And there she was, rising up on stage in all black, bright blonde locks curled, flying her roots proudly and wearing a vertical halo-like crown — also black. And she was singing. An inverse angel, an icon from the last century.

Madonna, of course.

I grew up on Madonna. I wasn’t her most rabid fan — I was more of a Cyndi Lauper fan, and in the 1980s when both were hit makers who wore aggressively unusual, personalized clothing and did whatever the hell they liked with their hair, the pair were o...