MADONNA AND MOTHERHOOD: HOW THE QUEEN OF POP BRIDGES GENERATIONAL GAPS

While we are close now, during my ’80s teenage years, my mom and I were not the mother/daughter to share soul-baring truths, whisper secrets, and confide in each other. We did not talk about boys or sex or much that felt real to me. Beyond her disapproval of my bulging Andy Gibb and David Lee Roth posters, we didn’t talk about music either. Looking back, I see that her disapproval, which she refused to specify or verbalize, was about sex and boys and music, and she was working hard not to make me take those posters down.

My 20-year-old daughter and I have – and have always had – a much different relationship. We’re not exactly best girlfriends, but we do talk about boys and whisper secrets and bare our souls, pieces of them anyway. We bond over music. We go to shows. We make mixes for the specific purpose of rocking out in the car (my mother thinks the car radio is a distraction to the driver). We scream/sing along with Eddie Vedder, Carrie Underwood, the odd Disney tune (“A Whole New World” from Aladdinis a fave), Brother Ali, Ben Kweller, OKGO, Lady Gaga, Fleetwood Mac, Macy Gray, Cage the Elephant, Avett Brothers, High School Musical soundtracks, and, of course, Taylor Swift, who is my daughter’s soul mate and (healthy, I think) obsession. “Dear John” is my favorite T-Swift song. My daughter likes to play “The Best Day,” especially after we’ve had a not-so-best day. This is how she says “sorry” or “I forgive you.”

In 1983 I was in eighth grade, just growing out of my year-long Thriller fog, the first vinyl I ever bought with my own money. I loved Michael Jackson so, so much, and then I became a girl, preferring the Go-Go’s, Bananarama, and Cyndi Lauper. Then I heard Madonna.

It was okay that I didn’t have a mom who could talk to me about sex and boys and music because now I had Madonna. From the first tinny notes of “Borderline” to her black rubber bracelets to her confident, boyish bouncy skip/walk to the space between her teeth, I knew Madonna was here – put on this earth – to usher me into a new way of thinking about — and being — a girl.

Source:http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/madonna-and-motherhood-how-the-queen-of-pop-bridges-generational-gaps-7769316