Madonna is the self-titled debut album of American recording artist Madonna, released on July 27, 1983 by Sire Records. The album was re-released in 1985 for the European market and re-packaged as Madonna – The First Album. In 1982, while establishing herself as a singer in New York downtown, Madonna met Seymour Stein, president of Sire Records, who signed her after listening to her single "Everybody". The success of the single prompted Sire to sign her for an album's deal. For the album, Madonna chose to work with Reggie Lucas, a Warner Bros. producer. However, she was not happy with the completed tracks and disagreed with Lucas's production techniques, so decided to seek additional help with the production.
Madonna then invited her boyfriend at the time, John "Jellybean" Benitez, to help her finish the album. Benitez remixed many of the tracks and produced "Holiday". The overall sound of Madonna is dissonant, and is in the form of upbeat synthetic disco, utilizing some of the new technology of the time, like the usage of Linn drum machine, Moog bass and the OB-X synthesizer. The songs on the album are sung by Madonna in a bright, girlish vocal timbre, and lyrically talks about love and relationships.
Contemporary critics have applauded the album, but it received negative feedback when it was released in 1983. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named it as the fifth of "Top 100 Best Albums of Past 25 Years." The album was successful on the charts, reaching number eight on the Billboard 200, and the top ten of the charts in Australia, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and United Kingdom. It was certified five-times platinum, by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of five million copies across the United States. Worldwide, the album has sold ten million copies.
Five singles were released from the album, with "Holiday" becoming her first song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Lucky Star", her first top-five hit. The album was promoted by The Virgin Tour in 1985. Madonna has often remarked that she wished she had more variety in the songs of the album, and had more creative control. However, critics and scholars noted that with the album, Madonna introduced a style of upbeat dance music that would prove particularly appealing to future gay audiences. With Madonna, she began her career as a disco diva.
In 1982, the 23-year-old Madonna was living in New York, and trying to set up her music career.[2] She was joined by her Detroit boyfriend Steve Bray who became the drummer of her band, the Breakfast Club, which played generally hard-rock music. Soon they abandoned playing songs in the hard-rock genre, and got signed by a music management company called Gotham Records, planning to move in a new musical direction.[3] They decided to pursue the funkgenre, but the record company was not happy with their musical talents and they were dropped from the label; Madonna and Bray left the band also.[2]Meanwhile, she had written and developed some songs on her own. She carried rough tapes of three of the songs, "Everybody", "Ain't No Big Deal" and "Burning Up". At that time she was frequenting the Danceteria nightclub in New York. It was here that Madonna convinced the DJ Mark Kamins to play "Everybody".[2] The song was received positively by the crowd, and Kamins decided that he should get Madonna a record deal, on the understanding that he would get to produce the single.[2] He took her to his boss Chris Blackwell, who owned Island Records, but Blackwell refused to sign Madonna so they approached Sire Records.[4] Michael Rosenblatt, who worked at the artists and repertoire department of Sire, offered Madonna $ 5,000 in advance, plus $ 10,000 in royalties, for each song she wrote.[5][6]
Madonna was ultimately signed for two 12" singles by the President of Sire, Seymour Stein, who was impressed by her singing,[5] after listening to "Everybody" at a hospital in Lenox Hill where he was admitted.[6] The 12" version of "Everybody" was produced by Mark Kamins at Blank Tapes Studios in New York, who took over the production work from Steve Bray.[6] The new recording ran 5:56 on one side and 9:23 for the dub version on the reverse side. Madonna and Kamins had to record the single at their own cost.[7] Arthur Baker, friend of Mark Kamins, guided him through the role of a music producer and provided him with keyboard player Fred Zarr.[8] Due to the restrained budget, the recording was a hefty affair as Madonna could not understand Kamins' directions and Kamins himself faced problems directing. Rosenblatt wanted to release "Everybody" with "Ain't No Big Deal" on the other side, but later changed his mind and put "Everybody" on both sides of the vinyl record after hearing the recorded version of "Ain't No Big Deal".[6] The single was commercially released in October 1982 and became a dance hit in the United States. This led to Sire signing Madonna for an LP and two more singles.[5][9]
For the album, Madonna opted not to work with either Kamins or Bray, but chose Reggie Lucas, a Warner Bros. producer. Bray decided to push her in the musical direction of pop, and recorded the song "Burning Up" with her.[10] However, Madonna still did not have enough material to warrant a full album. The songs available were, "Lucky Star", a new version of "Ain't No Big Deal", "Think of Me" and "I Know It". Lucas brought another two songs to the project, "Physical Attraction" and "Borderline".[10] As he recorded the tracks he deviated considerably from the original versions of the demos. One such altered song was "Lucky Star". The song was written by Madonna for Kamins, who previously promised to play the track at Danceteria.[6]However, the track was instead used by Madonna for the album, which she planned to call Lucky Star.[6] She believed that "Lucky Star", along with "Borderline", were the perfect foundation for her album.
