Erotica (Madonna Album) - Legacy

Legacy

With the album's release, its accompaining book, Sex and Madonna's role on the erotic thriller film Body of Evidence, that featured her fully nude and in scenes engaged in simulated sexual acts, critics commented that "she had gone too far" and that her career was over. Despite this, some critics and Madonna's audience claim that the album is her best effort. Erotica is ranked at number 24 on the Slant Magazine's list of 100 Best Albums of the 1990s. According to author J. Randy Taraborrelli, "At the time of Erotica's release in October 1992, much of society seemed to reexamining its sexuality. Gay rights issues were at the forefront of social discussions globally, as was an ever-increasing awareness of AIDS. A generation seemed increasingly curious to explore, without guilt, shame or apology, a different slice of life, something more provocative, maybe darker." In the review for fifteenth anniversary of the album, music critic Sal Cinquemani from Slant magazine commented about the album's impact:

By 1992, Madonna was an icon—untouchable, literally and figuratively—and Erotica was the first time the artist's music took on a decidedly combative, even threatening tone, and most people didn't want to hear it. Erotica's irrefutable unsexiness probably says more about the sex=death mentality of the early '90s than any other musical document of its time. This is not Madonna at her creative zenith. This is Madonna at her most important, at her most relevant. Madonna's voice might sound nasal and remote, but no one else in the mainstream at that time dared to talk about sex, love, and death with such frankness and fearlessness.

Upon the release of the album, there came a phenomenon which was considered to be a "Madonna backlash" everywhere. The Vatican banned Madonna from entering the state and her music was banned on its radio stations. The title track and the album were also banned in Lebanon. Its accomapining music video also suffered of the mainstream condensation due to its explicit sexual imagery. About its limitated rotation on MTV, an insider from Warner Bros. said, "It's 'Justify My Love' all over again." In Singapore, after Erotica's worldwide release, the album was on hold for its release, because their government censors thought the track "Did You Do It" was too explicit. Managing director Peter Lau said, "We were elated when the album was cleared, but failed to pass. We're still waiting approval." Regarding the controversy, Madonna has recalled: "There was a time when I could not open up a newspaper or magazine and not read something incredibly scathing about myself." However, she stated: "I'm not apologising in any shape or form. That's where my head was at the time. I was interested in pushing buttons and being rebellious and being mischievous and trying to bend the rules."