All language subtitles for Becoming.Madonna.2024.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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MAN: ..and single, Holiday, and...

Hi, this is Madonna on Countdown
and here's my-

I have to say,
"Hi, this is Madonna?"

Yeah. Well, whatever you...
(CHUCKLES)

Hi, I'm Madonna?
Yeah.

Hi, I'm Madonna on Countdown,

and this is my new single
and video, Holiday.

(SINGULAR APPLAUSE)
I've always felt like

such an outsider,
like such a misfit,

like such a weirdo.

What do I say?
And I felt a freak.

And I felt like I could never
fit in with...

the prom queens and the cheerleaders
and the perfect girls.

I was really down on myself.

MAN: Does the name which you've
grown up with mean anything to you?

MADONNA:
It means a great deal to me.

It's my mother's name, and I love
my mother, so there's a link.

And she died, of course.
Yeah.

Come here, brother.
This is my brother, Christopher.

He dances with me.

CICCONE: She was
our mother's namesake,

and her name was Madonna.

I mean, it either crushes you

or it elevates you
to something else.

BARBONE: Her ambition was there,

and it's what drove her to go
through a whole lot of suffering

to get where she was going.

I mean,
she did not have an easy life.

ROSENBLATT: There was this star

just fucking radiating,
who was looking for a deal.

She said,
"I want to rule the world."

What does this mean?
Does that mean "good."

OK.

I think she's awesome, man.
She's great.

You can really dance to her music.

REPORTER: Madonna sells
more than 75,000 records a day.

Not bad for a 25-year-old
girl from Michigan.

NEWSREADER: Madonna, the sultry
singer who has parlayed a trampy,

trashy style,
is about to be exposed, literally.

MADONNA: I kept seeing myself
through macho heterosexual eyes.

I suddenly thought,

"That's not the only way
that I have to be."

ORECK: Being a female in American

culture is that you are
supposed to be a whore,

but you're not supposed to say
you're a whore.

MAN: She was ruthless...
(LAUGHS) ..in a good way.

I mean, look what it got her.

MADONNA: Most people
wanna call me trash and a slut

because I'm open
about what I'm doing.

I don't wanna have
any sense of shame about it,

and I don't wanna have
any sense of regret.

Why should I?

(TRAFFIC RUMBLES)

# THE DAMNED: Neat Neat Neat #

Part of the reason
I sort of shot out like a cannon

out of Michigan and like, left home
at such an early age was because...

I had to feel independent.

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

But I was going to be somebody
and I was going to make something
out of my life,

and I was not gonna spend
the rest of my life

in the boring Midwestern suburbs.

("NEAT NEAT NEAT" CONTINUES)

When I came to New York, it was the
first time I'd ever taken a plane.

It was the first time
I'd ever gotten in a taxicab.

I'd never been to a big city
like that before.

New York's really overwhelming
when you're 17.

I came here not knowing anyone,
with $35 in my pocket.

It was the bravest thing
I've ever done,

and my goal was to conquer the city.

(MUSIC ENDS)

(WHISTLE BLOWS)
(CARS HONK)

INSTRUCTOR: OK.

OK, here we go.

(CLASSICAL PIECE PLAYS)

MADONNA: Originally,
I'd come to New York as a dancer.

You know,
I danced in a lot of companies

while I was living in New York,

but it wasn't
fulfilling enough for me.

Most of the kids
in my ballet classes,

they were these really, like,
spoiled little bratty girls.

They didn't know anything
about music or art.

They were really boring to me.

And I found myself rebelling.

And I cut my hair really short,

greased it so it'd be
sticking all up,

and I'd rip up all my tights

and make a big cut
down the middle of my leotard,

and put safety pins
all the way up it.

Just anything to, like, stand out

from them and say,
"I'm not like you, OK?"

(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)

And that's when I started
exploring other territories

and really quitting, like,
going to my dance classes every day.

I'm gonna come in,
walk in the door and say,
"Oh, it was a rough day at work."

And I started hanging out
with people in the art world

and the sort of the downtown
Lower East Side scene and musicians.

But it wasn't, um...

It wasn't that planned out.

# Let the sunshine

# Let the sunshine in

# The sunshine in. #

I think what was most spectacular
about the time

was the diversity of the music.

# PYLON: Danger #

It was a big mish mash of things.

# Disorganised... #
You had discos going on,

you had dance starting.

The punk scene was just gigantic.

# Danger... #

There were a ton of clubs.

There was CBGB's,
there was the Mudd Club,

there was Max's Kansas City,
the Bitter End, the Bottom Line.

You could see live music
from eight o'clock at night

'till four in the morning.

The times in mainstream America

were very, very conservative.

On top, you had
Reagan running for president,

and they would say
the Moral Majority.

I can only add to that, my friends,

that I continue to look
at the scriptures today

for fulfilment and for guidance.

But underneath,
you had all this creativity.

Music was just exploding.

Afrika Bambaataa
would be hanging out

with the Beastie Boys
and David Byrne from Talking Heads.

It's all, like, new wave,

and who didn't fit really any mould.

But that scene,
that existed because

New York was a shithole,

and they could afford
to live with no money.

REPORTER: Last year,
major crimes on New York's subways

rose 17% over the previous year.

Nearly 5,000 robberies,

24 rapes, 20 murders,
600 aggravated assaults.

MADONNA: I lived in this place
with all these prostitutes.

I was often mistaken
for a prostitute

when I went down the street.

I never thought I would get used to
seeing people laying on the street,

living their life publicly
on a sidewalk.

I was in shock.

(SIREN WAILS)

GILROY:
I met Madonna at a May Day party.

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

We interacted a little,
and then we were in the bathroom

'cause she needed help
with something,

and she said, "Aren't you
going to kiss me?" (LAUGHS)

And so I did.

She had come with somebody,
and we left together.

I don't know what happened
to that poor fellow.

She knew I was living
in this former synagogue,

which was in bad disrepair.

And after a while, she moved in.

My brother, Ed, and I
always had bands.

Right outside our bedroom,

we had the drums and the guitar,
it was just a big studio space.

Madonna just loved that.

MADONNA: They had a band already,

and it was called
The Breakfast Club.

He went off to work every day
with his brother,

and I kind of
stayed there and used

their studio all day long
until they came back to practice.

See, I kept wanting to play
in their band and they kept saying,

"No, you know,
there's no opening, sorry."

So, for a year,
I just locked myself away

and taught myself to play
drums and guitar and piano.

So, I had enough knowledge
to write music,

and then the songs just started
coming, you know, like crazy.

And then the drummer quit.

Then they finally
let me be in their band.

GILROY: She had a real good
sense of rhythm,

and I guess that was
'cause of the dance background.

Yeah, you couldn't help
but be impressed.

She was not a big person,
but she could hit powerfully.

In that year and a half,

she wrote so many songs.

Every few days,
she'd come up with some new song

about her experience
and what she was feeling,

and the separation anxiety
from being away from home.

"Letter From Daddy"
was one that she wrote.

# Oh boy, I got a letter today

# From my daddy
And here's what he had to say

# Baby, won't you please
Come home...

She was disappointed
that he was disappointed

in her leaving home,
coming to New York.

And she had a line in that song,

"You loved the dream
you had for me."

# Daddy, I'm afraid to come home

# I said, Daddy,
I'm afraid to come home. #

It was hard to blame her father
for being worried.

I mean, she came to New York
with nothing.

Just her wits.

(LAUGHS) Oh, man.

(SIREN WAILS)

(TENSE MUSIC)

PRIEST: From age to age,
you gather a people to yourself...

CICCONE: My father and mother
were very religious

and very Catholic.

..of the body and blood of your son,

our Lord, Jesus Christ...

Ten Commandments
and sacraments, etcetera.

My father was
a first-generation immigrant.

MADONNA: His presents
came over on the boat from Italy,

and are real disciplinarian,
very strict.

