WI: No Madonna?

Lets say for some reason that at a young age Madonna DOESNT persue dance and goes into some more common profession (if you want to go totally bizzare, have her have a religious calling and become a nun). Therefore her music and movie career never happens. How does this affect pop culture? One thing that may come out of this is that without a rival in Madonna, Cyndi Lauper may keep her sound and image from "She's So Unusual" as opposed to getting more "serious" on later albums.
 
Cyndi Lauper's problem was that she was too old, too non-sexual, and too set in her artistic ways. I think inevitably some hypersexual pop star eager and willing to change to the times (and propagating easier-to-imitate fashion choices) would come along (perhaps not lasting as long as Madge, but even so).
 
Concerning German pop-music, producer Michael Cretu will probably not feel compelled to create his wife Sandra into a provincial Madonna double.

On the global scale, I am also uncertain who would fill the void, and which direction in pop music might be emphasized by that. Tina Turner or Cher would be too old to fill that role. I doubt that Kim Wilde could do so, either. Kylie Minogue is too young. An even more successful Whitney Houston, with a career more bridging R&B and dance? Would that be feasible?
 

Heavy

Banned
Madonna enjoyed a reasonable degree of personal control over her music and image. I don't know if many of her contemporaries could say the same; possibly Cyndi Lauper, but it can't have been an exceptionally crowded field.
 
Since she was influenced by Madonna, does this mean no Lady Gaga down the road?

Her career might be significantly different, or maybe butterflied away entirely. Odds are good that in a TL without Madonna there would be nobody we'd know as "Lady Gaga".
 
Instead of Lady Gaga we might get Stefani Germanotta instead.

What is more certain is that there is no "Lady Gaga" without Queen. :eek: Generally, I don't adhere to the idea if a young woman didn't do crazy/stylish/provocative stuff in the 80s and 90s, another one couldn't do that in the 2010s.
 
Top