blond ambition world tour live

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Madonna_Blond Ambition World Tour (Live In France)

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How Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour Changed Pop Concerts Forever

1990's Blond Ambition took Madge's natural sense of showmanship to new heights.

By Jon O'Brien

Jon O'Brien

“I know that I’m not the best singer and I know that I’m not the best dancer. But, I can f—ing push people’s buttons and be as provocative as I want. This tour’s goal is to break useless taboos.” There was only one all-singing, all-dancing chart-topper who could get away with such a bold declaration at the turn of the ’90s, and it wasn’t Paula Abdul.

From the moment that she writhed around suggestively in a wedding dress at the 1984 MTV VMAs, Madonna became the live act that you couldn’t — and didn’t want to — take your eyes off. Singing in front of a traditional guitar-bass-drums trio was never going to cut it for the woman seemingly hellbent on shocking middle America.

'Cobra Kai' Rules Top TV Songs Chart With Cyndi Lauper Synch

Then the undisputed Queen of Pop by quite a margin, Madonna had already toyed with the theatrical on 1987’s Who’s That Girl Tour, a whirlwind of glitzy costume changes, giant video screens and dramatic reenactments that she described as “Broadway in a stadium.” But 1990’s Blond Ambition — which kicked off 30 years ago — took Madge’s natural sense of showmanship to new heights.

Trending on Billboard

Madonna asked Jean-Paul Gaultier to create more than 60 costumes for the tour, an amount which the haute couture designer admits took  350 aspirins  to get through. Luckily, all this headache-inducing work paid off. The Frenchman’s conical bra creation, which was later sold at auction for $52,000 , became one of the defining fashion statements of the decade. And items such as the polka-dotted blouse, clip-on ponytail and mic headset all became a part of the chart-topper’s style legacy, too.

Unsurprisingly, Madonna was just as fastidious when it came to the tour’s choreography. “Wimps and wannabes need not apply” read the call out seeking “fierce male dancers” for the tour. Led by Vincent Paterson, the chosen army of six were put through boot camp-like rehearsals in preparation for a tour that spanned 57 dates, five months and three continents. And with its large hydraulic platform and multiple elaborate sets, Blond Ambition’s staging essentially cost the same as the GDP of a small country. Simply no one else could compete, not even the King to Madonna’s Queen of Pop. A few years prior, Michael Jackson’s Bad Tour had impressed many with its slick moves and dazzling lights – even the BBC’s cult hero John Peel hailed it as a “performance of matchless virtuosity.” But Madge’s elaborative high-concept, five-act production left it for dust.

Blond Ambition didn’t give fans a single opportunity to get bored or head for the bar. Every four minutes there was something new to digest. Take the opening ‘Metropolis’ section, inspired by the expressionist sci-fi of Fritz Lang, for example. Madonna simulates sex in that bra while performing “Express Yourself,” straddles a chair during “Open Your Heart” and belts out “Causing a Commotion” while playfully wrestling her two backing vocalists to the ground. And this was just the first quarter of an hour.

As you’d expect from an artist whose Pepsi commercial had been yanked amidst calls of blasphemy, the second ‘Religious’ section was even more attention-grabbing. Wildly rubbing her crotch in a red velvet bed, Madonna left little to the imagination on a sensual reworking of “Like a Virgin.” And on “Like a Prayer,” the track whose provocative video had caused the soft drink giants to bail, the star and her crew are kitted out as nuns and priests.

Of course, much of the predominantly Roman Catholic nation of Italy didn’t appreciate this type of cosplay. A second date at the Stadio Flaminio was called off after none other than Pope John Paul II implored citizens to boycott “one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity.”

The controversial blend of religion and erotica also incurred the wrath of the Toronto police force, particularly the “lewd and obscene” display of “Like a Virgin.” But despite the threat of arrest, Madonna and her management team refused to bow down to authority. The star even referenced the furor during her second show at the city’s SkyDome, asking the crowd “Do you think that I’m a bad girl?… I hope so.”