Very old fashioned,

traditional, macho, Italian world.

The girls got all the lectures,
and we were told about modesty.

We had curfews
and we had to dress a certain way,

and we had to behave a certain way,
and my brothers...

could do whatever they wanted.

When we got home from school,
we changed our clothes,

we did our chores,
we did our homework,

we ate dinner, we weren't
allowed to watch television,

and it was a very
kind of regimented life.

He didn't like us to have idle time.

He thought that we should
always be productive.

You know, me saying, "Well,
I don't want to go to college.

I want to go to New York."

You know,
it just didn't make any sense to him

because it seems like a hobby.
You know what I mean?

Not something serious. Something
that you could make a living at.

GILROY:
The band was doing pretty well.

But then at some point,
she wanted to be the singer,

which, you know, wasn't my thing.
I wanted to sing and play.

You know,
I didn't want to be a side person.

She wanted to
be the star of the show.

MADONNA: I begged them
and begged them for months

to let me sing one song.

And then they did,
and then I got a taste of that,

and I didn't want to play
the drums anymore.

I wanted to play more songs,
and eventually, they booted me out

because I was hogging
all the space, you know.

GILROY: That more or less
was the end of it, yeah.

That part was over, the romance.

(AMBIENT STREET NOISE)

The club scenes all over New York

were fed by all the people
in the Music Building,

which is where I had
my recording studio.

# TALKING HEADS: The Great Curve #

It's filthy,
it's dirty, it's grungy.

There are policemen doing busts,
you know, in hallways.

And this is where
Madonna was living.

# The world has a way
Of looking at people... #

MADONNA: This guy that I knew
from Detroit, Stephen Bray,

he had a lot of musical training,
and he could play every instrument.

He had been playing
with a lot of different groups,

and he had the keys
to a lot of rehearsal studios.

BRAY: The Music Building
is a really magical place.

You know, you catch a snippet
of vocal and, like, guitar riffs.

The echo of a snare drum.

It's like an ocean of sound.

Madonna and I,
we came to basically live there.

(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC)

Madonna has the grit,

she's just got that kind
of willpower.

Midwestern people
are hardworking people.

And if you want to survive,
you have to...

be willing to put in the time
and put in the effort,

and things aren't given to you.

BARBONE: One day I forgot my keys.

And I'm knocking on the door,

and her face
comes right into the square,

and she opened the door for me.
I said, "Thanks a lot,"

and she said, "You're gonna
open doors for me someday,"

and just walked past me.

BRAY: Well, we were
aware of Camille.

She was the closest thing we had
to, sort of, management.

So, Madonna being Madonna, was very,
very much aware of that, I'm sure.

BARBONE: She understood

that I had contacts
in the music business.

She made it a point to see me

and talk to me as much as she could.

I said, "When's your next gig?
I'll be there."

And that was it.

Madonna had aspirations
for a Blondie kind of thing.

It was rock music.

# I have a flower

# That I save by myself everyday...

It was what was being played

in the clubs,
it had nothing to do with dance.

# Soldier, come here

# Asking for trouble

# You give and you take

# To break my bubble
I'm a hothouse flower... #

There was something about her
that kept me mesmerised.

She had a sense of performance
that doesn't exist in people

that have been performing
for years and years.

(VOCALISING)

I had made my decision.

I was gonna sign her.

(SONG CONCLUDES)
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

But I had to fire that band.

I fired the band
because they were just OK

as far as musicians are concerned.

BRAY: I knew that Madonna planned

to break up the band

and work with Camille.

I was disappointed but, you know,
these things happen, right?

People have to move on.

There was sadness around it,

but I was glad
she was pursuing her dream.

BARBONE:
We came together with the desire

to make this happen no matter what.

Her ambition was there,

and it's what drove her
to go through

a whole lot of suffering
to get where she was going.

I mean,
she did not have an easy life.

INTERVIEWER: But does the name

which you've grown up with
mean anything to you?

MADONNA: It means a great deal
to me. It's my mother's name.

And she died, of course.
Yeah.

You lost her very early in life.
Yeah.

What happened...

you know, when I was six years old,

it just was
the greatest event of my life.

It was like a part
of my heart was ripped out.

What do you remember about her?

That she was beautiful

and sweet

and... a hard worker.

I wonder how much of...

of her is in you?

Yeah, well, I'll never know.

I was forced to grow up fast
and understand my mother's death,

to understand the psychological,

like, all the things
that were going on,

it's too much for a child, I think.

CICCONE:
I think when my mother died,

things changed emotionally
with everybody.

I know my father
put a great deal more

pressure on her

to be... our guide.

She was my mother's namesake,
and her name was Madonna.

I mean, it either crushes you or...

edifies you or...

elevates you to something else.

MADONNA: In a big family situation,

you're, like, fighting to, like,

be noticed and stand out
and everything.

I wanted to get
my father's attention.

So, I've sort of had this emptiness

that I've had to sort of go out
into the world to fill up.

# PAT BENATAR:
Hit Me With Your Best Shot #

When I think about 1982,
there's a lot of music going on.

Madonna was working
in Camille's studio.

# You're a real tough cookie

# With a long history...

I always felt that Camille's vision

was anthemic songs for women,

very much like a Pat Benatar.

It was good, it was solid, there
was nothing wrong with that stuff.

# Hit me with your best shot...

MADONNA: We couldn't decide on the
direction that I wanted to go in,

and she wanted to
promote me more like new wave

or rock or whatever
you want to call it.

And I was writing
really funky stuff,

and she said, "You can't do that."

And I said, "Look, this is the way
I'm developing as an artist,

and you can't stop that."

# Fire away. #

BRAY: I was working
on my own tracks,

which were much more sort of,
like, R&B and pop and club.

And Madonna would come in
and she usually had a notepad

full of fragments of lyrics,

and she'd say,
"What do you think of this?"

And we'd sit down and we'd just,
for the next 10 hours,

we're just kind of
laying down vocals.

MADONNA: Late at night,
we'd go back to these studios

where they had four track
and eight track recording things

and we'd made our own demo tape

on our own, like,
at three o'clock in the morning,

we'd go there every night.

("AIN'T NO BIG DEAL" PLAYS)

BRAY: So, "Ain't No Big Deal"
was kind of disco-y...

and my version of it

was beloved by my mother,
but no one else.

So, I asked Madonna to sing it.

# Sad time is gone
I got no tears to cry...

We played, between the two of us,
all the instruments on it

and I did all the singing,
we wrote the songs together.

BRAY: When she sang
"Ain't No Big Deal",

she sang it with all her heart.
And it really kind of just clicked.

# Ain't no big deal to say... #

I did not know that she was
taking it around Danceteria

or other dance clubs.

MADONNA: I wasn't gonna go
to record labels because I know
they never listen to the tapes.

So, I went to clubs
because I know that A&R men

from record labels go there,
and they bring their new records
for the DJ to play.

# GIBSON BROTHERS: Ooh What A Life #

You know, the big DJ at Danceteria,

he told me that this girl
was coming by

who was trying to get him
to play her demo.

I mean, it was good,
it wasn't great,

but there was this star

just fucking radiating,
who was looking for a deal.

I always ask artists,
"What do you want?"

And the best answer I ever got
was the one that Madonna gave me

where she said,
"I want to rule the world."

(MUSIC ENDS ABRUPTLY)

(MONITOR BEEPS STEADILY)

Seymour Stein, my boss,
was in the hospital,

so I said "Look, I'm gonna go
play him these demos tonight.

Why don't you come by
at the end of the day tomorrow

and we'll go up
and we can meet him."

STEIN: I was hooked up
to all these machines.

I hadn't shaved, I was wearing

the regulation pyjamas

with a slit up my backside.

When she walked in,
I could tell right away

she couldn't have cared
if I was laying

in a coffin,
as long as I could sign a contract.

