#77 – Like a Prayer

Apple Music Rank: 77

Album: Like a Prayer

Artist: Madonna

Year: 1989

Genre: Pop

Was I familiar with Madonna?  I was born in 1976 and I didn’t spend my first 25 years in a coma, so yes, I’m familiar with Madonna.

Had I heard Like a Prayer?  I’ve heard the hits. Not too familiar with the album.

Thoughts on Like a Prayer: Full disclosure: My wife loves everything Madonna did in the 20th century. She saw Madonna in concert and wept. I’m only telling you this because you might think that would lead to some kind of bias, but that’s not the case. My wife doesn’t read my shit. Ever. Also, everything I have to say about Madonna she’s already heard from me a hundred times and she’ll just roll her eyes at me anyway. In her defense, that’s the appropriate response. I just wanted to make this information public so my integrity remains intact.

It’s difficult for me to separate Madonna from Prince and Michael Jackson. I listened to a lot of music during the 1980s and you couldn’t turn on a radio or MTV without seeing at least one of the three of them. If there’s a Mount Rushmore of 80s pop artists these three are locks. A debate over the fourth could be its own post. Springsteen? Whitney Houston? George Michael? Falco?

When I hear people refer to Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna as the big three of the 80s it actually makes me angry. I don’t think Madonna belongs there despite the fact that MJ is the only artist to sell more records during the decade. For what it’s worth, my guy Prince is actually sixth on that list behind Phil Collins, U2, and Queen. I just don’t think Madonna has anywhere near the talent or quality of music that Prince and MJ possess. I’ve always considered Madonna to be someone who used tricks and distractions to mask the fact that her music wasn’t that good. That can be viewed as an insult, but it’s also a credit to her. She made up for her deficiencies it in other ways.

For starters, her timing couldn’t have been better. Did anyone read Outliers? If Madonna showed up in the 70s (or earlier) with the same quality of music we might never have heard of her. Instead her debut album was released in 1983 and she was the perfect age at the perfect time to use MTV to her advantage. A pioneer born at the right time. She was fearless and used her ability to shock us to draw attention and sell records. “Like a Virgin” is a terrible song. It’s idiotic. But, put her sexy ass in a music video and have her sing naughty words while rolling around in a gondola and suddenly you have a hit record. Does that record, album, and everything that follows perform as well without the visuals? I sincerely wonder. Would anyone remember “Material Girl” if she’s not pulling off a lights out Marilyn Monroe impression in the video? I’m just saying it wasn’t always about the music. Same can be said for Prince and MJ, but with them I always felt the music was the headliner and the rest just supported it. With Madonna it felt like the other way around.

I don’t want to completely discredit Madonna just because I didn’t personally like her music. I get the appeal. Yes, there were some smoke and mirrors involved, but she really does deserve credit for a lot, even if I don’t think she was the most talented singer/musician. She wrote songs that other pop stars weren’t writing. I’m not even talking about the sex and erotica shit. I’m talking about songs like “Papa Don’t Preach“, “Like a Prayer“, “Oh Father“, and “Express Yourself“. The masses were willing to follow her toward uncomfortable subject matter, and it’s a credit to her that she was willing to take it there.

I believe her ability to shock without going overtly sexual ended shortly after Like a Prayer – see 1992’s Erotica and everything that accompanied it. She still had countless big moments in the 90s, but it seems to me they were fewer and further between. In 1989 with Like a Prayer she was in that perfect moment before Erotica took her past the tipping point when she was writing pop music that pushed boundaries and still leaving some things to the imagination.

One more random thought on Madonna: When I have the “What’s so great about Madonna?” argument with my wife, one of my arguments against is always her voice. If you go back to some of her earlier work like “Material Girl” and “Like a Virgin” I think her voice is grating. Some of the stuff on her self-titled 1983 debut sounds like a regular human voice sped up Alvin and the Chipmunks-style. Side note: I think that’s her best album. Much of it sounds like a hip hop record. I’ll ignore the chipmunk voice for some funky Nile Rogers shit. I’m a walking contradiction.

When Madonna goes into the higher part of her range she sounds comically bad to me at times. However, when she goes to the lower portion of her range, I think Madonna has one of the coolest voices ever to grace pop radio. There’s no greater example of this than 80s tour de force power ballad “Crazy for You“. That song hits every part of the Madonna voice spectrum. A few shrill highs but mostly sultry lows. My favorite Madonna track is “Take a Bow” from 1994’s Bedtime Stories album. She has a texture to her low register that can’t be imitated. She abandons the high pitched stuff on Like a Prayer and sticks to her chest voice, which makes for a much better album. Well played, Madonna.

Ultimately, Like a Prayer is a solid 80s pop album. I don’t enjoy Madonna’s music nearly as much as many people my age, but this is as good an album as I’ve heard from her. She deserves to be represented on Apple’s list and I don’t have any arguments against this album. She might have bigger hits on other albums, but top to bottom Like a Prayer is solid prime Madonna.

Favorite track:  In a choice that should surprise no one, I pick “Love Song“. During my recent listen to Like a Prayer when I got to “Love Song” I thought to myself, “This sounds like a Prince song. Wait a minute…that’s right…this IS a Prince song!” I completely forgot they did a song together. Seems like it should’ve been a bigger deal than it was. There’s a funny story behind this collab. During the writing and recording Prince couldn’t leave Minneapolis and Madonna refused to join him there saying, “We ended up writing it long-distance, because I had to be in L.A. and he couldn’t leave Minneapolis, and quite frankly I couldn’t stand Minneapolis. When I went there, it was like 20 degrees below zero, and it was really desolate. I was miserable and I couldn’t write or work under those circumstances.” This song has Sign ‘O’ the Times/Lovesexy-era Prince fingerprints all over it. Funky as hell. I’ll take this any day over anything else on this album. Thank you, Prince.

Will I listen to Like a Prayer again? I didn’t hate it like I thought I would but I’m not in a rush to hear it again. If my wife and I find ourselves on a long road trip and she’s bored with my usual musical selection I might pull this album up on Apple Music to surprise her.

Would I buy it on vinyl? If I found it used and super cheap I might grab it just to make my wife smile. Otherwise, no, I would not buy this record for me.

To access more expert analysis of the Apple 100 Best Albums list click here.