Madonna - Our Obsession

Thanks to youtube user midzou77 for this video.


We were obsessed.

Some of us still are.

I like to think I wasn't THAT influenced by her, to think I didn't follow behind every other girl in the U.S. in 1984, but who am I kidding?

Let's go down the Boy Toy checklist: a million black rubber bracelets ... check! scarf around the head ... check! Teased bangs ... check! Dangly earrings ... check! Who was I kidding? I was obsessed, and so much in denial it wasn't even funny.

Here is an MTV interview with Mark Goodman from 1984, which is around the time she made her first big splash. Here you can already detect that pseudo-British accent many would come to revile, and you can already see her persona creating approach (take note of how 'Boy Toy' is simply the signature she uses when going around and spraying graffiti! ha!!). She's good at what she does, and an entire generation ate it all hook line and sinker.

Throughout the years, Madonna has been at the top of the game for self-promoting, branding, image production and marketing. With the exception of maybe Garth Brooks (who actually studied marketing in college), there has NEVER been a more image savvy, marketing oriented artist. I am not saying she does not have a talent for pop music and dance - she does. Her Greatest Hits CD is one that occupies space in my disc changer on a regular basis. Her iconic music really is one of the first things people think of when they remember the music of the 1980's. Its just that I think her real forte is in the creation of her own brand, a brand slickly packaged and always contemporary. A brand memorably called: Madonna.