The Bangles' lead singer Susanna Hoffs is usually the most polite person who never says anything controversial, so I was surprised to see in this interview, she seems to blame Madonna for the downgrading of female artistry in today's industry. Her quote echoes similar comments made by Joni Mitchell. Whilst I think Susanna is going a bit far to blame Madonna for the likes of Paris Hilton, I think it is true that Madonna's success undid a lot of the progress women like Joni had made in the previous decade. The Bangles themselves said they began to feel a lot of pressure to be more fashion models than musicians around 1985, whereas when they started they were just four girls playing music. Here's the full quote. Do you think she has a point or is she mistaken?

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Susanna Hoffs: I'm more comfortable with myself now, and I think that's true of a lot of women. At the same time, there's a lot of pressure on female performers to represent all that stuff, to represent something sexy, something available. My role models were Chrissie Hynde, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt; these women were all beautiful and strong to me. Once Madonna became this sort of fashion horse, it became less about the music and more about the clothes, the look, these sexy images. And, unfortunately, that led to Paris Hilton.

midnightmover said:

right don't blame MTV... how many ugly guys do you see now performing?

She's right. Madonna paved the way for all these semi-talented pop stars.

Bishop31 said:

i know because Diana Ross and coutless others before her were the apitome of talent.

Bishop31 said:

Replace "semi" with NO and I'd agree with u.

come on, Prince deserves part of the blame.


personally, i don't mind female artist being all sexy and stuff. if they have any substance it eventually reveals itself.

Graycap23 said:

I was trying to be nice. I knew the Madonna mob would be coming soon.

ehuffnsd said:

lol

oh please...
she wasn't saying that a few years ago when she was shakin' her pert little ass all over the place.
The bitterness has obviously just cropped up now everything has gone south... droopy boobies, droopy ass... "oh, I wish I had paid more attention to the music and not my image, now my ass is WRINKLY like an old prune! I know, I can blame madonna! Especially since that bitch still has abs like a washboard"
bleeeurrrgh....

Hmmm. I don't blame Madonna for Paris. I don't see the logic. Paris is not a singer/artist like Madonna is. I also don't think that for Madonna it's all about the fashion either. I do think she uses fashion as a tool, but I don't think it comes first.

I think the Bangles had other issues other than Madonna. I don't even think that Madonna was even a rival at the time. It would seem that they had other girl bands at the time to compete against. Also girl groups don't last very long either.

that's funny. in the back of my brain, i always blamed that movie "the allnighter" for paris hilton.

Bishop31 said:

That's the truth.

midnightmover said:

I certainly don't disagree with her. She has a valid point.

Anxiety said:

Yeah, the crotch shots in that movie (directed by her own mother) were creepier than Madonna's stuff.

Its a combination of a million different things and NO one is to blame fully. You take MTV and that era of just the visual artist, then you take the sale of MTV to big industry which is owned by big media, then you take that to the labels which are now owned by the same media companies which are all based on fashion and advertising and clothing lines and beauty lines etc... its all just a domino effect, but to be honest, you cant bite the hand that feeds because the Bangles as good as they are, got in on that MTV thing, so did U2,Depeche,Inxs and of course Duran Duran, all great artists, so i dont think blaming early MTV is the thing, it was more the sale of it in the later 80's and then the take over of everything YOUNG, if you are over 25 you are old and if you havent had an album in 2years you are making a comeback?

YOUTH + HYPE = what you have now susanna

The world was so much better before Madonna invented fashion and sex. Paris Hilton's fame is the result of America's obsession with celebrity and wealth. I guess we can peg both of those on Madonna as well?

There have ALWAYS been semi- to no-talented pop stars, as long as the face fit, some synical manager or producer wanted to use them to sell a song. MTV only worsened this. madonna rode the crest of the MTV wave - shes a poster face for it, but not to blame. I find it funny that Hoffs who hardly has a songwriting or production credit to any of the Bangles 2 or 3 hits, feels shes in a position to criticise Madonna's talent or lack there of.

CrozzaUK said:

prince only hooked up with woman who were talentd

ehuffnsd said:

I disagree. I think he hooked up with women he thought were talented. I never thought Vanity, Carmen, nor Mayte were very talented...at least not musically. Sheena Easton was hardly talented either.

Madonna was always more than how she looked and she always projected an image of strength, if anything Susanna Hoffs is more guilty of riding on her appearance. I'd blame Mariah more than Madonna for devaluing talent in favour of displaying your body. Madonna got that out of her system in '93 with her sex book, ages before Paris whored her way into the media.

superspaceboy said:

talent in bed maybe... i was joking

magnificentsynthesizer said:

I think so with all that "Vanity 6" and "Apollonia 6" sexiness, before Madonna.

Wow.
I find that severely ironic coming from SUSANNA HOFFS (who certainly wasn't some Sarah McLachlan or anything) but i'm glad she said it.

I hate Madonna.

Susannah Hoffs would get it badly

EDIT: Not that I give it badly
[Edited 7/9/08 15:26pm]

CrozzaUK said:

Something that you said, Eternal Flame, In your room, Walking down the street, In a different light, Hero takes a fall...

It doesn't matter.. I still love Susanna... and they still rock... saw them last sunday and apart from the awfully short concert (75 mins) they were truely rocking!

.
[Edited 7/9/08 16:11pm]

PatrickS77 said:

Actually, I meant to say sole songwriting credit. Id be interested to hear what her definition of artistry is, seeing as - like madonna - she seems to write most of her songs with other people and have them produced by other people.

Madonna is a cultural reference and turning point for every bitter fuck in the music industry who feels their "genius" is undervalued, and "things aren't like they used to be". We laugh at madonna's desperate attempts to stay relevant, but at least she's trying and not complaining. Half of these fuckers just sit around whingeing about how madonna changed it all, and there's no room for talent anymore. fuck off. You were never that talented in the first place, thats why you're now making your money from going on "I heart the 80's" tours around universitys with Spandau Ballet.

CrozzaUK said:

Wow, seems like she's not the only one who's bitter.... why get so upset about her opinion?

magnificentsynthesizer said:

Got that right. Pretty and talented shouldn't be considered mutually exclusive concepts in music.

But Madonna was a pawn in the grand scheme of things, i mean Duran Duran practically were the cause of videos taking over the impact of music, and thats not to slight them, thats just a fact. The "mini movie" as they were called back in the 80's were more important, but in reality had NOTHING to do with madonna, or at least to say she was the cause. But as i said before when MTV sold itself in the middle 80's as that decade wore on and mergers of all forms of media happend, the internet at everyones hands, visual became the way to get yourself seen, everything is visual, and now for the most part the POP star of the day, cant just have music, because MUSIC is not relevant, you need more than that, an image, a magazine cover, a clothing line etc...

Its far beyond Madonna