Like A Virgin
Original Release
Like a Virgin is Madonna’s second studio album. It became her first number one album reaching the top of the charts in Germany, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom. Worldwide it has sold 21 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time.
1. Background
When she started work on her second album, Madonna felt that her first album had succeeded in introducing her "street-smart dance queen" persona, and she wanted to solidify and build upon that concept. According to her:
"My work, my dedication—the stubbornness for getting ‘Madonna’ released—had paid off. Now it was time to solidify my future."
"My work, my dedication—the stubbornness for getting ‘Madonna’ released—had paid off. Now it was time to solidify my future."
2. Recording
For that often-difficult follow up album, Madonna wanted stronger material in order to progress out of the dance niche and into the mainstream. As she commented:
"Like a Virgin is a much harder album, much more aggressive than the first record. The songs on that were pretty weak. On this one I've chosen all the songs and I want them to be all hits—no fillers. That's why I've done outside songs as well as six of my own... I wanted every song to be strong."
Madonna attempted to become one of the primary record producers, feeling the need to control the various aspects of her music. She believed that depending on a particular producer for her album was not something that suited her. Referring to problems with the production of her first album, when due to certain differences of opinion between herself and producer Reggie Lucas, Lucas had left the project half-way through, Madonna observed:
"I learnt my lesson while creating my debut album, and the way Lucas left me in the water with the project, you can't trust men."
However, Warner Bros. Records was not ready to give her the artistic freedom that she wanted. In J. Randy Taraborrelli's biography of Madonna, she commented,
"Warner Bros. Records is a hierarchy of old men and it's a chauvinist environment to be working in because I'm treated like this sexy little girl. I had to prove them wrong, which meant not only proving myself to my fans but to my record company as well. That is something that happens when you're a girl. It wouldn't happen to Prince or Michael Jackson. I had to do everything on my own and it was hard trying to convince people that I was worth a record deal. After that, I had the same problem trying to convince the record company that I had more to offer than a one-shot singer. I had to win this fight."
Ultimately, Nile Rodgers was chosen by Madonna as the producer of the album, with the approval of the Warner Brothers executives. Madonna chose Rodgers mostly because of his work as a member of the seventies band Chic, and his most recent production work with David Bowie on his 1983 album ‘Let's Dance’. She commented:
"When I was making the record, I was just so thrilled and happy to be working with Nile Rodgers. I idolized Nile because of the whole Chic thing. I couldn't believe that the record company gave me the money so that I could work with him."
For his part, Rodgers recalled that he had first seen Madonna perform at a small club in New York in 1983. In an interview with Time magazine, Rodgers explained:
"I went to the club to see another woman sing, but when I got there Madonna was onstage. I loved her stage presence and then we met right after that. I kept thinking to myself, 'Damn, is she a star', but she wasn't at that time. I always wanted to work with her and Like a Virgin seemed like a perfect opportunity."
Rodgers recalled that Madonna was a real hard worker and incredibly tenacious. He commented:
"I am always amazed by Madonna's incredible judgement when it comes to making pop records. I've never seen anyone do it better, and that's the truth. When we did that album, it was the perfect union, and I knew it from the first day in the studio. The thing between us, man, it was sexual, it was passionate, it was creativity... it was pop."
The album was recorded at Power Station Studio in New York at a quick pace. Rodgers enlisted the help of his former Chic band mates Edwards, who was the bassist, and Tony Thompson, who played drums. 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. 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".
"Like a Virgin is a much harder album, much more aggressive than the first record. The songs on that were pretty weak. On this one I've chosen all the songs and I want them to be all hits—no fillers. That's why I've done outside songs as well as six of my own... I wanted every song to be strong."
Madonna attempted to become one of the primary record producers, feeling the need to control the various aspects of her music. She believed that depending on a particular producer for her album was not something that suited her. Referring to problems with the production of her first album, when due to certain differences of opinion between herself and producer Reggie Lucas, Lucas had left the project half-way through, Madonna observed:
"I learnt my lesson while creating my debut album, and the way Lucas left me in the water with the project, you can't trust men."
However, Warner Bros. Records was not ready to give her the artistic freedom that she wanted. In J. Randy Taraborrelli's biography of Madonna, she commented,
"Warner Bros. Records is a hierarchy of old men and it's a chauvinist environment to be working in because I'm treated like this sexy little girl. I had to prove them wrong, which meant not only proving myself to my fans but to my record company as well. That is something that happens when you're a girl. It wouldn't happen to Prince or Michael Jackson. I had to do everything on my own and it was hard trying to convince people that I was worth a record deal. After that, I had the same problem trying to convince the record company that I had more to offer than a one-shot singer. I had to win this fight."
