Watched For The Very First Time

I want my M(adonna)TV!

I didn't write this—I'm not sure how many of these I'd remember so vividly—but some friends were comparing notes on when they first saw all of Madonna's various videos. Remember: "WORLD PREMIERE VIDEO!" used to mean something. I found this timeline by my pal Jimmie to be fun reading even if you're not into Madonna—it's a slice of (gay) life:

"Madonna video firsts (the ones I can remember)

Keith Carradine's Madonna visitation.

"'Material Girl': Madonna was #1 with 'Like a Virgin' on TBS's Night Tracks Chartbusters—and the 'Top Breaker' was 'Material Girl.' I had no idea about the intertextual elements of the video (I was 5 or 6), and I remember thinking, 'Why would Madonna date that ugly man?'

"'Into the Groove': We were visiting my grandma and her teenage daughter (my aunt) in Albuquerque. I told [my aunt] I loved Madonna, and she said she loved 'Get Into the Groove.' I asked her what that was, and she said it was the new Madonna song. I told her no it wasn't, that it wasn't on the Like A Virgin album. So we sat and watched MTV until it came on. My aunt lied to me and told me she'd already seen Desperately Seeking Susan, but really she hadn't—Grandma wouldn't let her because it was 'Satanic.'

Aquanetta.

"'Live to Tell': I was in Gibson's (a Midwestern chain store that is now defunct) and saw the video on a television set. I wondered why Madonna was fixing her hair like an old lady, and then I went to look for the album and had no idea where to find it.

Wussy power!

"'Open Your Heart': My family and I were watching Night Tracks, and my mom said, 'She's gone too far. Look—you can see her wussy!'

Madonna's first "black-and-white" video...

"'Like a Prayer': I made sure I was around for the premiere on MTV. I loved it, and I even got the cross
imagery thanks to an uncannily recent lesson on the KKK in my history class. I remember going to school all stoked about it and EVERYONE saying how she hated God and was gross because she kissed a black man. One kid even said, 'Madonna is a slut and that video is retarded. Burning crosses is messed up, and she shouldn't have kissed a n-----.' Life in a small, racist town.

Express your selves.

"'Express Yourself': I was with my cousin, one of the few kids my age who still seemed to like Madonna, and we watched the MTV premiere together. We were wigged out because she was dressed like a guy.

"MTV was banned in my house, so cut to...

There's something to it.

"'Vogue': I was visiting my sister in Amarillo and enjoying music videos (since we weren't allowed in my house anymore—thanks, Grandma). We started dancing around and my sister kept saying, 'Those bras are wicked!'

Now what?

"'Justify My Love': My mom superrevolted against Grandma's rules she'd talked her into...she let me stay up to watch the video on Nightline. I seriously remember popping a boner. It was just fucking hot. I showed it in my queer identity class a couple years back, and I shit you not—afterward, everyone was kind of in a haze and one of my students said, 'It's warm in here now,' and we all laughed before discussing how the video constructed sexuality and how it worked as art and erotica.

Looks like she's carrying birds.

"'Human Nature': This actually made me rediscover Madonna. I was into her during the Erotica period, but I honestly don't remember much about the videos (or, at least, my watching of the videos) and was initially turned off by the Bedtime Stories sound. I vaguely remember seeing the 'Bedtime Story' video for the first time and talking about it with my chemistry class (one of the guys in there was talking about how Madonna gave birth to 'a flock of birds'). But 'Human Nature' drew me back in hardcore. I loved, loved, loved the video—not only was it hot, but I think the choreography is incredibly clever and rife with symbolism, as is just about the whole video. Easily my favorite video of all time.

All by herself.

"'You'll See': I made my girlfriend (ha!) watch this with me as it premiered on MTV. She thought it was dumb. I couldn't disagree.

Hey, dude.

"'Frozen': I was so pumped to see this—I was watching it in a dorm room with this really hot closeted guy and his girlfriend. We then prank-called this dumb girl from our developmental psych class and pretended to be a football player in there. She must have been really dumb, because somehow it worked (even though I sounded nothing like him and just kept adding 'dude' to everything to sound masculine). During the prank call, the video ran again (I seem to remember it running a lot) and I said something to the effect of, 'Dude! Have you seen the new Madonna video? She turns into a dog. That's hot.' After she giggled, I said, Would you be my dog for me?' She [said she] would. The dumb bitch (pun intended!) actually said she would.

What it felt like for a girlfriend.

"'Ray of Light': I watched this with my new girlfriend (ha ha!) in her dorm room and was squealing with delight when she liked the song and video and bought the single. I was lukewarm to the video then, and I'm lukewarm to the video now—but it is one of my top three favorite Madonna songs ever.

Auntie Lame.

"'The Power of Good-Bye': In the same girlfriend's dorm room as the scenario above. After it was done I yelled, 'Lame!'

Su-she.

"'Nothing Really Matters': I watched this one with a boy! :) He didn't like it, but I thought it was kind of cool. He broke my heart. The first one always does, right?

"'Music': Okay, this is pretty pathetic. The song came out when the dorms were closed, and so if I wanted to watch it I had to walk from my new apartment (where cable was not installed) to the big lounge in the student union at my university. I sat there FOREVER because somehow I got the time for TRL wrong. When it finally came on, I loved the song (it was my first time hearing it), thought Madonna was stretching for the first time ever to be shocking in a video, and then thought, "This will never be a hit." I was happy to be proved wrong.

"'Don't Tell Me': Me and my boyfriend learned the gay cowboy dance. :) (He broke my heart, too. The really cute ones always do.)

"'What It Feels Like for a Girl': This was the first ever video I downloaded online. The quality was BAD (of the download, not the video).

Did the videos get her far?

"'American Life': I was in Best Buy and it was on the screen above the music section. BARF!

"'American Life' (Uncensored): I ran around the house showing my roommates. They loved it, too!

Who'd have guessed Madonna would outlive music videos?

"'Hung Up': This video, like all the Confessions videos, was first seen by me in downloaded form. I pretty much shrugged my shoulders at all of them. Not bad, but definitely not exciting.

"There you have it... whether you wanted it or not. :)"

Thanks, Jimmie! Or maybe I should say: I really love you, Jimmie—hey!—I really love you Jimmie...Jimmie...ooh, la, la, laaa!

Comments

[Tomi]

Growing up in Mexico, I remember when the Like A Prayer video came out. I think it's a funny example of how different issues play in different cultures. I was in 5th grade and to the kids at school the fact that she kissed a black guy didn't mean anything at all. Everyone was so worked up about her kissing 'a saint.' You know, being a Catholic country and all.

I also think this timeline shows how she's become suspiciously careless with her video. Given that she was at once the master of such artform, I can't help but think it's a conscious decision. I mean, after watching Human Nature, Bedtime Stories or Frozen, would you call Get Together a video?

I hope the new album brings better days in that regard.

[Matthew Rettenmund]

Don't look for more great videos; my take is that Madonna made them art when they had many eyes and were all-inclusive representations of a song. Now, lots of people see videos, but usually in low-quality versions, and there are so many other things to focus on. The music video is no longer what it used to be, which is why I believe Madonna doesn't put as much thought into them as she still does her live shows.

That's interesting about the saint. I recall (I was in college) the scandal being very Catholic-driven, but the media did question whether the uproar was over the burning crosses or if that was cover for outrage over her kissing a black man.

They still sold T-shirts of Madonna in front of burning crosses in the malls.