‘Vogue’: How Madonna’s music video changed music
It’s rare that one singular line from a song can invigorate the heart of an entire musical era and cultural craze, but if you simply hear the words “Strike a pose!”, you invariably know that the Madonna party bus is coming to town. Such was the transcendental impact of ‘Vogue’ when it was first released in 1990 that not only did it become the best-selling song of the year, but it was also among the biggest of the decade, celebrating all that pop, disco, and club culture had to offer in one floor-crowding tune.
But more than just the sonics of ‘Vogue’, its commanding visual presence in video form gave it an entirely new lifeblood, if not making it even more iconic. Capturing a spirit of dance fever, frivolity, and fun was somewhat of a departure for Madonna, given her previous efforts and overall artistry, which constituted controversy and sexual rebellion in the form of hits such as ‘Like a Virgin’. Hence, the concept of creating mainstream pop was a new challenge.
Yet in her usual way, the singer’s visionary mind had a means of casting forward into the future without even realising it at the moment, enlisting the talents of the then relatively unknown filmmaker David Fincher to direct the video. In those days, the man was more in the realm of helming television commercials than music, and Hollywood was still but a pipe dream.
It goes without saying that voguing, the dance taken from Black and Latino gay clubs, which is where the song got its name, was always going to be a central facet of whatever form the video was going to take. But it was the combination of this freshness with Madonna’s allure to old-style Hollywood glamour that truly gave the video its striking visual feel. It felt every bit as relevant to the moment, oozing with a decadence and grandeur that you’d be hard-pressed to find any other pop star mastering.
Madonna herself had been given a taste of the silver screen earlier that year with the release of the Disney film Dick Tracy, in which she played the femme fatale Breathless Mahoney. Although it was hardly considered high art, the experience of the movie evidently gave her a taste for the finer things and, as a result, when it came round to shooting the video for ‘Vogue’ months down the line, the lure of Hollywood had not yet left her sights.
With the video referencing the heights of film glamour in the form of Gene Kelly, Lauren Bacall and Bette Davis, in an instant, ‘Vogue’ was elevated to less of a music video and more of a cinematic experience, catapulting Madonna into the golden leagues of entertainment giants—not that she wasn’t already well on her way to getting there.
There was also the fact of those whom she helped along the way through the video, including the seven male dancers who appeared alongside her. It may seem flippant to suggest that they were propelled to new heights simply from being in Madonna’s orbit, but let’s not forget the political climate of the moment. With six of the seven men being gay, their sexualities were a vital proclamation of visibility on the world stage when, for years, their mere existence had been threatened.
Thus, with the video shot over 16 hours and then rush-released on MTV only a month later, ‘Vogue’ soared to the top of the charts in the space of only six weeks—and the rest, as they say, is history. It may have been Madonna’s shiniest pop effort yet, but it also indisputably became her most successful, owed in no small part to the creative ingenuity of the video. Between blazing political statements, Hollywood glamour, and forward-thinking direction, the command to “Strike a pose!” lined Madonna up for her most picture-perfect opportunity for success yet.
