Madonna‘s ’Erotica’ Album at 30: Every Song Ranked From Worst to Best
Written by djfrosty on October 20, 2022
There are Madonna albums with more hits (True Blue) and others with more critical acclaim (Ray of Light), but Erotica — the Queen of Pop’s fifth studio album — was a game-changing classic that found her at the peak of her powers as a pop provocateur. Released 30 years ago on Oct. 20, 1992 — in tandem with her scandalous Sex book, a coffee table tome featuring Isabella Rossellini, Naomi Campbell, Big Daddy Kane, Vanilla Ice, Tatiana von Fürstenberg and others — the LP showed that Madonna’s artistic ambitions were only getting bigger after the heights of 1989’s Like a Prayer. Enlisting “Vogue” producer Shep Pettibone and “Justify My Love” producer André Betts, she continued to push boundaries — and buttons — liberating her creativity as well as her sexuality.
The album was not as big of a hit as its predecessor, the blockbuster Like a Prayer, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, making it her first studio LP since her self-titled debut not to reach the pole position on that chart. And while four of its singles were top 40 hits on the Hot 100 – including the No. 3-peaking title track and the No. 7 hit “Deeper and Deeper” – some felt that was a disappointment compared to the No. 1 peaks reached by then-recent previous singles “This Used to Be My Playground,” “Justify My Love” and “Vogue.”
But 30 years later, it’s abundantly clear that Erotica paved the way for other pop divas — from Janet Jackson to Beyoncé to Christina Aguilera — who were willing to get their freak on. Here, we rank all 14 tracks on an iconic album that forever sexed-up pop music.