Ultimately, Nile Rodgers was chosen by Madonna as the producer of the album, with the approval of the Warner Brothers executives. Madonna chose Rodgers mostly because of his work as a member of the seventies band Chic, and his most recent production work with David Bowie on his 1983 album ‘Let's Dance’. She commented:
"When I was making the record, I was just so thrilled and happy to be working with Nile Rodgers. I idolized Nile because of the whole Chic thing. I couldn't believe that the record company gave me the money so that I could work with him."
For his part, Rodgers recalled that he had first seen Madonna perform at a small club in New York in 1983. In an interview with Time magazine, Rodgers explained:
"I went to the club to see another woman sing, but when I got there Madonna was onstage. I loved her stage presence and then we met right after that. I kept thinking to myself, 'Damn, is she a star', but she wasn't at that time. I always wanted to work with her and Like a Virgin seemed like a perfect opportunity."
Rodgers recalled that Madonna was a real hard worker and incredibly tenacious. He commented:
"I am always amazed by Madonna's incredible judgement when it comes to making pop records. I've never seen anyone do it better, and that's the truth. When we did that album, it was the perfect union, and I knew it from the first day in the studio. The thing between us, man, it was sexual, it was passionate, it was creativity... it was pop."
The album was recorded at Power Station Studio in New York at a quick pace. Rodgers enlisted the help of his former Chic band mates Edwards, who was the bassist, and Tony Thompson, who played drums. 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. 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".
3. Artwork
While learning the technical art of sound production in the studio, Madonna needed no instruction on the art of imagery and it was the striking and provocative imagery portrayed on the cover of ‘Like A Virgin’ that was as instrumental as the music itself in propelling Madonna into the super league.
Steven Meisel, who would become a regular collaborator, shot the cover sleeve and images. Madonna wanted the album title to make a provocative link between her own religious name—Madonna as the Roman Catholic title for Jesus' mother Mary—and the Christian concept of the virgin birth. At the same time, she deliberately set out to portray mixed messages – the sexualised image of the bride was not one of virtue, but of desire.
To ensure the point was not missed, a belt was added with the deceptively submissive wording "Boy Toy". It was guaranteed to cause condemnation and outrage. Exactly what Madonna intended. This was to be the first of many forays into what would become a Madonna mainstay – the art of controversy.
Madonna herself declared:
"I have always loved to play cat and mouse with the conventional stereotypes. My ‘Like a Virgin’ album cover is a classic example. People were thinking who was I pretending to be—the Virgin Mary or the whore? These were the two extreme images of women I had known vividly, and remembered from childhood, and I wanted to play with them. I wanted to see if I can merge them together, Virgin Mary and the whore as one and all. The photo was a statement of independence, if you wanna be a virgin, you are welcome. But if you wanna be a whore, it's your fucking right to be so."
Steven Meisel, who would become a regular collaborator, shot the cover sleeve and images. Madonna wanted the album title to make a provocative link between her own religious name—Madonna as the Roman Catholic title for Jesus' mother Mary—and the Christian concept of the virgin birth. At the same time, she deliberately set out to portray mixed messages – the sexualised image of the bride was not one of virtue, but of desire.
To ensure the point was not missed, a belt was added with the deceptively submissive wording "Boy Toy". It was guaranteed to cause condemnation and outrage. Exactly what Madonna intended. This was to be the first of many forays into what would become a Madonna mainstay – the art of controversy.
Madonna herself declared:
"I have always loved to play cat and mouse with the conventional stereotypes. My ‘Like a Virgin’ album cover is a classic example. People were thinking who was I pretending to be—the Virgin Mary or the whore? These were the two extreme images of women I had known vividly, and remembered from childhood, and I wanted to play with them. I wanted to see if I can merge them together, Virgin Mary and the whore as one and all. The photo was a statement of independence, if you wanna be a virgin, you are welcome. But if you wanna be a whore, it's your fucking right to be so."
4. Promotion
Madonna debuted the single ‘Like a Virgin’ at the first MTV Video Music Awards on 14 September 1984, where she appeared on stage atop a giant wedding cake dressed in a wedding dress, adorned with the infamous "Boy Toy" belt buckle, and veil. The climax of her risqué performance found her humping and rolling around on the stage. The performance is noted as one of the iconic performance in MTV's history.
On 13 December 1984, Madonna performed ‘Like a Virgin’ in the UK on BBC 1’s Top Of The Pops. She wore punky torn tights, a vivid pink wig, religious accessories and layered mesh tops. It was later voted as the second best Top of the Pops performance of all time (behind Duran Duran’s performance of ‘Rio’).
