Like a Virgin
Encyclopedia
Like a Virgin is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna
, released on November 12, 1984 by Sire Records
. It was re-released worldwide in 1985, with the inclusion of the bonus track "Into the Groove
". In 2001, Warner Bros. Records
released a remastered version with two bonus remix tracks. After the release of her self-titled debut album, Madonna wanted to solidify her future in the music business, by building on the success of the first album. She decided to become one of the record producer
s, but Warner Bros. was not ready to give her the artistic freedom that she wanted. Nile Rodgers
was chosen as the primary producer of the album, due to his work with David Bowie
.
The album was recorded at Power Station Studio
in New York at a quick pace. Rodgers enlisted the help of his former Chic
band mates Bernard Edwards
, who was the bassist, and Tony Thompson
, who played drums; they appeared on several tracks of the album. Rodgers decided to be the guitarist, when Edwards requested him to do so, in exchange of their help. Jason Corsaro, the record's audio engineer
, persuaded Rodgers to use digital recording
, a new technique introduced at that time. The cover sleeve and images were shot by Steven Meisel
. Madonna wanted the album title and the cover image to make provocative link between her own religious name Madonna, as the Roman Catholic title for Jesus' mother Mary, and the Christian concept of the virgin birth.
Like a Virgin is not that much of a musical departure from Madonna's first album, but she felt that the material was stronger. Along with Rodgers, Madonna also collaborated with her former boyfriend Steve Bray
, who co-wrote many songs on the album. Consisting of dance-pop oriented music, the songs also incorporated New Wave
. After its release, Like a Virgin received mixed reviews from the critics, but was a commercial success. It became Madonna's first number one album on the Billboard 200
, while reaching the top of the charts in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom. The Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) certified it diamond
for shipment of ten million copies across the United States. Worldwide it has sold 21 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Five singles were released from the album, with "Like a Virgin
", "Material Girl
" and "Into the Groove" becoming worldwide hits. To promote the album, Madonna embarked on The Virgin Tour
, which had shows in cities of North America only. Like a Virgin has attained significance as a cultural artifact of the 80s. Madonna proved that she was not a one-hit wonder
and was able to provide herself with a permanent footing in the music world. Her songs became a lightning rod for both criticism by conservatives and imitation by the younger female population, especially "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin". According to author J. Randy Taraborrelli
, "Every important artist has at least one album in his or her career whose critical and commercial success becomes the artist's magic moment; for Madonna, Like a Virgin was just such a defining moment".
", "Borderline
" and "Lucky Star", the album was one of the best selling of the year and helped Madonna become one of the most exciting new artist of the '80s. When she started work on her second album, Madonna felt that her first album had succeeded in introducing her "street-smart dance queen" persona, and she wanted to solidify and build upon that concept. According to her, "My work, my dedication—the stubbornness for getting Madonna released—had paid off. Now it was time to solidify my future."
For Like a Virgin, Madonna decided to become one of the primary record producer
s, feeling the need to control the various aspects of her music. She believed that depending on a particular producer for her album was not something that suited her. Madonna said "I learnt my lesson while creating my debut album, and the way Lucas left me in the water with the project, you can't trust men"—referring to the incident, when due to certain difference of opinion between producer Reggie Lucas
and Madonna, Lucas had left the project half-way. However, Warner Bros. Records was not ready to give her the artistic freedom that she wanted. Madonna had to fight with them, and make them understand why she wanted to be on her own with this album. In J. Randy Taraborrelli
's biography of Madonna, she commented,
was chosen by Madonna as the main producer of the album, mostly because of his work with David Bowie
on his 1983 album Let's Dance. Rogers had a reputation of being a man of experience in creating musical personas in the recording studio. With production partner Bernard Edwards
, Rodgers had formed the seventies band Chic
in 1976. But he left the band after seven years to pursue his own career, and ended up collaborating with Bowie for Let's Dance. Madonna was impressed by the record and its title single
, so she wanted a similar approach to the music of her album. She commented, "When I was making the record, I was just so thrilled and happy to be working with Nile Rodgers. I idolized Nile because of the whole Chic thing. I couldn't believe that the record company gave me the money so that I could work with him." Rodgers recalled that he had first seen Madonna perform at a small club in New York in 1983. In an interview with Time
magazine, Rodgers explained: "I went to the club to see another woman sing, but when I got there Madonna was onstage. I loved her stage presence and then we met right after that. I kept thinking to myself, 'Damn, is she a star', but she wasn't at that time. I always wanted to work with her and Like a Virgin seemed like a perfect opportunity." The album was recorded at Power Station Studio
in New York at a quick pace. Rodgers enlisted the help of his former Chic band mates Edwards, who was the bassist, and Tony Thompson
, who played drums; they appeared on several tracks of the album. Rodgers decided to be the guitarist, when Edwards requested him to do so, in exchange of their help.
The recording sessions did not start until the afternoon as Rodgers, who attended late-night parties, was not accustomed to work in early mornings. The schedule was also difficult for Madonna, who recalled that she used to "go to the swim club on the Upper West Side and go swimming and walk from there to the recording studio. It was impossible for me to reach there at morning." Rodgers recalled that Madonna was a real hard worker and incredibly tenacious. He commented: "I am always amazed by Madonna's incredible judgement when it comes to making pop records. I've never seen anyone do it better, and that's the truth. When we did that album, it was the perfect union, and I knew it from the first day in the studio. The thing between us, man, it was sexual, it was passionate, it was creativity... it was pop."
Jason Corsaro, the record's audio engineer
, persuaded Rodgers to use digital recording
, a new technique at the time which Corsaro believed was going to be the future of recording. To ensure this, Corsaro used a Sony 3324 24-track digital tape recorder
and a Sony F1 two-track during the mixing of the tracks. Madonna recorded the lead parts of the songs in a small, wooden, high-ceilinged piano room at the back of Studio C, also known as Power Station's "R&B
room". Corsaro then placed gobos
around her while using the top capsule of a stereo AKG C24 tube microphone, with a Schoeps
microphone preamplifier and a Pultec equalizer. Once the tracks met with everybody's approval, Robert Sabino
added the keyboard parts, playing mostly a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, as well as some Rhodes piano
and acoustic piano
, while Rodgers also played a Synclavier
. Madonna, although not required, was present every minute of the recording sessions and the mixing process, Corsaro commented: "Nile was there most of the time, but she was there all of the time. She never left".
The cover sleeve and images were shot by Steven Meisel
, who would become a regular collaborator with Madonna, in a suite at the St. Regis Hotel
. Madonna wanted the album title to make provocative link between her own religious name—Madonna as the Roman Catholic title for Jesus' mother Mary—and the Christian concept of the virgin birth. With the title song alluding to this concept, Madonna wanted the album cover to have mixed messages as well. Author Graham Thompson described that "reclining on a silk sheet, with a bouquet on her lap and wearing a wedding dress, a closer inspection reveals Madonna's image as highly fetishized and sexualized." He added that the heavy make-up, pouting lips
, and despoiled hair, along with the tight-fitting bustier and full-length gloves, turned Madonna's image into a figure not of virtue, but of desire. This point, according to Thompson, is further emphasized by the belt she is wearing, the wording on which is just visible as "Boy Toy". He added: "The image was ambiguous and was based upon the fact that Madonna's appeal at that point of her career was not presenting herself just as an object of desire, but also as a desiring female subject".
Erlewine commented that the "Steven Meisel-shot cover [...] was as key to her reinvention as the music of the album itself." William McKeen
, author of Rock and roll is here to stay: an anthology, felt that the image was another trigger and testament to the fact that Madonna was the last word on fashion for women and young girls of that era, the epitome of cool. Madonna herself declared: "I have always loved to play cat and mouse with the conventional stereotypes. My Like a Virgin album cover is a classic example. People were thinking who was I pretending to be—the Virgin Mary or the whore? These were the two extreme images of women I had known vividly, and remembered from childhood, and I wanted to play with them. I wanted to see if I can merge them together, Virgin Mary and the whore as one and all. The photo was a statement of independence, if you wanna be a virgin, you are welcome. But if you wanna be a whore, it's your fucking right to be so."
, who co-wrote many of the album's songs. Reflecting on the music composition for the album, Bray noted: "I've always kind of made the rib cage and the skeleton of the songs already—she's there for the last things like the eyebrows and the haircut." The opening track "Material Girl
" was written by Peter Brown
and Roberta Rans. Madonna explained that the concept of the song was similar to her life's situation at that time. According to her, the song was provocative, hence she was attracted to it. "Material Girl" incorporated New Wave music
and consists of synth arrangements with a robotic voice repeating the hook
. The lyrics identify with materialism
, with Madonna asking for a rich and affluent life, rather than romance and relationships. Written by Madonna and Steve Bray, "Angel
" is the second track on the album. It was one of the first songs developed for the project and, according to Madonna, was inspired by a girl who is saved by, and subsequently falls in love with an angel. "Angel" consists of a three-chord ascending hook, which serves as the verse and chorus. It has vocal harmonies beneath the main chorus and the lyrics repeat the angel-like image of Madonna's savior. The title track "Like a Virgin
" was written by Billy Steinberg
and Tom Kelly
. Steinberg said that the song was inspired by his personal experiences of romance. It was chosen for Madonna by Michael Ostin of Warner Bros. Records
, after listening to a demo sung by Kelly. However, Rodgers initially felt that the song did not have a good enough hook
and was not suitable for Madonna, but subsequently changed his opinion after the hook was stuck in his mind. He credits Madonna with recognizing the song's potential: "I handed my apology to Madonna and said, 'you know... if it's so catchy that it stayed in my head for four days, it must be something. So let's do it.'" "Like a Virgin" is a dance-oriented song, composed of two hooks. Madonna's voice is heard in a high register
while a continuous arrangement of drums are heard along the bassline
. According to author Rikky Rooksby, the lyrics of the song are ambiguous and consist of hidden innuendo. In sexual terms, the lyrics can be interpreted in different ways for different people.