Madonna famously described Toronto as a fascist state in Truth or Dare , the illuminating backstage documentary which further boosted Blond Ambition’s pop cultural cachet. Who can forget the scene where the star pretends to gag after Kevin Costner – then the biggest movie star in the world – summarizes 105 minutes of sense-assaulting, boundary-pushing entertainment as “neat”?

Thankfully, the sell-out crowds reacted to the tour with a little more enthusiasm, even the Dick Tracy section featuring several numbers that would have been unfamiliar at the time. The comic book adaptation, which co-starred Madonna as femme fatale Breathless Mahoney, hit the big screen half-way through Blond Ambition’s run. And the ever-astute star attempted to guide fans towards the cinema with a high-kicking third act dedicated to the trench coat-wearing detective.

But for sheer entertainment value, the ‘Art Deco’ segment is tough to beat. Sporting a pink bathrobe and curlers while seated under a beauty parlor hair dryer, Madonna performed the whole of “Material Girl” in a comical Noo-Yawk accent before throwing fake dollar bills into the crowd. “Cherish” saw the star take up the harp accompanied by (what else?) a troupe of dancing mermen. And following a West Side Story -inspired routine for arguably her finest pure pop moment, “Into the Groove,” she wrapped things up with a faithful recreation of the iconic “Vogue” video.

By the time each and every crew member bids an on-stage farewell during the Bob Fosse-meets- A Clockwork Orange encore of “Keep it Together,” it’s clear that you’ve just witnessed a spectacle of ground-breaking proportions. As dancer Luis Camacho said, Madonna “wanted to give the audience an experience, rather than them just going to a concert. She set the stage for concert shows and experiences that followed.” The tour even impressed Grammy voters, who were notoriously slow to recognize Madonna’s greatness. The video of the tour won the 1991 award for best music video, long form — Madonna’s very first Grammy Award.

Sure enough, no longer were audiences content to watch their pop idol simply play the hits. Elaborate production values and strong narrative arcs soon became just as integral to the superstar tour as the music itself. You only have to look at Michael Jackson’s Dangerous shows, complete with catapult stunts and ghoulish illusions, two years later to recognize the immediate impact Blond Ambition had. And it has continued to inspire pop’s A-listers ever since. Without Blond Ambition, it’s unlikely we’d have the gravity-defying acrobatics of P!nk, the candy-colored razzmatazz of Katy Perry or the formidable conceptual journeys of Beyoncé. And it goes without saying that its footprints were all over the various balls staged by Lady Gaga.

Madonna herself has refused to rest on her laurels, going even bigger and bolder on the likes of 1993’s The Girlie Show, 2004’s Re-Invention and 2008’s Sticky and Sweet. But nothing has ever changed the game quite like her extremely blond and incredibly ambitious 1990 world tour.

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Madonna: Live! Blond Ambition World Tour 90 from Barcelona Olympic Stadium

Madonna and her crew perform in Barcelona, Spain for the legendary Blond Ambition Tour in 1990. Madonna and her crew perform in Barcelona, Spain for the legendary Blond Ambition Tour in 1990. Madonna and her crew perform in Barcelona, Spain for the legendary Blond Ambition Tour in 1990.

• David Mallet
• Mark Aldo Miceli
• Lauren Harris
• Luis Camacho
• Oliver Crumes Jr.
• Donna DeLory
• 1 Critic review

Top cast 11

• Self - Dancer

• (as Oliver Crumes)
• Background Vocals
• (as Donna Delory)
• Self - Dancer …

• (as Niki Harris)

• (as Kevin Stea)

• Self - Guitar
• Mark Aldo Miceli (co-director - as Mark 'Aldo' Miceli)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Connections Version of Madonna: Blond Ambition - Japan Tour 90 (1990)
• Soundtracks Express Yourself Written by Madonna and Stephen Bray Performed by Madonna Contains a sample of "Everybody" Written by Madonna

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• December 24, 1990 (United Kingdom)
• United States
• Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
• RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana
• Radio Televisión Española (RTVE)
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 1 hour 57 minutes

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Madonna: blond ambition world tour live, madonna: blond ambition world tour 1990: live from nice.

