Madonna's 80s Collection
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| Photo of Madonna's Album Covers by Author |
Songs such as Holiday and Lucky Star from her first album the self-titled Madonna catapulted her to stardom. With her resulting chart topping success throughout the rest of the eighties Madonna became a superstar and the rest as they say is history.
Not only was Madonna singing and dancing her way to stardom, she was also acting in movies such as Desperately Seeking Susan and Shanghai Surprise, as the 80s drew to a close she was working on the movie Dick Tracy with Warren Beatty.
Madonna's album Madonna
Madonna's first album was the self titled Madonna. It featured the singles Holiday, Borderline and Lucky Star.Madonna
This album was pure pop and was exactly what was needed in the early 80s. Madonna jumped into the limelight with all of her energy. She had bleach blonde hair and wore dozens of bangles.
These songs will still get people onto the dance floor 25 years later. The unpolished performance of Madonna in 1983 compared to now is quite interesting.
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| Madonna Album Cover & Inner Sleeve by author |
This album is a must for any Madonna fan or even an 80s music lover as it documents the birth of -
The Queen of Pop
Madonna's album Like A Virgin - Madonna's second album
Madonna's second album gave us the singles Like A Virgin, Material Girl, Angel, Dress You Up & Into The Groove.Like a Virgin
The title track Like A Virgin caused widespread controversy which 'little catholic girl' Madonna lapped up. The album continued on with the pop sound of her first album with Dress You Up and Into The Groove becoming 80s dance club staples.
Material Girl was a tongue in cheek look at the 'buy it now' generation. She tried to morph into Marilyn Monroe's character from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, this was really our first taste of how Madonna could reinvent herself.
Madonna really embraced the MTV culture and worked on giving a good show as well as singing her best. She was always working on her dancing as she realised how important the complete package was.
She also realised the importance of video, in fact in Material Girl the video runs longer than the song telling a story.
Her single Into The Groove as well as being a big hit in dance clubs was also the 3rd best selling single of 1985 in the UK.
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| Madonna's Like a Virgin LP Cover & Inner Sleeve by author |
Madonna Branches Out
1985 was a year for consolidating on her pop music success. Not only did Madonna start her first US tour - The Virgin Tour - she also did some mainstream acting.The Virgin Tour was really big and was the reason she was unable to be a part of the Feed The World single. She did perform at the Live Aid concert however.
The beginning of the year saw Madonna make a brief appearance in the movie Vision Quest. Later in the year she would co-star in Desperately Seeking Susan with Rosanna Arquette.
Vision Quest
Matthew Modine stars in this coming of age movie as a high school wrestler. He doesn't have much support from his father and sets about trying to achieve his goal on his own -enter Linda Fiorentino.
His father rents out the spare room to a drifter, played by Linda Fiorentino, promptly our hero falls for this older woman. She helps him to focus on his goal - does he make it? Well that would be telling.
Madonna's performance is as a lead singer in a local band - not a big stretch for her. She performs her hit song Crazy for You. The movie is credited with helping her song Crazy for You become her second US number one hit.
Desperately Seeking Susan
This likeable comedy is about a case of mistaken identity. I believe this has been Madonna's best movie role and Rosanna Arquette is also great in what is a cult 80s film.
Rosanna's character is that of a bored suburban housewife while Madonna plays a free spirited NY drifter.
Madonna's Album True Blue - Madonna's third album
Madonna's third album featured the singles Live to Tell, Papa Don't Preach, True Blue, Open Your Heart and La Isla Bonita.True Blue
True Blue shows Madonna's growing confidence and maturity. It also has my favorite Madonna track - Papa Don't Preach, although controversal at the time I think it is a great song. I'm not the only person who appreciated this song as it was the ninth best selling single of 1986 in the UK.
With the ballad Live to Tell, Madonna was able to silence her critics as it really showed off her singing ability.
La Isla Bonita hints to us that Madonna hasn't finished her ability to become a musical chameleon which in hind sight we have come to realise that she never will!
Madonna released her album True Blue in 1986, the same year as she starred with her then husband Sean Penn in the movie Shanghai Surprise.
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| True Blue LP Cover & Inner Sleeve by author |
Madonna also made her first appearance as a stage actress alongside Sean Penn in Goose and Tom-Tom.
The following year in 1987 Madonna starred in another movie called Who's That Girl. She contributed four songs to the movie's soundtrack and embarked on another tour. This tour was called Who's That Girl?
Madonna also released an album of her past hits in 1987 called You Can Dance.
1987 also saw the town of Pacentro start to construct a statue of Madonna in a bustier. Madonna's Ciccone grandparents emigrated to America from Pacentro.
Pope John Paul II urged Catholics to stay away from Madonna's Who's That Girl tour as she began her Italian leg of the tour.
Shanghai Surprise (Special Edition)
This movie stars husband and wife duo Sean Penn and Madonna. It is set in 1930s China and has been described as anything from mediocre to a disaster.
The film was such a total flop that plans to release the soundtrack (by the talented George Harrison) were scrapped.
Considering that Sean Penn and Madonna were married and supposedly in love there is no chemistry between them at all.
Who's That Girl? (1987)
This screwball comedy was panned by critics, although Madonna received some really good comments for critics for her performance. Including "Madonna is sexy and funny - a very engaging comedian.
It may not be an award winning movie but if you like films such as Superbad then you should 'go retro' and watch Who's That Girl. It has some hilarious moments along with a great soundtrack.
Madonna's Like a Prayer Album - Madonna's fourth album
Madonna's fourth album features the singles: Like a Prayer, Express Yourself, Cherish, Oh Father, Dear Jessie & Keep it Together.Like a Prayer
This album was the first one that Madonna seemed to recieve BOTH critical and commercial success with. It shows a lot of maturity in her singing as well as her versatility. Rolling Stone magazine actually said the album was as close to art as pop music gets.
According to Time magazine in 2006 the Like A Prayer album made the list as one of the greatest 100 albums of all time
n 1988, the year before releasing Like a Prayer, Madonna appeared as Karen in the stage performance of Speed the Plow.
In 1989 the film Bloodhounds of Broadway was released. Starring Madonna & Josef Sommer this film is set during the roaring 20s with gangsters and go-go girls. It is worth watching if only to see a young Steve Buscemi and Randy Quaid.
Leaving the 80s Madonna was co-starring next to Hollywood heavyweight Warren Beatty in Dick Tracy. Dick Tracy would be released in 1990.
Madonna also tried out for a role on the hit television series Fame. Although Madonna was unsuccessful in getting a role she did write a couple of songs for the series.
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