I LOVE Madonna (part 3)

The Videos

Madonna has created some of the best and most visually arresting music video's of our time, around 75 all together. Always pushing people’s buttons, and always thinking ahead, she has strived to present her music in both audio and visual means As she has grown as a musical artist she has also done so as a visual one.

My top 20 videos consists of some of her most visually arresting as well as some of her simpler ones. And before you ask why it is not here, I was never a huge fan of 'Vogue' as a song or a video.

I hope if you haven't seen them, you take the time to have a look.

20) 1986 "Open Your Heart" She famously described the video as a statement about innocence. Wonder how that kid turned out? I used to wish I was him.

19) 1998 "Frozen" I love Madonna with dark hair, and this video was a stunning departure. It was (a word I use alot) haunting.

18) 1999 "Nothing Really Matters" In the video Madonna plays a geisha, inspired by Arthur Golden's book Memoirs of a Geisha. Madonna wanted to represent herself as the one of the books characters, Hatsumomo. Oh...and she looked fierce!

17) 2003 "American Life" The controversial music video was shot by Jonas Åkerlund. While focusing on politics and attacking United States President George W. Bush's attack on Iraq, she probably did her career the most amount of damage. Radio wouldn't play her.

16) 1993 "Rain" The video, directed by Mark Romanek, was a lush video set on a sound stage. The overall effect of the make up and video's styling evoked Japanese sensibilities, a cultural approach she would time and time again borrow and remodel as her own.

15) 1993 "Bad Girl" One of Madonna's best narrative videos, it was directed by David Fincher. The video featured Madonna as Louise Oriole, a high-powered Manhattan female executive who has a penchant for one-night stands. She pays a heavy price.

14) 1987 "La Isla Bonita" This sees Madonna playing dual roles of piety and passion. The struggle between the two forms the backdrop of the video, which juts back and forth between red and blue backdrops and scenes. A young Benicio Del Toro appears in the video as a background character.

13) 1992 "Erotica" The music video for "Erotica" is one of Madonna's most infamous videos, directed by fashion photographer Fabien Baron. The footage for the "Erotica" video was shot during the Miami photo sessions for her infamous book Sex

12) 1989 "Like a Prayer" It attracted criticism for Madonna making love to Saint Martin de Porres, but it also garnered praise for its interpretation on discrimination, rape, and faith. The video topped MTV's countdown of 100 Videos That Broke The Rules in 2005, and for the 25th anniversary of MTV (August 1, 2006), viewers voted the video as the Most Groundbreaking Music Video of All Time.

11) 2006 "Get Together" The music video for "Get Together" was directed and animated by Logan and was heavily inspired by Italian artist Milo Manara's erotic artwork.
The videos feature Madonna's live performance at the KoKo Club in London. Animation effects were added to the footage and they show the world evolving through time, with erupting volcanos, flying dinosaurs and finally an urban panorama on the background. On a personal note, I enjoyed watching my BF geek out watching this video.

10) 2001 "What It Feels Like for a Girl" Directed by Madonna's husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, and used an alternate remix edit by Above & Beyond which featured almost no vocals from the original song. Madonna causes various degrees of mischief before finally crashing her car at full speed into a concrete pole. Critics railed the video for being overly violent and graphic; Madonna defended the video, stating that male artists get away with the same, if not worse, in their own music videos.

9) 2000 "Don't Tell Me" Shot by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, this is one of Madonna’s simplest and most visually arresting video’s. Madonna walks in front of a screen showing the desert, wearing plaid and denim. Soon she is accompanied by four male dancers and she dons full a cowgirl costume, executing a choreographed line-dancing routine. Never has simplicity been more beautiful.

8) 1989 "Cherish" Herb Ritts was one of Madonna's preferred photographers at that time and is best known for his photograph of Madonna on the cover of her 1986 album True Blue. In "Cherish" Ritts makes his photographs come to life, smoldering as they show Madonna reclining in the surf. His greatest achievement in the video was perfectly capturing Madonna's free spirit. I still remember re-enacting this on the beach with my cousin.

7) 1990 "Justify My Love" Although it was a number one pop hit, "Justify My Love" is perhaps most notable for its controversial music video, directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino. Featuring scenes of partial nudity, homosexuality, mild sadomasochism and other overt sexual situations, the clip became one of the first-ever music videos to be banned on MTV. We all know the story…she ended up laughing all the way to the bank.

6) 1998 "Drowned World/Substitute for Love" The video created a lot of controversy in 1998 due to the scenes that feature Madonna being chased by paparazzi on motor-bikes, a scenario similar to Diana, Princess of Wales's death in 1997. One of the most striking and memorable moments of the video occurs when Madonna passes a hotel maid, smiling at her. Madonna returns the smile. Then the camera goes off; the maid had just taken a picture of her.

5) 1989 "Express Yourself" This video, which is based on the Fritz Lang classic film Metropolis, generated a great amount of attention in the media. In the video, directed by David Fincher, Madonna is seen as the epitome of femininity, residing with her cat high above the masculine world of hard work and steam, at once protected and isolated by her surroundings and "chained" to her desires. At the time one of the most expensive music video’s, and easily one of her best.

4) 1995 "Bedtime Story" The video, like the song, is one of Madonna's most experimental. It visualizes the concept of the song, showing images that seem like a dream or some other state of unconsciousness. Madonna - wearing a variety of blonde wigs - floats through the air, gives birth to doves and lays down on a surreal operation table. Inspired by Frida Kahlo's paintings. It has also been said that Bedtime Story was strongly influenced by Remedios Varo's painting The Lovers (Los Amantes), as well as by some scenes of Tarkovsky's movie Stalker.

3) 1995 "Human Nature" The video, directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino featured Madonna, her dancers, and her chihuahua, Chiquita, in black leather outfits. As an answer to her critics, this was one of Madonna’s funniest videos as well as being visually stunning. At the end of the video, the music cuts out suddenly and Madonna says "absolutely no regrets" reinforcing her point one last time as she closes her legs…..hilarious!

2) 1989 "Oh Father" Madonna plays a character who is coming to terms with the abuse she has suffered at the hands of her father. Directed by David Fincher, this has widely been considered as one of her very best. Fincher perfectly captures the confusion and loss she feels, and some of the most haunting imagery in this genre. Of all the things she did to rebel against her father, this probably hurt him the most.

1) 1998 "Ray of Light" This is a Koyaanisqatsi inspired music video, featuring sped-up images of daily life, from people riding a subway, ordering food, bowling, and children in a classroom to sped-up cityscapes and freeways at night. This perfectly captures the spirit of the song and its energy. Funnily enough, this is one of her video’s in which she appears the least about of time (except Dear Jessie where she was in cartoon form! This won her Video of the year from both the MTV awards, and the Grammy’s and deservedly so.