Madonna released her self-titled first album in 1983 and was eager to get back into the studio to make a follow up.
Unhappy with recording sessions for her debut where she clashed with producer Reggie Lucas, she asked her record company if she could produce the next record herself. They balked at the idea and gave an emphatic no to the suggestion.
Madonna dropped into interviews that record companies were run by “a hierarchy of old men” and lamented that female artists were not given the same respect as their male counterparts. Eventually they said she while she could not be the producer, she could pick anyone she wanted to make the record with.
Madonna opted to go with producer Nile Rodgers, member of 70’s disco band Chic who had produced many hit albums including work for Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, Deborah Harry, and most recently David Bowie. In 1984 Rodgers was one of the most sought-after producers in the business working with INXS and Duran Duran around the same time.
Madonna brought six songs to the project, five co-written with her ex-boyfriend Stephen Bray. The singer famously told to Rodgers that if he didn’t love the songs, they wouldn’t be able to work together. He responded that he didn’t love them, but he would by the time he’d finished with them.
The record company and Rodgers sourced several songs from song writing teams. Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg deliver the album’s title track Like a Virgin, which would also be the album’s lead single. The song writing duo would go on to write the Cyndi Lauper hits True Colors and I Drove All Night, Eternal Flame with the Bangles, Alone which was made famous by Heart, I Touch Myself for The Divinyls, and I Stand By You for The Pretenders.
RnB singer Peter Brown and songwriting partner Robert Rans supplied Material Girl, and Andrea LaRusso and Peggy Stanziale delivered Dress You Up. Warner Bros A&R Executive Michael Austin also suggested a cover of the Rose Royce song Love Don’t Live Here Anymore. Madonna and Rodgers weren’t keen on the idea by admitted the album needed a ballad.
Audiences got to hear the title song for the first time in September 1984 when Madonna performed the song at the inaugural MTV movie awards. Her iconic performance saw her donning a wedding dress and a ‘Boy Toy’ belt buckle. She emerged from giant wedding cake and writhed around the floor, causing a sensation.
When the song was released, it was a massive hit, and the video filmed on the canals of Venice was lapped up by the MTV audience.
The album went on to produce more hit singles with Material Girl, Dress You Up and Angel. The following year Madonna made her big screen debut in the film Desperately Seeking Susan and scored another hit with Into the Groove. This additional track was added to later copies of the Like a Virgin album.
Soon Madonna was setting out on her first tour, dubbed The Virgin Tour, footage from the show was used for the video for Dress You Up, and the singer was so busy her song Angel never got a video treatment.
Fans began to dress like the singer, and the era of Madonna ‘wannabes’ arrived. Singles from the singer’s debut album also began to re-enter the charts and were re-released in many territories where they had failed to chart just a year earlier.
A decade later when Madonna released her ballad collection Something to Remember she put Love Don’t Live Here Anymore out as a single and filmed a video for the song.
The album gave Madonna her first US Billboard 200 number 1, and it went to number two on the Australian charts. Today the album has sold over 21 million copies.
Happy Birthday to Like a Virgin.
