Madonna Made Me Lose It

I had the misfortune of going to college at the same moment that Madonna made it big. Picture this: a 19-year-old with a "England Get Out of Ireland" pin stuck on her (in her? maybe) wearing a Hüsker Dü T-shirt, dancing in a bar. Then, the music goes from the Talking Heads' Burning Down the House to Madonna's Holiday in one cruel flick of the DJ's wrist. No amount of beer can make up for that kind of buzz kill.

So why talk about Madonna at all? Because I saw her on Letterman last night and found that my general lack of interest/blank space regarding her had swung back to the kind of full-on hatred I felt for her when I was 19. Was it the Farrah hair-do (nothing against Farrah. I know Farrah and let me tell you Madonna, you are no Farrah) or the way she discussed her recent fall from a horse as if it were a national tragedy? No. I think it was her vibe. A strong impression that she had something to say and that...it meant something. At least when she was the thing that wore Boy Toy belt buckles, you thought she might get it. That she might at least be in on her own joke.

She announced that she does not allow her children to watch TV, that she is perceived as a strict mother and she just doesn't care what the rest of us think. So What?! I screamed at the TV, Do you make your children listen to HOLIDAY?! No? Well you made all of us freakin listen to it!

Some of those pains from your teen-aged years, you just never get over.