THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

587-Madonna-Vogue.

1990-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 4.00.Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean, Grace Kelly, Jean Harlow, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, Lana Turner, and Bette Davis. Alongside all of them, Madonna’s place in history is also assured.

Madonna Louise Ciccone, (see also best songs 774) was born on August 16th, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan, United States, her mother who died of breast cancer in 1963, was also called Madonna Louise, so as a child her family referred to her as ‘Little Nonnie.’ Madonna is a singer, songwriter, and an actress, and is known by the honorific title of ‘Queen of Pop.’ She has starred in 17 films, and directed a further two between 1985-2021, receiving mixed reviews, from the very negative overall critical appraisal for her performance in ‘Who’s That Girl,’ in 1987, to the glowing tributes paid to her, for her performance in ‘Evita,’ in 1996.

It was in 1978 that Madonna dropped out of college, and relocated to New York City. She said of her move to New York, ‘It was the first time I’d ever taken a plane, the first time I’d ever gotten a taxi cab. I came here with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I’d ever done.’ One of her first ventures in to performing music was in 1979, as a singer, drummer, and guitarist, in a group called the ‘Breakfast Club,’ Then in 1980, with her then boyfriend Stephan Bray, they formed the band ‘Emmy,’ where the two of them began writing songs together, recording a four song demo tape in November 1980, it was soon after that, that Madonna decided to promote herself as a solo artist. According to the American Billboard magazine, Madonna is the most successful solo artist in the ‘Billboard Hot 100’ chart history, and second overall behind the Beatles. The American academic, social critic, and feminist, professor Camille Paglia, of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, said of Madonna in 2017, ‘She’s a major historical figure, and when she passes, the retrospectives will loom larger and larger in history.’

With sales in excess of 300 million records sold worldwide, Madonna is the best selling female recording artist of all time. She has released 14 studio Albums between 1983-2014, and 94 singles between 1982-2023, there are also three soundtrack Albums, seven official compilation Albums, and six live Albums available. In America on Billboard, nine of her studio Albums have reached Number 1, while in the UK, she has also achieved nine Number 1 studio Albums. On the American Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, Madonna has had 49 top 40 singles, with 12 of those tracks reaching Number 1, the first was ‘Like a Virgin,’ in 1984, and the latest is ‘Music’ in 2000. In the UK, Madonna has had 68 top 40 singles, with 13 of those songs reaching Number 1, the first being ‘Into the Groove,’ in 1985, and the latest being ‘4 Minutes,’ featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland, in 2008.

‘Vogue’ was co-written, and co-produced by Madonna, and Shep Pettibone, with Madonna credited for the lyrics, and Pettibone for the music, which can be placed in the genre of ‘House Music.’ The song appears as the final track on Madonna’s second of three soundtrack Albums, ‘I’m Breathless,’ from May 1990, ‘Vogue’ was the first of two singles issued from the Album, and went on to become the best selling single of 1990 worldwide, with sales in excess of six million copies, and it topped the charts in 30 different countries. Madonna had just finished work on the film ‘Dick Tracy,’ and although ‘Vogue’ had nothing at all to do with the film, it was still added to the films soundtrack Album ‘I’m Breathless.’

It was Madonna’s friend Debi Mazar who first told Madonna of the dance craze that was known as ‘Vogueing.’ It was a dance craze that was popular in the gay community, originating in Harlem, New York, in the late 1980’s, where dancers used elaborate hand gestures, and frequently stopped to pose. The dance originally arose from ‘Harlem Ballroom’ cultures, as danced by African/American, and Latino gay/trans people, from the early 1960’s onward.

In a round about way the lyrics for ‘Vogue’ were inspired by the ‘Dick Tracy’ film, which Madonna co-starred in alongside Warren Beatty. Madonna has said,’I wrote it when I was making Dick Tracy. After we shot the movie, Warren Beatty asked me if I could write a song that would fit my character’s point of view, that she could have conjured up. She was obsessed with speakeasies and movie stars, and things like that. The idea for the lyrics came through that request.’

‘Ladies with an attitude, fellows that were in the mood. Don’t just stand there, let’s get to it, strike a pose, there’s nothing to it, Vogue.’