This was to be the final promotional musical performance by Madonna in the UK during this decade. She would not perform live again until she returned to the UK during her subsequent world tours.
On 13 December 1984, Madonna performed ‘Like a Virgin’ in the UK on BBC 1’s Top Of The Pops. She wore punky torn tights, a vivid pink wig, religious accessories and layered mesh tops. It was later voted as the second best Top of the Pops performance of all time (behind Duran Duran’s performance of ‘Rio’).
This was to be the final promotional musical performance by Madonna in the UK during this decade. She would not perform live again until she returned to the UK during her subsequent world tours.
5. Legacy
Like a Virgin has attained significance as a cultural artefact of the 80s. Madonna proved that she was not a one-hit wonder and was able to provide herself with a permanent footing in the music world. Her songs became a lightning rod for both criticism by conservatives and imitation by the younger female population, especially ‘Material Girl’ and ‘Like a Virgin’. As Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian noted:
"A woman in control of her sex life and career was such a new idea that Madonna became the biggest thing to hit pop, and popular culture, in years. And she's stayed that way: her influence on the way women came to view sex, love and themselves was so great that some universities offered courses in Madonna studies. And she's also continued to make some of pop's most enduring singles."
At this time, a new word called 'Madonna wannabe' was introduced to describe the thousands of girls who tried to emulate Madonna's style. At one point, Macy's allotted an entire floor area for the sale of clothes styled according to Madonna's fashion. University professors, gender-studies experts and feminists earnestly started discussing her role as a post-modernist style and cultural icon.
According to author J. Randy Taraborrelli, "Every important artist has at least one album in his or her career whose critical and commercial success becomes the artist's magic moment; for Madonna, ‘Like a Virgin’ was just such a defining moment".
And just in case anyone was left in any doubt as to Madonna’s sense of humour she dedicated the album to ‘the virgins of the world’.
"A woman in control of her sex life and career was such a new idea that Madonna became the biggest thing to hit pop, and popular culture, in years. And she's stayed that way: her influence on the way women came to view sex, love and themselves was so great that some universities offered courses in Madonna studies. And she's also continued to make some of pop's most enduring singles."
At this time, a new word called 'Madonna wannabe' was introduced to describe the thousands of girls who tried to emulate Madonna's style. At one point, Macy's allotted an entire floor area for the sale of clothes styled according to Madonna's fashion. University professors, gender-studies experts and feminists earnestly started discussing her role as a post-modernist style and cultural icon.
According to author J. Randy Taraborrelli, "Every important artist has at least one album in his or her career whose critical and commercial success becomes the artist's magic moment; for Madonna, ‘Like a Virgin’ was just such a defining moment".
And just in case anyone was left in any doubt as to Madonna’s sense of humour she dedicated the album to ‘the virgins of the world’.
6. Track Listing
|
No.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. (7.) 7. (8.) 8. (9.) 9. (10.) 6. |
Title
Material Girl Angel" Like a Virgin Over and Over Love Don't Live Here Anymore Dress You Up Shoo-Bee-Doo Pretender Stay Into The Groove* |
Writer(s)
Peter Brown, Robert Rans Madonna, Bray Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg Madonna, Bray Miles Gregory Andrea LaRusso, Peggy Stanziale Madonna Madonna, Bray Madonna, Bray Madonna, Bray |
Length
4:00 3:56 3:38 4:12 4:47 4:01 5:16 4:30 4:07 4:43 |
All tracks produced by Nile Rogers except * produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray.
'Into The Groove' was added as track 6, the first track on the B-side, with subsequent tracks renumbered.
Five singles were released from the (reissued) album in the UK and further information on these can be accessed via the SINGLES tab or by clicking on the links below:
Like a Virgin
Material Girl
Into the Groove
Angel
Dress You Up
'Into The Groove' was added as track 6, the first track on the B-side, with subsequent tracks renumbered.
Five singles were released from the (reissued) album in the UK and further information on these can be accessed via the SINGLES tab or by clicking on the links below:
Like a Virgin
Material Girl
Into the Groove
Angel
Dress You Up
7. UK Release and Chart Performance
In the UK, ‘Like a Virgin’ was released on 24 November 1984. The album fluctuated on the chart for 44 weeks making it the longest climb to No. 1 by a solo female artist. It finally reached the pinnacle on 21 September 1985 after it was repackaged and reissued to include ‘Into The Groove’.
It remained at the top for two weeks although not consecutively as another solo female artist – Kate Bush – muscled her way in-between with ‘Hounds of Love’. To date ‘Like A Virgin’ has been present on the UK chart for 152 weeks.
