Paparazzi...1985

Palladium, NYC with artist Marilyn.

I'll Remember...1985

Vogue Magazine, March 1985

For the Record: Into the Groove

With two hit albums, “Like a Virgin” rising on the charts, and a mesmerizing MTV wedding cake performance behind her, Madonna’s career was in a very sweet spot in 1985. So it’s no wonder the ‘It Girl’ would make moves in Hollywood, starring in Susan Seidelman’s Desperately Seeking Susan. “Into the Groove”, penned by Madonna and songwriter Steve Bray, was written for the film and it’s there, in the closing credits of the movie, that a demo version of “Into the Groove” was not just heard, but also essentially released.

Into The Groove also managed to keep Madonna herself off Number 1 – the rerelease of Holiday sat right behind it from 11–17 August 1985. Coincidentally, that was the week of Madonna’s 27th birthday.

Madonna’s music has always felt as though she’s playing on a completely different field than everyone else, and “Into the Groove” is her ultimate anthem. Although “Holiday” is technically her most popular and mainstream song, recognizable to everyone the world over, “Into the Groove” is the hit that maintains the essence of what makes Madonna so amazing—she’s cooler than you, and you know it.

The fact that Madonna would give the song such an unconventional debut shows how strong her popularity was at the time and how big of a hit the song really is. With filming finishing right before “Like a Virgin” was out, Desperately Seeking Susan swiftly became a Madonna vehicle before its release. Ratings were lowered specifically to accommodate the star’s teen fan base and lead Rosanna Arquette was seen as a supporting actress in Madonna’s shadow. The unpolished demo didn’t even land on the film’s soundtrack and was only available as the B-side to “Angel” in the U.S., but it’s still regarded as one of Madonna’s best dance tracks

It is Madonna’s finest single simply because it epitomizes exactly why she’s maintained such a long and significant career, she’s the queen of the dancefloor. She has made many remarks about it being a very simple tune that she wrote in less than five minutes, and has never understood why it’s become so popular. The songs inspiration was the dance floor, and she wrote it while watching a handsome Puerto Rican man, across her balcony. Initially written for her friend Mark Kamins, Madonna later decided to use it as the soundtrack of her filmDesperately Seeking Susan.

The song was a commercial success, reaching the top of the charts in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom, where it was Madonna's first number-one single and started off a run of 13 Number 1 singles, more than any other female artist in British chart history. Despite not having a proper video and thanks in part to not being available on Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” album – until a reissue solved that problem later on – “Into The Groove” stormed to the top of the Official Singles Chart and refused to budge for a month.

In the United States, the song was only available as the B-side of the 12-inch single of "Angel", therefore it was ineligible to chart on theBillboard Hot 100 according to the rules at the time.

The end of the 1980s honored “Into the Groove” honored by Billboard magazine as the Dance Single of the Decade. The end of the 1980s honored “Into the Groove” honored by Billboard magazine as the "Dance Single of the Decade". In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their top-twenty Madonna singles of all-time by Q magazine; "Into the Groove" was allocated the number-three spot. In 2009, the song was ranked at ninety on Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born". Billboard ranked the song number three on a 2015 list of Madonna's top 15 best songs, calling it "the Madonna club track." In 2015 the British public as the nation’s 19th favorite 1980s number one in a poll voted the song for ITV.

The music video is made up of clips from the film, with the lyrics often matching the images. Doug Dowdle of Parallax Productions, a company that pioneered in movie tie-in music videos during the 1980s, created this video from edited footage of the movie, directed by Susan Seidelman. This was done because there were five Madonna videos already on power rotation on MTV, and Warner Bros. did not want the audience to be saturated with any new video. Hence, they decided to use the shots from the film and made a music video. During a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, Madonna commented: "'Into the Groove' is another song I feel retarded singing, but everybody seems to like it."

Mystified by its serendipitous success, she has tried many times to duplicate the phenomenon that hit with “Into the Groove”—“Vogue”, “Music”, “Deeper and Deeper”, “Where’s the Party?”, “Hung Up”, and “Give it to Me” can all claim to be produced in the hopes of duplicating “Groove’s” brilliance.

RELEASED:  July 23, 1985

SALES: 871,300. Yep, that’s right, it’s not a million-seller. Madonna is one of the most successful acts of all time to still not nab a million-selling single.

CHART FACTS: Into The Groove is tied with Vogue for her longest stint at Number 1 – four weeks. It knocked Eurythmics’ There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart) off the top. It was eventually toppled by UB40 and Chrissie Hynde with their cover of I Got You Babe.

MADGE FACT: Into The Groove would later feature in a jeans commercial, with a guest appearance from Missy Elliott and with refreshed lyrics. Missy would later team up with Madonna, Britney and Christina on that MTV VMAs performance in 2003.

I'll Reember...1985

Strike a Pose...1985

I'll Remember...1985

I'll Remember...1991

For the Record...Angel

'Angel' was released on April 10, 1985 by Sire Records as the third single from the 'Like a Virgin' album.  One of Madonna's many singles which she co-wrote with Stephen Bray, "Angel" reached No. 5 on the Hot 100 in 1985. Rather famously, "Angel's" 12" vinyl single contains one of the most famous b-sides in U.S. history: "Into the Groove." While "Into the Groove" received a proper release in other countries, in America, it was relegated to b-side status despite its enormous popularity both on the radio and on MTV.  The single also became Madonna's fifth consecutive top-five single on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the top of its dance charts. It was also able to reach number-one in Australia and the top-five of the charts in Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Madonna had initially planned to release a music video for "Angel", but later decided to go against it, as at that time, there were already five Madonna music videos on-rotation in the music channels and were being broadcast continuously. Hence, Warner Bros. and Madonna felt that adding another video to the already saturated channels, might not be in her favour. A promotional video, containing scenes from the music videos of "Burning Up", "Borderline", "Lucky Star", "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl" was made by Warner Bros. Records and aired in the United Kingdom.

