2000 Great Songs #1446: Ray Of Light

Given that this is nearly the 2500th post on this blog and pretty much the first time I've even mentioned Madonna--setting aside a passing reference in a post 6 years ago about a mix I made for a high school reunion--you may have surmised that I don't listen to Madonna. And while, as a first generation MTV viewer, I was obviously familiar with her 80s hits (as well as the inevitable Weird Al covers, at least as much a part of that 80s MTV era), I'd completely lost track of her once I got out of college.

Indeed, the only reason her 1998 single "Ray Of Light"--from the album of the same name--hit my radar screen is because, a decade or so later, I went through a phase of listening to mash-ups (with my pre-teen son, who was making them on the computer), and I came across a mash-up of the track with the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant." Which is a pretty great way for a Madonna skeptic to hear something that wouldn't otherwise show up on his playlist.

But when I checked out the unadorned original, it turns out it was pretty damn great on its own. Probably due in large part to the William Orbit production, but regardless, it sounded a lot more like the 70s cocaine disco grooves of Giorgio Moroder given an ambient techno update than the Madonna dance-pop songs I remembered. I still don't listen to Madonna, but this one's a fun exception.

Sex Pistols mash-up:

As part of Weird Al's "Polka Power" medley:

See the entire Top 2000 to date in a sortable database!