Madonna: A Rebel Life – Mary Gabriel
Near the 800-page mark, Mary Gabriel asks, “does Madonna do anything without controversy?” To which I yelled “No!” and that pretty much sums up this entire biography.
Making my way through this epic often felt like a slog. It was frustratingly repetitive but also enlightening, forcing me to re-examine my own biases against someone who, I think now, is largely misunderstood as an artist and person.
Merely reducing her to headlines minimizes the outsized role she has played in global culture for decades and overshadows her contributions as a social justice advocate and philanthropist.
In many ways this book is giving Madonna her flowers while she’s still here to receive them. Gabriel points out that Michael Jackson and Prince, the artist's friends, contemporaries and fellow “class of 1958” members, are gone.
Those two artists, largely withdrawn from the spotlight at the time of their deaths, were re-examined and lauded, but Madonna, who continues to make music, tour and court the media, still has every move critiqued and minimized.
Therefore, sexism, unsurprisingly, is a recurring theme.
It was one of many topics — including HIV/AIDS, gay rights, politics, religion, feminism and international development — that run parallel to Madonna’s story making this equal parts anthropological study and rockstar mythmaking.
This criss-crossing of influences — some stated, others theorized — show how frequently Madonna met a moment or pushed it forward. As a near constant media presence for over 40 years, her reaction to a situation – or the reaction to her actions – are an interesting socio-political barometer.
Exploring macro events and interjecting micro details from Madonna’s life and career was one of the clever techniques Gabriel used to mask that the book’s namesake had no involvement in “A Rebel Life.”
The author shows clear reverence towards the star, and she did exhaustive research with third-party sources and an assortment of first person interviews with former associates (including her brother, Christopher). There’s little balance between broadsheet and tabloid journalism, but she found an objective mixture of the two.
Still, by the end of the 40+ hour audiobook, I was exhausted and angry on Madonna’s behalf. There’s no reason this book needs to be as long as it is. While Gabriel spotlights many of the artist's collaborators over the years, I only had a passing interest in this flood of names.
Additionally, there were some things better left for the reader to experience than hear about. The detailed accounts of her tours and recordings were, honestly, boring, but they did give me new appreciation when I sought clips on YouTube.
The last third, primarily focused on 2008 and later, was simply not as interesting as the sections that focused on the 1980s and 1990s. While I don’t want to minimize Madonna’s later life — she still has an insane amount of relevance and influence — a more narrow focus on the subject would’ve worked wonders here. Like Madonna’s current greatest hits tour, give fans what they want.
There’s no way I would’ve picked up a physical copy of this book, so audio was the way to go for me. Elise Arsenault gave a passable if unremarkable performance. She read the text like a superfan, full of enthusiasm and indignation on Madonna’s behalf. Not a terrible way to experience the read, but this is only for superfans and music obsessives.
What I did love about reading this — especially the first half — was the nostalgia of it. I spent a lot of time revisiting her music and films, and it was fun to transport back to a time when watching videos on MTV was appointment television, and her “Sex” book collectively made the world clutch their pearls.
In the spirit of sharing those moments, here are little summaries, facts, memories or thoughts I had while listening:
General Commentary
There are few artists I vividly remember seeing for the first time, but Madonna is one of them. I can still recall the details of watching the “Like a Prayer” video. I was completely transfixed by what I saw. Not understanding it at all (I was eight-years-old) but knowing that it meant something.
Her drive and ambition is admirable. It’s easy to forget that she earned and worked for her success. Nothing was handed to her.
As the Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson autobiographies showed us, the media frequently dehumanizes famous women. For the amount of hatred that Madonna has endured, it’s amazing she never gave up. She has truly suffered for her art.
Early Life and Career
Madonna frequently speaks with love about growing up in Michigan.
She was part of the seedy New York of the late-1970s and 1980s. Moving to the city with $35, she relied on the kindness of strangers and her “guardian angels,” but that didn’t prevent her from being raped.
Early producers tried to mold her into Pat Benatar or Roberta Flack, and her first few singles were considered “urban.”
She has always been a CEO — writing and producing music, hand-picking collaborators and obsessing over details.
“Burning Up” was her first video to play on MTV, and it was interesting to revisit how crucial the medium was in breaking new artists.
She always compared herself to Michael Jackson and Prince and viewed them as creative geniuses.
It was at Keith Haring's birthday party that she first performed “Like a Virgin” and “Dress You Up.”
I would love to see her art collection. Not only did she date Jean-Michel Basquiat, but both Andy Warhol and Haring gave her original artwork as a wedding present.
Her 1984 MTV Video Music Awards performance was essentially performance art and a merging of the underground NYC art scene with the mainstream.
The Immaculate Collection Era
She doesn’t get enough credit for her role in fostering the careers of Herb Ritts, David Fincher, Mary Lambert and Jean Paul Gaultier.
Her marriage with Sean Penn created so much overexposure the press called her “McDonna.” I didn’t realize how combustible this relationship was.
The Beastie Boys opened for her first tour!
From day one, Madonna was a defender of queers. She stood by her friends as they died of AIDS and openly criticized the government and religious right. She even handed out safe sex pamphlets at concerts and in her album liner notes.
She was in the original Broadway cast of David Mamet’s “Speed the Plow.”
Filming “Dick Tracy” — one of my favorite films as a child — was a horrible experience for her.
The media called her a “slut savant.” Could you imagine someone saying that today?
She once told Harvey Weinstein to “fuck off,” and he cowered away from her.
Her “Justify My Love” video premiered on Nightline (lol)
Later Years
Guy Ritchie does not seem like a nice person. He frequently stated he didn’t want her money but took $100 million in the divorce.
In an interesting comparison to Britney’s memoir — both Diane Sawyer and Justin Timberlake are called out for misogynistic behavior towards Madonna.
Even though Madonna hasn’t had a radio hit in 15 years, she continues to sell out arenas and stadiums.
She had a 25-year relationship with Warner Music that required her to deliver an album every two years – insanity.
Queen Elizabeth II, whom she met in 2002, had no idea who she was and Madonna absolutely loved it.
In a discussion of her Malawi adoptions and advocacy, she was largely criticized, but Angelina Jolie was praised for similar efforts.
She had the record for highest grossing tour by a female artist until 2022.
Rating (story): 3.5/5 stars
Rating (narration): 3/5 stars
Format: Audiobook (library loan)
Dates read: January 21 – February 7, 2024
Multi-tasking: Good to go. The chapters are long, but they all follow a similar formula. If you aren’t paying close attention, you’ll likely get lost in the flood of names and places, but I also can’t imagine solely focusing on the text for an extended period of time.
