Madonna Music Monday - 09/27/2010

Well it looks like the dog days of Summer are quickly coming to an end. The chill is in the air, the clouds are grey and the leaves on the trees are turning a golden color. I can't believe Summer went by so fast. Where did the time go? Well when I think of Summer, there is one Madonna song that always reminds me of fun-filled days. That song is CHERISH, from the Like A Prayer album.

Cherish is a great fun-filled song. With easy lyrics to remember and a great melody, this song just hums along. Its a great song about having a wonderful relationship and 'cherishing' every moment together. The one thing that makes this song stand out is the Herb Ritts directed video for the song. Prior to this video, Herb Ritts was a world-famous celebrity photographer whose pictures graced the pages of almost every magazine that existed:  Interview, George, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Vanity Fair and Elle. He photographed Madonna for the cover of her True Blue album, among other photo projects. Here is the original photograph that Ritts shot of Madonna:

And here is the photo as used as the cover art work for Madonna's TRUE BLUE album:

When Madonna was photographed for the True Blue album cover, she suggested that Ritts try directing music videos. That project finally happened in 1989. Cherish is the 1st video that Herb Ritts directed. Shot in beautiful mono-chromatic blue hues, the video perfectly reflects the happiness and sexiness of the song. The style and look of this video would be repeated in the follow-up videos Ritts directed for other artists: Janet Jackson's Love Will Never Do, Chris Isaak's Wicked Game & Michael Jackson's In The Closet. But it all began with Madonna's Cherish video. So for your viewing pleasure, here is Madonna's ode to loving relationships:



John