{"id":26861,"date":"2024-11-12T18:17:16","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T17:17:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.madonnatribe.com\/en\/?p=26861"},"modified":"2024-11-16T13:49:10","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T12:49:10","slug":"40-years-like-a-virgin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.madonnatribe.com\/en\/2024\/40-years-like-a-virgin\/","title":{"rendered":"40 Years Like a Virgin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The “Like a Virgin\/Billie Jean” interlude performed at The Celebration Tour show in Milan on November 23, 2023<\/p><\/div>\n

When you think about\u00a0Madonna<\/strong> and her major hits, one of the first songs coming to mind is Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>.
\nAnd in time of Celebration this year marks the 40th anniversary<\/strong> of these incredible song and album.<\/p>\n

The single was released by Sire Records on October 31, 1984 while the album, Madonna’s second, hit the stores on this day 40 years ago: November 12, 1984. Like a Virgin<\/strong><\/em> debuted at No. 70 in the the Billboard 200 and reached the top on February 9, 1985, spending three weeks at No. 1. In July, it became the first album by a female artist to be certified for sales of five million units in the United States. In 35 years, Like a Virgin<\/strong><\/em> has sold some 22 million copies worldwide.<\/p>\n

MadonnaTribe first had the chance to celebrate a major \u201cVirgin\u201d anniversary twenty years ago. Today we reprise the original story that we wrote in November 2004 and updated in 2014 and 2019, adding the latest tidbits to make it feel shiny and new<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"30<\/p>\n

THE SONG<\/h4>\n

Written by\u00a0Billy Steinberg<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Tom Kelly<\/strong>, who co-wrote many memorable hits such as Cyndi Lauper\u2019s True Colors<\/strong><\/em> and I Drove All Night<\/strong><\/em>, Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0was a song that had a major impact on rock and pop history, presenting to the world the one and only\u00a0Madonna<\/strong>, and it\u2019s a song that survived through the years \u2013 also thanks to her many different live interpretations.<\/p>\n

After many homages, including the Broadway rendition that the acclaimed australian filmaker,\u00a0Baz Lurman<\/strong>\u00a0put in his masterpiece\u00a0Moulin Rouge<\/strong>, Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0has finaly reached the \u201cclassic<\/strong>\u201d status, that was denied for a long time by snob music critics.<\/p>\n

But how did the song come to life?\u00a0Billy Steinberg<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Tom Kelly<\/strong> recalled how Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0was originally conceived and written, and how the song reached\u00a0Madonna<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview back in 2006, Billy Steinberg told\u00a0MadonnaTribe.com<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

In 1983, when I wrote the lyrics for Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>, I was very happy because I had extricated myself from a very difficult relationship and was enjoying a new one. I felt like a virgin.
\nI wrote the first verse lyric first, starting with \u201cI made it through the wilderness.\u201d I didn\u2019t start with the title. But after I wrote the line, \u201cyou made me feel shiny and new\u201c, the title \u201cLike A Virgin\u201d popped into my head. Right away, I knew it could make a startling song and I was excited about working on it with Tom.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tom Kelly also recalled how the song came to life in an interview reprised by\u00a0SongwriterUniverse<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

I especially related to the lyric at the time, since I was going through a tough divorce. Initially, I tried to compose a ballad or midtempo song to accompany the lyric, but it wasn\u2019t working. Out of frustration, I started to clown around, performing the song in an uptempo,\u00a0Smokey Robinson-style<\/strong>, with falsetto vocals. Lo and behold, it worked.
\nI had just purchased a Roland Jupiter 8 keyboard and we used the Jupiter 8 to create the main keyboard and bass tracks. For the drum track, we used an old Linn drum computer. We demoed the song quickly, and kept it simple. I sang the falsetto in a Smokey-style voice, then we added some background vocal parts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Billy<\/p>\n

Even if Steinberg and Kelly were very pleased with their new creation, the song was turned down by many record labels and artists. Steinberg recalls:<\/p>\n

Sometimes a song will only \u201cfit\u201d one artist. Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em> is one. When we submitted it for other artists, we were told that \u201cno one will sing a song with that title.\u201d
\nOne A&R guy suggested I re-write the lyric.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

More than a year later Steinberg and Kelly played the song to\u00a0Michael Ostin<\/strong>, then Senior Vice President at\u00a0Warner Bros. Records<\/strong>. Kelly explained:<\/p>\n

