Mad about a donna

Yes, she is certainly a ‘donna’ (which in Italian means a woman of great importance), more precisely a prima donna. Her name is Madonna Louise Ciccone, or simply Madonna.

- BASAB DASGUPTA

If Michael Jackson is the ‘King of Pop’, Madonna is the Queen. She has ruled the music world for almost exactly forty years. Her first album was released on 27 July 1983.

Madonna appeared on the music scene at about the same time that MTV was launched. It was she and Michael Jackson who, together, promoted a whole new genre of entertainment, namely music videos. Music videos used to be just songs with some background visuals, but Madonna and Michael integrated the audio and video together in such a way that you could not enjoy one without the other.

During its early days, MTV became popular just by playing music videos. I was drawn to Madonna because of her video ‘Material Girl’, a catchy tune where she did a mimicry of Marilyn Monroe singing “Diamonds are a girl's best friend” in the movie ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’. This video, along with ‘Like a Virgin’, established Madonna as an icon from the very beginning.

Most of her early songs were fastpaced disco-style club dance music, popular with teenagers. My serious adulation of Madonna started with her music video, titled ‘Bedtime Story’. It can be considered a musical version of surreal art. It had a profound impact on me artistically, musically, philosophically, and emotionally; as the line in the song says, “How can I express how I feel?” Another track from the same album, titled Frozen, was captivating. Since then, I have kept track of all her albums, songs, and videos.