Directed by David Mallet , Mark Aldo Miceli

Blond Ambition World Tour Live contains the final tour date recorded in Nice, France. The release had previously been shown and produced by American network HBO as a television special. In 1992, the LaserDisc release won the Best Music Video-Long Form category at the 34th Grammy Awards. The tour reached North America, Europe and Asia. It was a highly controversial tour, mainly for its juxtaposition of Catholic iconography and sexuality. Rolling Stone called it an "elaborately choreographed, sexually provocative extravaganza" and proclaimed it "the best tour of 1990."

Madonna Donna DeLory Niki Haris Luis Camacho Oliver Crumes Salim Gauwloos Jose Guitierez Kevin Stea Gabriel Trupin Carlton Wilborn David Williams Christopher Ciccone

Directors Directors

David Mallet Mark Aldo Miceli

Songs Songs

Madonna Stephen Bray Patrick Leonard

Costume Design Costume Design

Jean-Paul Gaultier

WEA/Reprise

Releases by Date

13 dec 1990, releases by country.

• Physical PG-13

112 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by nathaxnne [hiatus <3] ★★★★★ 2

2 be Madonna is 2 reject a subject position which admits powerlessness. 2 be Madonna is 2 project will. 2 be Madonna is 2 be power itself, 2 identify with power in its basest most elemental forms

Madonna putting on lingerie is Jeanne D'Arc putting on blessed armor

Madonna hates a dress more than anyone ever hates wearing a dress ever except when she feels like wearing a dress & fucking rocks it bc she is Madonna wearing a dress. Madonna wearing a dress is entering combat, entering contested territory, giving up something of herself 2 the enemy 2 get closer 2 seduce 2 recon 2 intel what makes the dress pretty is the contempt what makes the dress pretty is…

Review by PerseuEvans ★★★★★

The show that changed everything. With this tour, Madonna was consolidated as the biggest female pop star in the world and as a revolutionary woman. Staging the songs in thematically organized segments was groundbreaking and that has become a staple feature of any pop concert ever since. The "religious" segment alone - with the genius pairing of "Like a Virgin" and "Like a Prayer" - launched a thousand thinkpieces (hello Camille Paglia!) and drew anger from the Vatican, with the Pope himself forbidding the concert in Italy. Vibrant, provoking and multi-layered (the references go from "Metropolis" to "A Clockwork Orange"), "The Blond Ambition Tour" remains one the central testaments of Madonna as a visionary artist.

Review by Graham ★★★★

・ﾟ☆* └(ఠ◡ఠ)┐ 🎵 ┌(^◡^)┘ ☆*・ﾟ

and you can dance for inspiration come on i'm waiting

ᕕ(⌐■_■)ᕗ ♪♬

Review by duda ★★★★★

“holiday… celebrate…”

madonna nossa rainha do pop!!!!!!!! dps q minha amg disse q as turnês da madonna estão disponíveis no yt minha vida nunca mais será a mesma.  meu hiperfoco desse ano, com ctz é a madonna, desde q ela veio pro rio eu não consigo passar um dia sem ouvir uma música dela, como que pode ela entrar na nossa mente!  amo como ela consegue falar de liberdade sexual feminina, consegue irritar a igreja católica em apenas uma turnê, e ao longo da carreira inúmeras vezes.  ela é artista e sempre vai ser !

Review by Héctor

Keep, keep people together, keep keep it together forever and ever.

Review by vee

I know she was sat for Benedetta.

Review by yousef ★★★★★

Madonna x jean paul gaultier greatest collaboration of all time

Review by ax

"one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity” - pope john paul II

Review by Ed_W00d ★★★★★

"I know I'm not the greatest singer or dancer, but that doesn't interest me. I'm interested in being provocative and pushing people's buttons."

Alors qu'elle se bat présentement contre les ravages de l'âgisme dans une société qui ne jure que par l'image, ses combats étaient ici l'émancipation des femmes (et encore aujourd'hui), en plus de la démystification du SIDA dont l'épidémie faisait des désastres en silence.