In "Over and Over", Madonna sings about determination and picking yourself up from disappointments. The song consists of instrumentation from drums, synths and has a three-chord progression. An emotional moment occurred in the recording studio when Madonna covered the 1978 Rose Royce
song "Love Don't Live Here Anymore
". Rodgers recalled: "Madonna had never performed with a live orchestra before. I was very much into doing everything live, so I just said, 'Madonna, you go out there and sing and we will follow you.' At first Madonna was hesitant, but the live setting ended up producing memorable results. She sang and she was overcome with emotions and she started crying, but I left it on the record." The song features Madonna's vocals supported by acoustic guitars and synth strings, with Thompson playing the drum in the second verse. Towards the end, Madonna emotes in the voice of a soul singer
. "Into the Groove
" is the sixth track on the 1985 re-release edition of the album. Madonna's inspiration behind the song 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 in the soundtrack of her 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan
. Unlike the other songs, "Into the Groove" was recorded at Sigma Sound Studios
. Madonna's friend Erika Belle
was present during the recording and watched the whole process. In Andrew Morton
's Madonna biography, she noted that at one point of the recording, Bray was facing difficulties with the bridge
of the song, as the melody
thought by him was not syncing with the rest of the composition. Undeterred by his obvious difficulties, Madonna stepped up to the microphone and sang the words "Live out your fantasy here with me". Bray's problem was solved; Belle remembered the experience as: "[The song] seemed to come out of her, I was awestruck." The song consists of instrumentation from drums, percussion, congas and whistles. Madonna's voice is double-tracked in the chorus. The lyrics are simple, and written as an invitation to dance with the singer, with sexual innuendos and undertones in the meaning.
"Dress You Up
" was the last track to be added to the album as it was submitted late by songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale. Although Rodgers rejected it as there was no time to compose a melody and record it for the album, Madonna pushed for the song's inclusion on Like a Virgin, as she particularly liked its lyrics. The song is a drum beat-driven dance track featuring instrumentation of guitars and vocals from a choir
. The lyrics are an extended metaphor for fashion and sex, comparing dressing up with passion. "Shoo-Bee-Doo" contains homage to Motown music. Beginning with a slow introduction
, the song is in the doo-wop
genre and resembles the songs of early Sixties girl groups like The Shirelles
or The Crystals
. The saxophone
breakdown
is played by Lenny Pickett
. The lyrics discuss relationship problems, and are phrased as clichés in the coda
. "Pretender" starts with the chorus
and then moves to the verse
. It talks about seduction and the insecurity felt by a woman who feels that things are moving too quickly for her with her man. "Stay" is the final track on the album. Using triple-rhythms
and double-tracked vocals, the song includes a noise resembling someone slapping a microphone
and a spoken sequence which fades
away in the end.
commented that the songs on the album sustain a "fevered dance-rock momentum". Stephen Thomas Erlewine
from Allmusic commented, "Overall, the album adds up to less than the sum of its parts—partially because the singles are so good, but also because on the first album, she stunned with style and a certain joy. Here, the calculation is apparent, and while that's part of Madonna's essence—even something that makes her fun—it throws the record's balance off a little too much for it to be consistent, even if it justifiably made her a star." Debby Miller from Rolling Stone
preferred Madonna's debut album over Like a Virgin. Tony Power from Blender
gave a negative review of the album, saying "Madonna destroys Rose Royce's soul ballad 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore'. Ambition ('Material Girl') and Madonna as victim of love ('Pretender') are the emerging themes, and thanks to Reservoir Dogs
, we'll always debate whether the title track is about a guy with a big wang." Robert Christgau
commented in his consumer guide that "[Madonna's] so sure of herself she's asking men and women both to get the hots for the calculating bitch who sells the fantasy even while she bids for the sincerity market where long-term superstars ply their trade. And to make the music less mechanical, she's hired Nile Rodgers, who I won't blame for making it less catchy."
Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly
said that "In addition to raising the Madonna/whore ante with songs like the title cut, Virgin cradled the kind of '80s hits ("Dress You Up
") built to transcend the Dynasty era." Alfred Soto from Stylus Magazine
remembered the first time that he heard the songs from the album and commented, "Lots of critics think something similar occurred when Madonna followed her eponymous debut with Like a Virgin, helmed by Nile Rodgers with all the fixin's—too calculated next to the 'raw passion' of the debut. This is nonsense; it misses how Madonna conflated notions of spontaneity and calculation. Rodgers is the ideal collaborator." Stephen Holden
from The New York Times
said: "With a tough-cookie voice that's both coy and streetwise, Madonna's singing harks back to the rock-and-roll girl-group tradition that preceded the Beatles. But where girl groups, from the Shirelles to the Ronettes, worshipfully extolled their boyfriends' cars, haircuts and rebel poses, Madonna's point of view is decidedly more self-interested. In matters of love, she is a comparison shopper with a shrewd sense of her own market value. The words 'shiny and new' describe not only the way the love-smitten singer feels in the title song but the sound of the album."
Matt Damsker from Los Angeles Times
commented: "Madonna's beating vibrato sometimes makes her sound so robotic in the album." Lou Papineau, while writing for The Providence Journal
, said that "In Like a Virgin, Madonna proves she's shallow, but spunky." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine gave a positive review, saying "Though not as innovative as her debut, Like a Virgin stands as one of the most definitive pop artifacts from the indulgent Reagan Era. The mid-tempo ballad 'Shoo-Bee-Doo' and a soulful cover of Rose Royce's 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore
' proved Madonna could churn out more than just novelty hits, while the sugary 'Angel
' and the irresistible 'Dress You Up
' contributed to the singer's record-breaking list of consecutive Top 5 hits (16 in all). The retro-infused 'Stay' and the percussive 'Over and Over' are the album's hidden gems." Ed Stevenson from People
felt that "Madonna does have a sense of humor, though she is buried under so many layers of self-parody it's hard to tell sometimes.... She is backed on this by the reliable rhythmic touch of veteran Nile Rodgers, whose contributions have helped her create a tolerable bit of fluff. Hugo Mistry from Chicago Tribune
felt that "Like a Virgin was Madonna's breakthrough, playing off her self-conscious campiness with a series of hot dance tracks, attention-grabbing lyrics and steamy videos."
at number three on December 22, 1984, and stayed within the top ten for the next month, before reaching number one on February 9, 1985, where it stayed for three weeks. It also reached a peak of ten on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
chart. By July 1985, Like a Virgin became the first album by a female artist to be certified for sales of five million units in the United States. It was eventually certified ten times platinum
(diamond) by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA), for shipment of ten million copies of the album. It placed at three on the year-end chart for 1985, with Madonna becoming the top pop artist for the year. After the advent of the Nielsen SoundScan
era in 1991, the album sold a further 574,000 copies. In Canada, the album debuted at number 78 on the RPM Albums Chart
, on November 10, 1984. It reached a peak of number three, on February 16, 1985. The album was present for a total of 74 weeks on the chart, and was certified diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association
(CRIA), for shipment of one million copies of the album. Like a Virgin ranked sixth on the RPM Top 100 Albums for 1985.
In the United Kingdom, Like a Virgin debuted at number 74 on the UK Albums Chart
, on January 12, 1985. However, the album fluctuated on the chart for the next eight months and it was only in September that it finally reached the top of the chart. It remained at the top for two weeks, and a total of 152 weeks on the chart. The album was certified three times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
(BPI) for shipment of 900,000 copies of the album. In France, the album debuted at number five on the French Albums Chart
on October 6, 1985, staying there for eight weeks, then descending down the chart. It was certified two times platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) for shipment of 600,000 copies. In Australia, the album debuted and peaked at two on the Kent Music Report
albums chart, and was certified seven times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
(ARIA) for shipment of 490,000 copies of the album. It reached the top of the New Zealand Albums Chart and was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
(RIANZ) for shipment of 75,000 copies. Elsewhere, Like a Virgin reached number one in Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain, while peaking within the top five in many other countries, including Austria, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland. It also became Madonna's first number-one album on the European Top 100 Albums
, reaching the summit on November 23, 1985 for two weeks. Like a Virgin has sold more than 21 million copies worldwide and became one of the best-selling albums of all time.
" was released as the lead single from the album in late 1984. It received positive reviews from contemporary as well as old critics, who frequently called it as one of the defining songs for Madonna. It became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100
, while reaching the top of the charts in Australia, Canada and Japan and the top-ten of the other countries. The song was certified gold
by the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) on January 10, 1985, for shipping a million copies across United States – the requirement for a gold single prior to 1989. The music video portrayed Madonna sailing down the riverways of Venice in a gondola, as well as roaming around a palace wearing a white wedding dress. With the video, scholars noted Madonna's portrayal of a sexually independent woman, the symbolism of the appearance of a man with lion's mask to that of Saint Mark
, and compared the eroticism of the video to the vitality of the city of Venice. "Material Girl
" was the second single from the album, released in January 1985. Critics have frequently noted "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin" as the songs that made Madonna an icon. "Material Girl" was a commercial success, reaching the top-five in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Japan and United Kingdom. It reached position two on the Billboard Hot 100
in the United States. The music video was a mimicry of Marilyn Monroe
's performance of the song "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
" from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The mimicked scenes are interspersed with scenes of a Hollywood director trying to win the heart of an actress, played by Madonna herself. Discovering that, contrary to her song, the young woman was not impressed by money and expensive gifts, he pretended to be penniless and succeeded in taking her out on a date.
