I have sold most of my Madonna collection away,
but these 8 posters i
don't think i will EVER part with. These posters are over 20 years old and are more well
travelled than most people. They were collected over a course of 5 years, bought in Music and Video stores from the dingy
bazaars and gullies of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. I cannot even begin to tell you what a joy it was to go looking for these posters, it was like a treasure hunt, for they were unoffcial and hard to find. Here is a little story about how it all began for me, my obsession with Madonna. Back in 1985 i went with my family on a World tour, and on our way
back we stopped in Amsterdam where they would play Madonnas "Angel" all the time on
KLMs onflight stereo system
. I did not care for the song too much but when we got home my dad asked my brother to look up the song, so he went to the audio store and back in those days there was no official merchandise sold in Pakistan, so the audio store gave my brother a mix tape of "Top of the Pops", which contained two songs by Madonna "Material Girl" and "Angel". Now here is the twist of fate, you see my brothers old tape recorder was fucked up and would play the tapes a speed or two faster then the actual format, so me being the futurist who loved everything electronic/robotic, instantly fell in love with the fast Robotic
squealing of whoever it was that was singing this song called "Material Girl". Bare in mind i had no idea who this person was for i had not seen a picture of her, but i
imagined her to be someone incredible who could morph her voice quite the way she did. Remember TIME magazine called here voice "Minie mouse on helium!" now imagine it in fast forward.
Back then, T\there was no MTV in Pakistan and the only way to find out who the person you were listening to was by renting a mixed video tape of Top of the Pops tp catch one of theri music videos or if you were to happen upon a poster of them in the audio store. Th not knowing part was killing me, I was madly in love and intrigued by the girl who could sing like a Robot and had to find out who she was and what she looked like!!So i pesterd my brother to take me along the next time he west to the audio store. The man behind the counter told me her name was Madonna and he could not shut up about how sexy she was, i asked him if he had any posters of her that i could see? he informed me that he was all sold out of the "Good ones", meaning the ones in which she was showing more skin (The Herb Ritts Hawaian shoot with the leopard swim suit and fishnet stocking, writhing around in black sand), but he did have one other one that i might not like because it did not show enough skin! he proceeded to pull out a huge stack of several posters all rolled up in one bundle and started going through each one individually, my patience
was running thin when he finally pulled out the poster....i have to take a pause here, for that moment, now that i look back at it, seems such a long time ago and how unaware i was of its implications. The image was much more conservative than the shopkeeper had lead me on, but i was not complaining. I could finally put a face to the voice and i liked what i saw.
It was the now classic Yellow and Red mohair sweater photo where Madonna has her hair up, hands on the side of her hips wearing an antique
Greek bottle opener pendant with a white ribbon, and tons and tons of bracelets, and those eyes...yes, i remember staring into those intense eyes when i hung the poster over my bed. I slept at the foot of my bed just so i could stare at the poster in the dimly lit room before i fell asleep. There was something hypnotic about those eyes, even now when i look at that
photo, my heart skips a beat, for it takes me right back to that day. That was the night Madonna cast her spell on me as she did on countless others,
and what a potent spell is was, it still is.
Not sure what became of that poster. These posters were the ones that followed shortly after and adorned many walls as we moved from station to station (My dad was in the Army). Finally we settled in the States and these posters, with all theire battle scars (tape marks, tears, embelishment,bends, and creases) are still with me and one day i shall again proudly display them as i did back when i was, somewhat like a Virgin.
but these 8 posters i don't think i will EVER part with. These posters are over 20 years old and are more well travelled than most people. They were collected over a course of 5 years, bought in Music and Video stores from the dingy bazaars and gullies of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. I cannot even begin to tell you what a joy it was to go looking for these posters, it was like a treasure hunt, for they were unoffcial and hard to find. Here is a little story about how it all began for me, my obsession with Madonna. Back in 1985 i went with my family on a World tour, and on our way
. I did not care for the song too much but when we got home my dad asked my brother to look up the song, so he went to the audio store and back in those days there was no official merchandise sold in Pakistan, so the audio store gave my brother a mix tape of "Top of the Pops", which contained two songs by Madonna "Material Girl" and "Angel". Now here is the twist of fate, you see my brothers old tape recorder was fucked up and would play the tapes a speed or two faster then the actual format, so me being the futurist who loved everything electronic/robotic, instantly fell in love with the fast Robotic squealing of whoever it was that was singing this song called "Material Girl". Bare in mind i had no idea who this person was for i had not seen a picture of her, but i imagined her to be someone incredible who could morph her voice quite the way she did. Remember TIME magazine called here voice "Minie mouse on helium!" now imagine it in fast forward.
It was the now classic Yellow and Red mohair sweater photo where Madonna has her hair up, hands on the side of her hips wearing an antique Greek bottle opener pendant with a white ribbon, and tons and tons of bracelets, and those eyes...yes, i remember staring into those intense eyes when i hung the poster over my bed. I slept at the foot of my bed just so i could stare at the poster in the dimly lit room before i fell asleep. There was something hypnotic about those eyes, even now when i look at that photo, my heart skips a beat, for it takes me right back to that day. That was the night Madonna cast her spell on me as she did on countless others, and what a potent spell is was, it still is.
A long time ago i came upon a Playboy magazine which had this rare full page illustration by the amazing pinup artist Olivia de Berardini. I used to be huge into pinup art style illustrations in the early 90's and loved Olivia's artwork from my HeavyMetal comic days, so this was a very pleasant find.