I'll Remember...1985

I'll Remember...1984

I'll Remember...1984

Madonna in 1984 at age 26. This interview was done just before she released ‘Like A Virgin’ so she was still a newbie to the music scene and on the brink on international super stardom. This woman has NOT changed. Madonna’s still articulate, intelligent, confident, stylish, brutally honest, cutting edge, assertive, determined, with balls of steel. She knew exactly what she wanted and has accomplished everything she set her mind to. 30 years later she’s still the reigning Queen of Pop. I lover her earlier interviews, I always felt like she was flirting with them using body language. Nowadays she just condescends them. There will never be another Madonna. Love this chick!

I'll Remember...1985

I'll Remember...1985

NBC TV GUIDE AD 

Madonna hosts Saturday Night Live 'Virgin' Episode + New Cast

Madonna - Like a What?

Madonna in the mid-'80s — The ''Material Girl'''s hits topped the pop charts and silenced skeptics.  
Throughout her career, Madonna has been a risk taker, flirting on the edge, and no wonder: Her first career gamble paid off big time. After waiting for ''Lucky Star,'' the final single from her 1983 debut album, Madonna, to straggle down the charts, the 26-year-old singer released her sophomore effort on Nov. 12, 1984. The gamble: a sexy photo and three little words, Like a Virgin, on the cover. Six weeks later, as preteens around the country pulled cassettes out of their Christmas stockings and asked, ''What's a virgin?'' a nation of Madonna wannabes was born.

Days before the album's release, the New York Post reported the title of her new video as ''I'm No Virgin,'' and the gaffe would prove closer to the truth than the real thing. The album contained such been-there-done-that lyrics as '' 'Cause the boy with the cold hard cash is always Mr. Right,'' a line delivered, like many others over the next 11 years, partly tongue in cheek.

The reviews ranged from mildly positive to indifferent (Peoplecalled the album ''a tolerable bit of fluff''), while Mick Jagger later opined that Madonna's tunes were characterized by ''a central dumbness.'' But something clicked. ''Like a Virgin'' spent six weeks at No. 1 on the singles chart. Other album singles, ''Material Girl,'' ''Angel,'' and ''Dress You Up,'' all hit the top five. By spring, Madonna Madness was in full swing, and girls were raiding stores for anything that accentuated their belly buttons.

Their new role model strutted her stuff with the aplomb of a woman who had dreamed of fame for years.Billboard editor Paul Grein predicted that ''Cyndi Lauper will be around for a long time; Madonna will be out of the business in six months,'' but the Material Girl stuck around, and Like a Virgin eventually sold 15 million worldwide, a feat none of her other collections has matched.

Today, Like a Virgin comes off as a bit repetitious and immature. Even its producer, Nile Rodgers, confesses, ''As a fan, it wouldn't be what I consider my favorite Madonna album compositionally.'' But it was perfect for the mid-'80s, when the country was searching for a pop queen to accompany the pop kings Michael Jackson and Prince. Already dressed for the party, the star announced in her press biography: ''1985 is going to be my year. You watch.'' It was our pleasure.

SOURCE

Madonna Tribe: Fact of the Day

Today's fact of the day is devoted to one of Madonna's signature songs:Like A Virgin. Virgin is one of the few Madonna's big hit she hasn't penned in any way herself, but it was written by Billy Steingberg and Tom Kelly.
Steinberg, who wrote the lyrics in 1983 has shared some nice tidbits about the song with us and here they are:
 In 1983, when I wrote the lyrics for "Like A Virgin", I was very happy because I had extricated myself from a very difficult relationship and was enjoying a new one. I felt like a virgin. I wrote the first verse lyric first, starting with "I made it through the wilderness." I didn't start with the title. But after I wrote the line, "you made me feel shiny and new", the title "Like A Virgin" popped into my head. Right away, I knew it could make a startling song and I was excited about working on it with Tom.
 There are some alternate lyrics that we didn't use in the end. Mostly junk. For example, "Ask my friends and they'll tell you it's true. Nobody's had what I'm giving to you."
 The song wasn't intended as a ballad. I had no pre-conceived idea about the music. It's just that when Tom read the first verse, it sounded romantic and serious and his first instinct was to approach the music as a ballad. But I knew that that was the wrong approach. When I told him so, he tried something else. After doing this numerous times, he became frustrated and started playing the "Like A Virgin" bass line and singing in falsetto. I yelled, "That's it!" After that, the song was written quickly.
 Sometimes a song will only "fit" one artist. "Like A Virgin" is one. When we submitted it for other artists, we were told that "no one will sing a song with that title." One A&R guy suggested I re-write the lyric. Michael Ostin, a Warner Brothers record executive, came to our studio to hear what Tom and I were writing. He loved "Like A Virgin" and said he would play it for Madonna.
 The bass line to "Like A Virgin" was inspired by "I Can't Help Myself". And, as I said before, when Tom started singing, he sang in a falsetto that was inspired by Smokey Robinson's vocal style. Songwriters are always influenced by the things they love.

Thanks Madonna Tribe!

I'll Remember...1984

Strike a Pose...1984

I'll Remember...1984

I'll Remember...1984

New Music Seminar

Madonna talking about her new album 'Like a Virgin' and her upcoming tour. She also was invited to talk about music videos at the New Music Seminar in 1984. As you can see, she was not afraid to question other artists like James Brown or Hall and Oats. Really interesting to see how music videos were seen back in the day. Enjoy!

I'll Remember...1985

Love there was MDNA b4 MDNA.