Problems arose between her and Lucas during the recording of the songs. Madonna was unhappy with the way the final versions turned out. According to her, Lucas used too many instruments and did not consider her ideas for the songs.[12] This led to a dispute between the two and, after finishing the album, Lucas left the project without tailoring the songs to Madonna's specifications; hence she called John "Jellybean" Benitez, a DJ at Funhouse disco, to remix the available tracks.[10] In the meantime, due to a conflict of interest, Bray had sold "Ain't No Big Deal" to an act on another label, rendering it unavailable for Madonna's project.[10] It was Benitez who discovered a new song, written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of the pop group Pure Energy.[6] The song, titled "Holiday", had been turned down by Phyllis Hyman and Mary Wilson, formerly of The Supremes.[4] After vocals were recorded by Madonna, Benitez spent four days trying to enhance the commercial appeal of the track before the April 1983 deadline.[4][10] Just before it was completed Madonna and Benitez took the tape over to their friend Fred Zarr's apartment in Brooklyn.[4] Zarr added a piano solo in the intermediate section of the track.[6]
The overall sound of Madonna is dissonant, and is in the form of upbeat synthetic disco, utilizing some of the new technology of the time, like the usage of Linn drum machine, Moog bass and the OB-X synthesizer. These equipments have already dated since, consequently the sound of the album comes off as harsh.[13] Madonna commented on her debut album: "The songs were pretty weak and I went to England during the recordings so I wasn't around... I wasn't in control. [...] I didn't realise how crucial it was for me to break out of the disco mold before I'd already finished the [first] album. I wish I could have got a little more variety there."[13] The album starts with the song "Lucky Star", a medium-paced dance track, beginning with a sparkle of synth note and is followed by heavy beats of electronic drum and handclaps.[13] A guitar is played in high riff and a bubbling bass synth is produced to accompany the guitar sound.[13] The song revolves around the "Starlight, starbright" hook for more than a minute, before going to the chorus. According to author Rikky Rooksby, the lyrics are repetitive and inane, revolving around the transparent ambiguity of the stars, and juxtaposition of the male character with being a heavenly body in the sky.[13] "Borderline" is a sentimental track, talking about a love that is never quite fulfilled.[11] According to author Santiago Fouz-Hernández and his book Madonna's drowned worlds, the lyrics of the song like "Something in the way you love me won't let me be/I don't want to be your prisoner so baby won't you set me free" depicted a rebellion against male chauvinism.[14] Madonna used a refined and expressive voice to sing the song, backed by Lucas's instrumentations.[11] Bassplayer Anthony Jackson provided the synths for the song.[13] The chords in the song were inspired by Seventies disco sound in Philadelphia as well as Elton John's musical style during the mid-seventies.[13] The chord sequences cite from Bachman–Turner Overdrive's song "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" while the synth phases display her typical musical style.[15]
The third track "Burning Up" has a starker arrangement, brought about by bass, single guitar and drum machine.[15] The tom-tom drum beats used in the song were reminiscent to the records of singerPhil Collins.[15] It also incorporated electric guitars and the most state-of-the-art synthesizers of that time.[16] The chorus is a repetition of the same three lines, while the bridge consists of a series of double entendres; the lyrics describing what Madonna is prepared to do for her lover, and that she is individualistic and shameless.[15] Next track "I Know It" has a gentler swing to it and features music from piano, a saxophone, synth phrases while having an offbeat chord change.[15] "Holiday" consists of a four-bar sequence, featuring instrumentation from guitars, electronic handclaps, cowbell played by Madonna [17] and a synthesized string arrangement. A side-by-side repetitive progression is achieved by making use of the chorus.[18] Towards the end of the song, a change in the arrangement happens, where a piano break is heard. Lyrically, the song expresses the universal sentiment that everybody needs a holiday.[18] In "Think of Me", Madonna warns her erring lover that he should pay her attention or else she would leave. The song consists beats from a snare-drum and a saxophone interlude. "Physical attraction" is a medium paced track, with synth bass, a guitar line, sounds of a brass and Madonna singing in a shrill voice, about the attraction between herself and a boy.[18] The last song on the album is "Everybody", which starts with a heavily synthesized and spoken introduction, with Madonna taking a loud intake of breath.[19] She displayed her bubblegum-pop like voice in the song, which was also doubletracked.[19]
