Happy 50th, Madonna!!?!

After seemingly a decade-long countdown, THE icon of sex and youth (oh yeah, and music) for my generation turned 50 today. It's very tempting to call it depressing...but then you look at how vital and relevant she remains, and it's actually pretty damn inspiring. There's absolutely a time-passing-by melancholy to it, but in the end, it's how you look at it...your PERSPECTIVE, if you will. And Madonna is as contemporary as it gets; this is no oldies act, despite the admittedly large idiotic segment of the population that's stuck yearning for PAPA DON'T PREACH while "not feeling" her new stuff. But these are the same people who started getting dull and letting themselves go at 25...stopped listening to the radio, stopped being CONTEMPORARY themselves.

I've said all this before, and i'm again too tired to fully go into a diatribe. But whether you like Madonna's music or not, or think she's hot or not, there's no denying that Where She Stands at 50 represents a generational shift here on endless levels. And I, (thankfully) much younger, find it very exciting despite the "holy shit!" factor of time's passage. Flash back to 1983...name a 50-year-old ANYone with a #1 album, heavy radio play, provocative cover shots, a sold-out tour. Let alone a woman. Connie Francis was NOT on Z100's playlist. It JUST didn't happen. I really increasingly believe the greatest use celebrities serve is pushing youth, relevance and creativity further and further into adulthood. I know I'M still bursting with across-the-board potential and youthful exuberance. Happy 50th, Madonna, Icon of My Youth, and thank you for being as restless, inquisitive and competitive as ever.