That's how it all began.

(OMINOUS INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC)

All this was going on
behind my back.

I'm not aware
that there was a dance song

that had gone to labels.

(MUSIC DARKENS)

I get called to Billy Joel's
lawyer's office.

She's there.
She's lying on the leather couch,

chewing gum and blowing bubbles.

And it was a 10-minute meeting.

"Madonna doesn't want you
as her manager anymore,

we're letting you go."

Silence.

Well, I said,
"I'll get legal representation"

and I walked out, shocked.
(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES)

It took me days
to get upset and cry.

MADONNA: I've been, you know,
dropping off musicians

and changing personnel because I
know they weren't the right people.

You gotta know intuitively

you're with the right people,
or it's pointless.

(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)

# FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD:
Welcome To The Pleasuredome #

For a while, everything was OK,

but then I got a manager who, um...

wanted to fit me into an image,

an idea in her mind
that she thought I should be.

More like Debbie Harry or
Pat Benatar or something like that.

That's tired, right?

# We're a long way from home

# Welcome to the Pleasuredome... #

When we first went into the studio,

it was going to be
"Ain't No Big Deal" is the A-side

and "Everybody" is the B-side.

"Ain't No Big Deal"
just did not come out good.

We just didn't like it.

But "Everybody"
sounded really good,

so that was the first single,

and we set a tone with that.

# Everybody

# Come on, dance and sing

# Everybody

# Get up and do your thing...

She was taking
all these different things.

The disco world,
the new wave dance world,

the punk rock scene...

# Let the music take control...

..putting it into
one amazing package.

# And let yourself go. #

Then we just started to do gigs.

What... What does this mean?

Does that mean "good"? OK.

You have to wait.
We would book

three or four clubs
on a Saturday night.

Ready? OK, we're ready.

ANNOUNCER: Live at Uncle Sam's,

from New York, Madonna!
(CHEERING)

Back then,
people would do track dates,

which was the music,
and they would sing live.

And they just go around
with this beat box,

make some money and off to the next.

# For your love. #

How about a hand for my dancers?

Come out here, you guys.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

Aren't they great?

That's Christopher, Erika, and Bagz.

My brother, Christopher,
and I have always been

the closest members of my family.

Come here, brother.

This is my brother, Christopher.
He's also part of my big family,

and he dances with me,
and he was inspired

and came to New York
after I... I was here.

Madonna was doing club dates,

and she said "Come back to New York!

I want you to be
one of my backup dancers."

# First star I see tonight
Starlight (star bright)...

It wasn't fun,
but it was my sister,

and I love her.
# C'mon

# Shine your heavenly body... #

And I didn't have a job,
so we did it.

Some places, they loved us.

Alright, we're gonna take a holiday.

(FAINT CHEERING)

Some places, not so much.
Huh?

Like what?

What's up with you?

Huh?

Yeah, I can see that.

We'd go out to Long Island,
and they absolutely hated her.

Well, I'll do
what I wanna do, alright?

And I know you're going to like it.

OK, don't... don't
do anything with that hat.

I mean, they were throwing cups
and napkins and bottles and shit.

Thank you very much. Goodnight!
(GLASS SHATTERS)

(CROWD CLAMOURING)
I had miserable low points,

I had terrible
feelings of loneliness.

I just kept thinking
this is a rite of passage,

I have to pass this test.

And I refused to accept

that anything but success

was going to happen eventually.

You know, I just didn't think
that failing was an option.

MONTAUG: OK, and now, No Entiendes

is proud to present

Sire recording artist, Madonna.

(CROWD CHEERING)
Now get up and do your thing!

STEINBERG: I was at
Haoui Montaug's No Entiendes

where Bagz, Erika,

and Martin Burgoyne
danced as back up dancers.

Martin was Madonna's best friend.

MADONNA: Martin was a bartender
at a club in the East Village.

We lived in the same apartment,

and we were just inseparable.

When I started to make
records and stuff,

he was my art director.

He helped me design my album covers
and he'd go on tours with me

and help me with my shows,
and things like that.

He was really my best friend.

I think one of the reasons
that Madonna

could be so close to Martin

was that he was gay.

STEINBERG: From the very beginning,
gay clubs loved her.

MAN: Bunny, put me on the list.

I'd be glad to. I just got here.

I'm dancing and boogying down
with the pop tarts tonight.

This is great.
See you in there.

And the gay community
became a major influence

for her career and also
a turning point for her music.

# YAZOO: Goodbye 70's #

Martin Burgoyne
was Madonna's link

between the new wave community

and the gay scene.

But I'm talking about
the cool gay community...

I'm afraid that
some of you came here

expecting a classy drag act.

..and the people
who were influential.

Basquiat,

Keith Haring,

singers, performers,

dancers, all collaborated.

# I'm tired of playing
In your fashion war...

Downtown was more than a location,

it was a mentality.

We're gonna shake
Keith's hand, alright?

# Goodbye 70's... #

The artists got together,

and you talked about
different things.

We just all worked together
on these projects,

and it really became a community.

MADONNA: There's this tension.
There's this, like,

sort of feeling in the air
that everyone is going somewhere

and there's a feeling of desperation

and a feeling of urgency.

Feeling of, like, being on the edge.

It's inspiring.

They were creating

a new genre of culture,

not just music, not just art,

but a liberating movement.

The two of them were quite a couple,
Martin and Madonna.

I really liked Martin a lot.

I would just say
she wasn't the nicest,

she wasn't the friendliest person,
you know.

'Cause she could be pretty hard,

and I think he softened
her edges a lot.

She could relate to him
because he was gay.

They could really be friends.

I don't think she could be friends
like that with a straight guy.

MADONNA: I feel that most gay men

are so much more in touch

with a certain kind of sensitivity

that heterosexual men
aren't allowed to be in touch with.

To me, they are more
whole human beings in a way,

you know, than... than most
of the straight men that I know.

So, I'm naturally attracted to them.

MAN: OK, here we go. Ready?

MADONNA: Go ahead, go ahead.
Go ahead, Eden,

before, like, people start
getting really weird.

MAN: OK, go.

# HEART: Barracuda #

We had already put out two singles

that had done really well
on the dance charts,

but we hadn't crossed over yet,

so we decided we needed a manager.

MADONNA: I just said, "Who's
the manager of the biggest act

right now in America today?

I want his manager."

I mean, Freddy DeMann
was managing Michael Jackson...

who was, at the time,
the biggest star on the planet.

(CLAMOURING)

A friend of mine, Seymour Stein,

he said, "I'm sending out
this artist of mine,

I just signed this girl, Madonna.

She's shopping for managers
and I'd like you to meet her."

I told him I really didn't want to,
and he said,

"Look, I'm telling you,
she's gonna be a star."

# Barracuda... #

ROSENBLATT:
We had a meeting with Freddy DeMann.

DEMANN:
I was immediately attracted to her.

Madonna has that certain something.

Madonna and Freddy
had this great meeting,

and he told me he was going to
quote unquote "manage my girl."

And his assistant comes in and says,

"Freddy you have
your conference call now."

And Freddy said,
"Well, if you guys don't mind,

why don't you stick around?"

And he said, "Here's a video,
and we're going to premiere this

on MTV in about a week."

So, he presses play and leaves,

and Madonna and I watch
the long form

Michael Jackson "Beat It" video.

# They told him,
"Don't you ever come around here"

# "Don't wanna see your face
You better disappear..."

We were both blown away.

We're sitting there speechless.
# So beat it

# Just beat it. #
(SONG ENDS ABRUPTLY)

(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC)

It was one of the first
long form videos.

No one had ever done
anything like that before.

("BEAT IT" RESUMES)

The quality of the filmmaking

was just incredibly high.

You know, this video is just
going to change everything.

# No one wants to be defeated. #

Back then in America,
you just had radio stations.