Il y aurait tant à dire sur ce Blond Ambition Tour qui mettait en scène une artiste en très grande forme dont la fougue ne s'est jamais atténuée encore à ce jour. Un spectacle important et révolutionnaire, non seulement pour Madonna, mais pour le monde de la pop en général. 🎤

Review by Daphne Austin ★★★★★ 2

madonna please just release this on HQ dvd/blu-ray PLEASE i’m begging you

Review by Serena

Madonna doesn't actually sport the ponytail at this show - instead it's a modern and yet classic mop of curls, which I love.

Sex, violence, Catholicism, "I'm the fuckin boss here!" - is this a Scorcese movie? Nope, it's the Blond Ambition tour. You love to see it.

Review by Alice ★★★½

I was never a big fan of Madonna, but this whole concert was on YouTube, so I decided to check it out, as it's known to be her most iconic. It's fine. I like some of her songs, but most don't do too much for me. I can appreciate how innovative she was though - whether in a good or bad way is up to individual judgment.

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BLOND AMBITION TOUR (1990)

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• Live reports

April 13 – Marine Stadium, Makuhari – Japan April 14 – Marine Stadium, Makuhari – Japan April 15 – Marine Stadium, Makuhari – Japan April 20 – Nishinomya Stadium, Osaka – Japan April 21 – Nishinomya Stadium, Osaka – Japan April 22 – Nishinomya Stadium, Osaka – Japan April 25 – Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama – Japan April 26 – Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama – Japan April 27 – Yokohama Stadium, Yokohama – Japan May 04 – The Summit, Houston – USA May 05 – The Summit, Houston – USA May 07 – Reunion Arena, Dallas – USA May 08 – Reunion Arena, Dallas – USA May 11 – UA Sports Arena, Los Angeles – USA May 12 – UA Sports Arena, Los Angeles – USA May 13 – UA Sports Arena, Los Angeles – USA May 15 – UA Sports Arena, Los Angeles – USA May 18 – Oakland Coliseum, Oakland – USA May 19 – Oakland Coliseum, Oakland – USA May 20 – Oakland Coliseum, Oakland – USA May 23 – Rosemont Horizon, Chicago – USA May 24 – Rosemont Horizon, Chicago – USA May 27 – Skydome, Toronto – Canada May 28 – Skydome, Toronto – Canada May 29 – Skydome, Toronto – Canada May 31 – The Palace, Michigan – USA June 01 – The Palace, Michigan – USA June 04 – The Centrum, Worcester – USA June 05 – The Centrum, Worcester – USA June 06 – The Centrum, Worcester – USA (cancelled) June 08 – Capital Center, Landover – USA June 09 – Capital Center, Landover – USA June 11 – Nassau Coliseum, New York – USA June 12 – Nassau Coliseum, New York – USA June 13 – Nassau Coliseum, New York – USA June 15 – The Spectrum, Philadelphia – USA (cancelled) June 16 – The Spectrum, Philadelphia – USA June 17 – The Spectrum, Philadelphia – USA June 20 – Byrne Arena, New Jersey – USA June 21 – Byrne Arena, New Jersey – USA June 24 – Byrne Arena, New Jersey – USA June 25 – Byrne Arena, New Jersey – USA June 30 – Eriksberg Stadium, Göteborg – Sweden July 03 – Bercy, Paris – France July 04 – Bercy, Paris – France July 06 – Bercy, Paris – France July 10 – Stadio Flaminio, Rome – Italy July 11 – Stadio Flaminio, Rome – Italy July 13 – Stadio Delle Alpi, Torino – Italy July 15 – Olympia-Reitstadion, Munich – Germany July 17 – Westfalenhalle, Dortmund – Germany July 19 – Wembley Stadium, London – England July 20 – Wembley Stadium, London – England July 21 – Wembley Stadium, London – England July 24 – Feyenoord Stadium, Rotterdam – Holland July 27 – Calderon Stadium, Madrid – Spain July 29 – Estadio De Balaidos, Vigo – Spain August 01 – Olympic Stadium, Barcelona – Spain August 05 – Stade De L’Ouest, Nice – France

Interview with Carlton Wilborn

The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier

Interview with Mike McKnight

Vincent Paterson on Blond Ambition Tour

Interview with King Bee

Blond Ambition Tour

Europe 1990

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Rotterdam 1990

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Madonna: Blond Ambition World Tour Live (1990)

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Blond ambition collection.

