Heaven Help Me: I'm a Madonna Fanatic

By Kirsten Joy

Some eighties babies were raised on the gospel of Raffi. Others worshipped Sharon, Lois, and Braham.

I however, was born a proud follower of the Material Girl.

It was a serendipitous fandom. On the day I was born in 1985, she landed the cover interview with People magazine, revealing secrets of her own upbringing inside, "When I was tiny, my grandmother used to beg me not to go with men, to love Jesus and be a good girl. I grew up with two images of a woman: the virgin and the whore. It was a little scary," (http://allaboutmadonna.com/madonna-interviews-articles/people-march-11-1985). I got into the groove to Madonna's records as soon as I could clap my hands as my mum would play them on her turntable in our tiny house in the isolated Shetland Islands before we moved to Newfoundland in 1989.

I absolutely loved her songs- they were fun and infectiously catchy, the beats danceable, unique sugary vocals - just pure pop music gold. I didn't need "Baby Beluga" or "Skinnamarink." I had found my "Lucky Star" within the undisputed Queen of Pop. Of course I couldn't grasp the literal, often provocative meanings of songs such as "Like a Virgin" until I was older. When I was in Elementary school, my mother kept me away from the more risqué stuff like the controversial Sex book or the racy Erotica album, the first of her releases to have a parental advisory sticker on the cover. We opted for tamer Madonna indulgences. I remember us making the three-and-a-half-hour pilgrimage in 1992 to St. John's to go and see the film "A League of Their Own" because it starred our favourite pop singer.

I have continued to be a big fan of Madonna ever since, still purchasing her new albums and dreaming of one day being able to afford to fly to see her in concert. By no means am I as zealous a fan as some, for example this Finnish girl's site, on which she claims Madonna to be the "light of her life and her lifestyle...the light of most of the things I do": http://madonna-addicted.blogspot.com/. The artist has a huge gay following to whom she is very loyal, honouring them in songs like "Vogue." Fan blogs and communities litter the World Wide Web with many believers spreading the faith, such as the "Mad Wus": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKpYwe3oh7E. Madonna fans fit into no designated category, they come from all ages, sexual orientations, and social classes. There are obviously many dedicated disciples of the church of Madonna, otherwise she would not have had so many number ones, a thirty year career, or hold the record for the highest grossing tour of a solo artist (http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2009/09/03/madonna_s_tour_is_highest_grossing_ever_).

Musical and spiritual experimentation are both important aspects of identity politics, the development of self, and image construction. These are two mediums Madonna has been very exploratory within. Her religious expressions and transformations and the at times controversial effects of them within popular culture are the focus of this web site; I will be discussing her Catholic roots, her evolving spirituality and how it is portrayed within her music, the religious controversies associated with the pop star; as well examining her role in the commodification of religion in celebrity culture.