We were nervous about playing \u2018Virgin\u2019 for Ostin, but at the end of the meeting we finally played it. When he heard it, he flipped over the song. He said it would be great for his artist Madonna to record.\u00a0Madonna\u00a0<\/strong>at that time wasn\u2019t a major artist yet, it was before Borderline<\/strong><\/em> and Lucky Star<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0became hits, but it was clear that she would be a perfect artist to sing this song.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Madonna immediately loved the song and insisted that it would also be the perfect title for her second album and a perfect song for the first single from that album. The album producer and supervisor,\u00a0Nile Rodgers<\/strong>, recalls that he wanted the album concept to turn around the song\u00a0Material Girl<\/strong><\/em>, but Madonna told him:<\/p>\n

Here something you don\u2019t understand, that to a girl or a woman, losing your virginity is a big thing. Here\u2019s the case where the message is bigger and better than the groove.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rodgers said he hardly followed Madonna\u2019s instinct:<\/p>\n

Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0was one of those historic rock and roll decisions, where only Madonna believed in that song to the depth that she believed in it.
\nI was going for Material Girl<\/em><\/strong>, I\u2019m a club guy. I don\u2019t come from a world where the lyric is more important than the groove, I don\u2019t get that and she stuck to her guns, she was steadfast and unwavering and every argument I could throw at her, every argument the record company could throw at her\u2026she knew.
\nShe is a great artist and that song transformed her life and mine.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em> became a worldwide hit and a milestone achievement for Steinberg & Kelly, Nile Rodgers and Madonna.<\/p>\n

Billy Steinberg said:<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re songwriters, and you write a song like \u201cVirgin\u201d, then you have to find the right singer to place the song with. We were lucky that Madonna came along, because I don\u2019t think anyone else could have put the song across quite like she did.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nile Rodgers also once described Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em> as the biggest album of his entire career.<\/p>\n

\"Like<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

THE VIDEO<\/h4>\n

The original video of\u00a0Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0was shot in Venice, Italy in 1984, by director\u00a0Mary Lambert<\/strong>, who already directed Madonna\u2019s first \u201creal\u201d video,\u00a0Borderline<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

In the video two different\u00a0Madonna personas<\/strong>\u00a0are presented, as it happens in every Madonna video by Lambert (Borderline, Like A Virgin, Material Girl, La Isla Bonita).<\/p>\n

Usually in Lambert\u2019s videos, one of the character is the\u00a0real Madonna<\/strong>, and the other represents a perception that people have of her.<\/p>\n

Madonna explained that the video was shot in Italy because: \u201cWe felt Venice symbolized so many things, like virginity. And I\u2019m Madonna, and I\u2019m Italian\u201d.<\/p>\n

Another main character of the clip is\u00a0the lion<\/strong>, that probably was put there as it\u2019s the symbol of the romantic city.
\nMadonna recalled:<\/p>\n

The lion didn\u2019t do anything he was supposed to do, and I ended up leaning against a pillar with his head in my crotch.<\/p>\n

I thought he was going to take a bite out of me, so I lifted the veil I was wearing and I had a stare down with the lion, and he opened his mouth letting out a huge roar. I got so frightened my heart fell in my shoe.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Like<\/h2>\n

<\/h4>\n

ON THE CHARTS<\/h4>\n

Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em> – the single – debuted at #48 on on the Billboard Hot 100<\/strong>\u00a0(issue dated November 17, 1984) and reached #1 the week of December 22, 1984 \u2013 reigning supreme for\u00a0six weeks<\/strong>.
\nThe song was certified\u00a0Gold<\/strong>\u00a0by the Recording Industry Association of America on January 10, 1985, at a time when the requirement for a Gold single was a million copies shipment across the USA.
\nNo need to say \u2013 it also topped the\u00a0Hot Dance Music\/Club Play<\/strong>\u00a0chart.<\/p>\n

In 2000, Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0made the fourth spot on the 100 Greatest Pop Songs<\/strong>\u00a0list compiled by\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/strong>\u00a0magazine.
\nThree years later, the song appeared on VH1\u2019s\u00a0100 Greatest Songs of the Past 25 Years<\/strong>\u00a0at #10, and in Q Magazine\u2019s chart of the\u00a0Top 20 Madonna Singles of All-time<\/strong>\u00a0at #5.<\/p>\n

