12 November 1984, New York: 26-year-old Madonna releases the single “Like a Virgin” from her self-titled second album on Sire Records. Producer - Nile Rodgers. Written by Billy Steinberg. Four weeks later - #1 Billboard Hot 100 (6 consecutive weeks), Madonna's longest #1 run of her career. The album Like a Virgin sold 21 million copies worldwide and became the best-selling album by a female artist at that point in history. The video, shot in Venice with a gondola and a real lion - one of the most discussed pop videos of the 80s. 10 December 1984 Madonna performed the track at the first MTV VMA ceremony in a white wedding dress, rolling on the stage - a performance that became a symbol of how a female artist can own her body and sexuality on a big stage.
Madonna before “Like a Virgin”
Madonna Louise Ciccone was born on 16 August 1958 in Bay City (Michigan). She moved to New York in 1978, going from dancer at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to backing vocalist in disco groups (Breakfast Club, 1979, Emmy, 1980). Signed to Sire Records in October 1982 through producer Mark Kamins.
The first album Madonna (July 1983) - 5M copies, 4 top-20 hits: “Holiday” (#16 Billboard), “Lucky Star” (#4), “Borderline” (#10). A good start, but not a breakthrough. Sire wanted a major single. Producer Reggie Lucas, who had done the first album, worked in 70s soul-diva mode - not fit for the new pop era.
Madonna personally suggested Nile Rodgers as second-album producer to Sire. They met in January 1984 at the Power Station. Rodgers agreed for a US$250,000 fee plus 3% royalties.
Who wrote “Like a Virgin”
The track was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly in April 1983 in Los Angeles. Steinberg (born 1950) and Kelly (born 1954) were little-known songwriters on the Warner/Chappell staff. They sent the demo to more than 20 artists; all declined: Tina Turner, Paula Abdul, Sting, Bill Medley. The reason for rejections - the lyric was considered “too risky” for major careers.
In November 1983 Steinberg sent the demo to Michael Ostin, Warner Bros. A&R director. Ostin played the cassette to Madonna - she said yes in 20 minutes. Madonna later recalled that in the lyric she heard not “direct sexuality” but “a story about a woman who, after a series of bad relationships, finds real love and feels renewed - like a virgin”.
“Twenty artists turned me down. Then I got a call: "Madonna wants this track." I said: "Which Madonna?" I didn't know her. Six months later she was the biggest pop star on the planet. Luck is a strange thing”, - Billy Steinberg in American Songwriter, 2014.
Tracking at Power Station - summer 1984
Sessions ran May-July 1984 at The Power Station in New York. Producer - Nile Rodgers, engineer - Jason Corsaro. Album budget - US$250,000. “Like a Virgin” was tracked in 4 days in June 1984.
- Nile Rodgers - rhythm guitar Fender Stratocaster (white, 1960 build), signature chucking
- Bernard Edwards - bass Music Man StingRay (Rodgers's partner, the legendary Chic bassist)
- Tony Thompson - drums Ludwig (ex-Chic)
- Rob Sabino - Yamaha CP-80 piano
- Curtis King - saxophone
- LinnDrum LM-2 - additional drum layer
- Synclavier II - chorus string lifts
- Neve V Series 48-channel console
Nile Rodgers used the Chic formula: rhythm guitar as the main instrument, live bass, string lifts. For Madonna this was new - her first album had been built on electronics.
Madonna tracked vocals over 2 days, 14 takes. Rodgers specifically asked her to sing “quiet, almost whispering” in the verses and “maximum volume” in the chorus. That was a move away from the soul-diva approach of her first album and into 1984 pop standards.
The Venice video
The video was directed by Mary Lambert in September 1984 in Venice. Budget - US$180,000. Shooting over 5 days. Concept: Madonna in a white wedding dress on Venetian gondolas, in medieval palaces, with an occasionally appearing lion (a real one, loaned from an Italian zoo).
The lion was on set for just one day - it was rented for US$15,000. By safety standards Madonna shot with it through reinforced glass, but the final edit hides that. Lambert used the illusion as a metaphor of “domesticated sexuality” - woman and lion together, but glass between them.
MTV put the video in heavy rotation in November 1984. It picked up 5 nominations at the first MTV VMA 1984, and won Best Concept Video.
MTV VMA 1984 - the career-defining moment
10 December 1984 - the first MTV Video Music Awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Madonna opened the show. She came on in a 3-metre white wedding dress, began singing “Like a Virgin” from atop a 5-metre wedding-cake pyramid. At the first chorus she descended from the pyramid, the dress started tearing, she lay on the stage and rolled, ending up horizontal with her legs up - a moment of deliberate eroticism on live broadcast.
The reaction was polarised. Conservative American groups called for an MTV boycott. Liberal press wrote about “the pivot of feminist expression in pop culture”. Single sales jumped 300% in the week after the performance.
“Nobody told me I couldn't roll around on stage in a wedding dress. I thought: if they want to, they can stop me. Nobody stopped me. It was the best concert moment of my young career”, - Madonna in Interview Magazine, 1985.
Numbers
- US: #1 Billboard Hot 100, 6 weeks (December 1984 - January 1985); 2× platinum
- UK: #3 UK Singles Chart; gold
- Canada: #1 RPM, 5 weeks
- Australia: #1, 7 weeks
- Germany, France, Italy, Ireland: top 3
- Album Like a Virgin: 21M copies worldwide, 10× platinum US; 3× platinum UK
- Billboard Year-End 1985: #4 single of the year
Spotify 2024 - over 1.4 billion streams. YouTube video - 520 million views.
What “Like a Virgin” did for Madonna and the pop industry
For Madonna - it turned “successful pop singer” into “world star, first tier”. Within six months of release the album hit 10M sold - triple her debut. By end of 1985 Madonna was on the covers of Time and Rolling Stone simultaneously.
For the pop industry - “Like a Virgin” set a commercial template for female pop built on: (1) smart visual provocation, (2) sexual agency, (3) cross-genre production with a top producer, (4) ironic readings of traditional roles. That template was copied by Whitney Houston, Paula Abdul, Cyndi Lauper, later Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga.
Related: Nile Rodgers and Chic, “Physical” Olivia Newton-John (1981), “Billie Jean” Michael Jackson (1983). “Like a Virgin” is the moment when Nile Rodgers's Chic-style rhythm guitar finally crossed from disco into mainstream pop. Madonna was his last major commercial experiment before going solo - and the peak that neither of them could match together again.