"Angel
" was the third released single from the album, in April 1985. Critics gave mixed review of the song, with one group denoting it as a classic while the others felt it was sub-par compared to the other Madonna singles. "Angel" became Madonna's fifth consecutive top-five single on the Billboard Hot 100
and reached the top of its dance chart. "Into the Groove
" was the fourth single from the album, released in July 1985. The song was appreciated by contemporary critics as well as authors, who have frequently called it "Madonna's first great single". "Into the Groove" reached the top of the charts in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, where it was Madonna's first number-one single. In some countries, such as the United States and Australia, "Into the Groove" was released only as the B-side to the maxi-single of "Angel
". It was therefore ineligible to enter the Hot 100 or Hot 100 Singles Sales charts. It reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart where it was listed as a double-sided single with "Angel". "Dress You Up
" was the fifth and the last single from the album. Critics reacted positively to the dance-pop nature of the track. "Dress You Up" became Madonna's sixth consecutive top-five single in the United States. It also reached the top-ten in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
, which only visited cities in the United States and Canada. Early on there were plans to schedule dates in England and Japan due to Madonna's large fan base in both countries. However, the final schedule did not reflect the idea. In the end several more US dates were added and moved to larger concert venues due to overwhelmingly strong ticket sales. Madonna's performance on the tour was described by Taraborrelli as "full of excitement", singing songs from her debut album as well as Like a Virgin, and asking the audience "Will you marry me?" The costumes included colorful New Wave
jackets for "Holiday
" and white wedding gowns similar to the one worn in her "Like a Virgin" music video. Referring to her Detroit roots and contemporary artist Michael Jackson
, Madonna sang a verse of "Billie Jean
" during "Like a Virgin". The Virgin Tour was a success and collected a total of more than US$5 million. During a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone
, interviewer Austin Scaggs asked Madonna regarding her feelings and emotions during the tour, since it was the first time she was playing in arenas. Madonna replied saying,
The title track was also performed by Madonna at the first MTV Video Music Awards
in 1984, where she appeared on stage atop a giant wedding cake
dressed in a wedding dress, adorned with the infamous "Boy Toy" belt buckle, and veil. The climax of her risqué performance found her humping
and rolling around on the stage. The performance is noted as one of the iconic and biggest performance in MTV's history. She also appeared at the 1985 Live Aid
charity concert, where she performed "Into the Groove".
records in the late 60's." Madonna proved she was not a one-hit wonder
with the release of the album which sold 12 million copies worldwide at the time of its release. Taraborrelli felt that "Like a Virgin is really a portrait of Madonna's uncanny pop instincts empowered by her impatient zeal for creative growth and her innate knack for crafting a good record." He added that the success of the album made it clear what was Madonna's real persona. "She was a street-smart dance queen with the sexy allure of Marilyn Monroe
, the coy iciness of Marlene Dietrich
and the cutting and protective glibiness of a modern Mae West
". Although the album received mixed reviews, Taraborrelli believed that the "mere fact that at the time of its release so many couldn't resist commenting on the record was a testament to the continuous, growing fascination with Madonna.... Every important artist has at least one album in his or her career whose critical and commercial success becomes the artist's magic moment; for Madonna, Like a Virgin was just such a defining moment" Chris Smith, author of 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music believed that it was with Like a Virgin that Madonna was able to steal the spotlight towards herself. She asserted her sexuality as only male rock stars had done before, moving well beyond the limited confines of being a pop artist, to becoming a focal point for nationwide discussions of power relationships in the areas of sex, race, gender, religion, and other divisive social topics. Her songs became a lightning rod for both criticism by conservatives and imitation by the younger female population.
"Like a Virgin" was her first song to attract the attention of organizations who complained that the video and the song promoted sex without marriage and undermined family values, offering an unsavory image of Madonna as a whore. Outraged moralists condemned her as a sex kitten and sought to ban it. Conservatives were angered that Madonna dared to portray the virginal wedding attire in a sexual context. While one section of the population were outraged at the scandal, other were taking joy at the very notion of a virginal Madonna, who retorted by saying,
The song's influence was most profound on the younger generation. Madonna's public persona of an indomitable, sexually unashamed, supremely confident woman struck a chord with them. Biographer Andrew Morton
noted that most of Madonna's admirers were females, who were born-and-brought-up with an image of old-fashioned stereotypes of women as virginal brides, or as whores, or with feminist values that rejected the use of a woman's looks for her self-advancement. Author William McKeen
of Rock and roll is here to stay: an anthology commented that with the song, Madonna intermixed such middle-class ideas of femininity with examples of what femininity meant to her, which was having equal opportunity. In addition, at a time when eighties fashions were promoting flat-chested, stick-thin women as ideals of beauty, the more curvaceous Madonna made average girls feel that it was fine to be in the shape they were. A new word called 'Madonna wannabe
' was introduced to describe the thousands of girls who tried to emulate Madonna's style. At one point, Macy's
allotted an entire floor area for the sale of clothes styled according to Madonna's fashion. University professors, gender-studies experts and feminists earnestly started discussing her role as a post-modernist style and cultural icon. According to author Debbi Voller, "Like a Virgin" gave rise to the icon Madonna.
Madonna has stated that the song she most regrets recording is "Material Girl" and if she had known that the label would be attached to her for decades, she would probably never have done so. After making the video, Madonna said she never wanted to be compared to Monroe, despite posing like her and recreating many of Monroe's signature poses for various photos shoots, most notably in a 1991 issue of Vanity Fair
. Reflecting on the song, Madonna told Taraborrelli:
Guilbert commented that "material girl" designated a certain type of liberated women, thus deviating from its original coinage which meant a girl who is tangible and accessible. Author Nicholas Cook said that the meaning and impact of "material girl" was no more circumscribed by the video, rather by its song. Its influence was seen later among such diverse groups such as female versus male, gay versus straight, and academic versus teenage. In 1993, a conference was held at the University of California
at Santa Barbara
, with the subject as Madonna: Feminist Icon or Material Girl? The conference pondered on the duality of Madonna as both of them and deduced that the question of Madonna's feminism is not easy to decide. Some of the feminists left the conference, citing that they had not been able to make up their minds. "Dress You Up" was also the subject of much media attention, when it was included on the Parents Music Resource Center
's (PMRC) "Filthy Fifteen" list, for the perceived sexual content of its lyrics. The Center's founder Tipper Gore
had heard her daughter listening to the song, and considered the line "Gonna dress you up in my love" as exemplifying 'vulgar music'. The PMRC called upon the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to give parents a consumer-friendly means of identifying rock records unsuitable for minors—a rating system based on lyrical content. "Dress You Up" received a rating of 'S', for "sex and obscenity", from the RIAA.
Production
Design
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, released on November 12, 1984 by Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
. It was re-released worldwide in 1985, with the inclusion of the bonus track "Into the Groove
Into the Groove
"Into the Groove" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan. It was featured on the 1985 re-issue of her second studio album, Like a Virgin, and released on July 23, 1985 by Sire Records as the album's fourth single outside North America...
". In 2001, Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
released a remastered version with two bonus remix tracks. After the release of her self-titled debut album, Madonna wanted to solidify her future in the music business, by building on the success of the first album. She decided to become one of the record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
s, but Warner Bros. was not ready to give her the artistic freedom that she wanted. Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
was chosen as the primary producer of the album, due to his work with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
.
The album was recorded at Power Station Studio
Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios, formerly known as The Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street in Manhattan, New York City.The building was originally a Consolidated Edison power plant; but after a period of vacancy, it was used as a sound stage for the television game show Let's Make a Deal...
in New York at a quick pace. Rodgers enlisted the help of his former Chic
Chic (band)
Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
band mates Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards born in Greenville, North Carolina, was a bass player and record producer, both as a member of the Funk/Disco band Chic and on his own. He died of pneumonia while touring in Japan.-History:...
, who was the bassist, and Tony Thompson
Tony Thompson
Anthony T. "Tony" Thompson was a session drummer best known as a member of Chic. He was raised in the middle-class community of Springfield Gardens, in Queens, NY.-Chic:...
, who played drums; they appeared on several tracks of the album. Rodgers decided to be the guitarist, when Edwards requested him to do so, in exchange of their help. Jason Corsaro, the record's audio engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, persuaded Rodgers to use digital recording
Digital recording
In digital recording, digital audio and digital video is directly recorded to a storage device as a stream of discrete numbers, representing the changes in air pressure for audio and chroma and luminance values for video through time, thus making an abstract template for the original sound or...
, a new technique introduced at that time. The cover sleeve and images were shot by Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...
. Madonna wanted the album title and the cover image to make provocative link between her own religious name Madonna, as the Roman Catholic title for Jesus' mother Mary, and the Christian concept of the virgin birth.
Like a Virgin is not that much of a musical departure from Madonna's first album, but she felt that the material was stronger. Along with Rodgers, Madonna also collaborated with her former boyfriend Steve Bray
Stephen Bray
Stephen Bray is an American songwriter, drummer, and record producer from Detroit. Bray is best known for his collaboration with Madonna.Bray began studying music through private instruction in Detroit, and continued his education at Berklee College of Music in Boston.Bray owns and operates Saturn...
, who co-wrote many songs on the album. Consisting of dance-pop oriented music, the songs also incorporated New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
. After its release, Like a Virgin received mixed reviews from the critics, but was a commercial success. It became Madonna's first number one album on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, while reaching the top of the charts in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom. The Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) certified it diamond
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
for shipment of ten million copies across the United States. Worldwide it has sold 21 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Five singles were released from the album, with "Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin (song)
"Like a Virgin" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second album of the same name. It was released on November 6, 1984 by Sire Records, as the first single from the album. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection and Celebration...
", "Material Girl
Material Girl
"Material Girl" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on January 30, 1985, by Sire Records, as the second single from her second album Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and in its...