The critical reception of the album changed over the time from negative to positive. Bill Lamb from About.com commented that "Madonna's album is state of the art dance-pop loaded with hits from 'Holiday' and 'Lucky Star' to 'Borderline'. Irresistible pop hooks glide across shimmering synth beats to make this a landmark album of the early 80's."[20] Stephen Thomas Erlewine from Allmusic commented that "[Madonna's] eponymous debut isn't simply good, it set the standard for dance-pop for the next 20 years. Why did it do so? [...] Madonna's singing isn't particularly strong; the songs, while hooky and memorable, couldn't necessarily hold up on their own without the production — but taken together, it's utterly irresistible."[21] Tony Power from Blender said that the album consisted of "quacking synths, overperky bass and state-of-the-art mechanical disco, with Madonna strapped to the wing rather than holding the controls. It's a breathless, subtlety-free debut, with overtones of Soft Cell and Tom Tom Club."[22] While reviewing the remastered version of the album, released in 2001, Michael Paoletta from Billboard felt that "Nearly 20 years after the release of Madonna, such tracks as 'Holiday', 'Physical Attraction', 'Borderline' and 'Lucky Star' remains irresistible."[23]
Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A, saying "[Madonna] might have wound up just another post-disco dolly if [the songs on the album] didn't announce her ability to fuse club beats with peerless pop."[24] In July 2008, the magazine ranked the album at number 5 in their list of "Top 100 Best Albums of Past 25 Years.".[28] Jonathan Ross from Q said that "'Borderline' is sweet and 'Holiday' still fizzes with invention and joie de vivre....this quintessentially '80s dance hit also features a barrelhouse piano solo."[25] Robert Christgau gave the album an A- and said, "In case you bought the con, disco never died — just reverted to the crazies who thought it was worth living for. This shamelessly ersatz blonde is one of them, and with the craftily orchestrated help of a fine selection of producers, remixers, and DJs, she's come up with a shamelessly ersatz sound that's tighter than her tummy — essence of electro, the D in DOR."[26] Don Shewey from Rolling Stone was of the opinion that "without overstepping the modest ambitions of minimal funk, Madonna issues an irresistible invitation to the dance."[27] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine commented" "Heralding the synth-heavy movement was a debut album [Madonna] that sounds just as fresh today as it did almost two decades ago."[16] The album also received a number of negative reviews at the time of its release. John Skow of Time magazine called her voice sounding as "Minnie Mouse on helium". Other detractors concurred, suggesting that Madonna was "almost entirely helium, a gas-filled, lighter-than-air creation of MTV and other sinister media packagers."[29] Other critics like Barry Walters from Spin commented that "She's a one-hit wonder, she'll disappear after a year."[30]
In the United States, the album was released on July 27, 1983. It entered the Billboard 200 albums chart at number 123, the week of November 5, 1983.[31]The album had a slow and steady climb, and peaked at eight on the Billboard 200 on the week ending October 20, 1984, almost a year after its release.[32] It also peaked at twenty on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[33] Within a year, the album sold 2.8 million copies in the United States.[34] It placed at seven on the year-end chart for 1984 and at 25 on the year-end chart for 1985, with Madonna becoming the top pop artist for the year 1985.[35] Seventeen years since its release, the album was certified five-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of five million copies across United States.[36] After the advent of the Nielsen SoundScan era in 1991, the album sold a further 450,000 copies.[37]
In Canada, the album was released on March 10, 1984, and debuted at eighty-seven on the RPM Albums Chart.[38] After six weeks, the album reached a peak of fifty-seven on the chart.[39] It entered the chart again, at position ninety-five, on August 4, 1984.[40] After twenty-nine weeks, it reached a new, much higher peak of sixteen.[41] The album was present on the chart for forty-seven weeks and was ranked at position fifty, on the RPM Top 100 Albums of 1984 list.[42][43] In the United Kingdom, the album was released on February 11, 1984, and charted on the UK Albums Chart, reaching a peak of thirty-seven and present on the chart for twenty weeks.[44] After a re-release titled Madonna – The First Album in July 1985, the album charted again on the UK Albums chart. It reached a higher peak of fourteen and was present on the chart for eighty weeks.[44] Six months since the re-release, the album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipment of 300,000 copies of the album.[45] In Australia, the album reached a peak of ten, on the Kent Music Report albums chart.[46] Across Europe, the album reached the top ten in New Zealand, Sweden, France and Germany; the last two markets, it was certified platinum and gold, respectively.[47][48][49][50] It was also certified platinum in Netherlands.[51] Worldwide, the album has sold ten million copies.[52]
