The Revolutionary Herb Ritts Sex Romp!

Let's say for the sake of argument that you are an aspiring pop superstar embarking on the most important, controversial, and image-defining period of your life. I'm listening, you say. Your last two music videos featured the following: burning crosses, gang violence, interracial kissing, black Jesus, interracial black Jesus kissing, you licking milk out of a bowl like a cat, you naked on a bed in chains, crotch-grabbing, and proto-cone bras. Feminist groups are outraged. Religious leaders decrying your name (which was, considering your name, deliciously ironic). Multinational beverage companies are cursing you and wishing Lionel Richie were still relevant. How do you blow all of this out of the water?

Well... you kind of don't. Instead, you just make a gorgeous, iconic video that launches a string of gorgeous, iconic videos by one of the most notable photographers of the '90s. Ho-hum.



Gorgeous, no? And somehow a bit... familiar? That's because Herb Ritts launched a summer-drenched assault on MTV during the early nineties, and it was all very black-and-white-sexy. Very Calvin Klein, very Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. You'll see his name popping up quite a bit this summer, because he was a master of combining sex with (shockingly!) the message of the video.

Objectively, "Cherish" is a sweet song bordering on being sentimental; it's very confident, but very child-like. Sort of a carry over from True Blue, but with some gnarly Steve Winwood noodling that pops up every once in a while. So Herb Ritts gave this song what it needed: just a little bit of an edge. A sweet little turn on the Little Mermaid, with loving shots of Madonna at her most charming and Tony Ward being Tony Ward. And that adorable, sexually-ambiguous kid! What a wonderful debut, and a video that elevated the song and its singer.