30: like a prayer-- madonna

i know, i know. this looks ridiculous. i mean, who starts a countdown at 30? well, i do. and yes, i begin with "like a prayer." of course. i think it is fair to say that any song that makes you cringe nearly 20 years after you first hear it has to be included in a list of songs that changed one's course of life. it may seem random, but it really isn't.

i remember the first time i heard this song. vividly. i was at my grandmother's house, watching television with my older (and much cooler) cousins. they, like most cool teenagers at the time, were watching mtv. and, they made me and my virgin ears and eyes partake in its barrage of images and sounds at a very early age. (they used to make me call in to request videos, but that is a different story). i can't give you a date for when i saw this video, but my best guess is 1989, which puts me at the ripe old age of 5. i don't know if you have seen the video, but it's scary. burning crosses, bleeding hands, moving statues-- way too much for me then and now. but the connection i formed between the video and the song stuck with me for a long time. even today, if i'm at an establishment made for drinking and the shaky words, "life is a mystery.." start slithering from the speakers (even before all the girls start to scream), i cringe and feel like curling into a ball and hiding under a table.

but, i guess, this song did do several other things. firstly, it made me terrified of mtv for a while. i was later reluctant to watch it with my cousins because i feared they would try to torture me with more gory images. secondly, it set the precedent for what i thought music and corresponding video should be-- bizarre, mysterious, and discomforting. i guess madonna really laid the groundwork for my future interest in music (there, i said it).

in some ways, this song could be in a better position on this list for its far-reaching impact, but i didn't even like the song then. and i certainly don't like it any more now.