(Credits: Alamy)
For someone like Paul McCartney, few things get in the way of a great song. Despite being victim to dated production throughout various points in his career, his strengths as a songwriter have steered him through every single misstep he’s ever taken, with the tune being sturdy enough to be played on just one guitar. Whereas McCartney embraced the visual side of himself with the rise of MTV, he thought that the Madonna song ‘Justify My Love’ had more on its mind than just being a good tune.
Then again, the image is a lot of what makes Madonna work so well. That’s not even meant to be a slam. Throughout every era of her career, most of her best videos have served as visual works of art whenever they premiered, almost acting like mini-movies for the listener when making songs like ‘Express Yourself’ and ‘Like a Prayer’.
Granted, most of Madonna’s greatest videos also involved her toeing the line of what was considered suggestive to some audiences. Most MTV viewers certainly hadn’t seen someone getting as hot and heavy as she did when performing the song ‘Like a Virgin’ live at the MTV Awards, so it was natural for her to push things one step further with every album.
By the time she got to ‘Justify My Love’, though, there was a lot of public outcry from what she was doing in the music video. Set to a dense backing track, this was the kind of music that seemed like it was meant to soundtrack an adult film, especially when audiences saw the visuals of her doing various suggestive acts onscreen.
Although many applauded Madonna for pushing the envelope, McCartney thought it had stopped sounding like decent music to him, recalling, “I’m not really a fan. I saw her video for ‘Justify My Love’. I think it’s alright, but I’ve seen better porn films. If you want to watch porn, why not watch it? I think it’s okay, but it’s only surprising because she’s a pop singer. If anybody else had done it, it would be a fairly average porn movie.”
While Macca may have seemed out of touch with the kids, it’s important to remember where he was at the time. Since he was on the verge of reminiscing about his Beatles past just a few years later on The Beatles Anthology, he seemed to be keeping up the image of a fairly clean rock and roll star.
It’s also funny seeing someone like McCartney get so prudish when talking about a pop singer. Regardless of how risque Madonna seemed in the video, you have to remember that this is the same guy who wrote the line “four of fish and finger pie” in ‘Penny Lane’ and just got done making the same album that had the song ‘Press’ on it, which is one of the least subtle ways any Beatle has ever sung about sex.
No amount of Beatles critiques could have stopped Madonna, though. Throughout the next decade, she would reinvent herself even more as the years went by, even dropping the adult-themed imagery for perfect dance records like Ray of Light. Madonna could still prove why she was a pop artist to contend with, but one can only take so much horny material before they started asking questions.
