It isn’t to say that Madonna wasn’t (and isn’t) constantly challenging the world with her in your face sexuality. From the moment she released her oozing-with-sensuality first single, “Everybody,” Madonna established a theme that would reign supreme throughout her career: sex, and the associated desires and fetishes that come with it, is nothing to be ashamed of. This thesis statement reached its apex on October 20, 1992 with the release of her fifth studio album, Erotica. Though Madonna had already scandalized the music scene with the song and video for “Justify My Love” two years prior in 1990, Erotica was Madonna’s graduation to full-fledged sexual grit. From the moment that arresting bassline to “Erotica” takes over your spirit, it’s evident Madonna is presenting her listener with a manifesto. One that defies her audience not to question their own beliefs and hang-ups about sexual pleasure.
Declaring in her alter ego’s sultry lilt, “My name is Dita, I’ll be your mistress tonight,” there can be no mistaking that M is about to lay into society and its views on sex–with particular regard to the U.S.’ puritanical and repressed sensibilities. Produced by Shep Pettibone and Andre Betts, the record was the OG of concept albums–fuck that self-titled Beyonce noise–presenting a narrative with an arc that ultimately concludes the greatest pleasure and gratification comes from the self (accented in her corresponding Sex book by the excerpt “when finger found flesh and with legs spread open and back arched, honey poured from my 14-year-old gash and I wept”).
But the songs were about more than just addressing sexual taboos. “In This Life,” for example, is a rumination on the death of her two close friends who died of AIDS, Christopher Flynn and Keith Haring. At a time when America was still choosing to turn its back on the epidemic, Madonna was at the forefront of calling out the problem and mourning the loss of those it affected in her life. The track “Why’s It So Hard” (surprisingly not about a penis) elaborates on her lament as she demands, “Why’s it so hard to love one another?” and persists in asking the question that her fans are still wondering about her: “What do I have to do to be accepted? What do I have to say to be respected?”
In terms of the lush imagery of the tracks, “Bad Girl” is among the most poignant with its tale of a troubled woman who just can’t seem to bring herself to do the right thing and get her life together. The video, directed by David Fincher, elaborates on the motif with Madonna in the role of high-powered businesswoman Louise Oriole as she engages in promiscuity on a level that eventually leads her to the premier Mr. Wrong. Indeed, all the accompanying visuals for the singles that were released from Erotica proved sumptuous, from the orange-saturated “Fever” to the disco-drenched “Deeper and Deeper.” And yet America, still coming off the intensive conservatism of the Reagan/Bush years, could not grasp the artistry Madonna was showcasing, instead choosing to focus on the “controversial” elements of her images–exacerbated by the release of the Sex book and the erotic thriller, Body of Evidence (one of the only times Madonna set foot in the shithole that is Portlandia).
And this has always been the issue with Madonna–no one can see past her image to comprehend the message of irony she’s putting forth. Americans are so goddamned literal after all. Resultantly, when Madonna toured the album for the Girlie Show in 1993, the only U.S. date she offered was in New York, still the sole place in this country with a tinge of intellectualism (even if it is mostly pseudo).
Twenty-five years later, it’s more apparent than ever that Erotica shook the U.S. when it needed to be most in terms of its stance on a little bit of healthy fantasy. After all, isn’t it a constitutional right to be able to openly admit you like to receive a cock up your ass or engage in gerontophilia? I mean God, America, get a fucking sense of humor, lighten up.
