[News] Madonna - the greatest?

[schmunk]

On stage presence, Shirley Bassey wins hands down, and didn’t need controversial publicity to maintain it.

She doesn't have the range:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq97J-7Mwzc

 

[herecomesaregular]

The greatest female voice? No.

The greatest female singing entertainer? Quite possibly.

Madonna always had tremendous charisma and stage presence with the elaborate shows.

Her longevity was due to continually innovating and reinventing herself from album to album to stay fresh.

She could do sentimental (Live to Tell, This Used To Be My Playground) just as well as raunch. And she could act.

The voice of the 80s decade when she declared 'cause we are living in a material world and I am a material girl'.

Gordon Gekko would have been proud.

 

[Swansman]

The greatest at what?

Singing? No.
Stage performance? She's up there.
Song writing? Not even close.
Being culturally relevant? Maybe 20 years ago.

Gaga is better in every conceivable way IMO.

I'll eat everyones hats if she writes her own songs

She has produced some mega hits

Another pretty effing sure she did not...

 

[Thunder Bolt]

She doesn't have the range:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq97J-7Mwzc

A comedian or dancer can have stage presence. It’s nothing to do with the vocal range.

 

[jcdenton08]

You've not seen Evita, Truth or Dare, Desperately Seeking Susan, A League of Their Own, Dick Tracy?

Each to their own but she has done very well in some decent movies. She has also been terrible in some shocking movies. You know, like every actor.

Have you seen any of those films?

 

[Albion my Albion]

Maradona is the greatest!

Madonna couldn't sign and

Maradona couldn't sign either.

 

[herecomesaregular]

You've not seen Evita, Truth or Dare, Desperately Seeking Susan, A League of Their Own, Dick Tracy?

Each to their own but she has done very well in some decent movies. She has also been terrible in some shocking movies. You know, like every actor.

Have you seen any of those films?

Aye, seen 4 of those thanks.

 

[Brovion]

I'm guessing it depends on your era. For me the greatest will always be Pele.

 

[banjo]

 

[Albion my Albion]

Even in her own time Cyndi Lauper was a far better singer.

Cyndy Lauper has become more famous in the states lately due to her skin condition and promoting a certain medication for treating the condition. But she wasn't suffering from this skin condition until much later in life.

"When singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper developed a rash on her scalp in 2010, she thought it was just a reaction to bleaching her hair. That was before she saw a dermatologist and got her psoriasis diagnosis. A few years later her skin flared up with a vengeance, with rashes and scaly skin covering her entire body.Jun 24, 2020"

 

[Stato]

"Take a Bow" in particular is an absolute masterpiece, and if it weren't Madonna (who wrote and sang it - definitively) it would be considered one of the best songs ever produced.

Weird choice. I couldn't remember it. I've just looked it up and its a fairly insubstantial ballad that rips off the refrain from 'More Than I Can Say' a song by a couple of Buddy Holly's Crickets that Leo Sayer charted with. Clicking on the most famous ones on the list of her songs on Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Songs_written_by_Madonna_(entertainer) I couldn't find any songs that weren't co-written with someone else, so Taylor Swift has her beaten there. Contrary to what you say, her singing is not phenomenal. It is nasally and limited in range. Like Kylie, who was a huge Madonna fan, she's been great at working with interesting people, always moving and being interesting. I'd put her in the same category as Bowie and Michael Jackson: iconic, eclectic and artistically creative, but musically, massively overrated because of the impact of persona. I'm sure that she has brought great joy to her many fans, but I can't see an argument for her being the greatest anything.

 

[MattBackHome]

Had an interesting chat in the pub earlier - who is the best of all time. Hard to look past Madonna.

Easy to snark at, and she should've stopped a decade ago, yet she remains one of the most talented and influential pop stars of all time.

Before you type "she can't sing", she absolutely can. She is a phenomenal singer. And she has written and performed some of the most iconic pop songs of all time.

"Take a Bow" in particular is an absolute masterpiece, and if it weren't Madonna (who wrote and sang it - definitively) it would be considered one of the best songs ever produced.

100% correct.

By decade from the 40s you'd go something like: Ella Fitzgerald, Patti Page, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Madge, Britney, Beyonce, Adele.

Most 'talented' = Aretha
Most 'influential' = Madonna

Best song is Into the Groove

 

[Icy Gull]

On stage presence, Shirley Bassey wins hands down, and didn’t need controversial publicity to maintain it.

Another singer who does absolutely nothing for me but I accept is very good at what she does, again I have none of her music

 

[Icy Gull]

100% correct.

By decade from the 40s you'd go something like: Ella Fitzgerald, Patti Page, Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Madge, Britney, Beyonce, Adele.

Most 'talented' = Aretha
Most 'influential' = Madonna

Best song is Into the Groove

Most talented for me is Dusty Springfield who herself was in awe of Aretha and froze and refused to sing when recording in a studio previously used by Aretha, such was her feeling of inferiority

I think it may have been during the recording of Dusty in Memphis

 

[DavidinSouthampton]

I don’t think anybody has mentioned Cher yet.
I wouldn’t hold her up as the greatest ever, but she was a star possibly before Madonna was born…… and has a much better voice.

And she can act. She has an Oscar.

 

[Medwayseagull]

She should have changed her name to Prima Donna in the 90's.

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

I was genuinely just about lo launch into a 'yes, 100%' response and write about not only was he a footballing genius but also how he lifted - almost carried - the teams he played in.

Defo need to go to Specsavers!

 

[Garry Nelson's teacher]

................but while I'm here, will put in a shout for Carole King.

 

[Stato]

By the way, although the thread has concentrated on female musicians, the OP doesn't make this qualification, asking just whether Madonna is the greatest, not the greatest female, or the greatest pop star, or the greatest celebrity author of children's books.

What is the actual question?*



* - And to save time, whatever it is, the answer's 'no'.

 

[Stato]

................but while I'm here, will put in a shout for Carole King.

Eh? He was mostly average for Bournemouth and hasn't pulled up any trees at Watford.