Papa Don’t Preach, and how Madonna has shaped history

This episode we examine the music of Madonna using “Papa Don’t Preach” as the starting point, but diving deep into “Like A Prayer” and her clash with the Catholic Church.

We take a look at the Madonna icon of music, fashion, sex, feminism and determination. She is the best-selling female recording artist of all time, selling more than 300 million records worldwide, she’s the most successful solo artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart - and only behind The Beatles, overall. She’s also the most successful solo artist on tour, amassing more than 1.4 Billion dollars in concert tickets, has been inducted to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame since 2008, and she even has a few Guinness Records.

She definitely is a phenomenon. Perhaps, one of the most famous people in the world.

This Fathers’ Day, we have something most fathers don’t want to hear from their teenage daughter: that they’re pregnant.

It is certainly what they least expect on Father’s Day, but it’s definitely a conversation worth having specially when young women are faced with such a life defining moment. Although safe sex should be the nucleus of this type of conversations, when a teenager is pregnant the debate usually revolves between having the child or abortion.

And that’s what today’s episode is all about. A song that sparked the debate between pro-life and abortion groups, that even both seemed to praise it and hate it at the same time, a song that fueled the rivalry between Madonna and the Catholic Church after she dedicated it to Pope John Paul II. The music video for the song even catapulted an actor’s career and derived in a response song from another actor in the video.

This is Uncovering the Cover: Papa Don’t Preach, and how Madonna has shaped history.