You had to get on 100 stations
in America to break.

MTV changed that.

The record industry has found
a marriage with television.

The results are videos,
top musical hits put to pictures.

Another result is MTV,

Music Television,
a nationwide cable channel.

We both thought that
Madonna, visually,

was so striking
and so engaging and so different

that if we did it right,
we could really conquer the planet.

MADONNA: I said, "I'm just
as talented as Michael Jackson."

If he can exploit his image,
I just said,

"OK I'm going to get into this."

# TOM TOM CLUB: Spooks #

LAMBERT:
I first met Madonna in 1984,

and I was a struggling
young filmmaker

living in Los Angeles.

I had made a music video
for my friends,

who had a group called
the Tom Tom Club.

It came to the attention
of a man at Warner Brothers.

He said, "There's this girl,
I think she's gonna be a big star.

If she likes you, if you like her,

I'll give you some money
to make a music video."

The song was "Borderline."

I said I think it would be
really cool for you to be dancing

with these kids in a playful way.

I was really impressed
with the way she was able

to pull the choreography together.

We just turned on the music
and figured it out.

("BORDERLINE" PLAYS)

She just has this ability
to connect with a camera

that is supernatural.

She's like a magnet and the camera
just connects to her face.

# Something in the way you love me

# Won't let me be. #

(LAUGHS) What's the matter?
You want some more torture?

INTERVIEWER:
Is the image of you really you?

I would say so.

Is it a look? An attitude?
How would you describe it?

I think it's an attitude
more than anything.

LAMBERT: My goal,
always from the beginning

with Madonna, was...

not to impose a character on her,

because she didn't need me
to do that.

What she needed me to do
was capture that character.

You know this is a business
that exactly wants to slot you,

wants to describe you.
Mm-hmm.

Where do you fit now?

In the new category
that I've defined.

(LAUGHS)

What's new about it?

Me.

MAN 1: We're rolling.
MAN 2: Rolling!

Let's do a rehearsal, kid.

Come on. Up and at 'em.

When she started to become famous,

people were just like, "Oh, my God,
she sold her soul to the devil."

Nobody becomes that famous,
that fast.

Because it was just so meteoric.

And I have to say,

she never looked back.

So tonight,
here at Radio City Music Hall,

some famous faces
have come out to celebrate.

The occasion was the first annual
MTV Video Music Awards.

(CROWD CLAMOURING)
(CAMERAS CLICKING)

# THE SLITS:
I Heard It Through The Grapevine #

Her manager, Freddy,

wanted her to perform "Borderline",

which was the single at the time.
She said "No."

Madonna fought with them
and really fought hard

to do "Like a Virgin," and Freddy...

you know, he lost the argument.

That was the first time
she performed it live.

# I made it through the wilderness

# Somehow I made it through. #
(SONG MUTES, TENSE MUSIC)

The performance at the MTV Awards.
Yeah.

You came down those stairs
dressed as a bride,

then you crawled all over the stage.
You actually did shock

not only just the press and that,

but some of the industry as well.
(MUSIC RESUMES)

# Oh, like a virgin

# Feels so good inside. #

My manager, I had only
been with him for a short time,

and he came backstage
and he was white.

I mean, he thought that, you know...
He couldn't speak to me.

(TENSE MUSIC)

I was embarrassed.

Just 'cause it looked like
a mistake.

And her rolling around
on the floor, I was like,

"Oh, my God,
my father's gonna have a fit."

Do you remember the first time
you set foot on stage?

The first show I ever did
was in 6th grade...

and I painted my body
with fluorescent paints,

and I put a bikini on
and danced to a song by The Who.

My father grounded me for a month.

But I loved it.

I lived for it.

And that's when I felt
most comfortable.

ROSENBLATT: And I gotta say that
her manager, the record company,

tons of the people
at the actual awards show,

thought it was an absolute disaster.

(CHEERING)
But it really proved to be

as pivotal as the Beatles
on The Ed Sullivan Show.

PRESENTER: Alright.

That was the nuclear bomb.

OK, let's hear it for Madonna.

(SCREAMING)

You know,
people were really wondering

what was going to happen next.

Over here, Madonna...

Madonna, if you think we are
referring to the sweet expressions

by the painter, Raphael,

you clearly do not have
a teenage daughter.

# THE RUNAWAYS: Cherry Bomb #

Did you enjoy the Madonna concert?
(ALL CHEER)

She's excellent.
I think she's awesome, man.

She's great.
You can really dance to her music.

REPORTER: Here we have
the "Girl Toy" belt buckle.

The ringlets, lots of those.

Basically, we're looking for
the Madonna look,

and you turned out to have it.
Yes, I love Madonna more than life.

# Cherry bomb...

REPORTER: Madonna sells more than
75,000 records a day.

Not bad for a 25-year-old
girl from Michigan.

Any predictions for the future year?

MADONNA: Every little girl
between the age of 10 and 18

is gonna wanna look like me.

# Hello, Daddy

# Hello, Mom... #

Hello, brother.
(LAUGHS)

I like the way she acts,
because I think all women

should be able to act
like they want without being...

run down by men at all.

She was sexual enough

to be of interest
to the record industry,

but she also spoke directly to...
you know, the women and girls.

Madonna wants to know

how many people are going to see
the Virgin tour?

(CHEERING)

Teenage girls.
They're looking at it

and they're saying,
"Everybody feels that way.

Why can't I feel that way?"

REPORTER: Is this yourself
or an imitation of Madonna?

It's an imitation of Madonna,
but inside is me, too.

ORECK: She gave them confidence.

(ALL SCREAM)

She gave them HER confidence.

And people were scared of that,
believe me.

REPORTER: Not the sort of girls
you'd take home to mum for tea.

(SONG FADES, ENDS)

REPORTER: A lot of people think
that she projects a bad image

for young women. What do you think?
I don't think so.

No.
Definitely not.

I'm glad I don't have
a daughter her age.

Why is that?

Because of the image.
I mean, I just can't believe it.

LAMBERT:
It was a moment where everybody

was confronted with this image.

The people who were
outraged by Madonna

probably wouldn't choose
to go to a Madonna concert,

but that particular person might be

watching the news
when a clip from it is shown.

I don't agree with what a lot
of what she does on stage.

I really don't.

Maybe there needs to be an
older crowd, perhaps?I think so.

ORECK: Her audience was really
much younger than anyone expected.

(CROWD SCREAMING)

Over and over, you saw, like,
nine-year-olds singing

"Like a Virgin."

REPORTER: When you dress up
like this, how do you feel?

I feel wonderful.

What are these kids really saying?

I want to be a virgin,

but I want to be a virgin
who looks like I'm a slut.

The press affected her most

when she started to get big,

and the papers decided
to focus in on hating her.

MADONNA: Most people wanna look
at me as this tarty little bimbo.

They call me trash and a harlot,

whatever they can,
because I'm an overtly

sexual person in my image.

You start thinking sexuality
is a bad thing,

that's when you start
having problems.

Today, some rock songs
are downright X-rated,

and that's got people
from Main Street

to Pennsylvania Avenue
saying enough is enough.

One recent survey by a Washington
based research council concluded

that Americans
were far more religious

than the people of other nations,

that an overwhelming
majority of Americans

disapprove of adultery,
teenage sex, pornography,

abortion, and hard drugs.

And this same study

showed a deep reverence
for the importance of family ties

and religious belief.

America is in the midst
of a spiritual awakening

and a moral renewal.

Adam, it's in the wrong
position here. I think-

I don't wanna answer
all those questions again.

No, no, no, this was OK.

Don't get all grumpy on me now.

Please. (LAUGHS)

I cannot emphasise
what a shark pit it was

from a young woman
who's coming into that world.

MADONNA:
If you are a powerful female

and you don't play the traditional
role that you're supposed to play,

then you are going to be...
intimidating to people.

