When Madonna performed “Like A Virgin'' at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, she scandalized the audience and her own team. But she also stole the show, cementing MTV’s place in cultural history. In this episode, Susie and Jess look back at Madonna’s early years in New York, the events that led her to that stage and how she became one of pop's most enduring icons. 

GUESTS:
Mary Gabriel, author of Madonna: A Rebel Life

FOR MORE:
Madonna: Our 1985 Cover Story (Spin)
Madonna’s Celebration Tour Proves She Won’t Quit (NY Times)
Buy Mary Gabriel’s book Madonna: A Rebel Life

When Madonna performed “Like A Virgin'' at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, she scandalized the audience and her own team. But she also stole the show, cementing MTV’s place in cultural history. In this episode, Susie and Jess look back at Madonna’s early years in New York, the events that led her to that stage and how she became one of pop's most enduring icons. 
GUESTS:
<ul>
<li>Mary Gabriel, author of Madonna: A Rebel Life</li>
</ul>
FOR MORE:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.spin.com/featured/madonna-like-a-virgin-may-1985-cover-story-confessions-of-a/">Madonna: Our 1985 Cover Story</a> (Spin)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/16/opinion/madonna-celebration-tour.html">Madonna’s Celebration Tour Proves She Won’t Quit</a> (NY Times)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/mary-gabriel/madonna/9780316456449/">Buy Mary Gabriel’s book Madonna: A Rebel Life</a></li>
</ul>

Is there a cultural moment from your past that looks different in retrospect? Maybe it’s a scandalous tabloid story seared into your teenage brain or a political punchline that just feels wrong now. It might be a very specific red swimsuit that inspired a decade of plastic surgery (see: “Baywatch”) or the inescapable smell of an entire generation of prepubescent boys (Axe body spray, anyone?). Each week on IN RETROSPECT, Emmy-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett revisit a pop culture moment from the 80s and 90s that shaped them — to try to understand what it taught us about the world, and a woman’s place in it.

Talk to us at @inretropod, @susiebnyc and @jessicabennett on Instagram. New episodes each Friday.

Is there a cultural moment from your past that looks different in retrospect? Maybe it’s a scandalous tabloid story seared into your teenage brain or a political punchline that just feels wrong now. It might be a very specific red swimsuit that inspired a decade of plastic surgery (see: “Baywatch”) or the inescapable smell of an entire generation of prepubescent boys (Axe body spray, anyone?). Each week on IN RETROSPECT, Emmy-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett revisit a pop culture moment from the 80s and 90s that shaped them — to try to understand what it taught us about the world, and a woman’s place in it.
Talk to us at @inretropod, @susiebnyc and @jessicabennett on Instagram. New episodes each Friday.

In Retrospect with Susie Banikarim and Jessica Bennett

Madonna and the Making of a Cultural Icon (Pt 2)

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/f99c50f2-2825-4032-8374-b187015dd245/transcript

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