throughout my childhood i was only occasionally exposed to mainstream american music. i do however remember a tape of madonna videos. this was fantastic, alien music. i liked it, but i was at an age where i wasn't really sure why, i couldn't express it in words. i just sat there entranced by my senses, in a thoughtless reverie. it's exotic, it's groovy, it's melodic. there's a very vivid brightness about it, and that "transportation to another place" quality. i also felt an intense attraction towards madonna, though at that age (elementary school), i had no idea what it was. i just felt burning and heated, my thoughts a mush. so, i sat there enveloped in these sensations, being not anywhere near comprehension, but just feeling. it was an exquisite experience, sitting there watching these videos, my senses whirling around burning themselves into me, in a complete daze.
what makes this memory completely fucking awesome, is that i go through day to day with such worded out constructions. they come in almost completely formed sentences, clumsy and inelegant, but still formed. pure sensation without thought seems very rare to me, to the point where when it does happen i glorify it. live shows, blissed out songs, when it happens, it's music as transcendence. madonna happens to be one of the first artists that i associate this experience with.
listening to it now, it's almost as good as when i first heard it. the absolute catchiness of the chorus, the transcendent "aAaahhhh"s of the harmony, the funky latin backing track. most of all, madonna's totally fucking sexy voice. and i cant listen to this song without her dancing around in this smoking red outfit in my head.
but it sound's only almost as good -- my ear is much more finely tuned no. the 80s production is weak, apparenty very early in the song, like it isn't eq-ed right or something. the bassline is lackluster, and many of the sounds are just dinky. but all that becomes secondary once she starts singing.
