Like a Virgin (song)
Encyclopedia
"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
(1990) and Celebration
(2009). It was written by Billy Steinberg
and Tom Kelly
and produced by Nile Rodgers
; 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.
Musically "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
. The lyrics of the song is ambiguous and consists of hidden innuendo. In sexual terms, the lyrics can be interpreted in different ways for different people. "Like a Virgin" 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 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. Madonna has performed the song in five of her concert tours
, most recent being the Confessions Tour
in 2006. Majority of the time, her performances of "Like a Virgin" has been associated with strong reaction and uproar from the media.
"Like a Virgin" has been covered by a number of artists and has appeared in feature films such as Reservoir Dogs
, Moulin Rouge!
and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
. The song is noted for its profound effect on society. Family groups sought to ban it as they believed that the song promoted sex without marriage. On the other hand, Madonna's public persona of an indomitable, sexually unashamed, supremely confident woman was widely accepted by the younger generation who emulated her style and fashion. Scholars have credited "Like a Virgin" as the song which cemented her position as a pop culture icon
.
, Steinberg explained that the song was not only not written for Madonna, it was not even written for a female singer but was inspired by his personal experiences.
Kelly recorded the demo, and invited Michael Ostin of Warner Bros. Records' A&R department to his house to listen to it. Steinberg and Kelly played four or five tunes for Ostin, and further discussed "Like a Virgin"they were not sure for which artist the song would be suitable. Due to meet with Madonna the next day to discuss her sophomore album
, Ostin intended on playing the demo to her, believing the lyrics and the groove of the song were perfect for Madonna. "When I played it for Madonna she went crazy, and knew instantly it was a song for her and that she could make a great record out of it," Ostin recalled. In 2009, Rolling Stone
interviewer Austin Scaggs asked Madonna what her first impressions were after listening to the demos of "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl
". Madonna replied:
(now Avatar Studios) in New York. Rodgers initially did not want Madonna to record "Like a Virgin", as he felt that the lyric 'like a virgin' was not a terrific hook, according to him it was not an all-time catch phrase. Madonna did not care about the song either, after hearing the demo, she thought that it sounded "really stupid and retarded". Later, Madonna had second thoughts, "It's weird because I couldn't get it out of my head after I played it, even though I didn't really like it. It sounded really bubble-gummy
to me, but it grew on me. I really started to like it, [...] But, my first reaction to it was, 'This is really queer.'"
Rodgers credits Madonna with recognizing the song's potential, he later said: "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.'" Hence the song was finally recorded. Steinberg reflected on the recording process and commented that:
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 because test pressings always sounded consistent. To ensure this, Corsaro used a Sony 3324 24-track digital tape recorder
and a Sony F1 two-track for the 12-bit mix. Madonna recorded the lead parts 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 track 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".
of "Like a Virgin" consists of two hooks. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing
, the song is set in common time
, with a moderately dance-groove tempo
of 118 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of F major
with Madonna's voice ranging from the tonal nodes of high-tone G3 to low-tone C5. According to Rikky Rooksby, the bassline
on the intro is a re-working of the three-note
bass motif present in the Four Tops
' 1965 song "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
", where Chuck Berry provided the chord
arrangement. The bassline also has some similarity with Michael Jackson
's "Billie Jean
" especially during the second verse
. Madonna sings the song in her high register while drum arrangement by Tony Thompson is heard alongside the bassline, which is also supported by a synthesizer arrangement, giving it a circular progression through all the seven diatonic chords of I–IV–VIIo–III–VI–II–V–I.
Regarding the lyrics, Madonna had commented: "I like innuendo, I like irony, I like the way things can be taken on different levels." This statement highlighted the ambiguity of the lyrics of the song, which is hung on the word 'like'. Rooksby interpreted the meaning of the song in different ways to different people. He said that for women who were really virgins, the song encouraged them to hold their compose
before they engaged in their very first sexual act. For sexually experienced girls, the song meant that they would be able to re-live the feelings of their first sexual encounter all over again. For the boys, the song presented a narcissistic
image of them making the girl forget her past encounters and enjoy the sexual act as if for the first time.
from Allmusic said that "Like a Virgin" was a definitive statement. He added that the song, and "Material Girl
" from the same album, made Madonna an icon. He added that both overshadowed the rest of the record, "because they are a perfect match of theme and sound." Debbie Miller from Rolling Stone
commented that Madonna's voice "doesn't have the power or range of, say, Cyndi Lauper
, but she knows what works on the dance floor." Dave Karger from Entertainment Weekly
, while reviewing the album in 1995, felt that the song came off a bit repetitious and immature when compared to the present context. Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly felt that the song raised the "madonna-whore" ante. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
called the song a classic. Tony Power from Blender
listed the song as a standout track from the album. Alfred Soto from Stylus Magazine
felt that the song was chic
in its style. Katie Henderson from The Guardian
commented that the song was saucy in nature. Michael Paoletta from Billboard
commented that the song sustained a "fevered dance-rock momentum."
In 2000, "Like a Virgin", was honored by Rolling Stone and MTV
, as the fourth song on their list of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs". It was voted ten on VH1
's 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years. The song was listed at ninety-five on Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs. In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their 'Top 20 Madonna singles of all-time', by Q
magazine. "Like a Virgin" was allocated the fifth spot on the list.
, where it debuted at number forty-eight on the issue dated November 17, 1984. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100
chart the week of December 22, 1984 and remained there for six weeks. "Like a Virgin" 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 song also reached number-one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and was her first top-ten entry on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
chart at position nine. It placed at two on the year-end chart for 1985, with Madonna becoming the top pop artist for the year. In Canada, the song debuted on the RPM Singles Chart
at seventy-one on the RPM issue dated November 24, 1984, and reached the top of the chart on January 19, 1985. It was present on the chart for a total of twenty-three weeks and ranked thirty-five on the RPM Year-end chart for 1985.
