The two hits Madonna would only play again if you paid her “$15 million”
Madonna has a list of commanding orders – come back when there’s something new to say, you might think. But there’s no way the Queen of Pop would have gained her esteemed regal status if she hadn’t kicked up a bit of a fuss from time to time, and, well, she’s got it mastered down to a fine art. From religious blasphemy to moral panics, Madonna has done it all, but it turns out one of her most dizzying demands concerned her own songbook and an eye-watering price tag to go with it.
While you would think she’d be banking out on her biggest hits for as long as humanly possible, it seems that for Madonna herself, the 1980s were little more than a chapter in the story along with so many others, rather than the cultural behemoth that led her to change the course of music. It’s for that reason that she now refuses to play two of her most defining hits from that era, despite fans still flocking in their masses in hopes of hearing them.
She previously said for the record: “I’m not sure I can sing ‘Holiday’ or ‘Like A Virgin’ ever again. I just can’t,” making it clear that those who have followed her since the new wave heyday are set to be bitterly disappointed if ever they snag the chance to see her live. The only thing that could possibly change the Material Girl’s mind? If “somebody paid me like $15million or something,” she admitted – because she really needs that cash.
Despite diehard fans’ best efforts to frantically cobble together their pennies, it seems unlikely that the ‘80s monster tunes will ever be gracing the stage again. In complete fairness, she has probably performed them more than enough times to go around, but even still, you’d think the hits that launched Madonna into the stratosphere would hold a closer place in her heart than they evidently do.
It was not least because she basically made a rod for her own back, unleashing ‘Like a Virgin’ into the world. As a song and video bubbling over with flirtatiousness, zeal, and lust, Madonna cemented herself as an ultimate sex idol that would leave the whole world later tripping over itself with the release of ‘Like A Prayer’ in 1989.
Famously making the Catholic Church apoplectic and attracting as much notoriety as an actual criminal, there was hardly any doubt that Madonna would reach iconic status and never fall down – except when she was faced with the perils of a cape, that is. Her early standout hits did so much of the legwork in getting her there, however, that she’d be forgiven for dining out on them forever. But what’s the meaning of being a pop queen if you can’t do exactly what you want?
As much as she claims ‘Holiday’ and ‘Like A Virgin’ aren’t cutting it to the setlist any more, you only have to look at her Celebration tour as recently as last year to find the latter of the two hits miraculously creeping onto the bill. Contradictory, you might say, but maybe someone did cough up that $15million after all.
