Best Madonna Album

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I'm not a Madonna fan however I noticed that the polls were mostly about the rock and I figured that Madonna's extensive catalog, several distinct periods and her general critical acclaim make her a good candidate for a poll. Plus it pisses off those who don't like polls... As usual, collections, live discs and bootlegs are not included.

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Madonna	12
Erotica	11
Like A Virgin	9
Like A Prayer	8
Confessions on a Dance Floor	4
You Can Dance	3
True Blue	3
Ray of Light	2
Music	2
I'm Breathless	2
Bedtime Stories	1
Who's That Girl	0
American Life	0

― NYCNative, Friday, 20 April 2007 00:02 (eighteen years ago)

In retrospect Who's That Girl shouldn't be there - either that or Selections From Evita should! - but I can't change it now...

― NYCNative, Friday, 20 April 2007 00:04 (eighteen years ago)

Madonna is a tour de force I return to time and again. "I Know It" is a clunker, but the rest of the album is fantastic.

― Matt Armstrong, Friday, 20 April 2007 03:17 (eighteen years ago)

No "don't like" option?

― Sundar, Friday, 20 April 2007 03:44 (eighteen years ago)

Don't like?
Don't vote.

― NYCNative, Friday, 20 April 2007 03:52 (eighteen years ago)

I Know It is one of the best tracks on the album!

― Surmounter, Friday, 20 April 2007 04:28 (eighteen years ago)

No "don't like" option?

for madge, "don't like" is simply not an option.

erotica all the way for me.

― lex pretend, Friday, 20 April 2007 09:09 (eighteen years ago)

This kind of should have been a singles poll.

― Groke, Friday, 20 April 2007 09:58 (eighteen years ago)

You Can Dance, but only because I figure the debut will already get a bunch of votes, and they're close

― xhuxk, Friday, 20 April 2007 11:13 (eighteen years ago)

yeah i wanted to do an abba one but it wouldn't work really.

― the next grozart, Friday, 20 April 2007 11:15 (eighteen years ago)

This kind of should have been a singles poll.

...and then you could compare the results to the poptimists one...

― lex pretend, Friday, 20 April 2007 11:21 (eighteen years ago)

"Like a Prayer" is the best one, although "Like a Virgin" is another great one and there have been three excellent albums since 1998 too.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:43 (eighteen years ago)

HI DERE!

― The Amazing Randy, Friday, 20 April 2007 13:08 (eighteen years ago)

Good lord, I agree with lex!??

― JN$OT, Friday, 20 April 2007 18:25 (eighteen years ago)

I voted for Confessions, but I've changed my mind - it's Ray of Light!

― DavidM, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:03 (eighteen years ago)

I dunno True Blue may jus steal it!!

― Surmounter, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:06 (eighteen years ago)

people forger about true blue the album, but it had MAJOR hits on it

― Surmounter, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:07 (eighteen years ago)

"True Blue" is OK, but I feel like "Like a Prayer" was the better one out of her two Patrick Leonard/pop rather than dance albums. Stronger ballads, plus it has the wonderfully twee "Dear Jessie" on it as well.

I do have a problem with the exaggerated use of that DX7 bass sound throughout, but that goes for most late 80s music.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:22 (eighteen years ago)

True Blue is surely better than OK! It's true, it's hard to compete with LIke a Prayer, but Preach, Live to Tell, La Isla Bonita and Open Your Heart sure do a good job of it.

Dear Jessie used to be a favorite of mine but now it's a biiit to saccharine.

― Surmounter, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:27 (eighteen years ago)

I tend not to have the singles as favourites on most albums. I guess that goes for Madonna too.

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:38 (eighteen years ago)

yeah i wanted to do an abba one but it wouldn't work really.

-- the next grozart, Friday, 20 April 2007 12:15 (8 hours ago)

why won't it work?

― pisces, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:40 (eighteen years ago)

this poll is making me wish I had/there were an extended remix of Burning Up.