The song debuted on the UK Singles Chart
on November 17, 1984 at number 51, and peaked at number three on January 12, 1985; it spent a total of 18 weeks in the chart, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry
(BPI) for shipment of 400,000 copies across United Kingdom. According to The Official Charts Company, the song has sold 780,000 copies there. Across Europe, the song peaked within the top-ten of the charts of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. "Like a Virgin" became Madonna's first number-one song on the Australian Kent Music Report
chart and on the Japanese International Singles Chart
. It peaked at number-two on the New Zealand Singles Chart, fifteen on the Swedish charts and peaked the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles.
The music video
, directed by Mary Lambert, who worked with Madonna in her video for "Borderline
", was shot in Venice, Italy
and partly in New York City in July 1984. Madonna was portrayed as a knowing virgin, a figment of the pornographic mind, as she walked through marble rooms, wearing a wedding gown. It alternated with scenes of a slutty-looking Madonna on-board a gondola
. She commented, "[Mary] wanted me to be the modern-day, worldly-wise girl that I am. But then we wanted to go back in time and use myself as an actual virgin." The video starts with Madonna boarding on a boat from the Brooklyn Bridge
and travels to Venice. As she steps down into the city, she moves like a stripper and undulated sinuously. She wears a black dress and blue pants with a number of Christian symbol embedded jewellery around her neck. She sings the song at full volume as she watches a lion walking between the columns of the Piazza San Marco
of Venice and along the statute of Saint Mark
. A number of game-playing involving carnival masks, men, lions, werelions are portrayed with allusions to eighteenth-century practices and Saint Mark. Sheila Whiteley, author of Women and popular music: sexuality, identity, and subjectivity, felt that Madonna's image signified a denial of sexual knowledge, but also portrayed her in simulated writhing on a gondola, thus underpinning the simulation of deceit. The intrusion of a male lion, confirmed the underlying bestial
discourse of both mythological fairytale and pornographic sex. Whiteley observed that in the video, Madonna's lover wears the lion's mask and while cavorting with him, Madonna sheds the veneer of innocence and shows her propensity for wild animal passions. Having instilled desire, metaphorically she turns her lover into a Beast. Madonna commented about shooting with the lion:
With the video, scholars noted the expression of Venetian vitality in it. Margaret Plant (2002) commented: "With the lion of Saint Mark and the virginal city to the forefront, old sacrosanct Venice was propelled into a pop world of high-energy gyration, and endless circulation." She also noted that Saint Mark was a symbol of a time when sexual crime was punished severely in Venice and acts of rape, homosexuality and fornication incurred the loss of a nose, a hand or sometimes life itself. Madonna appeared to challenge such brutality and stretch the boundaries of tolerance in the video. As the lion-man carried Madonna to the Venetian palace, it symbolized an instance of the Saint taking the simulated Virgin, where Madonna became a symbol for La Serenissima
, the Republic itself. Plant also noted that Madonna, in the video, restored the energy and eroticism of Venice, which had its name taken from Venus in familiar elision. As she exchanged her blue top for a black one during the video, Madonna demonstrated her mastery and bravery of the city, which had a reputation of turning out its visitors as victims. Carol Clerk (2002) commented that with the video, "Madonna's days as a cheap and cheerful video star were over. She was moving into serious spectacle."
In 1985, a live music video of "Like a Virgin" from The Virgin Tour
filmed in Detroit, was used to promote Live – The Virgin Tour video release. This version was nominated for Best Choreography
at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards
. The live performance of "Like a Virgin" from the Blond Ambition World Tour
in Paris, France was released as a music video on May 9, 1991 to promote the documentary film Truth or Dare
. This version was nominated for two awards at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards
in the categories of Best Female Video
and Best Choreography. This video was ranked at position sixty-one on VH1's 100 Greatest Videos.
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. To this day, the performance is noted as one of the most iconic and biggest performances in MTV's history. The song has also been included in five of Madonna's eight concert tours. For 1985's The Virgin Tour
, Madonna again donned wedding attire and performed a straight version of the song featuring a quotation from Michael Jackson's similar-sounding Motown-style single, "Billie Jean
". Balloons floated out towards the audience as she rolled around the stage, carrying a wedding bouquet in her hand. The performance was included in the VHS release Live – The Virgin Tour recorded in Detroit, Michigan. In the 1987's Who's That Girl World Tour
, the song was given a lighthearted comedic theme and included quotations from The Four Tops
' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
". Madonna took off her outfit piece by piece, until she was standing in a black corset
, and ended the performance while flirting with a young male dancer who played her bridegroom. Two different performances of the song on this tour can be found on the videos: Who's That Girl – Live in Japan, filmed in Tokyo, Japan, on June 22, 1987, and Ciao, Italia! – Live from Italy
, filmed in Turin, Italy, on September 4, 1987.
For the 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour
, the song was re-invented with a middle-eastern arrangement and risqué choreography which found Madonna wearing a gold corset, while simulating masturbation on a red silk bed, accompanied by two male dancers who wore the infamous cone bras designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier
. The performance garnered a lot of attention, particularly when police in Toronto, Canada, threatened to arrest Madonna and charge her with indecency unless she altered the performance. Madonna refused and the show went ahead unaltered. The threatened arrest failed to materialise. Two different performances were taped and released on video, the Blond Ambition – Japan Tour 90, taped in Yokohama
, Japan, on April 27, 1990, and the Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90, taped in Nice
, France, on August 5, 1990. During The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993, Madonna wore a tuxedo and adopted a Marlene Dietrich
-like persona, singing the song with a thick German accent. She sang the word 'virgin' as '(w)irgin', while including a quotation from Dietrich's signature tune, "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)
". The overplayed accent and three-quarter time signature
gave the performance a sense of parody. Dietrich's look in the 1930 film Morocco
inspired the whole performance. The performance was included on The Girlie Show – Live Down Under home video release, recorded on November 19, 1993 at Sydney, Australia
.
