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Thread started 07/30/13 2:31pm

JoeBala

'Madonna' Turns 30: A Look Back at the Queen of Pop's Debut Album

'Madonna' Turns 30: A Look Back at the Queen of Pop's Debut Album

By Keith Caulfield | July 27, 2013

July 27 is a "Holiday" for Madonna fans: Her self-titled debut album was released on this day in 1983.

"Madonna" debuted at No. 190 on the Billboard 200 chart dated Sept. 3, 1983, and eventually climbed all the way No. 8 the following year. The Sire/Warner Bros. Records release spent a staggering 168 weeks on the chart -- the longest run of any Madonna album.

It spun off three top 20 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and four entries on Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs tally.

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Its first single, "Everybody," was actually released the previous year, in late 1982. The song became a hit in dance clubs, especially in Madonna's then-home of New York. The cut reached No. 3 on Dance/Club Play Songs in early 1983 and was initially embraced by the city's dance radio station, WKTU. The outlet was arguably the first American radio station to play the track. WKTU reported it as a new "Playlist Top Add On" in the Dec. 11, 1982, issue of Billboard magazine, reflecting their station's playlist for the week ending Nov. 30, 1982. (Fun fact: At the time, former Billboard associate publisher Michael Ellis was the music director of WKTU.)

Madonna told Rolling Stone in 2009 about hearing herself on WKTU for the first time: "I was living on the Upper West Side, 99th and Riverside, and at about 7 at night I had the radio on in my bedroom, on 'KTU, and I heard 'Everybody.' I said, 'Oh my God, that's me coming out of the that box.' It was an amazing feeling."

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"Everybody" was followed by the double-sided single "Burning Up"/"Physical Attraction," a No. 3 hit on Dance/Club Play Songs in spring 1983. (It was common then for singles to be promoted as so-called "double-sided" singles, when a vinyl record would be sent to club DJs with a different song on each side.)

Next came another double-sided single: "Holiday"/"Lucky Star," which became her first No. 1 on Dance/Club Play Songs in late summer 1983, just as her album was starting to take off. It was the first chart-topper her storied career as the queen of Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs survey. In her career, she's earned a whopping 43 No. 1s -- a record no other artist has neared. Her most recent No. 1 was 2012's "Turn Up the Radio," from her "MDNA" album.

"Holiday" eventually became Madonna's first major mainstream hit in America and her first single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. It debuted at No. 88 on the Oct. 29, 1983, chart and peaked at No. 16 on Jan. 28, 1984.

The hits started to come fast and furious for Madonna after her breakthrough success with "Holiday." "Borderline" came next, and gave Madonna her first top 10 on the Hot 100. It reached No. 10 on the June 16, 1984, tally. "Borderline" was her first of a record 38 top 10 hits on the Hot 100. (In second-place on the all-time list: the Beatles, with 34 top 10s.)

While "Lucky Star" had been a club hit already, it was then time for it to be promoted to pop radio. It sailed to No. 4 on the Hot 100 the week of Oct. 20, 1984.

One month later, on Nov. 17, 1984, Madonna would debut her fourth hit on the Hot 100: "Like a Virgin," the title track and first single from her second album.

But, that's a chart story for another day . . .

Just Music-No Categories-Enjoy It!
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Reply #1 posted 07/30/13 2:36pm

Musicslave

"Everybody" is still one of my faves from her. I have it as a single on CD. The instrumental was dope too.

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Reply #2 posted 07/30/13 3:00pm

getxxxx

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Reggie Lucas worked in the studio with Madonna as she recorded her self-titled album, which turns 30 this week. But he says he hasn't gotten his full due.

http://theatlantic.com/en...er/277974/
[Edited 7/30/13 19:41pm]
Nick Ashford was someone I greatly admired, had the honor of knowing, and was the real-life inspiration for Cowboy Curtis' hair. RIP Nick. - Pee Wee Herman
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Reply #3 posted 07/30/13 4:14pm

JoeBala

Borderline was the first song I heard from her, then I saw the video and I was hooked. cool

Just Music-No Categories-Enjoy It!
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Reply #4 posted 07/30/13 4:28pm

SoulAlive

the album was going to be titled Lucky Star and this is the original,withdrawn artwork

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Reply #5 posted 07/30/13 5:10pm

Musicslave

getxxxx said:

http://theatlantic.com/en...er/277974/

Good read. Thanks! There's some nice music nuggets in there.