― Matt Armstrong, Friday, 20 April 2007 19:55 (eighteen years ago)

it's trickier for someone like madonna, whose singles a lot of the time, for me, are actually really fantastic.

i'd say with less mainstream stuff, your "non singles are the favs" is more true

― Surmounter, Friday, 20 April 2007 20:09 (eighteen years ago)

also, on albums like True blue and Like a prayer, a large number of the songs ARE singles, so if you're like ruling those out as favorites, you're ruling out too much of the album. like over half of it.

― Surmounter, Friday, 20 April 2007 20:12 (eighteen years ago)

also, on albums like True blue and Like a prayer, a large number of the songs ARE singles, so if you're like ruling those out as favorites, you're ruling out too much of the album.

Not ruling the out completely, just that more often than not, the hits are not the best tracks on the album.

i'd say with less mainstream stuff, your "non singles are the favs" is more true

Depends which albums. Note that my favourite album is "Like a Prayer", which is her most "reflective" album and considerably less lightweight than the rest of her output. It is probably also the most typical "rockist" choice as a favourite album by her. Some of my fave tracks on that one are singles ("Dear Jessie", "Oh Father"), but other than those I prefer non-singles such as "Spanish Eyes" and "Promise To Try".

― Geir Hongro, Friday, 20 April 2007 22:54 (eighteen years ago)

Since the question is "best album" I'd have to go with Ray of Light.

― dlp9001, Saturday, 21 April 2007 00:29 (eighteen years ago)

Not ruling the out completely, just that more often than not, the hits are not the best tracks on the album.

Well, in this case the Like A Virgin and True Blue

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 21 April 2007 04:25 (eighteen years ago)

"Into The Groove" is possibly one of the major triumphs of early 80's dance music besides New Order.

But that still doesn't mean the Beatles are better than Led Zeppelin.

― Bimble, Saturday, 21 April 2007 05:07 (eighteen years ago)

yea but madonna's hit singles are amazing. Like A prayer, Express Yourself, Live to Tell, La Isla Bonita, Papa Don't Preach, Secret, Human Nature, Vogue... on and on. she was always the best at the massive single, not only like commercially the best, but just the songwriting.

so yea i think i'm kindof the opposite Geir, her singles really stick out for me.

right now I can't decide if my favorite madonna song is Vogue or Borderline. Borderline gets me in a way I can't describe!

i haven't listened to into the groove in so long i feel like i'll have this whole new take on it now, it gets a lot of play around here.

― Surmounter, Saturday, 21 April 2007 05:16 (eighteen years ago)

But that still doesn't mean the Beatles are better than Led Zeppelin.

yes it does ;-)

― Bee OK, Saturday, 21 April 2007 06:56 (eighteen years ago)

Madonna's never made an undeniably great album. She's so much a singles artist that not even The Immaculate Collection makes much sense (witness: a truncated "Open Your Heart" that dilutes her great high note at the end; the four extra measures inserted at 4:41 of "Vogue" destroying the climactic tension; "La Isla Bonita" and "Rescue Me" over "Angel" and "Causing a Commotion;" etc.). I chose I'm Breathless because I honestly think it's her most consistent album. That doesn't mean it IS consistent, not hardly. But even with the crap tracks excised, I'd never claim it was representative. Then again, neither are any of the others above.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Sunday, 22 April 2007 05:53 (eighteen years ago)

I dunno man, some of these seem prtty undeniably great. True Blue, Like a Prayer, Madonna

― Surmounter, Sunday, 22 April 2007 15:05 (eighteen years ago)

But each one of those contains crap tracks:

True Blue - "White Heat" and "Love Makes the World Go Around" (also, I've never been a fan of "Papa Don't Preach" and "La Isla Bonita" is easily her slightest hit of the 1980s)

Like a Prayer - "Love Song," "Till Death Do Us Part," and "Spanish Eyes"

Madonna "I Know It" and "Think of Me"

Even if you don't think any of the above are crap, do you think they're undeniably great?

― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 23 April 2007 00:40 (eighteen years ago)

I mean it's just like, i like apple pie and you like blueberry, or somethin

Love Song is one of my fav Mad moments. the simple artistry of it is so great, and it only gets better with age.