In April 2003, while promoting her ninth studio album American Life
, an impromptu acoustic performance of the song was done by Madonna at New York's Tower Records
. Madonna's performance of "Hollywood" at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards
recreated the 1984 performance of "Like a Virgin". The performance started with Britney Spears
emerging from a giant cake singing the first few lines. She was later joined by Christina Aguilera
and both of them writhed on the stage while singing. Madonna appeared on the cake dressed as a groom and sang "Hollywood", and ultimately kissed both Spears and Aguilera on the mouth. The performance was met with strong reaction from media.
During the Confessions Tour
in 2006, the song was given a horse riding theme. Madonna wore a tight, black body suit, and performed the song atop a studded leather S&M carousel horse, while X-ray
s of her broken bones, the result of a horse-riding accident on her forty-seventh birthday, flashed on the screens behind her. The performance was included on The Confessions Tour live album, released in 2007. In 2008's Sticky & Sweet Tour
, Madonna sang the song in Rome and dedicated the song to Pope Benedict XVI
, commenting "I'd like to dedicate this song to the Pope, I know he loves me" and saying that she is a child of God. She asked the audience to sing with her.
recorded "Like a Virgin" for their compilation album Killer Lords. Gary Hill from Allmusic called the composition as "very funny and obnoxious". The same year, "Weird Al" Yankovic
parodied the song with his single "Like a Surgeon" from the album Dare to Be Stupid
. Eugene Chadbourne from Allmusic commented: "Turning the tacky Madonna hit inside out and upside down, Yankovic comes up with a hilarious satire of the medical profession." In 1991 Glaswegian band Teenage Fanclub
covered "Like a Virgin" on their second album, The King
. The song also appears on the soundtrack
of the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!
and is sung by the characters Harold Zidler, played by Jim Broadbent
, and The Duke of Monroth, played by Richard Roxburgh
. In 2004 The Meat Purveyors
covered the song in a bluegrass medley, pairing it with Madonna's "Lucky Star" and "Burning Up
."
In the opening scene of the 1992 film Reservoir Dogs
, Quentin Tarantino
(as Mr. Brown) was shown talking about the song, and has an insight that "Like a Virgin" is a "metaphor for big dicks". When Madonna met Quentin Tarantino at a party, after the film was released, she gave him an autographed copy of her Erotica album, signing "Quentin: it's about love, not dick". In the 2004 film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
, the title character teaches the song to women in a Thai prison, after becoming annoyed that they are singing the song badly. She tells them, "Madonna is nothing if not a perfectionist!" In one of the episodes of the TV show Grey's Anatomy
, the character of Cristina Yang
hums the song during surgery to take the focus off herself. However, when her assisting surgery, Lexie Grey
starts singing along, Christina looks venomously at her until she quiets down. The song was covered in the 2010 Glee
episode "The Power of Madonna
" by the cast, including Jonathan Groff
, Jayma Mays
, Lea Michele
, Cory Monteith
, Matthew Morrison
, and Naya Rivera
, during a dream sequence by their characters. The same year, Elton John
performed a cover version of "Like a Virgin" at the Rainforest Fund Benefit Concert. On September 9 2011, Vanessa Carlton
posted a link to a snippet of her stripped-down cover of the song in her Twitter account.
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 became the last word in attitude and fashion for young girls of that time. He compared that image of Madonna with that of Barbie
. McKeen explained that Madonna intermixed middle-class ideas of femininity with examples of what femininity meant to her, which was having equal opportunity. She offered an aggressive sexuality that implied it was acceptable for women not only to initiate relationships, but also enjoy them. In addition, according to Morton, 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 to the sale of Madonna-look clothing, including cut-off gloves, rubber bangles and lacy leggings, which prompted Madonna herself to later comment "that's a riot, because I was just making the best of my situation." 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.
Credits adapted from the album 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...
from her second album of the same name
Like a Virgin
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...
. It was released on November 6, 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...
, as the first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from the album. The song appears on the greatest hits compilation albums The Immaculate Collection
The Immaculate Collection
The Immaculate Collection is the first greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on November 9, 1990 by Sire Records. It contains fifteen of her hit singles from 1982 to 1990, as well as two new tracks "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me"...
(1990) and Celebration
Celebration (Madonna album)
Celebration is the third greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, and the closing release under her contract with Warner Bros. Records, her record company since 1982. The release follows her two previous greatest hits albums, The Immaculate Collection and GHV2...
(2009). It 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....
and produced by Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers
Nile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
; 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.
Musically "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...
. The lyrics of the song is ambiguous and consists of hidden innuendo. In sexual terms, the lyrics can be interpreted in different ways for different people. "Like a Virgin" 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 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. Madonna has performed the song in five of her concert tours
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
, most recent being the Confessions Tour
Confessions Tour
Confessions Tour was the seventh concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It supported her tenth studio album, Confessions on a Dance Floor. Madonna confirmed the possibility of going out on a tour as early as November 2005. Jamie King, Madonna's longtime collaborator, was then hired on...
in 2006. Majority of the time, her performances of "Like a Virgin" has been associated with strong reaction and uproar from the media.
"Like a Virgin" has been covered by a number of artists and has appeared in feature films such as 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...
, Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...
and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)
# Will Young - "Your Love Is King"# Jamelia - "Stop"# Kylie Minogue - "Can't Get You Out of My Head"# Joss Stone - "Super Duper Love Pt. 1"# Mary J...
. The song is noted for its profound effect on society. Family groups sought to ban it as they believed that the song promoted sex without marriage. On the other hand, Madonna's public persona of an indomitable, sexually unashamed, supremely confident woman was widely accepted by the younger generation who emulated her style and fashion. Scholars have credited "Like a Virgin" as the song which cemented her position as a pop culture icon
Pop icon
A pop icon is a celebrity, character, or object whose exposure in pop culture constitutes a defining characteristic of a given society or era. The categorization is usually associated with elements such as longevity, ubiquity, and distinction. Moreover, "pop icon" status is distinguishable from...
