Happy 35th Anniversary to Madonna’s second studio album Like A Virgin, originally released November 12, 1984.
Just a young buck of seven years when Like A Virgin was released, my pop music palate was admittedly rather shallow at the time. Growing at full-speed, mind you, but certainly not as extensive as it would become in the years to follow. But despite my musical naiveté, upon hearing the title track and lead single for the first time, my ears instantly registered that this was pop of a totally different and thrilling breed.
Sure, at its core, it was pop music unabashedly designed to make bodies move and dominate radio playlists. Nothing overly cerebral was on offer here – this was Provocative Pop with a capital “P.” An arousing collection of songs that challenged the listener to contemplate not just Madonna’s overt sexuality on full and glorious display, but also his or her own feelings about sexual freedom, repression and the thin line that often separates the two.
So yeah, it’s safe to say that Madonna was my first bona fide pop star crush, and this album—coupled with the ubiquitous images of the then 26 year-old Ms. Ciccone that pervaded MTV and virtually all other media in the year following its release—sealed the deal for me. Granted, at seven years old, I didn’t really understand the point of it all, the more subtle innuendos and subtext in the lyrics were largely lost on me. What I did appreciate was that Madonna commanded a stage and screen unlike any performer that came before her, and most importantly, her songs were catchy as all hell.
It’s this latter point that still resonates for me, thirty-five years on from Like A Virgin’s inception. For such a blockbuster mainstream record—one that has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide—Like A Virgin has aged so well, as it still sounds as fresh and exciting now as it did then. Hold this up against any contemporary pop artist’s albums (think Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, et al.), and Like A Virgin still makes for a more deeply addictive and rewarding listen.
And while Madonna’s dynamic persona and ascendant musical identity were unquestionably the driving forces behind the album’s appeal, the overlooked secret weapon behind the songs’ allure was the legendary mega-producer Nile Rodgers. The Chic co-founder’s uncanny knack for crafting danceable pop songs with irresistible hooks and unforgettable melodies ensured that the album commanded and sustained the rapt attention of its listeners.
Watch the Official Videos:
While fans and critics alike typically point to her subsequent albums—Like A Prayer (1989), Bedtime Stories (1994) and Ray Of Light (1998) come immediately to mind—as her greatest achievements on wax, for me, Like A Virgin absolutely deserves inclusion within the discussion of this top tier of her prolific repertoire to date.
10 Fast Facts About Like A Virgin:
(1) The first time that Madonna performed the controversial title track was at the first-ever MTV Video Music Awards on September 14, 1984, roughly seven weeks before the single’s official release on October 31, 1984. It remains arguably the most infamously memorable performance in the event’s history, for obvious reasons.
(2) The iconic photograph that adorns the album cover was shot by Steven Meisel, the revered fashion photographer who collaborated with Madonna on her provocative Sex coffee table book in 1992, eight years after Like A Virgin’s release.
(3) Signaling her growing stature in the pop music sphere, Madonna enlisted Chic co-founder and producer extraordinaire Nile Rodgers to oversee recording sessions for Like A Virgin. Hot on the heels of his production work for David Bowie’s massively successful 1983 Let’s Dance album, Rodgers invited his Chic bandmates Bernard Edwards (bass) and Tony Thompson (drums) to play on Madonna’s second LP, consistent with his greater emphasis on live instrumentation relative to Madonna’s synth and drum machine indebted debut album Madonna (1983). “When I was talking to Madonna during the making of Like A Virgin and I got Chic to play on her songs, she kept saying: ‘Why don’t we just use a drum machine instead?’ Rodgers recently recalled to Classic Pop magazine. “I replied: ‘Because if you do that, then anybody can sound like you. But if we play it, then only we will sound like that.”
(4) While filming the iconic, Marilyn Monroe inspired music video for “Material Girl,” the album’s second official single, Madonna met the actor Sean Penn, whom she married seven months later on her 27th birthday (August 16, 1985). Their four-year marriage concluded with the couple’s divorce in 1989.
(5) Like A Virgin was Madonna’s first album to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 chart. Since she achieved the initial milestone, eight of her albums have also reached the top spot, with her most recent album Madame X (2019) debuting at #1 earlier this year.
(6) Though closely associated with Like A Virgin, the hit single “Into The Groove” was not included in the original track sequencing for the album. It was subsequently added to the album’s European-only 1985 reissue and appeared in the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, though it was curiously absent from the soundtrack. “The dance floor was quite a magical place for me,” Madonna once reflected in revisiting the song’s impetus. “I started off wanting to be a dancer, so that had a lot to do with the song. The freedom that I always feel when I'm dancing, that feeling of inhabiting your body, letting yourself go, expressing yourself through music. I always thought of it as a magical place—even if you're not taking ecstasy.”
(7) Although Like A Virgin proved to be a smash success commercially, the critical reception that welcomed her sophomore long player was lukewarm at best, with more than a few critics unwilling to embrace her growing credibility as a pop artist and vocalist. This scrutiny would begin to dissipate, however, with the release of 1986’s True Blue and particularly 1989’s Like A Prayer, which earned well-deserved critical plaudits across the globe.
(8) On April 10, 1985 at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre, Madonna launched The Virgin Tour, her first national tour, which spanned 40 dates in all, concluding in June 1985 with a five-date run split between New York City’s historic venues Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden. Though their debut album Licensed To Ill (1986) wouldn’t arrive for another year-and-a-half, the Beastie Boys were selected as the tour’s opening act. However the upstart hip-hop trio were neither the first nor the second choice to share the billing with Madonna—The Fat Boys and Run-DMC were the preferred picks, but the groups were not available and too expensive, respectively. “I don't know why she thought it would be a good idea,” Adam “Ad-Rock” Horowitz said of Madonna and her management’s decision to invite the group on the tour during a 1998 SPIN interview. “It was a terrible idea. But it was great for her in a way because we were so awful that by the time she came onstage, the audience had to be happy."
(9) Like A Virgin remains Madonna’s highest selling studio album of her career to date in the United States, having earned the coveted diamond certification reflective of 10 million units sold. The rest of her top five selling studio LPs include 1986’s True Blue (7 million), her eponymous 1983 debut Madonna (5 million), 1998’s Ray Of Light (4 million) and 1989’s Like A Prayer (4 million). The 1990 hits compilation The Immaculate Collection has also earned diamond certification status.
(10) Albumism readers and writers disagree with respect to where Like A Virgin ranks within Madonna’s studio album discography, with the former ranking it #9 and the latter placing it at #3.
LISTEN: