Spin ranks Madonna 4th greatest musician

[monstertoronto 11,767]

Spin has ranked Madonna as the 4th greatest musician of the last 40 years. 

Their write-up is great: 

Madonna changed the world.

Bruce Springsteen may have been the biggest rock star in the ’80s (and may still be) but Madonna was the biggest star. No movie star, director, painter, writer or other musician created the tsunamic wake she did when she floated into and out of a country. Crowds the size of those who came to see the Pope greeted her when she arrived in a city like Rome, besieging her hotel. (When she later played Evita in a movie, that role was a step down from the adulation she witnessed in real life.)

Her music was great but that alone didn’t create the rip in the cultural space-time continuum. She was a liberator. She was 100 percent who she wanted to be and who she said she was, which was more than refreshing, it was, then, society-tearing down. Love her or hate her, she was equally happy with either reaction. She freed sex from the prissy cotton wool Reagan’s America was wrapping it back in. Nothing she did was as outrageous as the next thing she did. She was a sustained cultural orgasm.

She coincided with MTV’s rise perfectly, and defined them as much as they helped define her. Her videos were small movies — some R-rated level and banned — and they were great! Her songs and videos were controversial on multiple levels, including the tremendous furor that “Like a Prayer” caused for using Christian crosses and kissing the statue of a Black saint. She sold more than 300 million records, but that’s beside the point. Madonna more embodied the spirit of rock ‘n roll than rock stars. She was nobody’s fool, and still isn’t.

 

full article:https://www.spinmagazine.com/2025/11/40-greatest-musicians-of-the-last-40-years-40-to-31/?fbclid=IwdGRleATnBPdwZG9mBWZkaWQWUMPpLBIQE03y9v4kAdLS6QXz5kjeZGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR68oeKi7Z4KJsA3Mt5P5ubqtDg2E0kmhqMuAq8j96apmnnypmooU6xkXqSf1Q_aem_rBhPKccStmVhhRocZAmd0A

 

[Blackout19 15,860]

should be on 1

[DESTROY UR DISEASE 20,345]

#4 Madonna

#3 Lady Gaga

#2 Gaga Lady

#1 LaGa DyGa

[SimonBaetens 9,511]

Then Gracie Abrams must be 3, Benson Boone 2 and Taylor Swift 1!

[HotLikeMexico 6,628]

When I saw the top three I was like… yeah Madonna should be number 1. 
 

edit: Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson not being on this list is wild. There are so many who are missing I feel. 

Edited 1 hour ago by HotLikeMexico

[DopeEnigma 1,788]

These lists are pure rage bait 

[PunkTheFunk 125,715]

Mozart found dead

[Lucas 31,214]

Should be #1.

[monketsharona 90,207]

Musician 

[Ladle Ghoulash 53,915]

3 minutes ago, monketsharona said:

Musician 

I mean…yeah. She’s clearly not pretty involved in the writing of her music, has a pretty singular but versatile style, and has written a lot of great music.

[Ladle Ghoulash 53,915]

So many crazy takes on this list. John “Suckin’ on a Chili Dog” Cougar Mellencamp and Oasis better than Bruce Springsteen, The Cure, Björk, NIN, A Tribe Called Quest, and Radiohead? Absofcknlutely not

[Pink Eye 4,506]

Who wrote the article clearly just thinks great music = acoustic rock with boring guitars and drums. Nirvana overpraise is always annoying and pretentious, boring bobo band  Oasis? BORING.

Edited 37 minutes ago by Pink Eye

[PartySick 172,926]

I'm sorry, any "best artist list" that doesn't have MJ at least in the top 5 when nearly EVERY pop star today is channeling his influence is a joke  

Having Taylor on this list (at 24 but still) and no Gaga? Also a joke  

Hate Madonna but she and Michael are in the top 5 objectively.

[River 127,725]

Sinéad O'Connor?

Her albums were mid at best and nobody cared for them