.
Background
"Like a Virgin" was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly. In an interview with the Los Angeles TimesLos 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....
, Steinberg explained that the song was not only not written for Madonna, it was not even written for a female singer but was inspired by his personal experiences.
I wasn't just trying to get that racy word virgin in a lyric. I was saying ... that I may not really be a virgin – I've been battered romantically and emotionally like many people – but I'm starting a new relationship and it just feels so good, it's healing all the wounds and making me feel like I've never done this before, because it's so much deeper and more profound than anything I've ever felt.
Kelly recorded the demo, and invited Michael Ostin of Warner Bros. Records' A&R department to his house to listen to it. Steinberg and Kelly played four or five tunes for Ostin, and further discussed "Like a Virgin"they were not sure for which artist the song would be suitable. Due to meet with Madonna the next day to discuss her sophomore album
Sophomore
Sophomore is a term used in the United States to describe a student in the second year of study at high school or university.The word is also used as a synonym for "second", for the second album or EP released by a musician or group, the second movie of a director, or the second season of a...
, Ostin intended on playing the demo to her, believing the lyrics and the groove of the song were perfect for Madonna. "When I played it for Madonna she went crazy, and knew instantly it was a song for her and that she could make a great record out of it," Ostin recalled. In 2009, 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 what her first impressions were after listening to the demos of "Like a Virgin" and "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...
". Madonna replied:
I liked them both because they were ironic and provocative at the same time but also unlike me. I am not a materialistic person, and I certainly wasn't a virgin, and, by the way, how can you be like a virgin? I liked the play on words, I thought they were clever. They're so geeky, they're cool. I never realised they would become my signature songs, especially the second one.
Recording and production
In mid-1984, Madonna met up with producer Nile Rodgers at the Power Station studiosAvatar 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...
(now Avatar Studios) in New York. Rodgers initially did not want Madonna to record "Like a Virgin", as he felt that the lyric 'like a virgin' was not a terrific hook, according to him it was not an all-time catch phrase. Madonna did not care about the song either, after hearing the demo, she thought that it sounded "really stupid and retarded". Later, Madonna had second thoughts, "It's weird because I couldn't get it out of my head after I played it, even though I didn't really like it. It sounded really bubble-gummy
Bubblegum pop
Bubblegum pop is a genre of pop music with an upbeat sound contrived and marketed to appeal to pre-teens and teenagers, produced in an assembly-line process, driven by producers, often using unknown singers.Bubblegum's classic period ran from 1967 to 1972...
to me, but it grew on me. I really started to like it, [...] But, my first reaction to it was, 'This is really queer.'"
Rodgers credits Madonna with recognizing the song's potential, he later said: "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.'" Hence the song was finally recorded. Steinberg reflected on the recording process and commented that:
When Madonna recorded it, even as our demo faded out, on the fade you could hear Tom saying, "When your heart beats, and you hold me, and you love me..." That was the last thing you heard as our demo faded. Madonna must have listened to it very, very carefully because her record ends with the exact same little ad-libs that our demo did. That rarely happens that someone studies your demo so carefully that they use all that stuff. We were sort of flattered how carefully she followed our demo on that.
It was the perfect union, I knew it from the first day in the studio. The thing between us, man, it was passionate, it was creative. [...] Madonna was sometimes temperamental during the recording, everyone told me she was a terrible ogre, but I thought she was great.
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 because test pressings always sounded consistent. 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 for the 12-bit mix. Madonna recorded the lead parts 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 track 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".
Composition
Composed as a dance-oriented song, the introIntroduction (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...
of "Like a Virgin" consists of two hooks. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing
Alfred Publishing
Alfred Music Publishing is a family-owned and operated music publishing company, founded in 1922. Headquartered in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, it is the largest educational music publisher in the world.- Profile :...
, the song is set in common time
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
, with a moderately dance-groove tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
of 118 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of F major
F major
F major is a musical major scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. Its key signature has one flat . It is by far the oldest key signature with an accidental, predating the others by hundreds of years...
with Madonna's voice ranging from the tonal nodes of high-tone G3 to low-tone C5. According to Rikky Rooksby, 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...
on the intro is a re-working of the three-note
Musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
bass motif present in the Four Tops
Four Tops
The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, hard rock, and showtunes...
' 1965 song "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
"I Can't Help Myself " is a 1965 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s...
", where Chuck Berry provided the chord
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
arrangement. The bassline also has some similarity with 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...
's "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...
" especially during the second 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...
. Madonna sings the song in her high register while drum arrangement by Tony Thompson is heard alongside the bassline, which is also supported by a synthesizer arrangement, giving it a circular progression through all the seven diatonic chords of I–IV–VIIo–III–VI–II–V–I.
Regarding the lyrics, Madonna had commented: "I like innuendo, I like irony, I like the way things can be taken on different levels." This statement highlighted the ambiguity of the lyrics of the song, which is hung on the word 'like'. Rooksby interpreted the meaning of the song in different ways to different people. He said that for women who were really virgins, the song encouraged them to hold their compose
Composition (visual arts)
In the visual arts – in particular painting, graphic design, photography and sculpture – composition is the placement or arrangement of visual elements or ingredients in a work of art or a photograph, as distinct from the subject of a work...
before they engaged in their very first sexual act. For sexually experienced girls, the song meant that they would be able to re-live the feelings of their first sexual encounter all over again. For the boys, the song presented a narcissistic
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
image of them making the girl forget her past encounters and enjoy the sexual act as if for the first time.
Critical reception
Stephen Thomas ErlewineStephen 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 said that "Like a Virgin" was a definitive statement. He added that the song, and "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...
" from the same album, made Madonna an icon. He added that both overshadowed the rest of the record, "because they are a perfect match of theme and sound." Debbie 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...
commented that Madonna's voice "doesn't have the power or range of, say, Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
, but she knows what works on the dance floor." Dave Karger 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...