Papa Don't Preach is also one of my favs. Go apple pie! =P

― Surmounter, Monday, 23 April 2007 00:50 (eighteen years ago)

I expect supernovas bursting in midair from a track featuring the two premier pop artists of the 1980s. "Love Song" is more a mildly nipple-perking firecracker. It's as if Madge and The Artist deliberately made the track slight so as to buck insane expectations. I know I had 'em back in 1989.

P.S. I hate berries. I'll have a corner of that apple pie.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 23 April 2007 01:09 (eighteen years ago)

"But each one of those contains crap tracks:
...
Madonna "I Know It" and "Think of Me" "

Well, I like Think of Me. But the other 6 tracks on the album are classics. That's a pretty terrific success rate, in my opinion. A great success rate. Undeniable... well, some people deny that man has landed on the moon.

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, 23 April 2007 01:17 (eighteen years ago)

hehe :-)

yes, i know what you mean. the starkness is to be appreciated though, in the end, even though it does leave room for much more. at least for me, the simplicity of Love Song really did itself justice after a while.

― Surmounter, Monday, 23 April 2007 02:11 (eighteen years ago)

omg Borderline putting it on

― Surmounter, Monday, 23 April 2007 02:13 (eighteen years ago)

and she wrote it, too.

― Surmounter, Monday, 23 April 2007 02:17 (eighteen years ago)

I Know It is so catchy, how can u not like it??!

― Surmounter, Monday, 23 April 2007 02:20 (eighteen years ago)

Wow Holiday is rather blowing my mind right now

Haha I'm having such a Madonna moment. I just love how sometimes she sounds like this real woman, like she's your Mom. I mean I guess the idea of Madonna Mom is kind of polluted today, just cuz she's like older. but on her early tracks, when she gets that like real woman gloria Estefan your mom thing going on, it's really moving.

― Surmounter, Monday, 23 April 2007 02:26 (eighteen years ago)

"I Know It is so catchy, how can u not like it??!"

The chorus is good, and I do love the "take your love and run from me" outro, but the synth melody is substandard.

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, 23 April 2007 02:31 (eighteen years ago)

point taken, but it's rather negligible considering how she makes up for it, musically. i mean, are you judging a Madonna record in the same arena as anything else? big bucks records like this r gonna have the cheap stuff. they also have some golden moments.

― Surmounter, Monday, 23 April 2007 02:37 (eighteen years ago)

It's only found on the Vision Quest soundtrack, but "Gambler" is fucking nuts and should be acquired immediately.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 23 April 2007 02:43 (eighteen years ago)

OH my god, this kills me. Look at all the young girls dressed just like her...it really takes me back in time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbjVcpXC38U

― Bimble, Monday, 23 April 2007 03:52 (eighteen years ago)

The beginning... It's like the Bizarro World Heavy Metal Parking Lot.

― NYCNative, Monday, 23 April 2007 04:07 (eighteen years ago)

what was the last fashion craze that was so.... affordable?

"point taken, but it's rather negligible considering how she makes up for it, musically. i mean, are you judging a Madonna record in the same arena as anything else? big bucks records like this r gonna have the cheap stuff. they also have some golden moments."

See, but I love everything about all the other songs. I think I Know It just pales in comparison to them.

― Matt Armstrong, Monday, 23 April 2007 04:23 (eighteen years ago)

Even if you don't think any of the above are crap, do you think they're undeniably great?

"Spanish Eyes" is the best Madonna track ever.

― Geir Hongro, Monday, 23 April 2007 09:29 (eighteen years ago)

Ever, huh? Does Madonna know this?

― Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 23 April 2007 19:04 (eighteen years ago)

Why, oh why, isn't there a great Madonna singles box set? At least, I haven't seen one... (Not enough love for Like A Virgin here)...

― I eat cannibals, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 02:44 (eighteen years ago)

Like a Virgin is great but I have to go with Like a Prayer for best single. I was Madonna for Halloween in 2nd grade. I had a lace dress, lace gloves, tights with hearts on, pearls and a fake mole. I win. ;-)

― ENBB, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 02:47 (eighteen years ago)

One of these days there will be a fantastic Madonna retrospective.. I actually kind of respect her for not releasing any kind of definitive collection just yet, which makes sense since her career is apparently (for better or worse) not finished just yet. (Immaculate Collection is overrated for its overuse of remixes and exclusion of "Dress You Up" and "Angel" among others.)

