Music Monday #16: Confessions On A Dance Floor by Madonna

When I wrote about Cher and her greatest hits I mentioned that Madonna was another gay icon that would be part of a hypothetical gay syllabus.  Despite owning almost every album she released I've chosen to include just 2 in this list, the first is 'Confessions On A Dance Floor' which I regard as the best album she ever made, I know that many won't agree with that assertion but when you know my love of dance music, the influence of EDM, and even my dabbling with religion and spirituality, this statement from me makes a lot of sense.

I love every single track on this album from start to finish and there are very few albums by any artist that I can say that about.  This is an album I can listen to from start to finish without skipping and without touching the controls at all, it is to me perfection and I wouldn't change a thing about it.  Confessions was released in late 2005 when I had just started into my second year of college.  That was a good time in my life, that year however is bitter-sweet for me, despite it eventually ending in a happy place it was also the year I lost my Grandmother and that served as a low point for me.  When the shock finally gave way to grief I eventually emerged on the other side feeling clouds part, with rays of light shining down on me [shhhh spoilers] I could once again feel hope and it was potent. 

College in general was quite a positive time for me overall, as I have mentioned in my regular posts on this blog, compulsory education in the UK ends at age 16 from then everything is considered further, and higher education, referring to college and university respectively.  As this stage of education is entirely optional, the atmosphere is completely different, you are surrounded by people who are there because they want to be and you study specific subjects that you picked that you have an interest in, that creates a certain level of investment and focus that students tend to share.  I got along with the people in my class, I had friends that I shared music with, and I had experiences that I still look back on with fond memories.  The fact that every track on the album is positive and upbeat reflects the mentality I had at the time, and even now when I listen to any track from the album it still inspires the same thoughts and feelings I had at the time.

'Hung Up' spoke to me with the idea of unrequited love and how your life can grind to a halt when you forget to live in the moment constantly focused on something you're waiting for, 'Get Together' spoke to me for thoughts I had in college because of my latest crush, which again led nowhere as I was still in the closet at the time, although not for long as I came out near the end of my second year of college mostly because of the atmosphere I was in and the belief that no-one around me would have an issue with it and I was right for the most part.  'Sorry' in particular was one of my favourite tracks on the album, the lyrics "I don't wanna hear, I don't wanna know, Please don't say you're sorry, I've heard it all before, And I can take care of myself" are Universal, I don't think there's a single person who hasn't reached that moment at some time in their life where no amount of apologising will make up for what someone did, you just want them to fuck off and give you space.

My absolute favourite track on the album however is 'Forbidden Love' because of how seductive the lyrics are "Just one kiss on my lips, Was all it took to seal the future, Just one look from your eyes, Was like a certain kind of torture" just because I have felt the emotion pure and raw behind those lyrics where all it took was one taste and you were completely gone, I am not sure I believe in love at first sight but I sure as Hell believe in lust at first sight because that I know I have felt so many times, the guys that I have been infatuated with because of it I care not to admit but that feeling where all he has to do is look at you and smile and your heart stops oh fuck that feeling.

Confessions was and still remains my favourite Madonna album and for me nothing she produces will top it, there is another album that I appears on this list of hers that I have chosen to include but we will discuss that when we get there, and I'll pay reverence to Madonna herself in that post.  For now suffice to say I have followed her career for most of my life, and I will continue to follow it, even when she produces music that I don't have an interest in, I still listen to it to form an opinion, I do give it a chance.  Madonna is an entertainer who has experimented over the years and I am grateful for that experimentation because it has create a diverse collection of music that spans multiple genres, and Confessions served as her foray into EDM that I embraced with open arms, not only the official album but the singles, the remixes, and the bootlegs that went with it of which there is a plenitude - and yes I know Madonna's history, I know this wasn't her first venture and exploration of dance music and the EDM scene but this was the first time she did it when I was present and witness to it and at 17 it came at the perfect time for me so it has stayed with me, even now almost 15 years later I love this album just as much as I did when it was first released, there aren't many albums I can say haven't aged a day for me.