, while reviewing the album in 1995, felt that the song came off a bit repetitious and immature when compared to the present context. Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly felt that the song raised the "madonna-whore" ante. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
called the song a classic. 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....
listed the song as a standout track from the album. 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....
felt that the song was chic
Chic (style)
Chic , meaning 'stylish' or 'smart', is an element of fashion.-Etymology:Chic is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s...
in its style. Katie Henderson from The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
commented that the song was saucy in nature. Michael Paoletta from Billboard
Billboard (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 song sustained a "fevered dance-rock momentum."
In 2000, "Like a Virgin", was honored by Rolling Stone and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, as the fourth song on their list of the "100 Greatest Pop Songs". It was voted ten on VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years. The song was listed at ninety-five on Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs. In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their 'Top 20 Madonna singles of all-time', by Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
magazine. "Like a Virgin" was allocated the fifth spot on the list.
Chart performance
"Like a Virgin" became Madonna's first of 12 number-one hits on the Billboard Hot 100Billboard 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...
, where it debuted at number forty-eight on the issue dated November 17, 1984. The song reached number one 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...
chart the week of December 22, 1984 and remained there for six weeks. "Like a Virgin" 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 song also reached number-one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart, and was her first top-ten entry on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart at position nine. It placed at two on the year-end chart for 1985, with Madonna becoming the top pop artist for the year. In Canada, the song debuted on the RPM Singles 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,...
at seventy-one on the RPM issue dated November 24, 1984, and reached the top of the chart on January 19, 1985. It was present on the chart for a total of twenty-three weeks and ranked thirty-five on the RPM Year-end chart for 1985.
The song debuted on the UK Singles Chart
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 ...
on November 17, 1984 at number 51, and peaked at number three on January 12, 1985; it spent a total of 18 weeks in the chart, and was certified gold 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 400,000 copies across United Kingdom. According to The Official Charts Company, the song has sold 780,000 copies there. Across Europe, the song peaked within the top-ten of the charts of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. "Like a Virgin" became Madonna's first number-one song on the Australian 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...
chart and on the Japanese International Singles 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...
. It peaked at number-two on the New Zealand Singles Chart, fifteen on the Swedish charts and peaked the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles.
Music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, directed by Mary Lambert, who worked with Madonna in her video for "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...
", was shot in Venice, Italy
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and partly in New York City in July 1984. Madonna was portrayed as a knowing virgin, a figment of the pornographic mind, as she walked through marble rooms, wearing a wedding gown. It alternated with scenes of a slutty-looking Madonna on-board a gondola
Gondola
The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian Lagoon. For centuries gondolas were the chief means of transportation and most common watercraft within Venice. In modern times the iconic boats still have a role in public transport in...
. She commented, "[Mary] wanted me to be the modern-day, worldly-wise girl that I am. But then we wanted to go back in time and use myself as an actual virgin." The video starts with Madonna boarding on a boat from the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
and travels to Venice. As she steps down into the city, she moves like a stripper and undulated sinuously. She wears a black dress and blue pants with a number of Christian symbol embedded jewellery around her neck. She sings the song at full volume as she watches a lion walking between the columns of the Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco
Piazza San Marco , is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as "the Piazza". All other urban spaces in the city are called "campi"...
of Venice and along the statute 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....
. A number of game-playing involving carnival masks, men, lions, werelions are portrayed with allusions to eighteenth-century practices and Saint Mark. Sheila Whiteley, author of Women and popular music: sexuality, identity, and subjectivity, felt that Madonna's image signified a denial of sexual knowledge, but also portrayed her in simulated writhing on a gondola, thus underpinning the simulation of deceit. The intrusion of a male lion, confirmed the underlying bestial
Zoophilia
Zoophilia, from the Greek ζῷον and φιλία is the practice of sex between humans and non-human animals , or a preference or fixation on such practice...
discourse of both mythological fairytale and pornographic sex. Whiteley observed that in the video, Madonna's lover wears the lion's mask and while cavorting with him, Madonna sheds the veneer of innocence and shows her propensity for wild animal passions. Having instilled desire, metaphorically she turns her lover into a Beast. Madonna commented about shooting with the lion:
"The lion didn't do anything he was supposed to do, and I ended up leaning against this pillar with his head in my crotch... I thought he was going to take a bite out of me so I lifted the veil I was wearing and had a stare-down with him and he opened his mouth and let out this huge roar. I got so frightened my heart fell in my shoe. When he finally walked away, the director yelled 'Cut' and I had to take a long breather. But I could really relate to the lion. I feel like in a past life I was a lion or a cat or something."
With the video, scholars noted the expression of Venetian vitality in it. Margaret Plant (2002) commented: "With the lion of Saint Mark and the virginal city to the forefront, old sacrosanct Venice was propelled into a pop world of high-energy gyration, and endless circulation." She also noted that Saint Mark was a symbol of a time when sexual crime was punished severely in Venice and acts of rape, homosexuality and fornication incurred the loss of a nose, a hand or sometimes life itself. Madonna appeared to challenge such brutality and stretch the boundaries of tolerance in the video. As the lion-man carried Madonna to the Venetian palace, it symbolized an instance of the Saint taking the simulated Virgin, where Madonna became a symbol for La Serenissima
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
, the Republic itself. Plant also noted that Madonna, in the video, restored the energy and eroticism of Venice, which had its name taken from Venus in familiar elision. As she exchanged her blue top for a black one during the video, Madonna demonstrated her mastery and bravery of the city, which had a reputation of turning out its visitors as victims. Carol Clerk (2002) commented that with the video, "Madonna's days as a cheap and cheerful video star were over. She was moving into serious spectacle."
