I never thought that I would write a post defending Madonna, whose career successes I respect while not particularly caring for her songifying and dancing, but the deluge of criticism over her performance during the Super Bowl halftime moves me to declare that the criticism is sexist and ageist — and very unfair.
I groaned when I read that Madonna would being doing the halftime show but ended up being blown away by her performance, while the chorus lines and bells and whistles surrounding her weren’t bad, either. That’s right, someone who hasn’t been moved by Madonna was moved not because I was enraptured by the songs she performed, but simply because she was damned good.
Much of the criticism surround the Material Girl is that at age 53 she just isn’t as good as she was when she burst on the scene with her first solo album in 1983. To which I say, “No kidding.” Neither are Paul McCartney nor Bruce Springsteen as good as when they burst on the scene, but I have not read or heard a peep of criticism about either of them or other aging male music stars.