Revisiting Jonathan Ross' 1992 Madonna interview
On October 13, 1992, Madonna appeared on BBCTV-1's Jonathan Ross Presents. Over the course of an intimate interview, recorded in London while promoting her fifth studio album Erotica and coffee table book Sex, the 34-year-old pop provocateur discussed ageism, her creative process, and blurring fact and fiction.
• On writing Erotica: "When I write [a song], in my mind, there's a little movie playing, and I envision scenarios and characters. It's not always something I've experienced, but I say it in the first person so it seems like it's personal. Sometimes they're [about] things I think are erotic, sometimes they're things that I think would be interesting to write a song about because no one's ever written a song about it... Some people will get it, and some people won't."
• On working with Michael Jackson: "He wanted to write a song with me, and I was curious... He played me a very unfinished track, and he said that he wanted to call the song 'In the Closet.' And I said, 'Really? Do you know what that implies?' And he said, 'Yeah,' and sort of giggled a little bit. So I started writing and getting ideas, and I presented them to him, and he didn't like them. I think all that he wanted was a provocative title."
• On critical dismissal: "Because the subject matter that I deal with is usually taboo, people are so frightened of my ideas that they try to undermine my actual talent or any artistic value that may be in my work and just say, 'Oh, she's just doing that to shock people. She really knows how to manipulate the media.' But the fact is that if that was all I was good at doing, I don't think people would be paying attention to me this long."
• On the line between fact and fiction: "Martin Scorsese can make a great movie about thugs who kill people for a living, and he makes those movies the best because it's a life he understands, but I don't think he actually needed to go out and kill people to understand it. There's something of myself in [Dita Parlo, the narrator of Sex], but it would be unfair to say it's exactly me and that I've lived all of these things."
• On ageism: "Not only do we suffer from racism and sexism [in our society], we also suffer from ageism. Once you reach a certain age, you're not allowed to be adventurous. You're not allowed to be sexual, and I think that's rather hideous. A lot of people have said, 'Oh, it's so pathetic. I hope she's not still doing that in ten years.' Who cares? What if I am? Is there a rule? What, are you supposed to just die when you're 40?"
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I thought this was worth revisiting after yesterday's post