As a woman in the 80s,
if you're an artist

and you have a open mind about sex,

get ready to pay for it.

I ended up hearing
when people in the business

would talk about her,
it wasn't positive.

Just the whispers were like,
"She can't really sing.

She doesn't really have talent.

She slept her way to the top."

REPORTER:
Now she's launched a major tour

as the country's
hottest female performer.

With a triple platinum album,

she's done it by rocking the boat
with uninhibited sensuality

and a reputation for doing
whatever it takes to get to the top.

But her rise to stardom is cluttered

with resentful rumours about using

and dropping beneficial men
on her way up.

ROSENBLATT:
Are you out of your fucking mind?

She did not have to give
sexual favours to Freddy DeMann.

She didn't have to do it
to get her record contract.

She didn't have to do it
with the people at Warner Brothers.

So, give me a fucking break here.

It's just sexism.

Material Girl intended to show

that Madonna looked at men

as sexual beings
who were there for her pleasure.

# Some boys kiss me

# Some boys hug me

# I think they're OK...

She's not interested in a rich guy

so that she can use his money.

She's interested in a cute guy
so she can use his body.

# But they can't see the light
(That's right)...

Why couldn't you sleep with
whoever you wanted to sleep with?

Just 'cause you're a woman?

If men can do it, so can women.

# Only boys that save their pennies

# Make my rainy day...

LAMBERT: When I directed the video,
we kind of realised

we just had a lot of
the very same feelings about

the rules of the game.

# ..we are living
In a material world

# And I am a material girl. #

(SONG FADES, ENDS)
(MELANCHOLY MUSIC)

MADONNA: I always thought
that because I didn't have a mother,

that I somehow didn't learn
all of those subservient things.

I didn't learn manners.

I didn't get all that
"OK, you have to sit this way,

you have to dress this way,
you have to act this way."

LAMBERT: Sharon wanted everything
to go smoothly, and I said,

"Well, we need to have
some attractive men on the set.

We came up with the idea

that we would get Sean Penn.

# GENERATION X:
Dancing With Myself #

ORECK: It was like a bomb went off.

America's bad boy

and America's bad girl.

REPORTER:
24-year-old rocker, Madonna,

says her heart belongs
to her leading man of many months,

actor, Sean Penn.

But can a material girl
from the Midwest

find happiness
with the star of Bad Boys?

("DANCING WITH MYSELF" CONTINUES)

ORECK: She was genuinely
in love with him,

but it felt as if the attraction

between the two of them

was fuelled by the public.
(SONG FADES, ENDS)

He was a budding movie star,
she was the budding rock star,

and the public demanded

that they come together.

CICCONE:
They got followed everywhere.

It put a lot of pressure
on the relationship.

MAN: Sean Penn.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

It's very intrusive,

but I think she was more capable
at dealing with it

than he really was.
(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

REPORTER: Some of the people
in the news, rock star Madonna,

her fiance, actor Sean Penn,
and Orion Pictures

have been sued for $1 million
by a photographer

who says Penn beat him
with a rock in Nashville.

The press that has slammed me,
I say, "(BLEEP) them."

It is interesting that...
that Sean Penn found Madonna,

the world's most public...
Mm-hmm.

..woman, and fell in love with her.
Well, opposites attract.

Yes.

I mean, I-I don't... I...

speci-specifically
don't want to discuss

Sean and how he handles himself.

He is a grown man, and...

he makes his own decisions
about that.

Madonna, the sultry singer
who has parlayed a trampy,

trashy style
into a rockstar respectability

is about to be exposed, literally.

Away from the teen magazines

on the top shelf
at your local newsagent,

Penthouse and Playboy
are vying with each other

to present Madonna
at her least saintly.

(FOREBODING MUSIC)

REPORTER: Both Playboy and Penthouse
hitting the newsstands today

with nude photos
of the Material Girl

taken in 1979 and 1980.

Mayor Timothy Sullivan had planned
to honour Madonna in Bay City.

But now, because of
those pictures he hasn't seen,

the mayor is changing his plans.

It wouldn't be appropriate
to present a key to the city
to Madonna.

A key to the city is the highest
accolade Bay City can bestow

upon its citizens,
and it carries with it

a certain, uh, moral tone as well.

I heard about it
the day they came out,

went and bought one.

My thought at that time

wasn't so much about her,
but about my father.

I was imagining his co-workers

looking at that stuff,
him having to deal with it.

Felt like this must have
really embarrassed him.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MADONNA: I think it's the first time

I was in front
of such a big audience.

It was right when
the Playboy magazine had come out.

Before I'd gone on,
I just thought, "I can't do this,

I can't do this. I can't go on."

Because I... I was...

so unsure of what was gonna happen.

So...

Hot enough for you?

I'm sympathising with you
by keeping my coat on, OK?

So don't feel bad.

(BOOING)

No, I ain't taking shit off today.

(CHEERING)

You might hold it against me
10 years from now.

# Put your troubles down

# Come on, now

# It's time to celebrate...

MELDRUM:
By going out on the Live Aid thing

and just covering yourself up.

That Playboy and Penthouse-
Yeah, but see, I don't...

I just want to say that
it doesn't matter what I'm wearing.

Ultimately,
I had the same amount of energy,

the same amount of flirtation.

What I wear
has nothing to do with it.

And that was what I was
trying to say to the public.

You know, I'm dressed
from my neck down to my ankles

or I don't hardly have anything on,

I'm going to still
be the same person that I was.

It doesn't change.

# It'll be

# It'll be so nice

# Oh, yeah, oh, yeah

# Come on, let's celebrate. #

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

I think it caused
a lot of problems with Sean.

And in that regard,
it was very unpleasant for her.

I think that Madonna
got exhausted reading all this crap,

but it sold newspapers.

Well, this happens to be,
though you may not know it,

a very big day.

This is the day
that rock singer Madonna

is expected to take Penn in hand.

And of course,
I'm talking about Sean Penn.

# GIBSON BROTHERS: Ooh What A Life #

(CLAMOURING)

I have designed the wedding dress,
and it was the one thing

every single journalist was calling.

"Is she going to wear
a bright red wedding dress?

She's going to come out
like the devil."

(HELICOPTER WHIRRS)

It was a crazy affair.

BRAY: That wedding
was pretty phenomenal.

Sean had introduced her
to Hollywood in a way that, um...

was mind-boggling.

We were definitely the weird kids
from New York, for sure.

("OOH WHAT A LIFE" CONTINUES)

Her best friend,
Martin Burgoyne, was there,

Keith Haring, and Andy Warhol.

There was a lot of secrecy

involving the exact location

because they were afraid
of the paparazzi.

And there were, you know,
10 helicopters

hovering above everything.
So, you couldn't hear anything,

but it got Sean riled up

and he threatened to shoot
at the helicopters.

SEIDELMAN:
Sean Penn was pretty pissed off

and I guess wrote something like,

"fuck you" in the sand

so the helicopters could read it.

MADONNA: We couldn't hear the vows,

but I was there to have a good time.

You know,
you can't let it bother you.

CICCONE: I don't think she wanted
the wedding to be like that.

She was trying to stop Sean
from doing stupid shit.

Well, looking back
at all the craziness that went on,

I think it may have been
a bad omen for the future.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

(SIREN WAILING)

After Madonna's wedding to Sean,

she was now part of the LA scene.

We didn't see her in the clubs,
we didn't see her at all.

And that's when Martin
started to get sick.

We didn't know what it was.

He was just really sick.

He... retreated to his apartment,

and so we would try
and drop off food,

and he wouldn't open the door.

You know, by the end of two weeks,

we had to get him to open the door.

STEINBERG:
Madonna didn't know Martin was sick.

He told everyone he had the measles.

We started hearing about this thing,

and friends started getting sick.

They didn't want to tell anybody

because everybody was afraid
to talk about it

and everybody was afraid
to admit it.