Madonna released five singles from the album. "Everybody" was released on October 6, 1982, as the debut single. Musically incorporating R&B infused beats, the song portrayed the image of Madonna as a black artist, since her picture did not appear on the single cover.[15] However this misconception was cleared later when Madonna convinced Sire executives to allow her to shoot a music video for the song. The low-budget music video directed by Ed Steinberg portrayed Madonna and her friends singing and dancing in a club to the song. The video helped to promote the song and Madonna as an artist further.[53] Critically the song did not receive any acclaim and failed to enter the official Billboard Hot 100chart, but charted on its dance charts.[54] "Burning Up" was as the album's second single on March 9, 1983, in some countries as an A-side single with "Physical Attraction". It received mixed reviews from contemporary critics and authors, who noted the song's darker, urgent composition while praising its dance beats.[21][24] The single failed to do well commercially anywhere, except the dance chart in the United States, where it peaked at three, and the Australian Charts, where it was a top twenty hit.[46] The accompanying music video of the song portrayed Madonna in the classic submissive female positions, while writhing in passion on an empty road, for her lover who appeared to come from her behind on a car. The video ended showing Madonna driving the car instead, thereby concluding that she was always in charge.[55] "Holiday" was released as the third single on September 7, 1983. Commercially, the song was Madonna's first hit single when it entered the top twenty of the BillboardHot 100 while peaking its dance chart.[56] The song was also a crossover success, entering the top ten and top forty of many European countries. A re-release of the song in 1985 saw it peaking at two in the United Kingdom.[57]
"Borderline" was the fourth single from the album, and was released on February 15, 1984. Contemporary critics and authors applauded the song, calling it as harmonically the most complex song from the Madonna album and complimenting the dance-pop nature of the song. "Borderline" became Madonna's first top ten song on the Hot 100, peaking at ten. Elsewhere, the song reached the top twenty of a number of European nations while peaking the chart in Ireland.[58] In 2009, the song was placed at eighty-four on Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born" article.[59] The accompanying music video portrayed Madonna, with a Latin man as boyfriend. She was enticed by a British photographer to pose and model for him, but later returned to her original boyfriend. The video generated interest amongst academics, who noted the use of power as symbolism in it.[14]"Lucky Star" was the fifth and final single from the album and was released on August 8, 1984. Both contemporary and old critics have praised the song, heralding it as the introduction to upbeat dance music.[21] "Lucky Star" became Madonna's first top-five hit on the Billboard Hot 100, when it reached the peak position of four, becoming the first of fifteen consecutive top five hits. It had already become Madonna's first number-one song on the Billboard dance charts, when it peaked the chart alongside previously released single "Holiday".[60] The music video portrayed Madonna dancing in front of a white background, accompanied by her dancers. After the video was released, Madonna's style and mannerisms became a fashion trend among the younger generation. Scholars noted that in the video, Madonna portrayed to herself as narcissistic and an ambiguous character. She referred herself as the "lucky star", unlike the lyrical meaning of the song.[61]
Madonna had promoted the album throughout 1983–84 by performing a series of "track dates", one-off gigs. These shows were done at New York City and London clubs like Danceteria and Camden Palace and on American and British television programs like American Bandstand and Top of the Pops.[62] The album's singles were later performed on The Virgin Tour in 1985. It was Madonna's first concert tour and visited North American dates. The tour was critically panned but was a commercial success. Later authors have looked back at the tour and commented that it was clear that "[Madonna] was a bonafide pop star in the process of becoming a cultural icon."[63] Shari Benstock and Suzanne Ferriss noted the clothes and fashion in the tour and said, "Virgin Tour established Madonna as the hottest figure in pop music."[64]
A video compilation, titled Madonna, was also released to promote the singles, as well as the album. Madonna was the singer's first video compilation. It won the award for the "Best Selling Video Cassete Merchandised as Music Video", from the National Association of Recording Merchandisers.[65] It also topped the Music Videocassette chart of Billboard for the period from April 13, 1985 to November 9, 1985. Jim McCullaugh from Billboard attributed the strong sales of the video to Madonna's recent studio album Like a Virgin and The Virgin Tour concert.[66] Madonna placed at number one on the year-end music videocasette chart for 1985, with Madonna becoming the top pop artist for the year.[67] Promoted by Warner Music Video as 'A Vision of Madonna', the compilation contained the music videos for the singles "Burning Up and "Borderline", the then current single "Like a Virgin" and a special extended dance mix of "Lucky Star".[68] In "Lucky Star" when she says "ooh yeah" it is echoed three times and her image is repeated three times. "Like a Virgin" omits the scene where the lion's tongue moves in time with the beat of the music. These videos were later released on the 1990 greatest hits compilation The Immaculate Collection with these edits changed.