OK - I do think you are a bit hard on the "poor" Madonna :-)
For one thing she has managed to stay on top for a very long
time, and she constantly reinvents herself - granted, there
isnt the depth of DB, but she knows how to pick her songwriters,
and some of her lyrics is actually OK...
(especially on the latest album, but it does require that one likes the music style ;-) )

Anyways, I actually liked her version of american pie -
its sweet and doesnt in no way destroy ones memory of
the original. On the other hand I recently heard weird al
Yankowich take on the song which is also hilarious
(Recap of Star Wars I)...

In these days you hear A LOT of people stealing or
totally destroying perfectly good original work
(especially in the dance/HipHop genre) - that should be
outlawed ...

A little quote:
The World is watching America, and America is watching TV...
The World is strugling with War and Starvation, and America is preoccupied with sex...
Reader letter in TIME 45-1994