Fame, I Want to Live Forever: On MADONNA and the Grammys Controversy

by Max S. Gordon

“They had style, they had grace, Rita Hayworth gave good face.”
— Madonna, “Vogue” (written by Madonna & Shep Pettibone)

“You know, I don’t mind getting old, I never thought I’d live this long anyway…What I do mind is looking old…I think I’m sort of jealous of you. And that is because, well, it being your turn and all. And I think I find it tough to face that mine is almost up. It’s real important to enjoy your turn.”

— Shirley MacLaine as Doris Mann in Postcards from the Edge (screenplay by Carrie Fisher)

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I have often debated with myself, despite my love/hate relationship with her work over the years, whether or not I’m a fan of Madonna. Clearly, I must be: even when I should know better, even when part of me resists the temptation, if I see her name in a headline, I ask: What is she doing now? As a star with one of the longest pop-careers in history, she still seeks my attention as part of the general public, and I oblige, because, forty years later, I still finding her fascinating and provocative; I always look. And, when you get past the stunts and media attention and controversies that often…