― billstevejim, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 03:32 (eighteen years ago)

I really need to hear "Angel" right now.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 03:36 (eighteen years ago)

I CAN SEE IT IN YOUR EYES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, Like A Virgin wins.

― billstevejim, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 03:39 (eighteen years ago)

The beginning... It's like the Bizarro World Heavy Metal Parking Lot.

There is a scary amount of truth to this.

― Bimble, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 04:00 (eighteen years ago)

lol i know i love the thick rich sound of like a virgin it's great

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 04:18 (eighteen years ago)

One of these days there will be a fantastic Madonna retrospective.. I actually kind of respect her for not releasing any kind of definitive collection just yet, which makes sense since her career is apparently (for better or worse) not finished just yet.

Sure, but it will end up a 4 CD box set or something.

― Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 07:20 (eighteen years ago)

definitely for better. speaking in tennis terms, she played within herself on the last album, nothing too un-madonna, and certainly nothing too shabby. a lot of fantastic moments.

she's working on her next one for release this nov, no? nov seems to be the month. i think it's sexy that she keeps going.

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 12:57 (eighteen years ago)

btw Spanish Eyes is really amazing

― Surmounter, Tuesday, 24 April 2007 16:31 (eighteen years ago)

"Borderline", "Burning Up", "Everybody", "Physical Attraction", "Lucky Star" = an easy decision.

― Myonga Vön Bontee, Wednesday, 25 April 2007 14:14 (eighteen years ago)

bump

― JN$OT, Thursday, 26 April 2007 08:23 (eighteen years ago)

LOL. Might have guessed for the singles thread. It seems ILM has a soft spot for the very earliest Madonna. Well, at least it's way better than "Erotica". :)

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 26 April 2007 08:54 (eighteen years ago)

Strong showing of "Erotica" will delight Lex.

Think this is the first time my pick has won (and by 1 vote - I feel so enfranchised).

Surprised at the low - though correct - placing of "Ray Of Light": big fuss made about that alb at the time.

― Groke, Thursday, 26 April 2007 09:03 (eighteen years ago)

not really on ilm though - whereas i suspected erotica would place high because it has so many cheerleaders here. and rightly so. didn't think the first album would win though, i thought it'd be true blue!

i'm pleasantly surprised by a relatively good showing for confessions which implies that ilm doesn't buy into the myth of madonna's decline. nice to see someone repping for bedtime stories, and i feel sorry for american life which isn't actually that bad.

― lex pretend, Thursday, 26 April 2007 09:20 (eighteen years ago)

Which myth? "Confessions..." received mainly great reviews, at least from my impressions. It was "American Life" that performed poorly.

Btw. Obviously nobody felt like disturbing this poll, so no votes for "American Life". :)

― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 26 April 2007 09:47 (eighteen years ago)

i was listening to like a prayer last night - the segue between the fluffy candyfloss twee girlishness of 'dear jessie' and the dark, sobering reflections on girlishness of 'oh father' is pretty damn exquisite

― lex pretend, Thursday, 26 April 2007 10:42 (eighteen years ago)

I dont think that there is a good madonna album, or at least i havent been able to finish one of her, w.o skipping tracks. the most pure pop single artist, perhaps ever.

― pinkmoose, Thursday, 26 April 2007 12:56 (eighteen years ago)

Confessions was in the NME albums of the year list!

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 26 April 2007 13:14 (eighteen years ago)

I think.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 26 April 2007 13:14 (eighteen years ago)

Oh maybe it was Bedtime Stories.

― Brigadier Lethbridge-Pfunkboy, Thursday, 26 April 2007 13:14 (eighteen years ago)

The NME gave 10 to Like A Prayer. The letters page was inflamed! It was the Lex Paris Hilton review in Plan B of its day.

― Groke, Thursday, 26 April 2007 13:23 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

You just keep on pushing my love/over the borderline...

