FEATURE:
Like a Virgin at Thirty-Five
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in a rare photo from the Like a Virgin shoot/PHOTO CREDIT: Steven Meisel
Celebrating Madonna’s Sophomore Breakthrough
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TODAY marks thirty-five years…
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1984/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
since Madonna’s Like a Virgin was released to the world. When it comes to Pop starts, Madonna began with a bang in 1983! Her eponymous album arrived a time when there was a positive Pop atmosphere, yet few burned as brightly as Madonna. I think that album remains underrated and is a hugely important one. Success followed its release, and the nature of Madonna’s music shifted in the year that followed. There was a sexiness and rawness to Madonna, but Like a Virgin took more risks and was a more adventurous album. Not many artists could commend the sort of power Madonna had after her debut. Hiring Nile Rodgers to come on board as producer, there is more kick, groove and attitude on Like a Virgin. In terms of stepping up and pushing forward, Madonna did it significant on Like a Virgin – she would continue to do so through most of her career. Madonna was buoyed and motivated by the success of her debut and had long-dreamed of producing. Sire Records were not quite in the position to give Madonna full control over production at such an early stage in her career. Instead, she produced alongside Nile Rodgers. I think they work well together, and the expertise Rodgers brings to the plate helped make Like a Virgin such a remarkable album. Madonna had heard what Rodgers produced with David Bowie on his 1983 album, Let’s Dance, so knew that she would be in good hands.
I think her debut is incredible, but her sophomore release is even finer. You can hear this artist coming into her own and distinguishing herself as a future icon. Whilst not the Queen of Pop at that early stage, Like a Virgin is a vital transition from a somewhat naïve and bubbly Pop artist of her debut to the more empowered and risk-taking singer only a year later. Recorded quickly at Power Station Studios in New York, you can feel the infectiousness and pure simplicity of the music. Whilst, on the surface, the music appears to be quite ordinary, here are songs that shine and sound incredible today – Like a Virgin is an album that has inspired so many others. The fact digital recording was employed on Like a Virgin gives it a different sound to that of Madonna. Rodgers recalls seeing Madonna at a New York club in 1983 and knowing that she would be a star. As such, you can tell how committed he was to ensuring Like a Virgin was a success. The rapport and chemistry between Madonna and Rodgers drove production forward and there was a lot of mutual respect. With collaborators such as Stephen Bray (her former boyfriend) on writing duty, Like a Virgin is a sure-fire work of gold. All of the tracks on Like a Virgin are great, but there are few finer singles than the title cut and Material Girl.
Both are incredibly memorable Pop songs that have bounce, heart and depth. Madonna had strengthened as a singer since her debut and was showing new sides. I like the fact that the songs were not simple love songs that any chart act could produce. Angel was inspired by a girl who was saved by and fell in love with an angel. It seems a bit strange that the title cut – and one of Madonna’s most-famous songs – was not actually written by her. Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly penned the track and Steinberg said he based Like a Virgin on his experiences of love. Rodgers was not convinced that Like a Virgin had a hook memorable enough. Madonna liked the demo (sung by Kelly) and, after the song stuck in Rodgers’ head, it was included on the album. When we think of Madonna’s best albums, many of us overlook the brilliant Like a Virgin. It is much more than a couple of big singles; this album confirmed Madonna as a star to watch! This is the moment Madonna stepped into the spotlight and began to asset her sexuality like never before. Few female Pop artists were doing so at that time, so Like a Virgin opened eyes and doors. As her music went everyday love and touched on social issues and race, Madonna became a focal point and was being dissected as a Pop act with edge and intelligence. There are few sophomore albums as important, progressive and influential as Madonna’s 1984-released gem.
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna captured during the Like a Virgin shoot/PHOTO CREDIT: Steven Meisel
Like a Virgin is an album that still holds a lot of weight and, when you look at modern Pop artists, you can tell that many of them have taken the album to heart. If Madonna didn’t singlehandedly transform Pop and bring sex to the fore for women, she played a big part. She would release better-reviewed albums (such as Like a Prayer in 1989 and Ray of Light in 1998), but Like a Prayer is definitely ripe for re-investigation. The reviews for Like a Virgin were positive in 1984, but I think there are some retrospective reviews that are helpful; they show how the album sounds years after its release and how Pop has changed since then. AllMusic had this to say in 2009:
“Madonna had hits with her first album, even reaching the Top Ten twice with "Borderline" and "Lucky Star," but she didn't become a superstar, an icon, until her second album, Like a Virgin. She saw the opening for this kind of explosion and seized it, bringing in former Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers in as a producer, to help her expand her sound, and then carefully constructed her image as an ironic, ferociously sexy Boy Toy; the Steven Meisel-shot cover, capturing her as a buxom bride with a Boy Toy belt buckle on the front, and dressing after a night of passion, was as key to her reinvention as the music itself. Yet, there's no discounting the best songs on the record, the moments when her grand concepts are married to music that transcends the mere classification of dance-pop.
These, of course, are "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin," the two songs that made her an icon, and the two songs that remain definitive statements. They overshadow the rest of the record, not just because they are a perfect match of theme and sound, but because the rest of the album vacillates wildly in terms of quality. The other two singles, "Angel" and "Dress You Up," are excellent standard-issue dance-pop, and there are other moments that work well ("Over and Over," "Stay," the earnest cover of Rose Royce's "Love Don't Live Here"), but overall, it adds up to less than the sum of its parts -- partially because the singles are so good, but also because on the first album, she stunned with style and a certain joy. Here, the calculation is apparent, and while that's part of Madonna's essence -- even something that makes her fun -- it throws the record's balance off a little too much for it to be consistent, even if it justifiably made her a star.
In terms of Madonna albums, I think Like a Virgin is the one I link to my childhood. I remember watching the video for Material Girl when I was about seven or eight (I was born in 1983), and I might well have heard the odd snippet of Like a Virgin earlier than that. I listen to it now and then and it sounds remarkably catchy and interesting.
PHOTO CREDIT: Steven Meisel
Lots of modern artists are inspired by 1980s Pop, yet none have the same soar, affinity and boldness as Madonna. In their review of Like a Virgin, SLANT had this to say:
“Like a Virgin, the record that launched Madonna into unearthly super-stardom and went on to sell over 10 million copies domestically, defined a generation with hits like “Material Girl” and the now-classic title track. Though not as innovative as her debut, the album stands as one of the most definitive pop artifacts from the indulgent Reagan Era. The mid-tempo ballad “Shoo-Bee-Doo” and a soulful cover of Rose Royce’s “Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” proved Madonna could churn out more than just novelty hits, while the sugary “Angel” and the irresistible “Dress You Up” contributed to the singer’s record-breaking list of consecutive Top 5 hits (16 in all). The retro-infused “Stay” and the percussive “Over and Over” are the album’s hidden gems; a frenetic remix of the latter resurfaced on 1987’s You Can Dance”.
Like a Virgin is thirty-five today (12th November) and it is cool to see its creator continuing to release music and tour. Madonna remains at the core of Pop and countless artists have her to thank for their success. Maybe the Pop mainstream could learn a thing or two from an album that is in its mid-thirties. There are artists out there are who are pushing boundaries but what about those instant hooks and that upbeat feel? I think that is largely missing, so Like a Virgin is an album that serves as much a purpose now as it did back in 1984. If you have not played it for a while, put it on and experience Like a Virgin thirty-five years after its release. It is an album that is impossible to ignore; one that stays in the mind and…
ENVELOPS the senses.