" and "Into the Groove" becoming worldwide hits. To promote the album, Madonna embarked on The Virgin Tour
The Virgin Tour
The Virgin Tour is the debut concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her first two studio albums, Madonna and Like a Virgin . Although, initially planned for an international audience, the tour was restricted within United States and Canada only. Warner Bros. decided...
, which had shows in cities of North America only. Like a Virgin has attained significance as a cultural artifact of the 80s. Madonna proved that she was not a one-hit wonder
One-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...
and was able to provide herself with a permanent footing in the music world. Her songs became a lightning rod for both criticism by conservatives and imitation by the younger female population, especially "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin". According to author J. Randy Taraborrelli
J. Randy Taraborrelli
John Randall Taraborrelli is an American journalist and biographer.Taraborrelli is an author known for biographies of contemporary entertainers and political figures. He is a featured writer in several entertainment magazines in Canada, England, and Australia...
, "Every important artist has at least one album in his or her career whose critical and commercial success becomes the artist's magic moment; for Madonna, Like a Virgin was just such a defining moment".
Background
A former dancer and fixture on the New York club scene, Madonna Louise Ciccone became known to the world simply as Madonna, with the release of her 1983 self-titled debut album Madonna. Fueled by hit songs like "HolidayHoliday (Madonna song)
"Holiday" is a song by American singer Madonna from her self-titled debut album. Released on September 7, 1983 by Sire Records, it later appeared remixed on the 1987 remix compilation You Can Dance and the 1990 greatest hits compilation The Immaculate Collection, and in its original form on the...
", "Borderline
Borderline (song)
"Borderline" is a song by American pop singer Madonna from her self-titled debut album. It was released on February 15, 1984 as the fifth single from the album, by Sire Records. Written and composed by producer Reggie Lucas, the song received remix treatment from Madonna's then boyfriend John...
" and "Lucky Star", the album was one of the best selling of the year and helped Madonna become one of the most exciting new artist of the '80s. When she started work on her second album, Madonna felt that her first album had succeeded in introducing her "street-smart dance queen" persona, and she wanted to solidify and build upon that concept. According to her, "My work, my dedication—the stubbornness for getting Madonna released—had paid off. Now it was time to solidify my future."
For Like a Virgin, Madonna decided to become one of the primary record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
s, feeling the need to control the various aspects of her music. She believed that depending on a particular producer for her album was not something that suited her. Madonna said "I learnt my lesson while creating my debut album, and the way Lucas left me in the water with the project, you can't trust men"—referring to the incident, when due to certain difference of opinion between producer Reggie Lucas
Reggie Lucas
Reginald "Reggie" Lucas is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Lucas is most famous for his production work with percussionist Mtume and for producing the majority of Madonna's 1983 self-titled debut album.-Biography:...
and Madonna, Lucas had left the project half-way. However, Warner Bros. Records was not ready to give her the artistic freedom that she wanted. Madonna had to fight with them, and make them understand why she wanted to be on her own with this album. In J. Randy Taraborrelli
J. Randy Taraborrelli
John Randall Taraborrelli is an American journalist and biographer.Taraborrelli is an author known for biographies of contemporary entertainers and political figures. He is a featured writer in several entertainment magazines in Canada, England, and Australia...
's biography of Madonna, she commented,
"Warner Bros. Records is a hierarchy of old men and it's a chauvinist environment to be working in because I'm treated like this sexy little girl. I had to prove them wrong, which meant not only proving myself to my fans but to my record company as well. That is something that happens when you're a girl. It wouldn't happen to PrincePrince (musician)Prince Rogers Nelson , often known simply as Prince, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Prince has produced ten platinum albums and thirty Top 40 singles during his career. Prince founded his own recording studio and label; writing, self-producing and playing most, or all, of...
or Michael JacksonMichael JacksonMichael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
. I had to do everything on my own and it was hard trying to convince people that I was worth a record deal. After that, I had the same problem trying to convince the record company that I had more to offer than a one-shot singer. I had to win this fight."
Recording
Nile RodgersNile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
was chosen by Madonna as the main producer of the album, mostly because of his work with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
on his 1983 album Let's Dance. Rogers had a reputation of being a man of experience in creating musical personas in the recording studio. With production partner Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards
Bernard Edwards born in Greenville, North Carolina, was a bass player and record producer, both as a member of the Funk/Disco band Chic and on his own. He died of pneumonia while touring in Japan.-History:...
, Rodgers had formed the seventies band Chic
Chic (band)
Chic was an African American disco and R&B band that was organized during 1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It is known best for its commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance " , "Everybody Dance" , "Le Freak" , "I Want Your Love" , "Good Times"...
in 1976. But he left the band after seven years to pursue his own career, and ended up collaborating with Bowie for Let's Dance. Madonna was impressed by the record and its title single
Let's Dance (David Bowie song)
"Let's Dance" is the title album track on David Bowie's album Let's Dance. It was also released as the first single from that album in 1983, and went on to become one of his biggest-selling tracks....
, so she wanted a similar approach to the music of her album. She commented, "When I was making the record, I was just so thrilled and happy to be working with Nile Rodgers. I idolized Nile because of the whole Chic thing. I couldn't believe that the record company gave me the money so that I could work with him." Rodgers recalled that he had first seen Madonna perform at a small club in New York in 1983. In an interview with Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine, Rodgers explained: "I went to the club to see another woman sing, but when I got there Madonna was onstage. I loved her stage presence and then we met right after that. I kept thinking to myself, 'Damn, is she a star', but she wasn't at that time. I always wanted to work with her and Like a Virgin seemed like a perfect opportunity." The album was recorded at Power Station Studio
Avatar Studios
Avatar Studios, formerly known as The Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street in Manhattan, New York City.The building was originally a Consolidated Edison power plant; but after a period of vacancy, it was used as a sound stage for the television game show Let's Make a Deal...
in New York at a quick pace. Rodgers enlisted the help of his former Chic band mates Edwards, who was the bassist, and Tony Thompson
Tony Thompson
Anthony T. "Tony" Thompson was a session drummer best known as a member of Chic. He was raised in the middle-class community of Springfield Gardens, in Queens, NY.-Chic:...
, who played drums; they appeared on several tracks of the album. Rodgers decided to be the guitarist, when Edwards requested him to do so, in exchange of their help.
The recording sessions did not start until the afternoon as Rodgers, who attended late-night parties, was not accustomed to work in early mornings. The schedule was also difficult for Madonna, who recalled that she used to "go to the swim club on the Upper West Side and go swimming and walk from there to the recording studio. It was impossible for me to reach there at morning." Rodgers recalled that Madonna was a real hard worker and incredibly tenacious. He commented: "I am always amazed by Madonna's incredible judgement when it comes to making pop records. I've never seen anyone do it better, and that's the truth. When we did that album, it was the perfect union, and I knew it from the first day in the studio. The thing between us, man, it was sexual, it was passionate, it was creativity... it was pop."
Jason Corsaro, the record's audio engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, persuaded Rodgers to use digital recording
Digital recording
In digital recording, digital audio and digital video is directly recorded to a storage device as a stream of discrete numbers, representing the changes in air pressure for audio and chroma and luminance values for video through time, thus making an abstract template for the original sound or...
, a new technique at the time which Corsaro believed was going to be the future of recording. To ensure this, Corsaro used a Sony 3324 24-track digital tape recorder
Digital Audio Stationary Head
The Digital Audio Stationary Head or DASH standard is a reel-to-reel, digital audio tape format introduced by Sony in early 1982 for high-quality multitrack studio recording and mastering, as an alternative to analog recording methods. DASH is capable of recording two channels of audio on a...
and a Sony F1 two-track during the mixing of the tracks. Madonna recorded the lead parts of the songs in a small, wooden, high-ceilinged piano room at the back of Studio C, also known as Power Station's "R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
room". Corsaro then placed gobos
Gobo (recording)
Gobo is a slang term used by sound recording engineers to refer to a movable acoustic isolation panel.An acoustics gobo is parallel in use to a photography gobo, which is used to block direct light sources, and also shares its name with the stage lighting gobo...
around her while using the top capsule of a stereo AKG C24 tube microphone, with a Schoeps
Schoeps
Schalltechnik Dr.-Ing. Schoeps GmbH, known as Schoeps, is a German manufacturer of professional studio condenser microphones for recording and broadcast. The privately-owned company is based in Karlsruhe, south-west Germany, and was founded in 1948....
microphone preamplifier and a Pultec equalizer. Once the tracks met with everybody's approval, Robert Sabino
Robert Sabino
Robert Sabino is an American rock keyboardist.. , The New York Times He was born and raised in the Bronx...
added the keyboard parts, playing mostly a Sequential Circuits Prophet-5, as well as some Rhodes piano
Rhodes piano
The Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano, invented by Harold Rhodes during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS....
and acoustic piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, while Rodgers also played a Synclavier
Synclavier
The Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation, manufactured by New England Digital Corporation, Norwich, VT. The original design and development of the Synclavier prototype occurred at Dartmouth College with the collaboration of...
. Madonna, although not required, was present every minute of the recording sessions and the mixing process, Corsaro commented: "Nile was there most of the time, but she was there all of the time. She never left".
Packaging and title
Steven Meisel
Steven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...
, who would become a regular collaborator with Madonna, in a suite at the St. Regis Hotel
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is a hospitality ownership and management organization, headquartered in White Plains, New York. One of the world's largest hotel companies, it owns, operates, franchises and manages hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties...