\"Like<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em> was also featured in US magazine Blender\u2019s March 2004 list of The 25 Sexiest Music Moments in TV History<\/strong>.
\nIn their very special chart Madonna performing at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards gets the second spot.<\/p>\n

Here is why\u00a0Blender<\/strong>\u00a0described Madonna\u2019s appearance as hot:<\/p>\n

La Ciccone\u2019s wedding dress-clad performance of \u201cLike A Virgin\u201d was so ahead-of-the-curve provocative that 19 years later,\u00a0Britney<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Christina<\/strong>\u00a0revived it at the\u00a0VMA<\/strong>s prior to getting kissy-kissy with the Material Girl herself. But Madonna\u2019s performance at MTV\u2019s inaugural awards bash remains definitively raunchy, as she prowled the stage and grabbed her crotch in a manner summed up by Melissa Etheridge as \u201cthe most brave, blatant sexual thing I\u2019ve ever seen on television.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Like<\/p>\n

<\/h4>\n

THE LIVE PERFORMANCES<\/h4>\n

There\u2019s probably no other Madonna song that is remembered for its live renditions more than Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>. And that makes definitely sense, thinking about how the song had its first big exposure at the inaugural MTV Awards in 1984.
\nBilly Steinberg remembers that special moments:<\/p>\n

Tom and I were shocked by Madonna\u2019s performance of \u201cLike A Virgin\u201d at the MTV Awards in 1984. It didn\u2019t seem at all rehearsed.
\nThe camera awkwardly followed her as she rolled around the stage, exposing her voluptuous, but slightly-pudgy body.
\nI guess we worried that it would doom the song. But Madonna and \u201cLike A Virgin\u201d were unstoppable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In her tours Madonna has always succeded in giving the song new life and always make it feel \u201cLike A Virgin\u201d.<\/p>\n

In her 1985\u00a0Virgin Tour<\/strong> she put few lines of Michael Jackson\u2019s Billie Jean<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0in it, while in her 1987\u00a0Who\u2019s That Girl Tour<\/strong>\u00a0rendition she stopped the song for a\u00a0Four Tops<\/strong> homage with I Can\u2019t Help Myself<\/strong><\/em>, the song that inspired the \u201cVirgin\u201d bassline.<\/p>\n

In 1990, Madonna decided to go with the most daring, provocative and sexy performance of the song ever in her\u00a0Blond Ambition\u00a0<\/strong>show. In a golden\u00a0Jean-Paul Gaultier <\/strong>bustier with cony breasts Madonna simulated masturbation on a red bed with her dancers Jose and Luis \u2013 and almost got arrested on stage.<\/p>\n

In 1993, on her\u00a0Girlie Show<\/strong>\u00a0tour, the song was again shiny and new. Madonna dressed as a man sang the song as a homage\/parody of\u00a0Marlene Dietrich<\/strong> and closing it with Dietrich\u2019s song Falling In Love Again<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 2003 Madonna performed Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em> a couple of times during her promo tour for\u00a0American Life<\/strong>. The song, a little \u201cMirwais-rized\u201d, proved yet again to be a fans favourite and marked the season when the Queen of Pop started looking at her back-catalogue in a different way.
\nAnd the same year the song returned to the\u00a0MTV Awards<\/strong>\u00a0stage with a bang.<\/p>\n

\"Like<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The song returned on a Madonna live show on the 2006\u00a0Confessions Tour<\/strong>. This time \u201cLike A Virgin\u201d fit the equestrian theme of the show first segment and was performed on a S&M carousel horse. The song was musically re-arranged to a 70\u2019s disco feel by the tour musical director\u00a0Stuart Price<\/strong>\u00a0and it was a completely fresh and new version incorporating samples and elements from the original version.<\/p>\n

A demo version using original 1985 studio vocals circulated online for a while. This time too, in her typical style, Madonna draws inspiration from her personal life experiences. The theme reminds of the horse accident she had her forty-seventh birthday the previous year (August 2005) when she broke several bones. To complete the setting real x-rays of her broken bones where filmed and put together for the accompanying backdrop video.<\/p>\n

Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em> was briefly performed acapella a few times on the tongue-in-cheek fan request section of her 2008\u2019s Sticky & Sweet Tour<\/strong>\u00a0but was not officialy part of the setlist. On September 6, performing on stage at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, Italy, Madonna made a very special dedication.<\/p>\n