Federal health officials say
as many as one million Americans

may have been infected
with the AIDS virus,

and more than 12,000
are expected to develop

the deadly disease next year.

The diagnosis, AIDS, always fatal.

Officials don't expect the disease
to spread as rapidly

among heterosexuals
as it has among gays

and others in the high-risk groups,

where there are 14 new cases daily,

six deaths every day
across the country.

It will be twice that many
this time next year.

# ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN:
THE KILLING MOON #

Mwah! Loving kisses...

Hi.
Oh, hi!

New York was devastated...

and it wiped out

a large part of the scene.

("THE KILLING MOON" CONTINUES)

There was also this incredible

wave of sadness that was
kind of washing over the dancefloor.

It just wasn't a party anymore.

It was kind of like Vietnam,
in a way.

And here are all these people
your own age

who've been sent to war,

and half of them are coming back
dead in a casket.

# A magic world

# Your sky, all hung with jewels

# The killing moon... #

It was like all these people
that were so close to you.

And you were also frightened
for yourself.

(SONG FADES, ENDS)

(SIREN WAILS)

I told Martin I'll take care
of the medicine. No problem.

Then I found out
it was like $1,800 a month.

I was paying for a few months,
and then Madonna found out...

rented an apartment in the Village
and paid for everything.

Her husband at the time, Sean Penn,

she convinced him to fly to Mexico

to get a drug
that would possibly cure AIDS.

I mean, then there were vicious
rumours and claims in the tabloids

that Madonna had sex with Martin

and that Madonna had AIDS

and that she was gonna
give AIDS to Sean.

That was one of them things
that was the most upsetting to her,

that was to involve Sean in this lie

and this sort of
made-up tabloid crap.

MADONNA: When they want
to say bad things about you,

they rarely criticise your work.

They criticise you personally.

They always go for your throat.

MELDRUM: People could say,
"Madonna, you really shouldn't be

concerning yourself so closely
with someone like this.

It could be harmful."

Yeah, but he was my best friend.
What could I do?

I loved him, and people treat,

you know, people with AIDS
like they're lepers or something.

If they contract AIDS,
all their friends kind of disappear.

Well, then that's not a friend.

How could I desert him?

Martin did not want to die.

He was angry...

and broken by it.

If we sat him up,
he could stay awake long enough...

for her to get here.

He made it really clear

that we had to do that.
(SNIFFLES)

She came with Sean,
and all of us just gave her space,

and she sat and talked with him
and told him how much she loved him.

I think for him she was a soul mate.

INTERVIEWER:
Rolling? Do you fear religion?

Do I...
Fear religion?

Do I fear it? No.

Not in my life.

I fear the...

the power and influence that...

say, like, the Moral Majority has

on-on-on-on this country.

But I don't think that that...
that's really about religion.

I think that's about ignorance.

REPORTER: The leader of the Moral
Majority had his own suggestions

for handling the AIDS problem,

the Reverend Jerry Falwell,
and he seemed to hint

that he would not mind
seeing disease victims

rounded up like animals.

The fact is that
God created Adam and Eve.

It was Adam and Eve,
not Adam and Steve.

MAN: It's a perversion
and what the US Supreme Court

has called deviant activity.

MADONNA: People get scared
and they like to blame groups,

and they like to lash out at them.

The message is that AIDS
is a gay disease

and that there's something wrong
with you if you're gay.

We don't need you in America

to make this country weak.

And I totally disagree with that.

"Just die, you're not
worth anything anyway.

We'd love to be able
to eradicate you,

and this disease
is coming to do it for us."

(CHANTING)

Most of these people,
they're not fit,

they're not human beings,
they have emotional problems.

We're going to see them going out

and publicising their lifestyle
and influencing our children.

What sort of role model
would you like to be now?

I feel like in five years from now,

all my friends will be dead,
in a way.

One of your best friends.
Yes, died of AIDS. So, um...

Um, so that really hit home with me,

and that's a very personal issue,
so I wanted to get involved in it.

(CLAMOURING)

The Reagan administration

brought in this period

of suppression and repression.

REPORTER: The president
spoke out publicly on AIDS today.

His advisers do not expect him
to do it often,

and he has not weighed in
on the controversial questions

of AIDS testing
and the use of condoms.

I think that abstinence has been
lacking in much of the education.

One of the things that's been wrong
with too much of our education

is that no kind of values
of right and wrong are being taught.

(APPREHENSIVE MUSIC)

ORECK: Her closest friends
were gay men,

so she wasn't afraid to address it.

MADONNA: Many people think
you can tell if someone has AIDS

just by looking at them.

But they're wrong.

If you do have sex, use a condom.

It may be the most important
thing you ever do.

REPORTER: Madonna et all are here
to add a few zeros to the cost

of decorated denim jackets,

all for the benefit
of AIDS patient care.

MADONNA: I'm very involved
with AIDS Project Los Angeles.

For instance,
there's a dance marathon here

that I was involved in last year.

Nobody else was speaking out
for the gay community and AIDS

and what was happening, but she was.

It was never extremely heavy handed.

There was always
this kind of levity to it.

Don't stop living, just be careful.

Don't stop having sex,

just use a condom.

In about an hour,
the Garden is going to explode

with the sound of Madonna
and her fans.

She's giving a one woman show
for the benefit of AIDS.

amfAR, the American Federation
for AIDS research.

REPORTER:
Madonna also wanted this to be

an educational event for her fans,

so each one received a comic book

describing how the disease
can and cannot be transmitted.

I remember reading
one of those leaflets in my hand

and looking at it and thinking,
"Wow this is blunt,

but it's also really simple."

I mean the words were like taboo,

but they were necessary.

A lot of these people
wouldn't even bother to read it

if it wasn't for Madonna.

I paid $100 for the tickets,

and I feel like the money's really
going to go for a good cause.

Something really
has to be done about this.

You know, AIDS is a...

powerful and mysterious disease
that continues to elude us.

(CHEERING)

(TEARFULLY) For her to come out
and defy everybody

and just say, "No, fuck you all.
These people are important."

Hopefully,
with your presence tonight,

the money that we've raised
for research grants

will help us to find a cure,
and I hope to God it does.

The AIDS benefit that we did
at Madison Square Garden

was emotionally taxing
for everybody.

Are you ready to party?!

Especially for her...

because of Martin.

Not just Martin, there had been so
many friends of ours who had AIDS.

And Madonna felt
the need at that time

to embrace it
and the people who had it.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

And Christopher Flynn...

he was a formative person
in her life.

Just a really sweet guy.

FLYNN: Madonna.

MADONNA:
After my father, the most...

powerful, important relationship
in my life was Christopher Flynn.

He was my ballet teacher.

He was gay, and I had never met
a gay person before.

What I mean is I'd never met someone
with that kind of a sensibility.

He just was so alive.

And he had a certain
theatricality about him,

and he just attracted me, you know?

I mean, he was like a magnet.

(WARM, UPLIFTING MUSIC)

He paid a lot of attention
to Madonna.

She always stood
in the front of the class,

and often he would ask her
to demonstrate

what he was expecting of us.

He realised her talent.

A lot of us were jealous,
to say the least.

MADONNA: It was the way...

he made you proud of yourself.

It was the way he came up to me

and put my face
in his hand and said,

"You are beautiful."

I had a whole new sense of myself,
and I fell in love with

the way he treated me
and the way he saw me

and the way he made me feel.

And In school,
I felt like such an outsider,

like such a misfit,
like such a weirdo.

I kept seeing myself through,

like, macho heterosexual eyes.

And I was really down on myself.

I was too busy being repressed.

When Christopher introduced me
to this life,

I suddenly thought...

that's not the only way
that I have to be.

He was responsible
for encouraging her

to leave there and go to New York.

He simply said to her,
"Look, you're way too talented

to be spending the rest of your
university years here."

