, and a black leather jacket draped over the shoulder (no rosaries in sight); “One”: Madonna’s face, stern and pensive, sitting below shockingly cropped blond hair (no bows). “Blastoff!” She, the captain of her own career, off to embark on that mission “to rule the world.”
At the start of the first verse, Madonna—now shown with styled, white-hot blond hair, powdery skin, and red lipstick—turns to the camera and states her defense, not just to the patriarch in the lyrics, but almost symbolically to her followers, more specifically the “Madonna Wannabes,” that she’s no longer a (like a) virgin: “Papa, I know you’re going to be upset/’Cause I was always your little girl/But you should know by now/I’m not a baby.” By the chorus, another example of this newfound streamlined appearance: all-black, retro-inspired, pencil-thin leggings, and a bustier (a slight foreshadowing to the cone bra in four years).
Near the finale, she once again sings lyrics directly to the same side camera, pleading poignantly, yet confidently: “Don’t you stop loving me, Daddy/I know I’m/Keeping my baby.” If there’s one thing a Madonna fan knows, not unlike what a papa knows of his child: Just trust her; she knows what she’s doing and most of the time she’ll make the right decision.
Other video highlights: Madonna’s character in her famous, “Italians Do It Better” T-shirt does a double-take (rightly so) when she’s hit by the piercing blue-eyed stare from “the one you warned me all about,” played by the actor, Alex McArthur; Madonna’s longtime friend, the actress and passionate Tuscan cook, Debi Mazar stands next to her, rocking an orange off-the-shoulder and her signature, ‘50s-inspired ponytail.
What Lies Beneath: The Police: “Synchronicity II”
The yell expelled by Sting at the top of The Police’s 1983 “Synchronicity II” evokes memories of early MTV. The band, along with a a core group of artists, were creating new material and offering it to the public in an innovative form—the music video.
The post-apocalyptic vision of “Synchronicity II” featured a windblown Sting with his spiky Dune-era hair and colorful shredded jacket, standing atop a mountain of wreckage. Loose sheets of paper and other debris blew around haphazardly, as he sang the opening lyric: “Another suburban family morning/Grandmother screaming at the wall.” Andy Summers’ distinctly mysterious guitar riffs and Stewart Copeland’s forceful drums and cymbals were ever present, as Sting shared the story of a family’s descent into madness. Even on Daddy’s way to work, destruction is evident in the environment: “Another industrial ugly morning/The factory belches filth into the sky.” And don’t think Daddy’s commute home is any better, as he deals with “Contestants in a suicidal race/Daddy grips the wheel/and stares alone into the distance/He knows that something somewhere has to break.”
But wait… “Many miles away/Something crawls from the slime/At the bottom of a dark/Scottish lake,” serving to foreshadow and solidify the end of peace and innocence, and an ominous transition toward something dark and mythical (the rising ness from the loch).
A Track Can Take You Back: Gina G: “Ooh Ahh… Just a Little Bit”
Gina G’s “Ooh Ahh… Just a Little Bit” starts with those familiar synth-keyboard sounds heard often in ‘90s dance music. (To get nostalgic briefly, this song evokes memories of living in San Francisco, visiting the Virgin Megastore, and dancing in clubs south of market [SoMa]). What make this track a standout are the recognizable drums and that relentless galloping synth-bass line. Gina G’s vocal was credible, especially in the bridge: “What can you do for me?/Oh, what can you do?/’Cause I feel/So alive/I feel your love inside.” However, it’s the backing vocal after the bridge that adds a memorable soulful quality: “Just a little bit/Little bit more.” And all these years later, there’s nothing like this song to take me back to the Megastore… for just a little bit, and SoMa… a little bit more.
Rumour Has It: Fleetwood Mac: “Don’t Stop” is About…
Written by Fleetwood Mac keyboardist, Christine McVie, 1977’s “Don’t Stop” was featured on the band’s legendary album, Rumours. The track could possibly be one of the most positive and encouraging songs ever penned… about divorce. (In particular, Christine from her husband, Fleetwood Mac bassist, John McVie… personally, not professionally.) When she takes the lead on the second verse, it’s all about the magic of her signature husky voice: “Why not think about times to come/And not about the things that you’ve done/If your life was bad to you/Just think what tomorrow will do.”
Dripping with optimism, Christine simply says that if your life (personal relationships and then some) has been bad, that’s all in the past. Just think what tomorrow can do; there’s always the potential for something positive. The duo and the rest of the band members ended up working and touring together for decades, with the song notably becoming a political anthem for Bill Clinton in the ‘90s.
Other Pop Zeal picks, featuring Christine on lead: “You Make Lovin’ Fun”; “Say You Love Me”; “Everywhere”; the tender “Songbird.”
Band Together: Sly & The Family Stone: “Dance to the Music”
More than just a ‘60s/’70s funk group, Sly & The Family Stone were a musical army. Instead of guns, there were guitars; rather than a single bugle, a serious horn section. In 1968, they issued an official order to their “souldiers,” and really anyone who wanted to enlist, to simply dance to the music. Sly Stone (Sylvester Stewart), the grinning general and deep-voiced patriarch of this revolutionary group, entrusted one of his officers, the trumpeter Cynthia Robinson, to shout this decree. It’s Robinson’s exclamation at the dawn of “Dance to the Music” that became a soulful reveille heard loud and clear across this great land via vinyl and 8-track; an impassioned cry that also has Robinson later shouting, “All the squares go home!”
Sly meticulously breaks down the rich, full sound that is “Dance to the Music,” creating a compelling brass-clad argument for why one and all should follow this new order. The track celebrates the unique and necessary role each instrument has in constructing and layering a song. Whether you were moved by ‘50s-inspired doo-wop harmonies, Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally,” or maybe you “only need a beat,” there’s no excuse not joining this “dance, dance revolution”; whatever you like, it’s got you covered. Just as diverse individuals would ideally come together to make up a harmonious society based on integration, not segregation, every instrument is an important contribution, “everybody is a star.”
It was some 25 years after its release when Madonna, on The Girlie Show World Tour, incorporated a version of this treatment into the finale song, “Everybody,” as the way to introduce her band members. (Skip to 4:44 of the footage embedded below; also her introduction of the bass player, Victor Baley is one of my favorite moments on DVD.) She also mashes up the second verse from Sly & The Family Stone’s “Everybody is a Star” into the beginning of this live performance.
“Dance to the Music” is Sly’s vision of music as the way to unify, allowing all of its listeners a period of détente, where the focus is less on enemy lines and more on bass lines.
Madonna also sung part of Sly & The Family Stone’s “Family Affair” as the intro to “Keep It Together” on her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. Both tracks speak about the complicated relationships, yet unconditional love, that can exist within the family structure. Madonna co-wrote hers about her own upbringing, and later found it translated to her role as “mother figure” to her corps of dancers.
Miramax Films. Director: Alek Keshishian.