Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 35

Madonna - "Crazy for You"



(Single Release: March 1985)
For those who think me a music snob, elitist, snide, rockist, or any other description of someone who marginalizes others as per their tastes, I suppose there is enough evidence for that. But, one need only look at this series of short essays on songs from 1985 to realize that I am fairly inclusive. Plus, I'm just not as judgmental as I used to be. That being said, over at Treblezine, when we were compiling our best music of the 80s, I feel like I was being secretly judged for some of my 80s picks, and in particular ballads as sung by female pop stars. Yes, I have a not so secret place in my heart for "Crazy for You," but also for the Bangles' "Eternal Flame," 'Til Tuesday's "You Know the Rest," and Heart's "These Dreams." I can't help it. I was thirteen years old. I had crushes on Madonna, Aimee Mann, and Susanna Hoffs. Didn't every pubescent boy? (And probably more than a few pubescent girls?). "Crazy for You" made me feel funny inside. At a time where I was still about a year away from experiencing my first kiss, this song provided an early preview of the butterflies that would ensue with that later experience. With this song, the innuendo is right on the surface, though I never would have picked up on it at that age. I just knew that Madonna was slowing down the tempo after her breakthrough album, Like a Virgin, had been released just five months' previous. She had never performed a ballad before and I was transfixed. To this day, I still haven't seen the movie for which this song was recorded, the unlikely Matthew Modine as wrestler romantic drama, Vision Quest. It didn't matter. Though there are plenty of Madonna songs I enjoy, including "Into the Groove" (another soundtrack hit as she was blowing up), whenever people ask me what my favorite Madonna song is, there is no hesitation in my answer of "Crazy for You." Then I just let the quizzical looks commence.