500 Greatest Albums of the 1980s ... Ranked! # 494 Madonna - Madonna

 I posted a couple of things about Madonna and this record on social media recently and got responses I wasn't really looking for or expecting and didn't really enjoy. I hope I'll avoid getting a similar reaction this time round. 

I think Madonna is one of the more divisive figures that Pop music has produced. I'd say she deliberately set out to be so. Her three primary subjects, sex, money and religion were always likely to rattle a few cages and she rattled these cages as hard as she damned well could. Throughout the Eighties certainly when she was one of the main players in the Pop field.

Love was the other focus of many of her best songs of course,.Dancing and freedom too popped up on a regular basis. But  these were far less divisive as subject matter. You can't really contest the opinion that dancing is fun. Still, she stirred the pot merrily elsewhere and it worked wonders for her image and bank account and led to some memorable dance music which defined her times as well as any. I don't think myself she was ever greatly loved in the way that say The Beatles were. She was too keen to get right in your face. 

Anyhow I really like her first record. There's a lot going on.