Known for its theatricality and groundbreaking stage production and powerful performances, these vibrant and energetic shows emphasizes Madonna's global reach and innovative style. With each film providing an unique perspective on Madonna's revolutionary tour.

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The Amplifier

9 great songs recorded at electric lady studios.

A new documentary spotlights the Greenwich Village creative hub. Listen to tracks by Jimi Hendrix, Patti Smith, Frank Ocean and more that were recorded there.

By Lindsay Zoladz

Dear listeners,

I’m a sucker for any documentary that features scenes of people at a recording studio’s mixing board, isolating tracks from a great, intricately layered song.* Over the weekend, I watched a new film that, I am happy to report, features plenty of such footage: “Electric Lady Studios — A Jimi Hendrix Vision,” a recently released documentary that charts the origins of the famed, still vital Greenwich Village landmark .

Located at 52 West 8th Street and formerly an avant-garde nightclub, the property that would become Electric Lady was purchased by Jimi Hendrix and his manager in 1968. Over the next two years, they poured somewhere around $1 million of their own money into its construction. (When the cash flow dried up, Hendrix would go play some live gigs and return with enough dough to pay the contractors.) Hendrix initially dreamed up Electric Lady as his own personal recording studio, a place where he and his friends could experiment freely without incurring exorbitant hourly rates. But, tragically, Hendrix did not live long enough to use it much at all. Construction was finally completed in August 1970; Hendrix died, at 27, on Sept. 18 of that year.

Word had already gotten out that Electric Lady was special, combining state-of-the-art technology with a groovy atmosphere that made it a more comfortable place to hang out than most cramped, sterile recording studios. Thanks to some early bookings by marquee artists like Carly Simon , Led Zeppelin and Stevie Wonder , Electric Lady managed to stay afloat in those precarious first years after Hendrix’s death. More than 50 years later, it has survived ownership changes, gentrification and huge shifts in recording technology, remaining a crucial link between popular music’s past and present. Today, it’s arguably as busy as it’s ever been: Taylor Swift , Zach Bryan and Sabrina Carpente r are just a few stars who have recently laid down tracks there.

Today’s playlist traces Electric Lady’s decades-long history via nine very different songs recorded within its hallowed walls. I’ve arranged them in chronological order, so you can gradually hear the way the sounds of pop music have changed over time. I hope that you’ll also hear certain echoes between now and then — similarities in the soft-rock confessions of Simon and Swift, or the genre-blurring explorations of Wonder and Frank Ocean .

These are, of course, just a sampling of the thousands and thousands of songs that have been recorded at Electric Lady throughout the years. Next time you find yourself scouring a favorite LP’s liner notes or Wikipedia credits, don’t be too surprised if you see that familiar address.

This is our place, we make the rules,

* (The Fleetwood Mac episode of “Classic Albums” where Lindsey Buckingham pulls up individual vocal and instrumental tracks from “Rumours” is my personal gold standard.)

Listen along while you read.

1. jimi hendrix: “dolly dagger”.

This psychedelic rocker is not only one of the first songs ever tracked at Electric Lady, but also one of the few songs Hendrix got to record there, making it a tantalizing glimpse of what could have been: There’s a looseness and a spaciousness in the mix that sets it apart from Hendrix’s earlier recordings. In the documentary, the producer and engineer Eddie Kramer recalls that “Dolly Dagger” was created in its entirety as a jam session on the floor of Studio A. “It’s a point,” he says, “where Jimi has total creative control.” ▶ Listen on Spotify , Apple Music or YouTube

2. Carly Simon: “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be”

Slotted into some studio time while Hendrix was on tour, the then up-and-coming singer-songwriter Carly Simon was one of the first artists to record at Electric Lady, where she and Kramer tracked the entirety of her star-making 1971 debut album.