In 1985, a live music video of "Like a Virgin" from 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...
filmed in Detroit, was used to promote Live – The Virgin Tour video release. This version was nominated for Best Choreography
MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Choreography in a Video....
at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards
1985 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1985 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 13, 1985, honoring the best music videos from May 2, 1984, to May 1, 1985. The show was hosted by Eddie Murphy at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
. The live performance of "Like a Virgin" from the Blond Ambition World Tour
Blond Ambition World Tour
The Blond Ambition World Tour was the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter, Madonna. The tour was launched in support of her fourth studio album, Like a Prayer, and the soundtrack, I'm Breathless. The tour reached North America, Europe and Asia. It was a highly controversial tour,...
in Paris, France was released as a music video on May 9, 1991 to promote the documentary film Truth or Dare
Madonna: Truth or Dare
Madonna: Truth or Dare is a 1991 American documentary film chronicling the life of American singer-songwriter Madonna during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour...
. This version was nominated for two awards at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards
1991 MTV Video Music Awards
The 1991 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 5, 1991, honoring the best music videos from June 2, 1990, to June 15, 1991. The show was hosted by Arsenio Hall at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles....
in the categories of Best Female Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video is one of the original general awards that has been handed out every year since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, however, the award was briefly renamed Female Artist of the Year, and it awarded the artist's whole body of work...
and Best Choreography. This video was ranked at position sixty-one on VH1's 100 Greatest Videos.
Live performances
Madonna performed "Like a Virgin" at the first MTV Video Music Awards1984 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. To this day, the performance is noted as one of the most iconic and biggest performances in MTV's history. The song has also been included in five of Madonna's eight concert tours. For 1985's 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...
, Madonna again donned wedding attire and performed a straight version of the song featuring a quotation from Michael Jackson's similar-sounding Motown-style single, "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...
". Balloons floated out towards the audience as she rolled around the stage, carrying a wedding bouquet in her hand. The performance was included in the VHS release Live – The Virgin Tour recorded in Detroit, Michigan. In the 1987's Who's That Girl World Tour
Who's That Girl World Tour
The Who's That Girl World Tour is the second concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her third studio album, True Blue , as well as the soundtrack Who's That Girl . It was Madonna's first world tour, reaching Asia, North America and Europe...
, the song was given a lighthearted comedic theme and included quotations from The Four Tops
Four Tops
The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet, whose repertoire has included doo-wop, jazz, soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, hard rock, and showtunes...
' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
"I Can't Help Myself " is a 1965 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s...
". Madonna took off her outfit piece by piece, until she was standing in a black corset
Corset
A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...
, and ended the performance while flirting with a young male dancer who played her bridegroom. Two different performances of the song on this tour can be found on the videos: Who's That Girl – Live in Japan, filmed in Tokyo, Japan, on June 22, 1987, and Ciao, Italia! – Live from Italy
Ciao, Italia! – Live from Italy
Ciao, Italia! – Live from Italy is a live music video by American singer-songwriter Madonna. Released by Warner Reprise Video on May 24, 1988, it contained a live performance from the 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour, filmed at Stadio Comunale in Turin, Italy on September 4, 1987 and in Florence,...
, filmed in Turin, Italy, on September 4, 1987.
For the 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour
Blond Ambition World Tour
The Blond Ambition World Tour was the third concert tour by American singer-songwriter, Madonna. The tour was launched in support of her fourth studio album, Like a Prayer, and the soundtrack, I'm Breathless. The tour reached North America, Europe and Asia. It was a highly controversial tour,...
, the song was re-invented with a middle-eastern arrangement and risqué choreography which found Madonna wearing a gold corset, while simulating masturbation on a red silk bed, accompanied by two male dancers who wore the infamous cone bras designed by Jean-Paul Gaultier
Jean-Paul Gaultier
Jean Paul Gaultier , born 24 April 1952 in Arcueil, Val-de-Marne, France) is a French haute couture fashion designer. Gaultier was the creative director of Hermès from 2003 to 2010. In the past, he has hosted the television series Eurotrash....
. The performance garnered a lot of attention, particularly when police in Toronto, Canada, threatened to arrest Madonna and charge her with indecency unless she altered the performance. Madonna refused and the show went ahead unaltered. The threatened arrest failed to materialise. Two different performances were taped and released on video, the Blond Ambition – Japan Tour 90, taped in Yokohama
Yokohama
is the capital city of Kanagawa Prefecture and the second largest city in Japan by population after Tokyo and most populous municipality of Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu...
, Japan, on April 27, 1990, and the Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90, taped in Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
, France, on August 5, 1990. During The Girlie Show World Tour in 1993, Madonna wore a tuxedo and adopted a 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...
-like persona, singing the song with a thick German accent. She sang the word 'virgin' as '(w)irgin', while including a quotation from Dietrich's signature tune, "Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)
Falling in Love Again (Can't Help It)
"Falling in Love Again " is the English language name for a 1930 German song composed by Friedrich Hollaender as Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt...
". The overplayed accent and three-quarter time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
gave the performance a sense of parody. Dietrich's look in the 1930 film Morocco
Morocco (1930 film)
Morocco is a 1930 film in which a Foreign Legionnaire meets and falls in love with a singer. It was directed by Josef von Sternberg and stars Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich and Adolphe Menjou. The story was adapted by Jules Furthman from the novel Amy Jolly by Benno Vigny...
inspired the whole performance. The performance was included on The Girlie Show – Live Down Under home video release, recorded on November 19, 1993 at Sydney, Australia
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
.
In April 2003, while promoting her ninth studio album American Life
American Life
American Life is the ninth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on April 22, 2003 by Maverick Records and distributed by Warner Bros. Records. The album produced in its entirety by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï featured references to many parts of American culture...
, an impromptu acoustic performance of the song was done by Madonna at New York's Tower Records
Tower Records (record label)
Tower Records was a record label from 1964 to 1970. A subsidiary of Capitol Records, Tower often released music by artists who were relatively low profile in comparison to those released on the parent label, including a number of artists—such as The Standells and The Chocolate Watch Band—later...
