Life is a mystery, everyone must stand alone... except for everyone listening to this episode, because we're traveling together through doubt and deliverance with Madonna's "Like a Prayer." Kirk takes a look at the high-contrast drama of the megastar's 1989 megahit, with its cathedral-like verses, bus-driving guitar rhythms, bouncy basslines, and perfectly placed Latin percussion flourishes. The music video got a lot of attention back in the day, but there's plenty in the song itself to celebrate, from Prince's mystery guitar to Madonna's vulnerable vocals to the joyful power of the Andraé Crouch Choir. Band/Artist: Madonna Album: Like a Prayer, 1989 Composed by: Madonna and Patrick Leonard Listen/Buy: Apple Music | Amazon | Spotify ------ ALSO FEATURED/DISCUSSED: "Open Your Heart To Me" by Madonna from True Blue, 1986 "Like a Prayer" as covered by the cast of Glee The music video for "Like a Prayer": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA983t3Rdzs Three excellent music documentaries: "Muscle Shoals," "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," and "20 Feet From Stardom." (Seriously, watch all three!) OUTRO SOLOIST: Steve Pardo This episode's outro soloist is the one and only Steve Pardo. Steve and Kirk met when they were both jazz saxophone students at the University of Miami; Steve currently lives and performs around the Nashville, TN area. He's a producer, composer, and does work in the world of video games, having spent several years at Harmonix, where he helped make music games like Rock Band and Dance Central. You can find out more at his website: https://www.stevepardo.com/ NEWSLETTER/MAILING LIST Sign up for Kirk's mailing list to start getting monthly-ish newsletters with music recommendations, links, news, and extra thoughts on new Strong Songs episodes: https://kirkhamilton.substack.com/subscribe STRONG MERCH! Visit the Strong Songs merch store for some very cool t-shirts, mugs, totes, and more: store.strongsongspodcast.com STRONG PLAYLISTS You can find playlists containing every Strong Song as well as all of Kirk's weekly music picks from his other podcast, Kotaku Splitscreen, on both Spotify and Apple Music. SUPPORT STRONG SONGS ON PATREON! A huge thank-you to everyone who's signed up to become a patron of Strong Songs—your support is making it possible to make this show as good as it can be! Stay tuned for a bonus episode in the next few weeks, made possible entirely by our Patrons. If you want to support the show, check out the Strong Songs Patreon. Here's the link: https://Patreon.com/StrongSongs SEPTEMBER 2019 WHOLE NOTE PATRONS andrew walters CALEB ROTACH Chad Barnard Dan Apczynski Dave Florey Glenn Jared Norris Mark Schechter Sara Walsh SEPTEMBER 2019 HALF NOTE PATRONS Alexander Polson Andre Bremer Andrew Lee Arjun Sharma Bill Thornton Brett Douville Brian Amoebas Chas Lednicky Chris Brown Cyrus N. White Dominik Schmitt Earl Lozada Eero Wahlstedt Elliot Jay O'Neill Emily Williams FlSHBONES Forrest Chang Jaehoon Jeong James Johnson Jasmine Fellows Jeffrey Olson John and Sharon Stenglein Jon O'Keefe joujou Juan Carlos Montemayor Elosua Jules Bailey Justin Liew Justin McElroy Kate Albury Kevin Morrell Kevin Pennyfeather Kyle Simons Matt Gaskell Max Schechter Melanie Stivers Michael Blackwell Miriam Juskowicz Mueller Nate from Kalamazoo Nicholas Schechter Richard Toller samuel gardner Shane DeLeon Shaun Wiese Tim Tom Clewer Tom Lauer