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Reply #6 posted 07/30/13 8:55pm

Cinny

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I really enjoyed this article. I always wondered why Madonna was so impatient to release Like A Virgin (in interviews) and wanted to perform "Like A Virgin" on the 1984 MTV VMAs, but I see her first album and its singles were taking their sweet time on the charts.

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Reply #7 posted 07/31/13 2:45am

getxxxx

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When you bring up the fact that Madonna was pushed toward a black audience, it would explain why "Physical Attraction" and songs like that were at top of the Billboard Black Singles Charts.

You can't make this stuff up. Warner Brothers really didn't know what to do with her. See, there was a subtext to Madonna that had to do with her personality. She looked like a punk rocker to a lot of people. When people at record companies, law offices, and managerial places first saw Madonna before she became an established artist, a lot of people were put off by her. They thought she was too crazy and too weird. Being a music person and a human being, I don't operate that way. I thought she was cool and different. I didn't really know if she was going to become a big star, but I thought she had something valid to say and I could help her with it. Warner Brothers didn't get it right away, but Michael Rosenblatt did.

When she took off, there was an immediate, massive shift to move in and establish business relationships with her. In the beginning, she was just this little dance artist that Frankie Crocker gave a few spins to, and some DJs out in San Francisco, and she starts creating this buzz. Then, people at the record label started putting two and two together and got five. They immediately did a 360 and welcomed her with open arms.

Nick Ashford was someone I greatly admired, had the honor of knowing, and was the real-life inspiration for Cowboy Curtis' hair. RIP Nick. - Pee Wee Herman
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Reply #8 posted 07/31/13 3:09am

JabarR74

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Reply #9 posted 07/31/13 4:07am

AlexdeParis

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Her best 80s album IMO. music

"Whitney was purely and simply one of a kind." ~ Clive Davis
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Reply #10 posted 07/31/13 8:09am

Henaz

Holiday is the first Madonna song I became familiar with because my aunt (who used to live with us) used to sing it so much. In fact I always used to think it must be by a Zimbabwean artist. (At the time I didn't know what Madonna looked like/who she was, and I heard the song more often from my aunt than the actual recording). Anyway, to this day it still kinda reminds me of my aunt..... though much has changed since.

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Reply #11 posted 07/31/13 2:06pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

Man, no matter what just such a creative youthful-not matter what your age, time

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Reply #12 posted 07/31/13 2:48pm

coltrane3

Great album. Really, one of her best, even though it's her debut and she, at times, sounds her most Minnie Mouse-ish. Lol. (Incredible vocal prowess was never the point of Madonna).

Lucky Star is still one of my Top 5 Madonna songs. Think of Me is an underrated gem that I wished had received the full remix treatment (has it?).

All Madonna fans should own the "You Can Dance" album, which remixed early hits. The Holiday-Everybody-Physical attraction remix sequence is hot and the segues between songs are great. (The entire album is great (Spotlight!!), but these are the tracks from the first album.

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Reply #13 posted 08/01/13 11:48am

DaveT

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coltrane3 said:

Great album. Really, one of her best, even though it's her debut and she, at times, sounds her most Minnie Mouse-ish. Lol. (Incredible vocal prowess was never the point of Madonna).

Lucky Star is still one of my Top 5 Madonna songs. Think of Me is an underrated gem that I wished had received the full remix treatment (has it?).

All Madonna fans should own the "You Can Dance" album, which remixed early hits. The Holiday-Everybody-Physical attraction remix sequence is hot and the segues between songs are great. (The entire album is great (Spotlight!!), but these are the tracks from the first album.

Yes, yes and yes! biggrin One of my all times faves, love Spotlight and the extended mixes of Into The Groove. I always thought M, as Queen of the Dancefloor, should release a new album that was mixed through like a live DJ club set...and then she did one with Confessions which was fantastic! I thought she should have done the same with MDNA which felt for the most part like a nightclub album to.

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Reply #14 posted 08/01/13 3:04pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

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Reply #15 posted 08/01/13 3:04pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

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Reply #16 posted 08/01/13 3:06pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

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Reply #17 posted 08/01/13 3:07pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

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Reply #18 posted 08/01/13 3:13pm

OldFriends4Sal
e

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Reply #19 posted 08/01/13 4:24pm

mikematronik

Madonna was so hot!

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