. Madonna wanted the album title to make provocative link between her own religious name—Madonna as the Roman Catholic title for Jesus' mother Mary—and the Christian concept of the virgin birth. With the title song alluding to this concept, Madonna wanted the album cover to have mixed messages as well. Author Graham Thompson described that "reclining on a silk sheet, with a bouquet on her lap and wearing a wedding dress, a closer inspection reveals Madonna's image as highly fetishized and sexualized." He added that the heavy make-up, pouting lips
Facial expression
A facial expression one or more motions or positions of the muscles in the skin. These movements convey the emotional state of the individual to observers. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. They are a primary means of conveying social information among humans, but also occur...
, and despoiled hair, along with the tight-fitting bustier and full-length gloves, turned Madonna's image into a figure not of virtue, but of desire. This point, according to Thompson, is further emphasized by the belt she is wearing, the wording on which is just visible as "Boy Toy". He added: "The image was ambiguous and was based upon the fact that Madonna's appeal at that point of her career was not presenting herself just as an object of desire, but also as a desiring female subject".
Erlewine commented that the "Steven Meisel-shot cover [...] was as key to her reinvention as the music of the album itself." William McKeen
William McKeen
William McKeen is professor and chairman of the Department of Journalism at Boston University.McKeen has written and/or edited a dozen books and is a leading pop-culture authority. Outlaw Journalist is his acclaimed biography of writer Hunter S. Thompson...
, author of Rock and roll is here to stay: an anthology, felt that the image was another trigger and testament to the fact that Madonna was the last word on fashion for women and young girls of that era, the epitome of cool. Madonna herself declared: "I have always loved to play cat and mouse with the conventional stereotypes. My Like a Virgin album cover is a classic example. People were thinking who was I pretending to be—the Virgin Mary or the whore? These were the two extreme images of women I had known vividly, and remembered from childhood, and I wanted to play with them. I wanted to see if I can merge them together, Virgin Mary and the whore as one and all. The photo was a statement of independence, if you wanna be a virgin, you are welcome. But if you wanna be a whore, it's your fucking right to be so."
Composition
According to Taraborrelli, "Madonna and Rodgers' collective energy—she wanting to score with a smash second album and he wanting to be the producer to give it to her—drove the production of Like a Virgin with great precision." Madonna also collaborated with her former boyfriend Steve BrayStephen Bray
Stephen Bray is an American songwriter, drummer, and record producer from Detroit. Bray is best known for his collaboration with Madonna.Bray began studying music through private instruction in Detroit, and continued his education at Berklee College of Music in Boston.Bray owns and operates Saturn...
, who co-wrote many of the album's songs. Reflecting on the music composition for the album, Bray noted: "I've always kind of made the rib cage and the skeleton of the songs already—she's there for the last things like the eyebrows and the haircut." The opening track "Material Girl
Material Girl
"Material Girl" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on January 30, 1985, by Sire Records, as the second single from her second album Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and in its...
" was written by Peter Brown
Peter Brown (singer)
Peter Brown is an artist, songwriter and record producer. He grew up in Palos Heights, another Chicago suburb. His mother, Virginia, was artistic and musically talented and gave Peter music lessons at a very young age. Peter’s father, Maurice, was an electronic engineer and unwittingly helped him...
and Roberta Rans. Madonna explained that the concept of the song was similar to her life's situation at that time. According to her, the song was provocative, hence she was attracted to it. "Material Girl" incorporated New Wave music
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and consists of synth arrangements with a robotic voice repeating the hook
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
. The lyrics identify with materialism
Materialism
In philosophy, the theory of materialism holds that the only thing that exists is matter; that all things are composed of material and all phenomena are the result of material interactions. In other words, matter is the only substance...
, with Madonna asking for a rich and affluent life, rather than romance and relationships. Written by Madonna and Steve Bray, "Angel
Angel (Madonna song)
"Angel" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her second studio album Like a Virgin. It was released on April 10, 1985 by Sire Records as the third single from the album. Written by Steve Bray and Madonna, it was one of the first songs developed for the project and, according to...
" is the second track on the album. It was one of the first songs developed for the project and, according to Madonna, was inspired by a girl who is saved by, and subsequently falls in love with an angel. "Angel" consists of a three-chord ascending hook, which serves as the verse and chorus. It has vocal harmonies beneath the main chorus and the lyrics repeat the angel-like image of Madonna's savior. The title track "Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin (song)
"Like a Virgin" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second album of the same name. It was released on November 6, 1984 by Sire Records, as the first single from the album. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection and Celebration...
" was written by Billy Steinberg
Billy Steinberg
William Endfield "Billy" Steinberg is an American songwriter. He has achieved most of his success as part of a song writing team, most notably with Tom Kelly. He has also co-written several hit songs with Rick Nowels.-Biography:...
and Tom Kelly
Tom Kelly (musician)
Thomas F. Kelly is an American musician, best known for his songwriting partnership with Billy Steinberg. Steinberg and Kelly co-wrote numerous hit songs for popular music artists, including five number-one singles on the Billboard Top 100 chart in the 1980s....
. Steinberg said that the song was inspired by his personal experiences of romance. It was chosen for Madonna by Michael Ostin of Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, after listening to a demo sung by Kelly. However, Rodgers initially felt that the song did not have a good enough hook
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
and was not suitable for Madonna, but subsequently changed his opinion after the hook was stuck in his mind. He credits Madonna with recognizing the song's potential: "I handed my apology to Madonna and said, 'you know... if it's so catchy that it stayed in my head for four days, it must be something. So let's do it.'" "Like a Virgin" is a dance-oriented song, composed of two hooks. Madonna's voice is heard in a high register
Register (music)
In music, a register is the relative "height" or range of a note, set of pitches or pitch classes, melody, part, instrument or group of instruments...
while a continuous arrangement of drums are heard along the bassline
Bassline
A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...
. According to author Rikky Rooksby, the lyrics of the song are ambiguous and consist of hidden innuendo. In sexual terms, the lyrics can be interpreted in different ways for different people.
In "Over and Over", Madonna sings about determination and picking yourself up from disappointments. The song consists of instrumentation from drums, synths and has a three-chord progression. An emotional moment occurred in the recording studio when Madonna covered the 1978 Rose Royce
Rose Royce
Rose Royce is an American soul and R&B band. The group is best known for several hit singles including "Car Wash," "I Wanna Get Next to You," "Wishing on a Star", "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" and "I'm Going Down".-Career:...
song "Love Don't Live Here Anymore
Love Don't Live Here Anymore
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore" is a song written by Miles Gregory and originally recorded by Rose Royce. It was produced by former Motown songwriter and producer Norman Whitfield for the Whitfield Records...
". Rodgers recalled: "Madonna had never performed with a live orchestra before. I was very much into doing everything live, so I just said, 'Madonna, you go out there and sing and we will follow you.' At first Madonna was hesitant, but the live setting ended up producing memorable results. She sang and she was overcome with emotions and she started crying, but I left it on the record." The song features Madonna's vocals supported by acoustic guitars and synth strings, with Thompson playing the drum in the second verse. Towards the end, Madonna emotes in the voice of a soul singer
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
. "Into the Groove
Into the Groove
"Into the Groove" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan. It was featured on the 1985 re-issue of her second studio album, Like a Virgin, and released on July 23, 1985 by Sire Records as the album's fourth single outside North America...
" is the sixth track on the 1985 re-release edition of the album. Madonna's inspiration behind the song 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
Mark Kamins
Mark Kamins is a New York club DJ.He is best known for helping launch the career of one-time girlfriend Madonna by presenting a demo to Seymour Stein of Sire Records. He also produced her first single "Everybody" in 1982...
, Madonna later decided to use it in the soundtrack of her 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan
Desperately Seeking Susan is a 1985 American comedy-drama film directed by Susan Seidelman and starring Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.-Plot:...
. Unlike the other songs, "Into the Groove" was recorded at Sigma Sound Studios
Sigma Sound Studios
Sigma Sound Studios is an American music recording studio in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania founded by recording engineer Joseph Tarsia in 1968.Located at 212 N. 12th Street in Philadelphia, it was the second studio in the country to offer 24-track recording and the first in the country to use console...
. Madonna's friend Erika Belle
Erika Belle
Erika Belle is a New York socialite, art curator, fashion designer, and dancer, most known for her friendship and work with pop singer Madonna in the 1980s. She has been featured dancing in Madonna's videos to Everybody, True Blue, Papa Don't Preach, Lucky Star, and Holiday...
was present during the recording and watched the whole process. In Andrew Morton
Andrew Morton (writer)
Andrew David Morton is a former British Fleet Street journalist, a notable writer and biographer.Before moving into a career in journalism, he attended grammar school, then studied history at the University of Sussex....
's Madonna biography, she noted that at one point of the recording, Bray was facing difficulties with the bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
of the song, as the melody
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
thought by him was not syncing with the rest of the composition. Undeterred by his obvious difficulties, Madonna stepped up to the microphone and sang the words "Live out your fantasy here with me". Bray's problem was solved; Belle remembered the experience as: "[The song] seemed to come out of her, I was awestruck." The song consists of instrumentation from drums, percussion, congas and whistles. Madonna's voice is double-tracked in the chorus. The lyrics are simple, and written as an invitation to dance with the singer, with sexual innuendos and undertones in the meaning.
"Dress You Up
Dress You Up
"Dress You Up" is a song by American singer Madonna. It was released as the final single from her second studio album, Like a Virgin, on July 24, 1985, by Sire Records. The song was the last track to be added to the album as it was submitted late by songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale...
" was the last track to be added to the album as it was submitted late by songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale. Although Rodgers rejected it as there was no time to compose a melody and record it for the album, Madonna pushed for the song's inclusion on Like a Virgin, as she particularly liked its lyrics. The song is a drum beat-driven dance track featuring instrumentation of guitars and vocals from a choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
. The lyrics are an extended metaphor for fashion and sex, comparing dressing up with passion. "Shoo-Bee-Doo" contains homage to Motown music. Beginning with a slow introduction
Introduction (music)
In music, the introduction is a passage or section which opens a movement or a separate piece. In popular music this is often abbreviated as intro...
