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Original poster

Does anyone else remember the first time they saw Madonna?

56 replies

niftyfuss · 02/10/2025 08:33

I was just thinking back to this, I was 13 and at school and I remember watching the Like a Virgin video and being totally blown away by her, I felt like I'd never seen anything like her and was immediately obsessed with her. I also remember seeing Desperately Seeking Susan and loved it so much. She was such a massive influence on me.

Anyone else or remember the first time with someone else in the public eye.

OP posts:
seashoreshellsky · 02/10/2025 08:40

me too ! exactly the same. i also remember vividly the first time i saw the Spice Girls. and hilariously Riverdance - that dancer Jean somebody - at the Eurovision it was first performed

Kerrisk · 02/10/2025 08:41

I remember her on TotP with ‘Holiday’ and everyone talking about it at (primary) school next day. And several girls in my class trying to take Madonna as their confirmation names…

Lobelia123 · 02/10/2025 08:41

My first sighting was also the music video for Like A Virgin - with her dancing on the gondola in Venice - I hated it! Her fixation with the camera and her thin nasally voice were awful! But then I loved her later iterations - the 1950s True Blue era, the Confessions on a Dancefloor era, Speed of Light etc etc....but my favourites today are her early Into the Groove, Crazy for You, Live to Tell eras. I find her a bit cringeworthy in her current iteration to be honest - its just so try hard.

Kerrisk · 02/10/2025 08:45

seashoreshellsky · 02/10/2025 08:40

me too ! exactly the same. i also remember vividly the first time i saw the Spice Girls. and hilariously Riverdance - that dancer Jean somebody - at the Eurovision it was first performed

DH and I were postgrads making dinner at PILs’ house, and were weak with laughing at Riverdance on his parents’ tiny portable, though probably mostly Michael Flatley’s horrible blouson sleeves and rat grin. (I liked Anúna and Jean Butler.) I’ve met MF a couple of times since, as he’s a friend of friends, and he’s fully as awful as he seems.

SeaAndStars · 02/10/2025 09:55

Not the first time I saw Madonna, but I do remember going to a party in the 1990s and her book Sex was on the coffee table. A bit shocking and very glamorous.

Dummydimmer · 02/10/2025 09:59

Aaargh, hated her, can't sing, can't dance, can't act. Complete idiot, the book was excruciatingly embarrassing.

GreenSedan · 02/10/2025 09:59

She was dancing on a Channel 4 programme (possibly The Tube) to 'Holiday' with two dancers. She couldn't sing and looked like a bag of washing. I really didnt understand the appeal.

lljkk · 02/10/2025 10:03

Never been that impressed, if I'm honest. I like some of her songs. Some of her antics were weird. She doesn't inspire me. I like pictures of M with her sisters when she seems more natural, actually charasmatic. She hasn't got 'good' plastic surgery possibly, although with AI, you don't know if any images are real nowadays. I first heard of M when I saw Desperately Seeking Susan. and in that I couldn't understand the Rosanna Arquette's fascination with wanting to BE this other person. I mean... why? Susan seemed a bit of a mess, tbh. Maybe the wanting was all about problems RA's character had, not something special in Susan, and we audience were supposed to figure that out. it was an 'enjoyable' movie otherwise.

ExquisiteSocialSkills · 02/10/2025 10:03

I saw a piece about her in Smash Hits. I couldn’t decide whether I liked her look or not. I liked ‘Into the Groove’ but not ‘Like a Virgin’.

Vitriolinsanity · 02/10/2025 10:04

Exactly your experience. Unique at the time. I remember thinking DSS was odd and quirky and actually quite a hard watch, but loved the track from it Crazy for You.

coolmum123 · 02/10/2025 10:08

Same as OP for me. I was completely mesmerised. I have loved her reinventions (some more than most) saw her Blonde Ambition tour at Wembley and was so blown away, but mostly I did and do admire her resilience, I find that so inspiring even now.

MiserableMrsMopp · 02/10/2025 10:12

I remember hearing her first hit off her just released first album on the radio while I was living in the USA. I knew immediately that she was going to be hugely famous. It was just instantly obvious. That moment is engraved in my mind. The place I was in. Where I was sitting. A real riding the zeitgeist experience.

LarkspurLane · 02/10/2025 10:14

I remember Madonna and thinking she was a bit weird for shouting about being a virgin (I didn't quite get the lyrics at the time) but I remember being very young and seeing Debbie Harry/Blondie and thinking Debbie Harry was the greatest thing ever.
I still really like Blondie/Debbie Harry.

SinisterBumFacedCat · 02/10/2025 10:28

I remember my best friend’s older sister was obsessed with her and looked a lot like her, she was very cool. True Blue was the first album I ever bought (on cassette) and listened to over. I always liked her music even though I got more into Goth and Indie. Especially liked her “Hung Up” era in the mid 90’s.

Original poster
niftyfuss · 02/10/2025 10:31

Also Borderline - I loved that video.

OP posts:
ExquisiteSocialSkills · 02/10/2025 10:32

I also remember reading about her mother dying when she was very young, five I think, and feeling so sorry for her.

Kerrisk · 02/10/2025 10:32

niftyfuss · 02/10/2025 10:31

Also Borderline - I loved that video.

That remains my favourite Madonna song, though I acknowledge that ‘Into the Groove’ is probably better. I also have an unreasonable liking of ‘Live to Tell’.

Okrr · 02/10/2025 10:40

I saw her on TV possibly with holiday. My friends and I could do the dance with hands behind our back and leg stuck out. I had seen her in teen magazine posters I think before that though. I liked her look and copied it as a young teen. I had lace fingerless gloves and tried to do my hair similar. Hoop earrings, crosses. My favs are crazy for you and lucky star.

Original poster
niftyfuss · 02/10/2025 10:57

Kerrisk · 02/10/2025 10:32

That remains my favourite Madonna song, though I acknowledge that ‘Into the Groove’ is probably better. I also have an unreasonable liking of ‘Live to Tell’.

Show quote history

Also love 'Live to Tell' :)

OP posts:
PassingStranger · 02/10/2025 13:23

I remember in my school lunch hour in 1984 going to buy the lucky star record.

Funnywonder · 02/10/2025 13:37

I was 17 and a practicing Christian at the time I saw ‘Like a Virgin’ on the shelves and was a bit shocked by the way she was dressed and the word ‘virgin’ being spoken/sung out loud and generally bandied about🤣 OK, I know there’s the Virgin Mary, but that’s different! I thought Madonna was a terrible singer, but did go to see Desperately Seeking Susan and thought her image and whole persona were incredibly cool. Terrible actress too though, to be fair. I like some of her music, but definitely not a diehard fan.

MumsTheWordYouKnow · 02/10/2025 15:53

Me too!

Lottapianos · 02/10/2025 16:02

'True Blue was the first album I ever bought (on cassette) and listened to over'

Me too! 😁

I think the first time I ever saw her was a poster on the wall of my friend's older sister. I thought she looked stunning, like no one I had ever seen before

She's a challenging personality to love, and looks truly shocking these days, but by Christ she has always been her own women and has reinvented herself again and again. She has a ton of fantastic tunes and has certainly made the most of what she's got. I really admire her

HumanRightsAreHumanRights · 02/10/2025 16:07

I used to get Cindi Lauper (singing Girls just want to have fun) and Madonna (singing Holiday) mixed up when they were first in the charts.

DIYagainstMould · 02/10/2025 16:11

No but I definitely remember her maturation pillow concert lol. They beamed it right across our national communist TV on the very same day, live