RS: Why Erotica and SEX still matter

[Spock 20,290]

 

AMAZING Rolling Stone article about the meaning behind Erotica and what it meant to the LGBT community

Today, Erotica's melancholy desire is all over the boldest substantial pop from Lana Del Rey and Father John Misty to Frank Ocean and Beyoncé, and its dirty house grooves animate chart divas from Katy Perry on "Swish Swish" to underground rappers such as Zebra Katz on "Ima Read." Let's not forget that Grace Jones and Debbie Harry made Madonna possible. But there's an even more direct line between Madonna's unrepentant and emphatically female sensuality – particularly in this incendiary phase – and what followed from Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Pink, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Tove Lo and now Cardi B. Without Madonna, modern pop as we know it would be unimaginable. Meanwhile, Sex's provocations have permeated advertising, which was hardly the point. (Meisel's wood-paneled 1995 campaign for Calvin Klein evoked teen **** so brazenly that the Justice Department got involved and CK pulled the ads.)

However, popular music and art are no longer thoroughly defined by a straight white masculine perspective. Nearly everything is more sexualized, and that's not entirely positive, but alpha male artists and submissive female subjects don't dominate as much as they've done for centuries. We've finally hit a tipping point when popular culture is offering more viewpoints and voices: That's why there's a rise in fascism to suppress them. Sex and Erotica's greatest contribution remains their embrace of the Other, which in this case means queerness, blackness, third-wave feminism, exhibitionism and kink. Madonna took what was marginalized at the worst of the AIDS epidemic, placed it in an emancipated context, and shoved it into the mainstream for all to see and hear.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/madonnas-erotica-sex-misunderstood-masterpieces-w507057

 

Without Madonna, modern pop as we know it would be unimaginable.

[juju 18,907]

Paying homage to her best album my personal favorite Madonna record, it really did set the precedent back in the day. The boundaries it obliterated and direction it veered pop music is still seen within trends today. A historical album. And a very good read  

[Lucas 20,510]

Erotica is an underrated masterpiece. This article was interesting to read, I never saw it as an inspiration to other artists (musically speaking, with the dirty house grooves they are talking about)

(Really though putting Cardi B with Britney, Christina and Gaga ? This has to stop)

[Sizzily 14,543]

Erotica is her best album.

[Duella Dvil 10,183]

22 minutes ago, GagaInTheZone said:

Erotica is an underrated masterpiece. This article was interesting to read, I never saw it as an inspiration to other artists (musically speaking, with the dirty house grooves they are talking about)

(Really though putting Cardi B with Britney, Christina and Gaga ? This has to stop)

CARDI B literally has talked about stanning Madge what are you doing? It's an observation that she is inspired by her, not that she's as good as/similar.

[Sneaky Oliver 20,081]

Erotica is amazing. And yes, it's not about white 'good-looking' people having sex. It's all about differences. It's still so impressive what M has done in the past, I mean, every subject on Erotica or Sex still applies to the culture today

[Mister Gaga 21,883]

Brilliant article 

[ThisGuyTony 23,635]

And stans still try to deny her impact. 

[Sneaky Oliver 20,081]

Me reading the full thing then... "Just as racism and the Black Lives Matter movement shaped Beyoncé's Lemonade"  

[Asia 269]

YAS EROTICA and Confessions are my fav madonna albums...

And it's true, Madonna really built most of today's pop music.

[Damon 10,895]

Erorica is the most iconic and controversial the world of pop had ever seen, go and listen to the album, watch the tour and the book, you'll know why

[Stevo 623]

madge got all the flak for creating this masterpiece, she was dubbed "Queen of Obscene," *****, satan, slut and slandered across the media and gp, people claimed her career was over because she wanted to express herself. All the sexual stuff actually overshadowed what the album and book were actually about, not just softcore **** and shock value. People like to cast judgement before actually thinking about it. Sadly people will only realize madonna's genius once she's passed. 

[Snow 1,582]

Wonderful article and so true. This BB article was cool too.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/8006663/madonna-erotica-album-sex-book-oral-history?utm_source=twitter&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

Especially the bit yet again confirming M's song writing for doubters...

 

[StrawberryBlond 13,240]

Is this writer seriously trying to say that songs from Erotica released in 1992 have just recently been inspiring artists in 2017 who are making house orientated songs? How delusional. Those trends have come about from recently, as an off-shoot from various forms of dance music that have common for the last few years and singers jumped on the bandwagon. Various sounds go round in cycles and this is what the public are currently into. To connect it to an album released that long ago, which is really very dated, looking back, is not what is inspiring any of the big names today. This was clearly written by a delusional fan who, once again, wants to give Madonna credit for things she hasn't done. Madonna has jumped on bandwagons herself her entire career yet somehow has gained a reputation for being groundbreaking. If you look through her discography and realise what music was big at the time, you'll see that her music is either bang on trend or behind the trend (whether as a deliberate throwback like the disco-tinged Confessions in 2006, to the outright late to the party with the urban-tinged Hard Candy in 2008).

Sure artists are pushing the boundaries with sex but it's from a modern, 2017 perspective, not a 1992 one. They aren't doing it because they're inspired by Madonna anymore. Every generation is always inspired by others in the current generation, never before. Sure, there are touches of inspiration here and there but making a whole album or coming up with a whole way of expressing your sexuality from the way someone from an earlier generation did it just doesn't wash.

[Snow 1,582]

@StrawberryBlond oh what surprise, it's you again in a M thread... I suggest you re-read the article and the one I posted. And just yu know, no matter how you try to twist things, Erotica is a legendary album with a huge impact/influence in entertainment history and is semented there along with everything else during that era, like S.E.X. Nothing can erase or change that. It was a big deal for female entertainers as well.