, the song is in the doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
genre and resembles the songs of early Sixties girl groups like The Shirelles
The Shirelles
The Shirelles were an African-American girl group that achieved popularity in the early 1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens , Doris Coley , Addie "Micki" Harris , and Beverly Lee...
or The Crystals
The Crystals
The Crystals are an American vocal group based in New York, considered one of the defining acts of the girl group era of the first half of the 1960s. Their 1961–1964 chart hits, including "Uptown", "He's a Rebel", "Da Doo Ron Ron " and "Then He Kissed Me", featured three successive female lead...
. The saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
breakdown
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
is played by Lenny Pickett
Tower of Power
Tower of Power is an American R&B-based horn section and band, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing for over 43 years. They are best known for their funky soul sound highlighted by a powerful horn section...
. The lyrics discuss relationship problems, and are phrased as clichés in the coda
Coda (music)
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
. "Pretender" starts with the chorus
Chorus effect
In music, a chorus effect occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one...
and then moves to the verse
Song structure (popular music)
The structures or musical forms of songs in popular music are typically sectional, repeating forms, such as strophic form. Other common forms include thirty-two-bar form, verse-chorus form, and the twelve bar blues...
. It talks about seduction and the insecurity felt by a woman who feels that things are moving too quickly for her with her man. "Stay" is the final track on the album. Using triple-rhythms
Rhythm
Rhythm may be generally defined as a "movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions." This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time may be applied to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or...
and double-tracked vocals, the song includes a noise resembling someone slapping a microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
and a spoken sequence which fades
Fade (audio engineering)
In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theater lighting, in much the same way ....
away in the end.
Critical reception
Taraborrelli said, "It was Like a Virgin which reflected Madonna as a more versatile and artistic performer and vocals on this album being reflectively sharper in contrast to her early works in the music industry." Michael Paoletta from BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
commented that the songs on the album sustain a "fevered dance-rock momentum". Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
from Allmusic commented, "Overall, the album adds up to less than the sum of its parts—partially because the singles are so good, but also because on the first album, she stunned with style and a certain joy. Here, the calculation is apparent, and while that's part of Madonna's essence—even something that makes her fun—it throws the record's balance off a little too much for it to be consistent, even if it justifiably made her a star." Debby Miller from Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
preferred Madonna's debut album over Like a Virgin. Tony Power from Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
gave a negative review of the album, saying "Madonna destroys Rose Royce's soul ballad 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore'. Ambition ('Material Girl') and Madonna as victim of love ('Pretender') are the emerging themes, and thanks to Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
, we'll always debate whether the title track is about a guy with a big wang." Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
commented in his consumer guide that "[Madonna's] so sure of herself she's asking men and women both to get the hots for the calculating bitch who sells the fantasy even while she bids for the sincerity market where long-term superstars ply their trade. And to make the music less mechanical, she's hired Nile Rodgers, who I won't blame for making it less catchy."
Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said that "In addition to raising the Madonna/whore ante with songs like the title cut, Virgin cradled the kind of '80s hits ("Dress You Up
Dress You Up
"Dress You Up" is a song by American singer Madonna. It was released as the final single from her second studio album, Like a Virgin, on July 24, 1985, by Sire Records. The song was the last track to be added to the album as it was submitted late by songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale...
") built to transcend the Dynasty era." Alfred Soto from Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine
Stylus Magazine was an online music and film magazine launched in 2002. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, a number of different podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog....
remembered the first time that he heard the songs from the album and commented, "Lots of critics think something similar occurred when Madonna followed her eponymous debut with Like a Virgin, helmed by Nile Rodgers with all the fixin's—too calculated next to the 'raw passion' of the debut. This is nonsense; it misses how Madonna conflated notions of spontaneity and calculation. Rodgers is the ideal collaborator." Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
said: "With a tough-cookie voice that's both coy and streetwise, Madonna's singing harks back to the rock-and-roll girl-group tradition that preceded the Beatles. But where girl groups, from the Shirelles to the Ronettes, worshipfully extolled their boyfriends' cars, haircuts and rebel poses, Madonna's point of view is decidedly more self-interested. In matters of love, she is a comparison shopper with a shrewd sense of her own market value. The words 'shiny and new' describe not only the way the love-smitten singer feels in the title song but the sound of the album."
Matt Damsker from Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
commented: "Madonna's beating vibrato sometimes makes her sound so robotic in the album." Lou Papineau, while writing for The Providence Journal
The Providence Journal
The Providence Journal, nicknamed the ProJo, is a daily newspaper serving the metropolitan area of Providence, Rhode Island and is the largest newspaper in Rhode Island. The newspaper, first published in 1829 and the oldest continuously-published daily newspaper in the United States, was purchased...
, said that "In Like a Virgin, Madonna proves she's shallow, but spunky." Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine gave a positive review, saying "Though not as innovative as her debut, Like a Virgin stands as one of the most definitive pop artifacts from the indulgent Reagan Era. The mid-tempo ballad 'Shoo-Bee-Doo' and a soulful cover of Rose Royce's 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore
Love Don't Live Here Anymore
"Love Don't Live Here Anymore" is a song written by Miles Gregory and originally recorded by Rose Royce. It was produced by former Motown songwriter and producer Norman Whitfield for the Whitfield Records...
' proved Madonna could churn out more than just novelty hits, while the sugary 'Angel
Angel (Madonna song)
"Angel" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her second studio album Like a Virgin. It was released on April 10, 1985 by Sire Records as the third single from the album. Written by Steve Bray and Madonna, it was one of the first songs developed for the project and, according to...
' and the irresistible 'Dress You Up
Dress You Up
"Dress You Up" is a song by American singer Madonna. It was released as the final single from her second studio album, Like a Virgin, on July 24, 1985, by Sire Records. The song was the last track to be added to the album as it was submitted late by songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale...
' contributed to the singer's record-breaking list of consecutive Top 5 hits (16 in all). The retro-infused 'Stay' and the percussive 'Over and Over' are the album's hidden gems." Ed Stevenson from People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
felt that "Madonna does have a sense of humor, though she is buried under so many layers of self-parody it's hard to tell sometimes.... She is backed on this by the reliable rhythmic touch of veteran Nile Rodgers, whose contributions have helped her create a tolerable bit of fluff. Hugo Mistry from Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
felt that "Like a Virgin was Madonna's breakthrough, playing off her self-conscious campiness with a series of hot dance tracks, attention-grabbing lyrics and steamy videos."
Chart performance
Like a Virgin was recorded and finished by April 1984, but the release of the album was held up, much to Madonna's frustration, by the continuing sales of her debut album, which was approaching two million sales in United States. The album entered the Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
at number three on December 22, 1984, and stayed within the top ten for the next month, before reaching number one on February 9, 1985, where it stayed for three weeks. It also reached a peak of ten on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...
chart. By July 1985, Like a Virgin became the first album by a female artist to be certified for sales of five million units in the United States. It was eventually certified ten times platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
(diamond) by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA), for shipment of ten million copies of the album. It placed at three on the year-end chart for 1985, with Madonna becoming the top pop artist for the year. After the advent of the Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan
Nielsen SoundScan is an information and sales tracking system created by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett. Soundscan is the official method of tracking sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada...
era in 1991, the album sold a further 574,000 copies. In Canada, the album debuted at number 78 on the RPM Albums Chart
RPM (magazine)
RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...
, on November 10, 1984. It reached a peak of number three, on February 16, 1985. The album was present for a total of 74 weeks on the chart, and was certified diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association
Canadian Recording Industry Association
Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada...
(CRIA), for shipment of one million copies of the album. Like a Virgin ranked sixth on the RPM Top 100 Albums for 1985.
In the United Kingdom, Like a Virgin debuted at number 74 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
, on January 12, 1985. However, the album fluctuated on the chart for the next eight months and it was only in September that it finally reached the top of the chart. It remained at the top for two weeks, and a total of 152 weeks on the chart. The album was certified three times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
British Phonographic Industry
The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies...
(BPI) for shipment of 900,000 copies of the album. In France, the album debuted at number five on the French Albums Chart
Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique
The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...
on October 6, 1985, staying there for eight weeks, then descending down the chart. It was certified two times platinum by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) for shipment of 600,000 copies. In Australia, the album debuted and peaked at two on the Kent Music Report
Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998...
albums chart, and was certified seven times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association
Australian Recording Industry Association
The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...
(ARIA) for shipment of 490,000 copies of the album. It reached the top of the New Zealand Albums Chart and was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...
(RIANZ) for shipment of 75,000 copies. Elsewhere, Like a Virgin reached number one in Germany, Italy, Netherlands and Spain, while peaking within the top five in many other countries, including Austria, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland. It also became Madonna's first number-one album on the European Top 100 Albums
European Top 100 Albums
The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...
, reaching the summit on November 23, 1985 for two weeks. Like a Virgin has sold more than 21 million copies worldwide and became one of the best-selling albums of all time.
Singles
"Like a VirginLike a Virgin (song)
"Like a Virgin" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second album of the same name. It was released on November 6, 1984 by Sire Records, as the first single from the album. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection and Celebration...
" was released as the lead single from the album in late 1984. It received positive reviews from contemporary as well as old critics, who frequently called it as one of the defining songs for Madonna. It became her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
, while reaching the top of the charts in Australia, Canada and Japan and the top-ten of the other countries. The song was certified gold
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) on January 10, 1985, for shipping a million copies across United States – the requirement for a gold single prior to 1989. The music video portrayed Madonna sailing down the riverways of Venice in a gondola, as well as roaming around a palace wearing a white wedding dress. With the video, scholars noted Madonna's portrayal of a sexually independent woman, the symbolism of the appearance of a man with lion's mask to that of Saint Mark
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....