. Madonna's performance of "Hollywood" at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards
2003 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2003 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 28, 2003, honoring the best music videos from June 1, 2002, to June 9, 2003. The show was hosted by Chris Rock at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City...
recreated the 1984 performance of "Like a Virgin". The performance started with Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
emerging from a giant cake singing the first few lines. She was later joined by Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
and both of them writhed on the stage while singing. Madonna appeared on the cake dressed as a groom and sang "Hollywood", and ultimately kissed both Spears and Aguilera on the mouth. The performance was met with strong reaction from media.
During the Confessions Tour
Confessions Tour
Confessions Tour was the seventh concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It supported her tenth studio album, Confessions on a Dance Floor. Madonna confirmed the possibility of going out on a tour as early as November 2005. Jamie King, Madonna's longtime collaborator, was then hired on...
in 2006, the song was given a horse riding theme. Madonna wore a tight, black body suit, and performed the song atop a studded leather S&M carousel horse, while X-ray
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
s of her broken bones, the result of a horse-riding accident on her forty-seventh birthday, flashed on the screens behind her. The performance was included on The Confessions Tour live album, released in 2007. In 2008's Sticky & Sweet Tour
Sticky & Sweet Tour
The Sticky & Sweet Tour was the eighth worldwide concert tour by American singer Madonna to promote her eleventh studio album, Hard Candy. It began in August 2008 and was Madonna's first tour from her new recording and business deal with Live Nation. The tour was announced in February 2008, with...
, Madonna sang the song in Rome and dedicated the song to Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
, commenting "I'd like to dedicate this song to the Pope, I know he loves me" and saying that she is a child of God. She asked the audience to sing with her.
Cover versions
In 1985 The Lords of the New ChurchThe Lords of the New Church
The Lords of the New Church were an English/American post-punk supergroup with a line-up consisting of four musicians from prominent 1970s punk bands...
recorded "Like a Virgin" for their compilation album Killer Lords. Gary Hill from Allmusic called the composition as "very funny and obnoxious". The same year, "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
parodied the song with his single "Like a Surgeon" from the album Dare to Be Stupid
Dare to Be Stupid
Dare to Be Stupid is the third studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1985. The album was one of many produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer...
. Eugene Chadbourne from Allmusic commented: "Turning the tacky Madonna hit inside out and upside down, Yankovic comes up with a hilarious satire of the medical profession." In 1991 Glaswegian band Teenage Fanclub
Teenage Fanclub
Teenage Fanclub are an alternative rock band from Bellshill, Scotland. The band is composed of Norman Blake , Raymond McGinley , Gerard Love and Francis MacDonald , with songwriting duties shared equally among Blake, McGinley and Love...
covered "Like a Virgin" on their second album, The King
The King (album)
-Personnel:*Norman Blake - Vocals, guitar*Gerard Love - Vocals, bass*Raymond McGinley - Vocals, guitar*Brendan O'Hare - Drums...
. The song also appears on the soundtrack
Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film
Moulin Rouge! Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film is a soundtrack album to Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film Moulin Rouge!. It was released on May 8, 2001. The album features most of the songs featured in the film. However, some of the songs are alternate versions and there are two or three major songs that are...
of the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge!
Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 romantic jukebox musical film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. Following the Red Curtain Cinema principles, the film is based on the Orphean myth, La Traviata, and La Bohème...
and is sung by the characters Harold Zidler, played by Jim Broadbent
Jim Broadbent
James "Jim" Broadbent is an English theatre, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in Iris, Moulin Rouge!, Topsy-Turvy, Hot Fuzz, and Bridget Jones' Diary...
, and The Duke of Monroth, played by Richard Roxburgh
Richard Roxburgh
Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor who has starred in many Australian films and has appeared in supporting roles in a number of Hollywood productions, usually as villains.-Early life:...
. In 2004 The Meat Purveyors
The Meat Purveyors
The Meat Purveyors are an Alt country bluegrass band from Austin, Texas. The Meat Purveyors consist of Bill Anderson on guitar, Jo Stanli Walston on vocals, Cherilyn diMond on upright bass, and Pete Stiles on mandolin...
covered the song in a bluegrass medley, pairing it with Madonna's "Lucky Star" and "Burning Up
Burning Up
"Burning Up" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her self-titled debut album. It was released as the album's second single on March 9, 1983, in some countries as a AA side single with "Physical Attraction"...
."
In the opening scene of the 1992 film 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...
, Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
(as Mr. Brown) was shown talking about the song, and has an insight that "Like a Virgin" is a "metaphor for big dicks". When Madonna met Quentin Tarantino at a party, after the film was released, she gave him an autographed copy of her Erotica album, signing "Quentin: it's about love, not dick". In the 2004 film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (film)
# Will Young - "Your Love Is King"# Jamelia - "Stop"# Kylie Minogue - "Can't Get You Out of My Head"# Joss Stone - "Super Duper Love Pt. 1"# Mary J...
, the title character teaches the song to women in a Thai prison, after becoming annoyed that they are singing the song badly. She tells them, "Madonna is nothing if not a perfectionist!" In one of the episodes of the TV show Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
, the character of Cristina Yang
Cristina Yang
Cristina Yang is a fictional surgeon on the ABC television series Grey's Anatomy. The character is portrayed by actress Sandra Oh, who won a Golden Globe and a SAG Award in 2006 for the role...
hums the song during surgery to take the focus off herself. However, when her assisting surgery, Lexie Grey
Lexie Grey
Alexandra Caroline Grey, more commonly known as Lexie Grey, is a fictional surgeon from the ABC television series Grey's Anatomy. The character is portrayed by Chyler Leigh, and was created by Shonda Rhimes. She was made an official series regular for season four...
starts singing along, Christina looks venomously at her until she quiets down. The song was covered in the 2010 Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
episode "The Power of Madonna
The Power of Madonna
"The Power of Madonna" is the 15th episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on April 20, 2010...
