Madonna

This Sunday, I'm ready to be the only guy in the room who cares more about Madonna than the Pats or the Giants. I like football fine, but watching a few minutes of dudes charging at each other between hours of commercials will never knock my socks off the way the hardest working mom in show business does.

"But Ben," you say, "Madonna is not metal!" Maybe not, but it's metal to like Madonna.

30 years into her career, nothing Madonna does should be able to shock me anymore. But this 2008 show made my jaw drop when I first saw it posted on Metal Injection.



Yes, that's the biggest star in the world interrupting one of her own hits with the riff from Pantera's "A New Level."

I remember the blogosphere reaction being overwhelmingly negative. Headbangers were furious that she appropriated our sacred metal, and pop fanatics wondered why she'd associate with these Neanderthals:



Personally, I'm thrilled that the Queen of Pop paid tribute to the Cowboys from Hell. In hindsight, it makes sense. What's not to like about Pantera? Especially if you're musically aware enough to be Madonna?

It's almost inevitable to wonder what the late Dimebag Darrell would think of Madonna dressing up one of his primal classics. I think that he'd like it, but I'd be more interested to hear how he'd re-arrange "Ray of Light." Or to see what he'd do to a Super Bowl halftime show.