, and compared the eroticism of the video to the vitality of the city of Venice. "Material Girl
Material Girl
"Material Girl" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on January 30, 1985, by Sire Records, as the second single from her second album Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and in its...
" was the second single from the album, released in January 1985. Critics have frequently noted "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin" as the songs that made Madonna an icon. "Material Girl" was a commercial success, reaching the top-five in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Japan and United Kingdom. It reached position two on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in the United States. The music video was a mimicry of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
's performance of the song "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
"Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" is a song introduced by Carol Channing in the original Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , which was written by Jule Styne and Leo Robin...
" from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. The mimicked scenes are interspersed with scenes of a Hollywood director trying to win the heart of an actress, played by Madonna herself. Discovering that, contrary to her song, the young woman was not impressed by money and expensive gifts, he pretended to be penniless and succeeded in taking her out on a date.
"Angel
Angel (Madonna song)
"Angel" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her second studio album Like a Virgin. It was released on April 10, 1985 by Sire Records as the third single from the album. Written by Steve Bray and Madonna, it was one of the first songs developed for the project and, according to...
" was the third released single from the album, in April 1985. Critics gave mixed review of the song, with one group denoting it as a classic while the others felt it was sub-par compared to the other Madonna singles. "Angel" became Madonna's fifth consecutive top-five single on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
and reached the top of its dance chart. "Into the Groove
Into the Groove
"Into the Groove" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan. It was featured on the 1985 re-issue of her second studio album, Like a Virgin, and released on July 23, 1985 by Sire Records as the album's fourth single outside North America...
" was the fourth single from the album, released in July 1985. The song was appreciated by contemporary critics as well as authors, who have frequently called it "Madonna's first great single". "Into the Groove" reached the top of the charts in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, where it was Madonna's first number-one single. In some countries, such as the United States and Australia, "Into the Groove" was released only as the B-side to the maxi-single of "Angel
Angel (Madonna song)
"Angel" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her second studio album Like a Virgin. It was released on April 10, 1985 by Sire Records as the third single from the album. Written by Steve Bray and Madonna, it was one of the first songs developed for the project and, according to...
". It was therefore ineligible to enter the Hot 100 or Hot 100 Singles Sales charts. It reached number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart where it was listed as a double-sided single with "Angel". "Dress You Up
Dress You Up
"Dress You Up" is a song by American singer Madonna. It was released as the final single from her second studio album, Like a Virgin, on July 24, 1985, by Sire Records. The song was the last track to be added to the album as it was submitted late by songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale...
" was the fifth and the last single from the album. Critics reacted positively to the dance-pop nature of the track. "Dress You Up" became Madonna's sixth consecutive top-five single in the United States. It also reached the top-ten in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
Promotion
Many songs from the album were performed during her first headlining The Virgin TourThe Virgin Tour
The Virgin Tour is the debut concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her first two studio albums, Madonna and Like a Virgin . Although, initially planned for an international audience, the tour was restricted within United States and Canada only. Warner Bros. decided...
, which only visited cities in the United States and Canada. Early on there were plans to schedule dates in England and Japan due to Madonna's large fan base in both countries. However, the final schedule did not reflect the idea. In the end several more US dates were added and moved to larger concert venues due to overwhelmingly strong ticket sales. Madonna's performance on the tour was described by Taraborrelli as "full of excitement", singing songs from her debut album as well as Like a Virgin, and asking the audience "Will you marry me?" The costumes included colorful New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
jackets for "Holiday
Holiday (Madonna song)
"Holiday" is a song by American singer Madonna from her self-titled debut album. Released on September 7, 1983 by Sire Records, it later appeared remixed on the 1987 remix compilation You Can Dance and the 1990 greatest hits compilation The Immaculate Collection, and in its original form on the...
" and white wedding gowns similar to the one worn in her "Like a Virgin" music video. Referring to her Detroit roots and contemporary artist Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
, Madonna sang a verse of "Billie Jean
Billie Jean
"Billie Jean" is a dance-pop/R&B song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was written, composed, and co-produced by Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones from the singer's sixth album, Thriller . Originally disliked by Jones, the track was almost removed from the album after he and...
" during "Like a Virgin". The Virgin Tour was a success and collected a total of more than US$5 million. During a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, interviewer Austin Scaggs asked Madonna regarding her feelings and emotions during the tour, since it was the first time she was playing in arenas. Madonna replied saying,
"That whole tour was crazy, because I went from playing CBGBCBGBCBGB was a music club at 315 Bowery at Bleecker Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City.Founded by Hilly Kristal in 1973, it was originally intended to feature its namesake musical styles, but became a forum for American punk and New Wave bands like Ramones, Misfits, Television, the...
and the Mudd ClubMudd ClubThe Mudd Club was a TriBeCa nightclub that was opened in October 1978 by Steve Mass, art curator Diego Cortez and Anya Phillips, a figure in the downtown punk scene...
to playing sporting arenas. I played a small theater in Seattle, and the girls had flap skirts on and the tights cut off below their knees and lace gloves and rosaries and bows in their hair and big hoop earrings. I was like, 'This is insane!' After Seattle, all of the shows were moved to arenas. I've never done a bus tour. Everyone says they are really fun."
The title track was also performed by Madonna at the first MTV Video Music Awards
1984 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1984 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 14, 1984, honoring the best music videos from May 2, 1983, to May 2, 1984. The show was hosted by Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
in 1984, where she appeared on stage atop a giant wedding cake
Wedding cake
A wedding cake is the traditional cake served to the guests at a wedding reception after a wedding. In modern Western culture, it is usually a large cake, multi-layered or tiered, and heavily decorated with icing, usually over a layer of marzipan or fondant...
dressed in a wedding dress, adorned with the infamous "Boy Toy" belt buckle, and veil. The climax of her risqué performance found her humping
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
and rolling around on the stage. The performance is noted as one of the iconic and biggest performance in MTV's history. She also appeared at the 1985 Live Aid
Live Aid
Live Aid was a dual-venue concert that was held on 13 July 1985. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the "global jukebox", the event was held simultaneously in Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom ...
charity concert, where she performed "Into the Groove".
Legacy
After the release of Like a Virgin, Stephen Holden from The New York Times commented: "No phenomenon illustrates more pointedly how pop music history seems to run in cycles than the overnight success of the 24-year-old pop siren known as Madonna. The month before Christmas, Madonna's second album, Like a Virgin sold more than two million copies. Teen-agers were lining up in stores to purchase the album the way their parents had lined up to buy The BeatlesThe Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
records in the late 60's." Madonna proved she was not a one-hit wonder
One-hit wonder
A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...
with the release of the album which sold 12 million copies worldwide at the time of its release. Taraborrelli felt that "Like a Virgin is really a portrait of Madonna's uncanny pop instincts empowered by her impatient zeal for creative growth and her innate knack for crafting a good record." He added that the success of the album made it clear what was Madonna's real persona. "She was a street-smart dance queen with the sexy allure of Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
, the coy iciness of Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
and the cutting and protective glibiness of a modern Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
". Although the album received mixed reviews, Taraborrelli believed that the "mere fact that at the time of its release so many couldn't resist commenting on the record was a testament to the continuous, growing fascination with Madonna.... Every important artist has at least one album in his or her career whose critical and commercial success becomes the artist's magic moment; for Madonna, Like a Virgin was just such a defining moment" Chris Smith, author of 101 Albums That Changed Popular Music believed that it was with Like a Virgin that Madonna was able to steal the spotlight towards herself. She asserted her sexuality as only male rock stars had done before, moving well beyond the limited confines of being a pop artist, to becoming a focal point for nationwide discussions of power relationships in the areas of sex, race, gender, religion, and other divisive social topics. Her songs became a lightning rod for both criticism by conservatives and imitation by the younger female population.
"Like a Virgin" was her first song to attract the attention of organizations who complained that the video and the song promoted sex without marriage and undermined family values, offering an unsavory image of Madonna as a whore. Outraged moralists condemned her as a sex kitten and sought to ban it. Conservatives were angered that Madonna dared to portray the virginal wedding attire in a sexual context. While one section of the population were outraged at the scandal, other were taking joy at the very notion of a virginal Madonna, who retorted by saying,
I was surprised by how people reacted to "Like a Virgin" because when I did that song, to me, I was singing about how something made me feel a certain way—brand-new and fresh—and everyone interpreted it as I don't want to be a virgin anymore. Fuck my brains out! That's not what I sang at all. "Like a Virgin" was always absolutely ambiguous.
The song's influence was most profound on the younger generation. Madonna's public persona of an indomitable, sexually unashamed, supremely confident woman struck a chord with them. Biographer Andrew Morton
Andrew Morton (writer)
Andrew David Morton is a former British Fleet Street journalist, a notable writer and biographer.Before moving into a career in journalism, he attended grammar school, then studied history at the University of Sussex....
noted that most of Madonna's admirers were females, who were born-and-brought-up with an image of old-fashioned stereotypes of women as virginal brides, or as whores, or with feminist values that rejected the use of a woman's looks for her self-advancement. Author William McKeen
William McKeen
William McKeen is professor and chairman of the Department of Journalism at Boston University.McKeen has written and/or edited a dozen books and is a leading pop-culture authority. Outlaw Journalist is his acclaimed biography of writer Hunter S. Thompson...
of Rock and roll is here to stay: an anthology commented that with the song, Madonna intermixed such middle-class ideas of femininity with examples of what femininity meant to her, which was having equal opportunity. In addition, at a time when eighties fashions were promoting flat-chested, stick-thin women as ideals of beauty, the more curvaceous Madonna made average girls feel that it was fine to be in the shape they were. A new word called 'Madonna wannabe
Madonna wannabe
Madonna wannabe, also Madonnabe, was a 1980s term used to describe women—and in some cases men—who dressed like iconic pop singer Madonna. The term was popularized by writer John Skow in a May 1985 Time cover story on the singer....