MADONNA:
Nobody had woken up that part of me.

And he really turned
my head around completely

and changed my life.

(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)

Actress and singer, uh, Madonna

and actor, Sean Penn,
announced through a spokesman today

that they have separated
and are planning to divorce.

I think she realised
that she didn't need him...

in the way that she thought.

I think that Sean...

was ill-equipped to deal with her.

She had grown up and Sean was still

playing at something.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

(CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING)

By the time we got to
"Like A Prayer"

there was no question
that Madonna was shifting

as a... as a human being,

as an artist.

I think she started
thinking about her life,

about her mother,
about the way she was raised,

about her relationships with men.

Madonna went from

I want to write pop songs

to I wanna be a confessional writer.

You know, music that was much more
honest and bare-knuckled.

I think "Like A Prayer" was...

"I want to put my soul
into the music."

MADONNA: We started
writing a few songs

and I decided that I was
going to make the theme of the album

much more personal
and have everything to do

with my relationships
with my family,

with religion, with my past,

you know, and present.

And my relationship
to the world right now.

I remember quite well,
we had dinner together at Spago's

on Sunset Strip,

and afterwards we went for a ride,

and we drove up along Mulholland
and she played the song for me.

# Life is a mystery

# Everyone must stand alone. #
(MUSIC ENDS ABRUPTLY)

The first thing I said was,
this is about sexual ecstasy

and religious ecstasy.
And she said, "Yeah,

and I want to fuck Jesus
on the altar,

and I want to fuck Black Jesus
on the altar.

(MUSIC RESUMES)
# When you call my name

# It's like a little prayer

# I'm down on my knees

# I wanna take you there...

The idea was to take these

iconographic symbols

that are held away from everybody
in glass cases,

and somehow bring it down to a level

that everyone can relate to.

# It's like an angel sighing

# I have no choice...

"Like a Prayer"
was concerned with her spiritual

relationship to church,

to God, to race.

I mean, there's so much going on.

# Oh, God, I think I'm fallin'...

Nobody questioned
the concept, originally.

We did the budget for it.

Then everybody started
questioning the concept,

because the budget
was the highest budget

that had ever been given
to Warners up to that point.

Madonna, she said,
"They can spend that money,

it's done, it's my money,
shut the fuck up."

I'll never forget it.

She said "We girls have work to do,

so all you guys
get out of the room."

# When you call my name
It's like a little prayer

# I'm down on my knees
I wanna take you there...

Every Catholic girl I know that saw

"Like A Prayer" said to me,

"You know these are the kind of
fantasies I used to have

in church while I was at mass."

# Like a child

# You whisper softly to me. #
(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)

(GENTLE MUSIC)

MADONNA: My grandmother
really represented this, like, dark,

mysterious, Italian Catholicism.

She was so catholic she had saints,

she had candles, and crucifixes.

And she was always whispering
in my ear to be a good girl.

Let's face it, you know,
the priests in their costumes,

I mean, to me, something was very
sexy about it, too.

(URGENT MUSIC)

You know,
there was a huge political backlash

and a lot of controversy
around "Like a Prayer,"

and I knew there would be some,
but I was not prepared

for how much there was.

Right now, Pepsi-Cola
is probably wishing it hadn't paid

pop star Madonna $5 million

for a concert tour
and a few commercials.

Go ahead. Make a wish.

Folks who make Pepsi-Cola
are dropping Madonna

from their ad campaign.
It's because of a video

that she made for her song
"Like a Prayer."

You know, the artists and the
corporate people combined

seem to have no sense
of shame anymore.

REPORTER: There are reports
that WEAA records

and Italian state TV, RAI,

plan to suspend broadcast
of the music video in that country.

MADONNA: They couldn't deal
with the fact that I was kissing

a Black man in my video.

And it made people afraid,

and I think the people
who reacted negatively to it

were afraid of their own feelings

that they have about those issues.

The new record had been done,
and it was time for the tour.

We would sit down together
and look at the set list

and talk about
what it should look like.

PATERSON: You know, when I came in
and it was frantic, basically.

I mean, we had...
I think it was around 21 days

to do 18 songs from scratch.

If we can't get it
to sound better than this,

then I'm not doing the show.

It was straight up boot camp.

We were in the studio from 10 to 5,
six days a week.

That was the most stunning thing

about the rehearsal process,

was how deeply involved she was.

PATERSON:
What she kept saying to me was,

"I just want to do something
the world has never seen before."

Tonight, Madonna is rocking
Long Island at the Nassau Coliseum.

That's where Kelly Wright is
right now live. Kelly?

Rowland it has been quite a show.

In fact, more than a concert,
it's been like a Broadway musical,

complete with set design changes

as well as costume changes.

She's working hard for the money
on this 1990 world tour

and what's being called
Blond Ambition.

(CHEERING)

Alright America!

PATERSON: We began with Metropolis,

we ended with Clockwork Orange.

MADONNA: I'm not really
interested in a rock concert.

I'm interested in presenting

more theatre,
so that there's a catharsis,

there's an emotional arc, there's
a journey that you go through.

PATERSON: Madonna and I,
we never talked about we're making

some kind of political statement.

No, it always came from art.
It always came from our hearts.

If the art is good,
then the statement will be strong.

MADONNA: I'm not saying you have to

prescribe to this lifestyle,

but you know, sometimes
you have to exaggerate things

to wake people up.

WILBORN: All of us on the
Blond Ambition tour were ethnic.

Not a single one of them
was a white boy.

There was no celebration

of my kind back then.

And that's why it was important.

PATERSON: The two
female singers were straight,

and one dancer was straight.
Everybody else was gay.

We were in the age of AIDS

and that was hugely political.

They became role models in a way,
for young gay men

who had no role models.

She was saying, "We're equals here,

we're equals in the bedroom,
we're equals in the boardroom."

You know, so many people missed it

because they thought
it was just about the sex.

And like everything else
that Madonna does,

this tour is high on shock value.

So much so, in fact, that when
she recently performed in Toronto,

some city officials there
wanted it banned

they thought the concert
was so risque.

All of a sudden,
just word comes backstage

that she had to change the show

or else she could get arrested,
we could all get arrested.

Freddy, all you have to do
is go out there and tell them

I am not changing my show.

I am an artist, and this is how
I choose to express myself.

I mean, when the police are there
and talking about it,

we felt like it was
more important than ever.

And we were a family.
We were in it together.

I think when there's a revolution,
some people have to get hurt.

But the only way
to get people to change

is to turn the table over

and some of the dishes get broken.

# God. #
(CHOIR VOCALISES)

REPORTER: The superstar
has brought her shocking

concert tour to Italy...

but Catholics there
are trying to shut it down.

(TENSE MUSIC)

MADONNA: Even though there are
all these profane gestures,

I think that my show
is very religious

and very spiritual.

You know, I was dealing with

a lot of people being upset by
my show throughout the whole tour,

and it never affected me.

But it truly affected me
when I got to Italy.

If anyone talks...
(MAN SHOUTS IN ITALIAN)

When I got to Italy,
I expected to be embraced.

But they slammed
the door in my face.

It was very heavy,
and I think it affected me

much deeper than I was able
to deal with at the time.

(SPEAKS ITALIAN)

(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)

Um, first of all, let me...
before we start properly,

I just wanted to ask you to...

just relax and don't be
nervous about it.

I'm just a regular guy.
Do I look nervous?

When-When critics talk about you,
and obviously they do

on a regular basis,
what I've noticed is recently

more and more, they talk about
how brilliant you are

at marketing yourself,
and yet rarely it seems anymore

do they talk about
the songs, the videos,

the live performance, the films.
It's like, Madonna, the phenomena.

Right. People are so
frightened of my ideas that...

they try to undermine

my actual talent or...
or any artistic value

that may be in any of my work,
and just say,

"Oh, she's just doing that
to shock people."

