Joni Mitchell is one of the icons of the counterculture – famed for the urgent environmentalism of ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, the heartbreaking intimacy of Blue, and the jazz-folk fusion of Court and Spark – but she is also something of a walking contradiction.
For all the delicacy and emotional precision of her music, Mitchell is an uncommonly blunt critic of the culture around her, as opinionated as any of her peers and rather less diplomatic than most.
Her influence on contemporary music is immense. From Kate Bush and Björk to Prince, Taylor Swift and Stevie Nicks, the landscape of modern pop owes a significant debt to Mitchell’s experimentalism. She has spent decades resisting the label of “confessional” songwriter, but she has also been fiercely critical of some of the artists who cite her as a formative influence. Chief among them is Madonna.
The irony is that Madonna’s admiration for Mitchell is entirely genuine. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1997, she was effusive. “I was really, really into Joni Mitchell. I knew every word to Court and Spark; I worshipped her when I was in high school. Blue is amazing.” She added: “I would have to say of all the women I’ve heard, she had the most profound effect on me from a lyrical point of view.”
The feeling is not mutual. Six years earlier, in conversation with the same publication, Mitchell had been withering about her younger admirer in terms that were, by any measure, startling.
She began by framing her argument through her own experience – and with a nod to Bob Dylan. “The thing is, I came into the business quite feminine,” she said. “But nobody has had so many battles to wage as me. I had to stand up for my own artistic rights. And it’s probably good for my art ultimately. I remember early in my career somebody wrote that my work was ‘effeminate,’ which I thought was pretty odd. So over the years, I think I’ve gotten more androgynous – and maybe become an honorary male, according to Bobby.”
She then turned her attention to what she saw as a broader cultural decline – and used Madonna as its defining symbol. “Music has become burlesque over the last few years – video’s done that. Every generation has to be more shocking than the last. But at a certain point, you’ve got to reel it in because decadence ultimately isn’t that hip. Our country is going down the tubes from it. It’s rotten to the core. And I think women can be more than decorative.”
Then, directly: “Yet someone like Madonna can be seen as a feminist hero because she’s exploiting her own sexuality rather than being exploited by some man. That’s an interesting idea, but what’s the difference between her and a hard hooker, you know? Who’s being exploited there? She’s revelling in herself, too. But she can take it. I guess that’s what it is. It’s just being able to take it, you know.”
It got worse. Mitchell went on to describe Madonna as a “terrible role model” and a “whore”. “She’s got that whore-Madonna thing built-in [laughs]. She’s like a living Barbie doll but a little bit on the blue side. There’s always been that type of female. There’s always been a market for it, but the danger is that she thinks she’s a role model. And it’s a terrible role model. It’s death to all things real.”
Nearly two decades later, Mitchell’s position had not softened. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 2010, she returned to the same theme. “In a way, I think I entered straight into my tragedian period, as my work is set against the stupid, destructive way we live on this planet. Americans have decided to be stupid and shallow since 1980. Madonna is like Nero; she marks the turning point.”
Madonna, for her part, has never publicly responded.