It remained at the top for two weeks although not consecutively as another solo female artist – Kate Bush – muscled her way in-between with ‘Hounds of Love’. To date ‘Like A Virgin’ has been present on the UK chart for 152 weeks.
8. UK Collectables and Variations
As with Madonna's debut album, the original release of 'Like A Virgin' was not pressed in the UK. Once again, generic copies were shipped in from Germany with no UK catalogue number.
These original pressings are not particularly scarce as they were imported in large numbers. However, for the collector there are a variety of marketing stickers - the first batch came with only 'Like A Virgin', which was then replaced with an updated version to include 'Material Girl'. Intriguing there is also a miss-pressing of the original sticker which fails to mention of any single at all! With the catalogue number in the same place, but with slightly different wording, it was perhaps intended to be the second batch publicising the debut single but was pulled in favour of a sticker which also included 'Material Girl'. Evidently however, some of these 'blanks' were still applied to the album covers. There is also a slight label variation with an indent.
The rarest standard collectable LP is the Irish pressing which appears in its usual distinctive style but lacks an inner sleeve.
There are also three cassette versions. The standard cassette comes with a grey 'gema' label but they are housed within different inlay sleeves - one with and one without the yellow 'chrome' strip. There is also a very rare white plastic variation with the same gray label. It can only be assumed this was a scarce top up, perhaps halted due to the imminent reissue of the album with 'Into The Groove'.
The rarest standard issue is the very limited CD. As with Madonna's debut, it was pressed in Germany and comes in the distinctive yellow and purple artwork. It also comes with an inlay the rear of which features a distinctive floral print. Some of these also come with a WEA promo booklet showcasing the current releases of a selection of artists, including Madonna.
Finally, there are three promo items. The first is what would be shown to be the standard practice of issuing advance copies of the LP with a generic rectangular rear promo sticker - this would be found on all subsequent Madonna albums. The two other promo items are of more interest for their oddity. They are both cassettes, both are recorded on standard TDK commercially-available cassettes but have then been customised. The first has a custom WEA label on the cassette but has no cassette inlay sleeve. The cassette itself contains all the tracks from the album. The second cassette comes from 'The Tape Gallery' a security service issuing promotional cassettes. It has a custom label and a basic typed inlay sleeve. The cassette itself only contains thee tracks: 'Like A Virgin', 'Material Girl' and 'Angel' - all of which are the singles intended to be released in this order from the album. This track listing is pre-'Into the Groove' which was not included on the original album.
For releases and rarities relating to the reissue see 'Like A Virgin' - Reissue
The rarest standard collectable LP is the Irish pressing which appears in its usual distinctive style but lacks an inner sleeve.
There are also three cassette versions. The standard cassette comes with a grey 'gema' label but they are housed within different inlay sleeves - one with and one without the yellow 'chrome' strip. There is also a very rare white plastic variation with the same gray label. It can only be assumed this was a scarce top up, perhaps halted due to the imminent reissue of the album with 'Into The Groove'.
The rarest standard issue is the very limited CD. As with Madonna's debut, it was pressed in Germany and comes in the distinctive yellow and purple artwork. It also comes with an inlay the rear of which features a distinctive floral print. Some of these also come with a WEA promo booklet showcasing the current releases of a selection of artists, including Madonna.
Finally, there are three promo items. The first is what would be shown to be the standard practice of issuing advance copies of the LP with a generic rectangular rear promo sticker - this would be found on all subsequent Madonna albums. The two other promo items are of more interest for their oddity. They are both cassettes, both are recorded on standard TDK commercially-available cassettes but have then been customised. The first has a custom WEA label on the cassette but has no cassette inlay sleeve. The cassette itself contains all the tracks from the album. The second cassette comes from 'The Tape Gallery' a security service issuing promotional cassettes. It has a custom label and a basic typed inlay sleeve. The cassette itself only contains thee tracks: 'Like A Virgin', 'Material Girl' and 'Angel' - all of which are the singles intended to be released in this order from the album. This track listing is pre-'Into the Groove' which was not included on the original album.
For releases and rarities relating to the reissue see 'Like A Virgin' - Reissue
LP - Standard Release (German Pressing)
LP - with first marketing sticker and indented label
LP - with second marketing sticker
LP - with mispresed 'blank' marketing sticker
LP - Irish Pressing
Cassette: Limited pressing in sleeve with no 'yellow' bar
Cassette: Standard issue in sleeve with 'yellow' bar
Cassette: Limited white plastic top-up
Compact Disc
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© madonna-decade 2013
© madonna-decade 2013