▶ Listen on Spotify , Apple Music or YouTube

3. Stevie Wonder: “Superstition”

Seeking to stretch his musical imagination beyond the confines of the Motown formula, Stevie Wonder made Electric Lady the locus of his early 1970s creative liberation — the place where he recorded much of “Music of My Mind,” “Innervisions” and his 1972 declaration of independence “Talking Book.” That album’s associate producer, Robert Margouleff, has recalled how the spaciousness of Studio A contributed to the spontaneous composition of one of Wonder’s greatest songs. “We were at Electric Lady,” he told Jon Pareles for a package commemorating the album’s 50th anniversary. “Malcolm [Cecil, co-producer] and I had set up every instrument that we thought Steve could use in a big circle in the studio: the acoustic piano, the Rhodes, the Clavinet, the synthesizer. Everything was always all plugged in and playable immediately. Steve could move from instrument to instrument with ease.”

4. David Bowie: “Fame”

In early 1975, shortly after his notorious “lost weekend” era, John Lennon met up with his pal David Bowie for some free-form jamming at Electric Lady. The result was this wry, funky, soon-to-be single from Bowie’s next album, “Young Americans,” on which Lennon — whose backing falsetto can be heard throughout — received a writing credit.

5. Patti Smith: “Break It Up”

In her memoir “Just Kids,” Patti Smith writes about attending Electric Lady’s opening party in late August 1970 and meeting Hendrix there. “He spent a little time with me on the stairs,” she writes, “and told me his vision of what he wanted to do with the studio.” Though Hendrix didn’t live to see that vision of communal musical experimentation through, Smith would contribute to it five years later when she recorded her raw, kinetic debut album, “Horses,” there.

6. The Roots featuring Erykah Badu and Eve: “You Got Me”

In the late 1990s, a loose collective of hip-hop and neo-soul musicians who called themselves the Soulquarians — including the Roots, Common, Erykah Badu and D’Angelo — claimed Electric Lady as their home base. An outpouring of fresh, imaginative music emerged from freewheeling studio jam sessions, often organized by the Roots’ drummer, Questlove. Among the classic albums recorded there during the Soulquarians era were D’Angelo’s “Voodoo,” Badu’s “Mama’s Gun” and the Roots’ incisive 1999 album “Things Fall Apart,” on which this track appears.

7. Frank Ocean: “Ivy”

Few albums from the past decade have embraced Hendrix’s vision of genre fluidity and boundless ambition as wholeheartedly as Frank Ocean’s 2016 epic, “Blonde.” The earliest sessions for what would become Ocean’s masterpiece took place in the creatively generative environs of — where else? — Electric Lady Studios.

8. Taylor Swift: “Lover”

The prolific and ubiquitous pop producer Jack Antonoff’s penchant for recording at Electric Lady has had a major impact on the studio’s popularity with a current generation of stars. In recent years, he has recorded there with Lorde, Lana Del Rey, St. Vincent and a certain world-conquering pop musician who is often photographed on West 8th Street . This dreamy title cut from her 2019 album “Lover” is one of many songs that Swift has recorded at the studios — including some of her rerecorded “Taylor’s Version” tracks.

9. Sabrina Carpenter: “Please Please Please”

Finally, the most recent No. 1 hit recorded at Electric Lady is this current, Antonoff-produced smash from the winkingly witty Sabrina Carpenter. “I know I have good judgment, I know I have good taste,” she sings at the beginning of this rippling synth-pop jam. Of course she does: She recorded at Electric Lady.

The Amplifier Playlist

“9 Great Songs Recorded at Electric Lady Studios” track list Track 1: Jimi Hendrix, “Dolly Dagger” Track 2: Carly Simon, “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” Track 3: Stevie Wonder, “Superstition” Track 4: David Bowie, “Fame” Track 5: Patti Smith, “Break It Up” Track 6: The Roots featuring Erykah Badu and Eve, “You Got Me” Track 7: Frank Ocean, “Ivy” Track 8: Taylor Swift, “Lover” Track 9: Sabrina Carpenter, “Please Please Please”

Lindsay Zoladz is a pop music critic for The Times and writes the subscriber-only music newsletter The Amplifier . More about Lindsay Zoladz

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