' was introduced to describe the thousands of girls who tried to emulate Madonna's style. At one point, Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
allotted an entire floor area for the sale of clothes styled according to Madonna's fashion. University professors, gender-studies experts and feminists earnestly started discussing her role as a post-modernist style and cultural icon. According to author Debbi Voller, "Like a Virgin" gave rise to the icon Madonna.
Madonna has stated that the song she most regrets recording is "Material Girl" and if she had known that the label would be attached to her for decades, she would probably never have done so. After making the video, Madonna said she never wanted to be compared to Monroe, despite posing like her and recreating many of Monroe's signature poses for various photos shoots, most notably in a 1991 issue of Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair (magazine)
Vanity Fair is a magazine of pop culture, fashion, and current affairs published by Condé Nast. The present Vanity Fair has been published since 1983 and there have been editions for four European countries as well as the U.S. edition. This revived the title which had ceased publication in 1935...
. Reflecting on the song, Madonna told Taraborrelli:
"I can't completely disdain the song and the video, because they certainly were important to my career. But talk about the media hanging on a phrase and misinterpreting the damn thing as well. I didn't write that song, you know, and the video was about how the girl rejected diamonds and money. But God forbid irony should be understood. So when I'm ninety, I'll still be the Material Girl. I guess it's not so bad. Lana TurnerLana TurnerLana Turner was an American actress.Discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen, Turner first attracted attention in They Won't Forget . She played featured roles, often as the ingenue, in such films as Love Finds Andy Hardy...
was the Sweater Girl until the day she died."
Guilbert commented that "material girl" designated a certain type of liberated women, thus deviating from its original coinage which meant a girl who is tangible and accessible. Author Nicholas Cook said that the meaning and impact of "material girl" was no more circumscribed by the video, rather by its song. Its influence was seen later among such diverse groups such as female versus male, gay versus straight, and academic versus teenage. In 1993, a conference was held at the University of California
University of California
The University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
at Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
, with the subject as Madonna: Feminist Icon or Material Girl? The conference pondered on the duality of Madonna as both of them and deduced that the question of Madonna's feminism is not easy to decide. Some of the feminists left the conference, citing that they had not been able to make up their minds. "Dress You Up" was also the subject of much media attention, when it was included on the Parents Music Resource Center
Parents Music Resource Center
The Parents Music Resource Center was an American committee formed in 1985 with the goal of increasing parental control over the access of children to music deemed to be violent, have drug use or be sexual.The committee was founded by four women: Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice...
's (PMRC) "Filthy Fifteen" list, for the perceived sexual content of its lyrics. The Center's founder Tipper Gore
Tipper Gore
Mary Elizabeth "Tipper" Gore , née Aitcheson, is an author, photographer, former second lady of the United States, and the estranged wife of Al Gore...
had heard her daughter listening to the song, and considered the line "Gonna dress you up in my love" as exemplifying 'vulgar music'. The PMRC called upon the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to give parents a consumer-friendly means of identifying rock records unsuitable for minors—a rating system based on lyrical content. "Dress You Up" received a rating of 'S', for "sex and obscenity", from the RIAA.
Track listing
Additional notes- "Into the GrooveInto the Groove"Into the Groove" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan. It was featured on the 1985 re-issue of her second studio album, Like a Virgin, and released on July 23, 1985 by Sire Records as the album's fourth single outside North America...
" is only available on the 1985 re-issue outside North America. It is not available on the U.S. version and is not included on the 2001 remastered version.
Credits and personnel
Personnel- MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
– vocals, background vocals - Bernard EdwardsBernard EdwardsBernard Edwards born in Greenville, North Carolina, was a bass player and record producer, both as a member of the Funk/Disco band Chic and on his own. He died of pneumonia while touring in Japan.-History:...
– bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Brenda King – background vocals
- Curtis King – background vocals
- Lenny PickettTower of PowerTower of Power is an American R&B-based horn section and band, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing for over 43 years. They are best known for their funky soul sound highlighted by a powerful horn section...
– saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846... - Nile RodgersNile RodgersNile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, synclavierSynclavierThe Synclavier System was an early digital synthesizer, polyphonic digital sampling system, and music workstation, manufactured by New England Digital Corporation, Norwich, VT. The original design and development of the Synclavier prototype occurred at Dartmouth College with the collaboration of... - Robert SabinoRobert SabinoRobert Sabino is an American rock keyboardist.. , The New York Times He was born and raised in the Bronx...
– synthesizer - Nathaniel S. Hardy, Jr.Nathaniel S. Hardy, Jr.Nathaniel Sidney Hardy, Jr. is an American musician, composer, and keyboardist.- Biography :Nathaniel began his career as a band member in Baltimore's, Cherry Hill Junior High School marching band while growing up in the "Projects" of Cherry Hill...
– synthesizer - Frank Simms – background vocals
- George Simms – background vocals
- Dave WecklDave WecklDave Weckl is a highly acclaimed jazz fusion drummer. Weckl attended Francis Howell High School in St. Charles, MO and graduated in 1978. He majored in jazz studies at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Tony ThompsonTony ThompsonAnthony T. "Tony" Thompson was a session drummer best known as a member of Chic. He was raised in the middle-class community of Springfield Gardens, in Queens, NY.-Chic:...
– drums
Production
- Madonna – producer
- Stephen Bray – producer
- Nile Rodgers – producer
- Jason Corsaro – engineer
- Budd Tunick – production manager
- Bob LudwigBob LudwigBob Ludwig is an American mastering engineer.He is a well known and respected figure within the music industry. His name is credited on the covers of albums released across the world, and he has won numerous awards....
– audio mastering - Jimmy Bralower – drum programming
Design
- Jeri McManus – art direction, design
- Jeffrey Kent Ayer – art direction, design
- Steven MeiselSteven MeiselSteven Meisel is an American photographer, who obtained popular acclaim with his work in US and Italian Vogue and his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book Sex...
– photography - MaripolMaripolMaripol was brought up in France before moving to New York, USA in 1976. She is an artist, film producer, fashion designer and stylist who has had an influence on the looks of many influential artists, including Grace Jones, Deborah Harry, and Madonna. Maripol is also a Polaroid artist...
– stylist
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.
Album
| Chart (1984–85) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
2 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 3 |
| Canadian RPM Albums Chart RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,... |
3 |
| Danish Albums Chart | 22 |
| Dutch Albums Chart MegaCharts MegaCharts is responsible for the composition and exploitation of a broad collection of official charts in the Netherlands, of which the Mega Top 50 and the Mega Album Top 100 are the most known ones. Mega Charts also provides information to the Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, of which the Dutch Top... |
1 |
| European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100... |
1 |
| French Albums Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
5 |
| German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
1 |
| Italian Albums Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
1 |
| Japanese Albums Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... |
2 |
| New Zealand Albums Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
1 |
| Norwegian Albums Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
6 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 1 |
| Swedish Albums Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
3 |
| Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
3 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
1 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
1 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999... |
10 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... |
7× Platinum |
| Canada Canadian Recording Industry Association Music Canada is a Toronto-based, non-profit trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 to represent the interests of companies that record, artists, manufacture, production, promotion and distribution of music in Canada... |
Diamond |
| Finland | Gold |
| France Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
2× Platinum |
| Germany Bundesverband Musikindustrie The Bundesverband Musikindustrie or simply BVMI represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 350 labels and music industry related enterprises.... |
3× Gold |
| Hong Kong | Platinum |
| New Zealand Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
5× Platinum |
| Spain | Platinum |
| Switzerland | 2× Platinum |
| United Kingdom British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
3× Platinum |
| United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... |
Diamond |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
U.S. Club |
AUS ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
AUT Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann... |
CAN Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
FRA Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry... |
GER Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie... |
ITA Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy.... |
SWI Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
|||
| 1984 | "Like a Virgin Like a Virgin (song) "Like a Virgin" is a song by American singer Madonna from her second album of the same name. It was released on November 6, 1984 by Sire Records, as the first single from the album. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection and Celebration... " |
1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 9 | 3 |
|
| 1985 | "Material Girl Material Girl "Material Girl" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on January 30, 1985, by Sire Records, as the second single from her second album Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and in its... " |
2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 47 | 13 | 18 | 15 | 3 |
|
| "Angel Angel (Madonna song) "Angel" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her second studio album Like a Virgin. It was released on April 10, 1985 by Sire Records as the third single from the album. Written by Steve Bray and Madonna, it was one of the first songs developed for the project and, according to... " |
5 | 1 | 1 | — | 5 | — | 31 | — | 17 | 5 |
|
|
| "Into the Groove Into the Groove "Into the Groove" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan. It was featured on the 1985 re-issue of her second studio album, Like a Virgin, and released on July 23, 1985 by Sire Records as the album's fourth single outside North America... " |
— | 6 | — | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
|
|||
| "Dress You Up Dress You Up "Dress You Up" is a song by American singer Madonna. It was released as the final single from her second studio album, Like a Virgin, on July 24, 1985, by Sire Records. The song was the last track to be added to the album as it was submitted late by songwriters Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale... " |
5 | 3 | 5 | — | 10 | 18 | 20 | 16 | 20 | 5 |
|
|
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or was not released. | ||||||||||||
See also
- List of albums which have spent the most weeks on the UK Albums Chart
- List of best-selling albums in the United States
- List of best-selling albums of the 1980s (UK)
- List of best-selling albums worldwide
- List of diamond-certified albums in Canada
- List of European number-one hits of 1985
- List of number-one albums from the 1980s (UK)
- List of number-one albums of 1985 (U.S.)