Hello,
For those of you who are confused by or don't understand Ke$ha, the look and career of Madonna is what she was trying for. She failed miserably, but you can't blame the girl for trying.
I realize I haven't written many music blogs lately, so here's one for you. While exercising this morning, Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" played on my iPod. I thought to myself I need to have a Madonna blog. She was probably my favorite singer of the 80s- edging out people like Prince, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson- and one of the most successful artists ever. While she was one of the greatest artists of the 80s, this blog will specifically cover 1983-1985. The videos are mostly in chronological order.
Any biographical information comes from Madonna's Wikipedia.org page and my faulty memory.
Madonna's first single was released on April 24th, 1982. Watching this video I understand why those people who knew of Madonna then didn't take her too seriously. While "Everybody" is good enough, it's also very disposable. It sounds like a song a person just beginning in the music business would make:
On July 17th, 1983 Madonna released her self-titled debut CD, "Madonna". There were 5 singles that were released from that CD. As mentioned above "Everybody" was the 1st single. According to the "Madonna" CD Wikipedia page, "Everybody" was released on October 6th, 1982. That date obviously contradicts the above date for the same song. However that doesn't mean either date is wrong, perhaps the song bombed on the first release date and later was released again.
It took me awhile to jump on the Madonna bandwagon. So I'm sort of hazy about a few details. If I remember right the first two singles didn't make much of an impact. The second single released from "Madonna" was "Burning Up". Clearly Madonna and her advisors were still trying to figure out what her "look" should be. Madonna and her look were very much a work in progress here.
The third single from "Madonna" was "Holiday". It seems to me this was the song that really broke Madonna. While working on this blog, one thing I noticed about Madonna's music is how much joy there is. Indeed "Holiday" is a very joyous song:
The fourth song released from "Madonna" was also her first Top 5 hit, "Lucky Star". Clearly the idea behind the "Lucky Star" video is Madonna is a babe, what else do we need? I'm sure that's why they put her against a white backdrop. The dancers in the background are extraneous, although I'm sure this video is featured prominently on their resumes:
The fifth and final single from "Madonna" was "Borderline", it was released on February 15th, 1984. How many CDs are released now where the fifth single might be the best song on the CD? That would be none. How many modern CDs can be released and the third song is even listenable? Not very many. #musicwasbetterinthe80s
Although neither one of the following two songs were "hits" I still quite like both. I love the grit in he voice in parts of "Think Of Me":
"Physical Attraction":
On November 12th, 1984 Sire Records released Madonna's second CD "Like A Virgin". Madonna slowly but surely was becoming a major star and "Like A Virgin" launched her into the stratosphere.
A few days earlier on November 6th, 1984 the single "Like A Virgin" was released and there was no going back for Madonna or America:
September 14th, 1984 Madonna made a very famous appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards. It looks like she's actually singing here. When you can actually sing you don't need Auto Tune or to lip sync.
"Like A Virgin" (live at the MTV Video Music Awards)
Madonna ended 1984 with a lot of momentum and she become an even bigger star in 1985. In that year Madonna released 4 more amazing songs. In fact, Madonna didn't wait long to make a big impact in 1985. On January 30th she released "Material Girl". It was another tremendous hit and video for Madonna. Sadly I can't find the original video on youtube.com. It's a shame, because she looks amazing in it:
In the midst of "Like A Virgin's" phenomenal success, and perhaps taking advantage of that success, Geffen records released the first single from the "Vision Quest" soundtrack. That song, "Crazy For You", was released on March 2nd 1985. "Crazy For You" may be Madonna's best ballad.
(Just a side note about "Vision Quest", it's a great movie. Or at least it was the last time I watched it, it was. Some 80's movies don't age so well. Also the "Vision Quest" soundtrack is great. Along with "Crazy For You", the soundtrack features many other great songs. Those songs include Journey's "Only The Young", Red Rider's "Lunatic Fringe", Sammy Hagar's "I'll Fall In Love Again" and "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner.
About 5 weeks later after "Crazy For You" Madonna released "Angel". I don't remember this being a big hit, but nonetheless a great song.
According to Wikipedia's Madonna page, "Into The Groove" wasn't on the original release of "Like A Virgin". It was added to the record in 1985. It pushed all the songs from the sixth song on back one space. If you got the record in 1985 (ask your parents what a record is) "Into The Groove" was now the first song on side 2. "Into The Groove" was the 4th "Virgin" single and was released on July 23rd.
"Into The Groove"
The final single off "Virgin" was released on July 24th, 1985, it's the vastly under appreciated "Dress You Up":
Two songs on "Like A Virgin" that weren't released as singles, but are great songs, include "Stay":
The last amazing song from "Like A Virgin"is the heart breaking "Love Don't Live Here Anymore":
I prefer this version of "Love Don't Live Here Anymore":
Madonna also was in "Desperately Seeking Susan" in 1985:
Madonna appeared in Philadelphia on July 13th, 1985 as part of Live Aid. It was a benefit to raise money for Ethiopia famine relief.
"Holiday" and "Into The Groove":
"Love Makes The World Go Around":
Finally 1985 was a very busy year for Madonna, as she also went on tour. It was the aptly titled The Virgin Tour:
Last and possibly least on August 16th, 1985 Madonna married Sean Penn. The marriage didn't last long.
Upcoming in future Madonna blogs: I'll include amazing songs, like the one below, and Madonna's first talk show appearance. Also "Dick Tracy", "Express Yourself", "Evita" and all the amazing songs from that movie.
"Papa Don't Preach":
Madonna's first talk show appearance on June 9th, 1987. She explains to Johnny Carson what a bustier is:
themusicaddict
No comments:
Post a Comment