" by the cast, including Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Drew Groff is an American singer-songwriter, stage, television and film actor. He originated the role of Melchior Gabor in the stage musical Spring Awakening and appeared as Jesse St...
, Jayma Mays
Jayma Mays
Jayma Suzette Mays is an American television and film actress, and singer. Mays' most prominent roles include that of Emma Pillsbury on the American television series Glee, recurring appearances on Ugly Betty and on Heroes as characters named Charlie.- Life and career :Mays was born Jamia Suzette...
, Lea Michele
Lea Michele
Lea Michele Sarfati , known professionally as Lea Michele, is an American actress and singer. Michele began working professionally as a child actress on Broadway in productions such as Ragtime and Les Misérables. She originated the role of Wendla in the musical Spring Awakening and currently plays...
, Cory Monteith
Cory Monteith
Cory Allan Monteith is a Canadian actor and musician, best known for his role of Finn Hudson on the Fox television series Glee.-Early life:...
, Matthew Morrison
Matthew Morrison
Matthew James "Matt" Morrison is an American actor, director, musician, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for starring in multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including his portrayal of Link Larkin in Hairspray on Broadway, and most notably for his Emmy and Golden Globe nominated...
, and Naya Rivera
Naya Rivera
Naya Marie Rivera is an American actress and singer known for her role in the musical comedy television series Glee, as cheerleader Santana Lopez.-Early life:...
, during a dream sequence by their characters. The same year, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
performed a cover version of "Like a Virgin" at the Rainforest Fund Benefit Concert. On September 9 2011, Vanessa Carlton
Vanessa Carlton
Vanessa Lee Carlton is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Upon completion of her education at the School of American Ballet, Carlton chose to pursue singing instead, performing in New York bars and clubs while attending university. Three months after recording a demo with producer Peter...
posted a link to a snippet of her stripped-down cover of the song in her Twitter account.
Legacy
After the song and its video were released, "Like a Virgin" attracted the attention of family organizations who complained that the video and the song, promoted sex without marriage and undermined family values, offering an unsavoury image of Madonna as a whore. Outraged moralists condemned her as a sex kitten and sought to ban the song and the video. Conservatives were angered that Madonna dared to portray religious symbolism and the virginal wedding attire in a sexual context. Clerk noted the song attracted an unprecedented level of attention from social groups compared to any female singer's song. "The main problem was that most of them listened superficially to the lyric of the song, imagining that it detailed or called on an innocent's sexual initiation." 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 of Rock and roll is here to stay: an anthology commented that with the song, Madonna became the last word in attitude and fashion for young girls of that time. He compared that image of Madonna with that of Barbie
Barbie
Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
. McKeen explained that Madonna intermixed middle-class ideas of femininity with examples of what femininity meant to her, which was having equal opportunity. She offered an aggressive sexuality that implied it was acceptable for women not only to initiate relationships, but also enjoy them. In addition, according to Morton, 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 to the sale of Madonna-look clothing, including cut-off gloves, rubber bangles and lacy leggings, which prompted Madonna herself to later comment "that's a riot, because I was just making the best of my situation." 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.
Track listing
- US 7" Single
- "Like a Virgin" (Album version) – 3:38
- "Stay" (Album version) – 4:04
- US/CAN 12" Maxi Single
- "Like a Virgin" (Extended Dance Remix) – 6:04
- "Stay" (Album version) – 4:04
- Japanese 12" Vinyl Promo Single
- "Like a Virgin" (Extended Dance Remix) – 6:07
- "Supernatural LoveSupernatural Love"Supernatural Love" is the second single from Donna Summer's 1984 Cats Without Claws album. The typically 1980s synthesised song was remixed for its release as a single and became a minor hit in the US...
" (by Donna SummerDonna SummerLaDonna Adrian Gaines , known by her stage name, Donna Summer, is an American singer/songwriter who gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. She has a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Summer is a five-time Grammy winner and was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach...
) – 6:11
Credits and 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 - Billy SteinbergBilly SteinbergWilliam 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:...
– lyricist - Tom KellyTom 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....
– writer - Nile RodgersNile RodgersNile Gregory Rodgers is an American musician, producer, composer, arranger, and guitarist.-Biography:...
– producer, drum programming, 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... - 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:...
– bass - 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 - Rob Sabino – bass synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, assorted synthesizers - Jellybean Benitez – 12" Remixer
Credits adapted from the album liner notes.
Charts
| Chart (1984–85) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Australia 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... |
1 |
| Austrian Singles Chart 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... |
8 |
| Belgian VRT Top 30 VRT Top 30 The VRT Top 30 or Radio 2 Top 30 is a Belgian record chart that runs on the VRT, more specifically on Radio 2. The list is the new version of the old BRT Top 30, that changed along with the media group's name in 1992.... |
2 |
| Canadian RPM Singles 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,... |
1 |
| Dutch Top 40 Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting... |
4 |
| Eurochart Hot 100 Singles | 2 |
| Finnish Singles Chart | 5 |
| French Singles 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... |
8 |
| German Singles 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... |
4 |
| Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured... |
4 |
| Italian Singles 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.... |
16 |
| Japanese International Singles 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... |
1 |
| New Zealand Singles 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... |
2 |
| Norwegian Singles 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... |
8 |
| Swedish Singles 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 .... |
15 |
| Swiss Music Charts 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... |
9 |
| UK Singles Chart 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 ... |
3 |
| US 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... |
1 |
| US Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 1 |
| US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
9 |
Year-end charts
| Charts (1985) | Position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart | 35 |
| Dutch Top 40 | 82 |
| Italian Singles Chart | 70 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 2 |
Certifications
| Country | Certifications |
|---|---|
| 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... |
Gold |
| 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... |
Gold |
External links
- Madonna "Like a Virgin" lyrics MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
- Madonna "Like a Virgin" music video MTV