When you engage someone on the topic of Madonna, you will like hear comments on several topics— sex appeal, relevance, age, plastic surgery, social media presence — before hearing any on the one that explains why she is still on our minds in the first place: music.
Music, not all those other things, makes the people come together, and Madonna's has done so in a way rivaled by very few other artists of the past 100 years — SM gear, movies and controversial statements be damned.
Now, fan Marc Andrews offers Madonna: Song by Song (Fonthill), a THICK volume dedicated not to the coolest guy in the universe, but to the coolest music lovers (even if his actual dedication cites Marc's hubby). Methodically, he works his way through all of Madonna's songs, documenting extensive release info, writing and production credits ... and more.
The "more" consists of stuff like music-video trivia, information on remixes and color plates of each album cover.
What I think fans will like about the book, along with its attention to detail, is its tongue-in-cheek approach, not unlike my own in Encyclopedia Madonnica — if I do say so myself. And I just did. A lighthearted approach to fandom is for sure what the world needs today, in light of stan wars that routinely draw Twitter blood over nonsensically meaningless aspects of an artist's work and image.
What matters the most is the music, and Madonna's matters more than most.