[68] The video was promoted at the Cabaret Metro club in Chicago, on February 9, 1985. Dubbed as 'The Virgin Party', the event drew around 1,200 crowd and promoted Madonna's LPs, tapes, CDs and the videocassette. Attendees were encouraged to wear white, and for $5 admission fees, were able to view the Madonna videocassette and the premiere of the music video of her then single "Material Girl". The event was organised as a drive to promote music videos, which at that point did not have a large market.[69]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that with the album, Madonna began her career as a disco diva, in an era that did not have any such divas to speak of.[21] In the beginning of the 80s, disco was ananathema to the mainstream pop, and Madonna had a huge role in popularizing dance music as mainstream music, utilizing her charisma, chutzpah and sex appeal. Erlewine also credits the music of the album as "cleverly incorporated great pop songs with stylish, state-of-the-art beats, and it shrewdly walked a line between being a rush of sound and a showcase for a dynamic lead singer. This is music where all of the elements may not particularly impressive on their own — the arrangement, synth, and drum programming are fairly rudimentary — but taken together, it's utterly irresistible. [...] Here, Madonna is on fire, and that's the reason why it launched her career, launched dance-pop, and remains a terrific, nearly timeless, listen."[21] Martin Charles Strong, author of The great rock discography felt that the album's unprecedented dance-pop and naive appeal served Madonna in establishing her base as an artist.[70] According to biographer Andrew Morton, the album made Madonna a household name, and was instrumental in introducing her star power.[71] When Madonna appeared on American Bandstand to promote the album on January 14, 1984, Madonna expressed her dream "to rule the world."[72]
Following the release of the album, Madonna was dismissed by some music critics. After the success of her single "Holiday", they began to call her a one-hit wonder.[73] Madonna said, "In the beginning I was called everything from a Disco Dolly to a One-Hit Wonder."[74] She responded the comment "Minnie Mouse on helium" from Time magazine by doing a photoshoot with Alberto Tolot, where she flirted with a giant Mickey Mouse toy, putting its hand inside her dress and looking at it with an admonishing glare. Author Debbi Voller noted that "such provocative imagery at a young age of her career, could have hurt her too much. But it went on to shut those twerps who dared to take a swag at her voice again."[75] Twenty-five years later, in her acceptance speech of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Madonna thanked the critics who snubbed her in the early years, "The ones that said I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn't sing, that I was a one-hit wonder. They pushed me to be better, and I am grateful for their resistance."[76]
In an interview with Time, Madonna reflected that her relationship with her father had not been good, before she released her debut album. "My father had never believed that what I was doing here [in New York] was worthwhile, nor did he believe that I was up to any good. [...] It wasn't until my first album came out and my father started hearing my songs on the radio that he stopped asking the questions."[77] Music critics Bob Batchelor and Scott Stoddart, commented in their book The 1980s that "the music videos for the singles off the album, was more effective in introducing Madonna to the rest of the world."[78] Author Carol Clerk said that the music videos of "Burning Up", "Borderline" and "Lucky Star" established Madonna, not as the girl-next-door, but as a sassy and smart, tough funny woman. Her clothes worn in the videos were later used by designers like Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Lacroix, in Paris Fashion week of the same year.[77] Professor Douglas Kellner, in his bookMedia Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern, commented that the videos depicted motifs and strategies which helped Madonna in her journey to become a star.[79] With the "Borderline" music video, Madonna was credited for breaking the taboo of interracial relationships and was considered one of her career-making moments. MTV played the video in heavy rotation, increasing Madonna's popularity further.[14]
The release of the album, heralded Madonna's arrival in the music scene, but her vocal abilities were not fully formed artistically. Her vocal styles and lyrics appeared similar to those of other pop stars of that period, namely Paula Abdul, Debbie Gibson and Taylor Dayne.[80] The songs on Madonna reveal several key trends that have continued to define her success, including a strong dance-based idiom, catchy hooks, highly polished arrangement and Madonna's own vocal style. In songs such as "Lucky Star" and Borderline", Madonna introduced a style of upbeat dance music that would prove particularly appealing to future gay audiences. The bright, girlish vocal timbre of the early years became passé in Madonna's later works, the change being deliberate, to cater the latest trends in the music world.[80]