I want to dedicate this song to the Pope. I know he loves me. I am a child of God.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n
\"Like

Madonna dedicates \u201cLike A Virgin\u201d to the Pope during her Sticky & Sweet show in Rome, Italy, on September 6th, 2008.<\/p><\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n

In 2012 Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em> returns re-invented again for the record breaking MDNA Tour<\/strong>. This time she came up with a personal darker version, stripped down by all the classic musical elements of the song. Musically, this 2012 Like A Virgin <\/strong>Waltz<\/strong><\/em>, was a basic piano version, mashed up with \u201cEvgeni\u2019s Waltz\u201d, one of the main score tracks composed by Abel Korzeniowski<\/strong>\u00a0for her own directed movie W.E.<\/p>\n

The lines of Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em> were sung to fit this waltz musical track, so some verses had to be really sung on a different melody. During the last part of her tour, she also broke the song into two parts, adding another song in the middle, Love Spent<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

Despite the early perplexity by the fans, in the end this number was very well received by the audience, who could really experience and intimate, still moment with Madonna on stage as the song was not the only thing to be stripped down. Madonna herself in a sort of burlesque like number, teasing the public, many times showed her ass and once her breast too.<\/p>\n

And once again, she made it through the wilderness.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We had the chance to talk to Billy Steinberg<\/strong> again in 2014<\/a> for the song’s 30th anniversary and asked him about Madonna re-inventing the song in many of her live shows. Does Billy have a favourite Madonna version of Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>?<\/p>\n

I have only seen Madonna in concert once and that was during the Virgin Tour<\/strong> in the mid-1980\u2019s. I know that she has, over the years, experimented with different arrangements and approaches to performing Like A Virgin<\/strong>.<\/em> Her fans want to hear it and she probably re-invents it to keep herself interested.<\/p>\n

I heard her sing it with an acoustic guitar accompaniment. It may have been her playing the guitar. It sounded great.
\nI just hope she includes it in her next live show. I am always disappointed when I hear that she is touring and doesn\u2019t sing Like A Virgin<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Like A Virgin <\/strong><\/em>was also part of Madonna’s Rebel Heart Tour<\/strong>, with a live version based on the fantastic remix created by Dens54<\/strong><\/a>, and was used as the last interlude of the show in The Celebration Tour<\/strong>, mashed up with Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THE RHINO RECORDS REISSUES<\/h4>\n

Madonna made her debut on the list of the limited edition releases of Record Store Day<\/strong> on April 16, 2016. It was her very first time<\/em>, and\u00a0Rhino <\/strong>picked up Like A Virgin & Other Hits<\/strong><\/em>, the EP originally released in Japan in 1984, that was presented as a limited edition 12\u2033 pink colored vinyl, replicating the original artwork and Obi strip along the side of the album.<\/p>\n

Speaking of the album, the 12″ Like a Virgin <\/em><\/strong>LP was re-issued several times in the recent years. It was first presented on clear vinyl<\/strong> in 2017<\/strong>, then on white vinyl<\/strong> in 2018<\/strong>. In 2019<\/strong> it was released on crystal clear vinyl <\/strong>again as part of the re-issue of Madonna\u2019s first three studio albums and of her first soundtrack record and was pressed on 180 grams black vinyl<\/strong> in 2020<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

And if you head to your newsstand and ask “what’s new from Madonna today?” they will tell you, once again: \u00a0Like a Virgin<\/em><\/strong>, as German magazine MusikExpress <\/strong>is celebrating with 40 years of Like A Virgin – the story of a revolution<\/strong><\/em> which comes with an exclusive remastered reissue of the original Like A Virgin\/Stay<\/strong><\/em> vinyl single.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On this 40th anniversary day, 2024 remastered versions of\u00a0 Like a Virgin<\/strong><\/em> and Stay<\/strong><\/em> have been released to digital and streaming platforms by Rhino Records.<\/p>\n

THE TOP TEN LIKE A VIRGIN<\/em> COLLECTABLES<\/h4>\n

If you’re up for older and vintage stuff instead, here’s a look at our Top Ten<\/strong> list of the most lovely Like a Virgin<\/strong><\/em> collectables from the past.<\/p>\n