FEATURE:
Not the Holiday We Were Expecting…
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna made her debut British T.V. appearance for The Tube performing at The Haçienda on 27th January, 1984/PHOTO CREDIT: Kevin Cummins
Forty Years Since Madonna’s First Appearance on British T.V.
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MAYBE seen as a forgettable moment…
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna photographed in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Deborah Feingold
and one that Madonna has blanked out, on 27th January, 1984, she made her debut appearance on British T.V. It was a rare appearance out of New York. A chance to get her latest singles to the British public. She got a chance to perform the iconic Holiday on The Tube. Playing at Manchester’s The Haçienda, I think that it is more important than people give it credit for. Not a rousing success or one where the audience were captivated, it did give us this exposure to the greatest Pop artists ever. Madonna would soon go on to conquer the U.K. and the world. Her debut T.V. appearance was definitely curious. At a time when we were not used to artists like Madonna, and The Haçienda was probably used to more Dance and Acid, this was quite a moment. I do think that it was quite as bad as people think. Indeed, Madonna’s performance was great. Full of energy and verve, it was no doubt seen as something that the club-goers would approve of. I want to start by bringing in an article from Electronic Sound about that iconic and much-discussed night forty years ago:
“It would be easy to look back at Madonna’s first live appearance on UK shores and paint it as a pointy-boobed meteorite crashing to earth, rattling dainty teashop china for miles around. Or a dancing sex nun gatecrashing a knitting circle, vicars fainting, monocles falling from startled eyes. However, it was more mundane than that.
The venue for this pivotal moment in music history was the hotbed of moody Mancunian mardiness, The Haçienda. The soon-to-be Queen Of Pop landed on our green and concreted land not with a bang, but with bemusement.
The moment, on 27 January 1984, was shared live on Channel 4’s essential Friday teatime music show, ‘The Tube’.
The previous night, with her slow-rising debut single ‘Holiday’ barely tickling the Top 30, ‘Top Of The Pops’ beamed in an outside broadcast. The producers had clearly ordered attendees to dance, party hats snapped clumsily onto bobbing heads. There was no such crowd fakery the following night when ‘The Tube’, fronted by Jools Holland and Paula Yates, turned up with their cameras and Madonna took to the Haçienda stage.
Headlining that night was Sweet Sensation frontman Marcel King alongside the Factory All Stars, a supergroup which included members of Durutti Column and A Certain Ratio. When Madonna’s turn arrived, the audience mostly stood there, cross-armed as if waiting to collect their Argos order.
Don’t take my word for it. Let’s make this a multimedia extravaganza: search for ‘Madonna Haçienda’ on YouTube. There she is, curly-haired Madge, miming to a backing track while caught in awkward goth aerobics with her brother Christopher and socialite dancer Erika Belle. Look closely and you will see the bread roll and napkin gifted to them by grateful watchers.
Speak to the celebrities who witnessed her appearance and the stories come thick and fast.
Resident Haçienda DJs Mike Pickering and Greg Wilson talk of Madonna’s moodiness in the dressing room, while Fatboy Slim recalls her being quite polite. A Certain Ratio’s Martin Moscrop says he chided her for trying to move his gear. The most famous tale though is of New Order manager Rob Gretton sticking his head round a dressing room door and offering Madonna the chance to play again later that night for £50. “She looked at him,” recalls Peter Hook in his 2009 book ‘How Not To Run A Club’. “‘Fuck off’, she drawled in her whiny Noo Yawk accent before turning away. That was it for the night.”
Speak to regular audience members and the apocryphal stories fade away. Former Portishead videographer Hazel Grian got into the club thanks to a friend’s doctored press pass. “It was like a big fridge inside, clinical and industrial with high ceilings,” she says. “I used to get Smash Hits and felt like the only New Romantic in Bury. I hadn’t really heard of Madonna, but I have a vague memory of people being a bit sniffy about her, but ‘The Tube’ was a cool programme and we were excited. I had to leave early because my dad was picking me up.”
“We didn’t know Madonna and we didn’t know ‘The Tube’ was there,” says Southport furniture salesman Steve Molloy, who’s easily spotted on the YouTube clip. “All of a sudden someone started dancing on stage. There was no pomp and ceremony. It was too poppy for traditional Haçienda music and that’s maybe why no one was dancing.”
Madonna’s brother Christopher Ciccone, unimpressed with the reaction, says they took the money and ran. Although Hooky, who had been collared for speeding on the way to the gig, says Madonna later got stuck in the porch of Mike Pickering’s place in Chorlton.
“They [Madonna and boyfriend/manager Mark Kamins] turned up, both completely drunk,” he recalls. “They successfully unlocked the [porch] door, stepped into the gap, and then the doors slammed behind them with the key still in the lock. At which point they were stuck. Mike woke up the next morning to hear that his missus had opened the door, causing Mark and Madonna to tumble into the house.”
Years later, the late Factory supremo Tony Wilson reminded Madonna that it was his club that broke her UK performing virginity. Indeed, it was her first appearance outside New York. Even Madonna was underwhelmed with such a mundane moment that, thanks to the Mancunian rumour mill, became the stuff of legend”.
Whether people see it as a weird combination or whether it was any good, there do seem to be contrasting views on how it went and what the audience reaction was. Even if it was not an ideal setting for Madonna’s first U.K. appearance - a somewhat scary step outside of Madonna’s comfort zone -, I think that it should be marked. It was a pivotal moment and one where the U.K. got to know the name of a Pop icon in-the-making. This feature also takes us inside the Manchester club. I find it hard to believe that people who were there in 1984 could forget Madonna. She herself might not rank it highly, yet it was something that The Haçienda had never seen:
“I suppose it depends on what you were there for. Most of the audience will not have been expecting an American lady to get up there and mime to two songs whilst dancing and bopping away with a couple of scantily-clad muscle heads. I highly doubt any of them in attendance thought that they were witnessing a future superstar – and I don’t think they were really that bothered.
Madonna didn’t seem too bothered either because she got her coat on and pissed off almost immediately – I’m surprised she wasn’t halfway out of the door before the track began to fade away.
I’m presuming she went straight back to the airport and to New York, but I’d like to think of her heading off to the Spar on Oxford Road for a couple of tins of Stella and a mucky kebab from Monsoons next door.
The show finished with a rather stilted interview with Morrissey and that was it – Madonna’s first ever performance on British TV and her first ever gig outside of New York”.
On 27th January, 1984, this little-known artist Madonna was making a quick stop in the U.K. Rather than it being a minor footnote, I think that it is historic and vital for many reasons. Perhaps not everyone was engaged and knew what they were seeing, though this was important and relevant live experience for her. Not used to playing clubs in the U.K., she has since played in a few. She did get to promote Holiday and her debut album (1983’s Madonna), and it was a moment where Madonna’s name was better known. I would have been entranced and in awe being there. I know that many people have fond memories. Even so, in January 1984, Madonna was turning into this superstar. You could see her name being discussed alongside the best in music. Her love for the U.K. did find its feet soon enough. It was hard to market Madonna or know which venues would be best. As an artist mixing Dance and Disco, perhaps she was more suited to New York clubs rather than something distinctly British. I hope that people do mention The Haçienda and Madonna passing through its doors. On 27th January, 1984, forty years ago, this unique experience was being witnessed by a crowd in the North of England. Magical for many reasons, it would not be long until Madonna continued on and would conquer the music world. Before too long, her incredible career…
WOULD change forever.