ehuffnsd said:

i very much agree.

but i disagree with his notion of spirituality intertwined with celbrity. it may be true for some, but it's not true for me, and i would wager, a majority.

i'm not invalidating it, i just don't agree that it's true beyond the individuals who it is true for.

cborgman said:

I agree with your assessment.

ehuffnsd said:

WHAT?!

and besides the fact that she makes such enjoyable music and Cborgman's theory (which I completely agree with) she was able to maintain a huge gay following by being one of the first celebrities to publicly attack aids, without attacking gays. She wanted to help and she resembled understanding. she released a few songs about friends she had lost from it. She seemed like the perfect gal pal to any gay. She started her entire career singing in Gay dance clubs and her brother who she used to be close to was gay. she was clearly very comfortable in the gay scene and that showed.

bboy87 said:

I don't like Madonna SO much, but I do like some of her music. If she comes out with something new, my first reaction isn't, "I have to get it!" I have to hear it first and then get what I like. Before Madonna, there was Donna Summer. That's who I like SO much. If she comes out with something, I'm buying it even before I hear it.

better question: why wouldn't they?

errant said:

That's simple: They might not like her music. Some gay men don't, I'm sure.

leecappella said:

then they are to be shot on sight.

Cos she's the best!

I don't know, but there's something creepy about it.

errant said:

[Edited 12/26/09 8:22am]

midnightmover said:

No, there isn't.

RKJCNE said:

Hahaha!!

midnightmover said:

so you're saying you one of the few gay men who dont like madonna?

Madonna embraced the gay population right off the bat and never looked back or shied away from it. They love her for that simple fact.

lowkey said:

Is that a serious question or just part of your ongoing attempts to get back at me for disrespecting Janet Wack-son? If it's a serious question then shame on you.

VoicesCarry said:

Well, people brainwashed into joining cults always think their actions are perfectly sensible. It takes an outsider to recognise the creepiness of it.

midnightmover said:

Now you just sound like an idiot, non of us are brainwashed, is there something creepy about the fact that 80% of 13 year old girls love Taylor Swift?

She was in a movie called THE NEXT BEST THING...

cborgman said:

I agree the sort of energy these folk produce do speak to inclinations many of us have since very early on. (The idea the inclination is inbred intrigues me -- because I do believe homosexuality itself is -- but I guess I'd want to observe homosexuals throughout the world to see if they also flock en masse to divas as kids.)

And for me at least, their appeal has as much to do with nonsexual things as sexual. When I think back to those who've been my "divas," there's always been a great balance of power and gentleness, active self-definition and a situating within a keen aesthetic. And it seems to make sense those type of figures would be largely women or men of questionable sexuality: Women and gay men (and, yeah, I'm speaking in fairly broad generalization here) have always needed to seize power through the years, but straight men have not in equal measure needed to rush toward a proportionate gentleness; straight men have long held the power of self-definition, but because they are essentially born into a system that assumes their power, they less actively challenge those conventions, calling attention to their own self-definition; and women and gay men have historically had the most latitude to freely exercise themselves in the creative fields -- visual arts, music, clothing and makeup, theatre, literature, homecraft, cuisine. They've become the chief purveyors of aesthetic... at least in the West. When a particular individual turns up in whom all these are exhibited just right, is seems they elicit a certain veneration.

I do think Harry Ray's theory is onto something. But I'd reverse what seems to be his premise: That is, I don't buy that the modern working out of societal dynamics as above is a late-lingering reverence for the "sacred feminine." Rather, I suspect ancient veneration of the sacred feminine was an early working out of those societal dynamics.
[Edited 12/27/09 10:42am]

midnightmover said:

what does this have to do with janet? im grown,what do i look like trying to 'get back' at somebody because they dont like a pop star? please grow up. you are a british gay man who dont like madonna, i find that strange.

I think it's a unfair generalization that ALL gays like Madonna. I like her but not to the degree some do. I like her for her music (particularly her 1980s and 1990s works) and for the fact that she was a ballsy entertainer (much like Betty Davis, Labelle, Grace Jones, Debbie Harry, Donna Summer, Cyndi Lauper, Bette Midler, etc. were). But to be honest I'm not too personally connected to folks unless their music inspired me to the point where I wanted to be like that. Like Prince, he inspires me, MJ, he inspires me, Marvin, he inspires me, Jimi, James, Curtis, etc., etc., etc.

Of the females, Patti, Chaka and Betty hold my heart strings.
[Edited 12/27/09 12:56pm]

midnightmover said:

You're perfectly insulting, as always.
[Edited 12/27/09 13:08pm]

midnightmover said:

Why do they love Cyndi Lauper so much? That's pretty much her entire fanbase at this point.

Timmy84 said:

Betty Davis?

Lammastide said:

Yes

Timmy84 said:

I like Madonna because I grew up seeing her change herself EVERY time. Seeing so many other 80's to 90's pop artists biting off her style and wating to be like her but they just failed everytime.

Seeing her since I was 5 years old coming with a new look for each video, defying visual videographies every year. Not caring what the media thought about her.

The songs...so catchy and engaging. And growing up in New York City @ the time from 82 - 92 you could'nt escape seeing her immersion in culture.

errant said:

she's one of my biggest loves.

she's just so freaking talented and unapologetic for her weird, and the true colors tour is something i always look forward to.