Twenty years ago today, the world could get its hands for the very first time on, in our opinion,
the finest single track ever to be put out by Madonna. From the spine-tingling opening of the strings launching into the iconic house piano riff, she has never and will never repeat the blinding amazingness of "Vogue", originally destined to be a mere B-side to "Keep It Together" - can you imagine? - a track loved by fans and non-fans alike. Unquestionably owing a fuckload of inspiration to the dance 'craze' which began in the 'gay underground scene' (when we can't think of any alternative phrases to clichéd and over-used terms, we choose to add quotation marks, as you can see) of New York in the late 80s, Madonna did what she does best, took a little-known phenomenon, sent it mainstream and made a big steaming pile of money out of it.
Two decades later and she is still re-vamping/inventing/membering the track on her live tours. The choreography is constantly evolving and reflects the current popular 'underground' (here we go again) dance at the time; we may not have even been
born when it was released but the MTV Video Music Awards performance in 1990 is our all-time favourite awards ceremony performance ever. Madonna re-visited that performance with an updated Marie Antoinette theme on her Re-Invention Tour, while the Girlie Show Tour saw Mata Hari play a heavy influence on the costuming and arrangement. The most recent Sticky and Sweet Tour saw Madge debut the very first 100% live performance of the song (eighteen years after release - tragic Madge) layered over the horns from the epic "4 Minutes", mashing two of her biggest ever hits. References continue to be made today - Kylie herself recited the infamous rap on her "Showgirl", "Showgirl: Homecoming" and American tours, and Lady Gaga's "Dance in the Dark" recreates the rap with her own personal icons.
We do it every day so it's nothing new for us, but squeeze into the black leotard, attach the platinum blonde hairpiece, hook up the fake handsfree microphone and pretend it's 1990 again. Happy birthday "Vogue".
Twenty years ago today, the world could get its hands for the very first time on, in our opinion, the finest single track ever to be put out by Madonna. From the spine-tingling opening of the strings launching into the iconic house piano riff, she has never and will never repeat the blinding amazingness of "Vogue", originally destined to be a mere B-side to "Keep It Together" - can you imagine? - a track loved by fans and non-fans alike. Unquestionably owing a fuckload of inspiration to the dance 'craze' which began in the 'gay underground scene' (when we can't think of any alternative phrases to clichéd and over-used terms, we choose to add quotation marks, as you can see) of New York in the late 80s, Madonna did what she does best, took a little-known phenomenon, sent it mainstream and made a big steaming pile of money out of it.
Two decades later and she is still re-vamping/inventing/membering the track on her live tours. The choreography is constantly evolving and reflects the current popular 'underground' (here we go again) dance at the time; we may not have even been born when it was released but the MTV Video Music Awards performance in 1990 is our all-time favourite awards ceremony performance ever. Madonna re-visited that performance with an updated Marie Antoinette theme on her Re-Invention Tour, while the Girlie Show Tour saw Mata Hari play a heavy influence on the costuming and arrangement. The most recent Sticky and Sweet Tour saw Madge debut the very first 100% live performance of the song (eighteen years after release - tragic Madge) layered over the horns from the epic "4 Minutes", mashing two of her biggest ever hits. References continue to be made today - Kylie herself recited the infamous rap on her "Showgirl", "Showgirl: Homecoming" and American tours, and Lady Gaga's "Dance in the Dark" recreates the rap with her own personal icons.
We do it every day so it's nothing new for us, but squeeze into the black leotard, attach the platinum blonde hairpiece, hook up the fake handsfree microphone and pretend it's 1990 again. Happy birthday "Vogue".
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