― Bimble, Saturday, 19 May 2007 10:32 (eighteen years ago)

CAUSE YOU MAKE THE DARKNESS SEEM SO FAR

― Bimble, Saturday, 19 May 2007 11:05 (eighteen years ago)

AND YOU CAN DANCE...

― Bimble, Saturday, 19 May 2007 11:11 (eighteen years ago)

NOW I KNOW YOU'RE MINE

― Bimble, Saturday, 19 May 2007 11:14 (eighteen years ago)

The positions of the top five need to be reversed... and then Ray of Light placed above them.
fixed.

― DavidM, Saturday, 19 May 2007 12:24 (eighteen years ago)

First of all "Erotica" would need to be thrown out of the Top five. That one is her WORST album, and everyone outside ILM agree about that.

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 19 May 2007 12:38 (eighteen years ago)

Poll Results
Madonna 12
Erotica 11
Like A Virgin 9

i'm sorry but this is madness.

― pisces, Saturday, 19 May 2007 14:59 (eighteen years ago)

I should've voted! Then Erotica would've been tied for first.

― Eric H., Saturday, 19 May 2007 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

The correct top 5 would have been

1. Like a Prayer
2. Ray Of Light
3. Confessions On a Dancefloor
4. Like a Virgin
5. Music

― Geir Hongro, Saturday, 19 May 2007 17:23 (eighteen years ago)

seven years pass...

Like a Virgin:

If you wanted dynamic and inventive female pop music in 1985, there was, and is, Teena Marie’s Emerald City. But poor Teena was never as good as selling herself as Madonna was, and so she is now gone and largely forgotten whereas Madonna is routinely hagiographised. The lesson was this: it’s always the pushy people who get to the front, the squeakiest wheels that get the lion’s share of the oil, regardless of what they might have to offer. Talent or even basic expression was no longer required. Make yourself into the biggest image you can find, and you will become that image. Is it just me who finds Madonna’s “Sing it to the WORLD! – Now I know you’re MINE!” two-thirds of the way through her Live Aid performance of “Into The Groove” one of the most terrifying spectacles of the eighties, and the clearest sign of the ruination to come? Was Madonna really everything “we” wanted?

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 July 2014 16:27 (ten years ago)

damn, I wish Teena Marie had a Dress You Up or an Angel in her

― g simmel, Tuesday, 8 July 2014 18:07 (ten years ago)

thanking god everyday i don't live in a country where teena marie is largely forgotten

― balls, Tuesday, 8 July 2014 19:36 (ten years ago)

You do though!

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 July 2014 19:45 (ten years ago)

Like a Virgin was her worst studio album until she released mdna.(no matter how perfect Into the Groove is!!) Not sure how 9 people could have possibly thought it was her best. Erotica will always be best and one of my favourite albums ever. Bedtime Stories, Like A prayer, Music and her s/t are her other masterpieces imo.

― jay., Tuesday, 8 July 2014 21:10 (ten years ago)

It's the only studio album of hers that's legit singles plus filler.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 July 2014 21:17 (ten years ago)

like a virgin is so could and no matter how bad you think it is comparing it to MDNA is criminal

also they have a fucked up version of Borderline on spotify with some kind of modified bassline

― surm, Tuesday, 8 July 2014 21:41 (ten years ago)

*SO GOOD, not so could, jeez

― surm, Tuesday, 8 July 2014 21:41 (ten years ago)

MDNA is legit filler plus filler.

― Tim F, Tuesday, 8 July 2014 21:52 (ten years ago)

Actually some of it is too what the fuck were ~~you~~ your minders thinking madonna to really be "filler" per se.

― Tim F, Tuesday, 8 July 2014 21:53 (ten years ago)

filler-plus-filler is Hard Candy.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 8 July 2014 21:55 (ten years ago)

Like a Virgin was her worst studio album until she released mdna.(no matter how perfect Into the Groove is!!)

into the groove's perfection also somewhat beside the point since it's only kinda sorta on the album (wasn't on the original, was added to later reissues only outside the u.s.)

― fact checking cuz, Tuesday, 8 July 2014 22:01 (ten years ago)

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