Or, "Oh, she just... Oh look,
she's changing her look again.

Oh, she really knows
how to manipulate the media."

But the fact is,
if that's all I was good at doing,

I don't think people
would be paying attention to me

for this long.

I mean, I'm still here.

# BIKINI REBEL: Rebel Girl #

I don't think that Madonna ever

blindly did what she was told.

ANNOUNCER: Madonna!
(CROWD CHEERING)

But now she had achieved
some kind of autonomy.

("REBEL GIRL" CONTINUES)

MADONNA: As a creative person,
I'm digging deeper and deeper.

Relationships. Love.

Humanity. Intolerance. Anger.

# That girl thinks she's the queen
Of the neighbourhood...

ORECK: She was playing around
with the idea

that everything you see is fake.

# I wanna be her best friend, yeah

# Rebel girl

# Rebel girl

# Rebel girl
You are the queen of my world... #

You know, I'm none of these things,

and I'm all of these things.

You know, here's who I am.

This is all a show.

In the "Some things
never change" category,

Madonna's still trying
to shock all our socks off.

This time, it's a new book
with a simple title.

The book is called "Sex."

It reportedly features extremely
explicit images of Madonna

without even her trademark lingerie.

("REBEL GIRL" CONTINUES)

(MUSIC FADES, ENDS)

ORECK: Holy fuck.

The first photographs
are very Robert Mapplethorpe.

They're all set in the
Meat District of New York.

Basically subbing herself in

for queer men.

(CONTEMPLATIVE MUSIC)

MADONNA: It's always been about,
you know, switching genders

and playing with that whole
masculine femininity issue.

I don't know. I mean,
the most interesting people to me

are people that aren't
just one way.

Sex is the metaphor
that I use, really.

But for me, it's about love.

It's about tolerance.
It's about acceptance.

ORECK: "I'm just about to come, and
she tells me she wants to taste me.

So, I crawl up to her mouth
and lower my pussy onto her lips,

and her tongue touches my clit,

and she begins to suck,
and I am destroyed."

I mean, wow.

MADONNA: I mean, I think there's
a lot of humour in the book.

And if you miss that part of it,
then you're going to miss a lot.

I don't think
that it will change everybody,

but I think that it will open
some people's mind for the good,

and that's enough,
as far as I'm concerned.

Four, three, two, one! Go!

(CROWD CLAMOURING)

Three for each living room.
(LAUGHS)

The superstar's hot new book
is selling like hotcakes.

Tonight, Heidi Kemp reports
it's about sex, it's about hype.

It's about 50 bucks.

Oh, hold on, hold on.

Oh, it's mine! It's mine!

You know, men had not seen

a woman show herself that way.

Oh, wait. Hold on.

Look at this!
(ALL EXCLAIM)Woah!

Bend over, baby,
I'm gonna make you smile! Woah!

Disgrace!

It's horrible.
She needs a lot of attention.

WILBORN: Men have always known

that women are more powerful
than them.

Rarely is there a man,
and for sure a straight man,

that will ever admit that.

(APPREHENSIVE MUSIC)

And I remember thinking that,
you know, you're putting a target

on yourself when you do
this kind of stuff...

but she was adamant she wanted
to make the point about agency.

I think this will scare
a lot of people,

but to me, I just...

I see her as a very
honest person to do this.

I think it's repulsive.
I mean, I think it's repulsive.

It's not what I believe love
or anything good is about

and I don't appreciate this
or approve of it.

(CHUCKLES) Oh, my!

Wow! Too much.

I would like to say I think
that she's a great businesswoman.

I think that that's particularly
the whole reason for this book.

But with today and AIDS
and all the...

the diseases, I can't see why anyone

would want to promote this book
and-and that type of behaviour.

REPORTER: Madonna's steamy sex book
is being censored in India.

Japanese censors have eliminated
pictures that show male genitals.

In France,
police have already seized

25,000 copies of the book,

saying it may be pornographic.

The Sex book, I think,
was definitely the hardest

she got hit.

(OVERLAPPING CHATTER)

Some people make promos for MTV,

some people write their...
their autobiographies,

Madonna gets her kit off
with a couple of bald,

lesbian, knife-wielding skinheads.

I mean, I think she's worked

very hard on her body.
She's in better shape

than she's been for years
because she's got actually

rather a dumpy, ugly little body.

ORECK: Being a female
in American culture

is that you are
supposed to be a whore,

but you're not supposed to say
you're a whore.

Everyone is supposed to
hope you are,

but you're supposed to act like
"I would never do that

because all I want to do
is get married."

(CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING)

MADONNA: They want women
to be their sex objects.

They want to control
when they want to see the nudity,

and I'm saying this is,
you know, my body.

If I wanna take my shirt off,
I'm gonna do it.

ORECK: And Madonna was saying,
like, the sexual power dynamics

are in my hands.

I can, you know, uh...

I can fuck like a man.

MADONNA:
I mean, I don't want a penis.

I just want to be able to play

all the same games
that humans with penises do.

WILBORN: You know,
it's fascinating to watch

a woman with this level
of sexual freedom.

The boldness was a blast off...

for everyone.

And everyone would say,
"Oh, it's, you know, it's trash."

But of course,
everyone went out and bought it.

So I think that's a reflection
on our society, isn't it?

And the dishonesty of most people.

If you're an artist and you have
an open mind about something

like sexual behaviour,

there's still
a whole bunch of people

who want to pretend to be outraged

by things that they probably
secretly masturbate to,

you know, in their little
bathrooms in Wichita.

(LAUGHS)

(APPREHENSIVE MUSIC)

ORECK: If you really want to ask
how she got here,

I think, you know,
you can draw a straight line

from 1984 with her wearing Boy Toy.

This is her taking,
you know, male domination

and moving it into
the female universe.

CICCONE: I think the evolution
of her voice, the music,

the performances,

what we were trying
to present to the world,

came natural.

DE LORY: I mean,
I don't know how many women

were able to be artists

and show their sexuality,

and from a real empowered place

with no fear and no shame.

LAMBERT:
It's a form of art to be able to

take an image and subvert it,

and to crack it open and to
show people what's inside of it.

CICCONE: No, and I don't think
she'd be where she is

if she was
a straightforward personality.

I don't think she cared about

what the naysayers thought.

She was just poking her finger
in the eye of everybody.

(LAUGHS)

It's a tank just running over
everything in its path.

You know, which she has been doing
since the beginning of time.

MADONNA: To me, the scandal
is only a reflection

of other people's hang-ups.

It's just that the arena
that I choose to

express myself in is sexuality,

and sexuality has always been
a taboo subject.

ORECK:
I think Madonna's significance

continues to reverberate.

If you look at the kids today,

they don't listen
to men's music as much.

They really look to the women

to talk to them
about what they need to hear.

BRAY: If you look at an artist
like Chappell Roan

and Charli XCX,

they're singing pop music
that is challenging

because there's gender fluidity
in the lyrics

that I don't think
would have existed

had Madonna not opened the door
for that kind of honesty.

ORECK: I think she learned
a lot from gay men

about how to position yourself
in the world. You know?

It's like, if you're
a sexual outlaw...

own it.

INTERVIEWER:
It's a huge risk to take for a...

big celebrity like yourself,
isn't it?

Well, no risk no glory.

# CHARLI XCX: Mean Girls #

# In the sheer white dress
Wearing last night's makeup

# All coquettish in the pictures
With the flash on

# Worships Lana Del Rey

# In her AirPods, yeah

# Yeah, she's in her mid-20s
Real intelligent

# Hedonistic with the gravel
Drawing dead eyes

# You say she's anorexic and you
Heard she likes when people say it

# Think you already know her
But you don't

# This one's for all my mean girls

# This one's for all my bad girls

# This one's for all my
Break-your-boyfriend's-heart girls

# For all my
Tearing-shit-apart girls. #

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