madonnapics

While male acts dominated the lineup that day, a few ladies were able to strut their stuff.

Madonna had only become a household name the year before with Like A Virgin. Here, a brunette version performs two of her classics:

Earlier in the day, the Pretenders performed with Chrissie Hynde in great form:

Later that night, Patti Labelle performed to the Philadelphia crowd:

Back at Wembley, Sade performed early in the concert, though only Your Love Is King made it to the DVD. She performed a few songs including Is It A Crime?:

Alison Moyet performed with Paul Young at the end of his set for soulful That's The Way Love Is:

Most people claim they hate Madonna because she 'tries too hard' and is always up in their face with Kabbalah or some over sexualized gimmick. This is true for some things, however, she really shows her talent and lasting quality by seeking out the latest euro producers and songwriters to stay current. Here are some jams you may have overlooked in the '90′s just because they were released under 'Madonna'.

'Bedtime Story' - by Bjork

'Take A Bow' - by Babyface

'Justify My Love' - by Lenny Kravitz

Here comes a song that I actually genuinely like, and am sad to eliminate off the list, but well, it's the concept of this blog so I can't go back on my word suddenly and opt to keep it, even if that'd be something that I wanted to do, so without further whining, the third song to get eliminated is..

DATE RELEASED: September 22, 1998
US CHART PERFORMANCE: #11
UK CHART PERFORMANCE: #06
BEST CHART PEAK: #02 (Europe; Spain)
LAST.FM PLAYS: 371.104 (20th)
LAST.FM LISTENERS: 72.733 (22nd)

So, as you can see, I chose to eliminate The Power of Goodbye as the twenty-fourth placer on my countdown. It's not entirely on purpose, but you see the real reason why I had to take down such a good song so early, is because this awesome song is just outmatched by other awesome Madonna songs, cause lets face it: she's made some pretty awesome music in the past twelve years. This is where the list starts getting tough, and soon, I'll be picking off the great songs one-by-one, and leave us with my favorite Madonna song, yay!

Don't freak out, this isn't a post about my love life. At least, not my romantic life. This is about my first love: musicals.

Within my general obsession with musical theater, there are a few areas I find particularly interesting, all of which can be grouped under the rubric of transformations. I am fascinated with the way stories are told and retold, and few storytelling arenas are as obsessed with retelling as musical theater.

I love to read/watch the books, plays, and movies that musicals were based on to see how the composers, lyricists, bookwriters, directors et al applied their craft. For example, my already huge admiration for Oscar Hammerstein II grew exponentially after reading Edna Ferber's original novel Show Boat. The way that Hammerstein transformed the central metaphor of the book - Magnolia's relationship with the Mississippi River - into the central metaphor of the show - Magnolia's relationship with the musical stage - is genius.

I'm not myself when you're around
I'm not myself standing in a crowd
I'm not myself and I don't know how
I'm not myself, myself right now

Jesus Christ, will you look at me
Don't know who I'm supposed to be
Don't really know if I should give a damn
When you're around
I don't know who I am

I'm not myself when you go quiet
I'm not myself all alone at night
I'm not myself, don't know who to call
I'm not myself at all

Jesus Christ will you look at me
Don't know who I'm supposed to be
Don't really know if I should give a damn
When you're around
I don't know who I am

I always wished that I could find
Someone as beautiful as you
but in the process I forgot
That I was special too

I'm not myself when you're around
I'm not myself standing in a crowd
I'm not myself and I dont know how
I'm not myself, myself right now

Jesus Christ will you look at me
Don't know who I'm supposed to be
Someone say if I should give a damn
When you're around
I dont know who I am

I always wished that I could find
Someone as beautiful as you
but in the process I forgot
that I was special too

I always wished that I could find
Someone as talented as you
but in the process I forgot
that I was just as good
As you

[lastfm]Madonna[/lastfm] has dropped a steamy new video. Watch this clip which is one minute of HOTness! Check It->