Madonna "Like a Virgin" [1984]

So terrible it should have been enough to impeach Reagan, Madonna's second record -- arriving tragically at the apex of MTV's popularity -- exposes the "new normal" of greed and soullessness that was just building steam as completely bankrupt from the start. In retrospect, we should all have seen the economic crash of 2008 coming upon the release of her single "Material Girl," although by then Madonna was an untouchable trillionaire, inconceivably garnering more respect than all the honest female singers in history combined. Shows you she wasn't wrong for being a shallow bitch -- and a lying-ass one, too: "Like a Virgin"? blow me -- and that all one needed to do in America in the 80s was get with the corporate program and be willing to stomp everyone else's fingers as you climb the ladder (or dance in your video). True, Madonna's natural image may have been a lot closer to that of a cool, punky Village chick, but by then the die was already cast: you can only really make it if you kowtow to the system, let gay men write all your songs for you, and encourage ancient pedophile Wall Street bankers to stroke themselves off to your image.