In control

The lyrics couldn’t have been better suited to a country in need of a good dose of cheering up.

“Look around everywhere you turn is heartache,

It’s everywhere that you go,

You try everything you can to escape,

The pain of life that you know”

This was how Madonna began her half-time performance at this year’s Super Bowl, kicking off a 15 minute stage spectacular.

The answer in the song, of course, is to escape onto the dance floor “and here’s what it’s for”. And who better to deliver an ample dose of musical escapism than this 53-year-old, mother-of-three, who has sold more than 300 million records since 1982.

In the past 30 years, Madge, as she was dubbed by the British press in the 1990s, has sold 84 million albums in the US and 3.1 million in Australia. So there’s at least one Madonna album per household in the US and one for every second household in this country, although I need to admit my CD collection might have tipped that balance slightly.

She appeared on the Cleopatraesque dias, with a Valkerie-style head dress, flanked by dancers in all manner of techno-mythological garb and the stage show drew on so many eras it was enough to send sociology graduates into a frenzy.

Having made her entrance with the song Vogue, she went onto bop around with LMFAO, Micki Minaj and MIA, towards the end of the performance Cee Lo Green turned up with the traditional marching band and the whole shebang finished with the quasi Catholic mysticism of Like a Prayer.

No - there wasn’t any continuity or plot - the entire show was feel-good escapism at its best. You’re feeling bad? Have a bit of a bop, express yourself and some kind of spiritual direction will find you, or you’ll find it, or something like that.

Did we mention dancing?

The main point is that the selection of Madonna as the half-time entertainment at the Super Bowl, is the best evidence yet that Gen X is well and truly in the sights of influence makers, marketers and anyone selling anything.

As I’ve pointed out before, the popular culture icons of the 1980s are being revived for our children’s consumption and we shoppers-for-many are being tricked into wandering longer in the supermarket isles to listen to the long lost songs of rebellion and freedom of our youth.

As far and away the most enduring and biggest selling Gen X pop star, Madonna was an obvious choice for the half-time stage show and she delivered an excellent performance. And while I don’t know if it made me more or less likely to buy Bridgestone tyres, I’ve decided to stop fighting the power and simply sit back an enjoy this kind of marketing onslaught.

If for no other reason that it’s downright fun to watch Matthew Broderick selling Honda’s, delightful that Nike auctioned off MAGs to raise money for Parkinson’s disease and just fabulous that my kids know more words to Abba songs than I ever did thanks to the singalong musical Mumma Mia.

Oh and by the way, the New York Giants won.

Do you agree? Write and tell me your views.

Harness the power of knowledge - become a subscriber to access 20 years of BRW’s archives.

BRW

Comments (0)