tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620417008960069715.post7359445844832236736..comments2024-01-20T10:19:12.985-05:00Comments on Martin's View: Madonna - MadonnaMartin Maenzahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08640466353011569116noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620417008960069715.post-77985389447917969532013-07-29T13:57:24.983-04:002013-07-29T13:57:24.983-04:00Rolling Stone chimed in with a story on the debut ...Rolling Stone chimed in with a story on the debut album's anniversary as well. It's an oral history with interviews of key players.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/how-madonna-became-madonna-an-oral-history-20130729" rel="nofollow">Madonna's Debut Album at Thirty</a>HERChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00361888365133381438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620417008960069715.post-18840982478723590172013-07-28T10:56:07.232-04:002013-07-28T10:56:07.232-04:00All credit goes to you, sir, and your "memory...All credit goes to you, sir, and your "memory tickler" posts. It's all in my head somewhere, though keeping a journal during my teens looks like a wiser move every day.<br /><br />HERChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00361888365133381438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620417008960069715.post-41798577433669790572013-07-28T08:51:53.197-04:002013-07-28T08:51:53.197-04:00Herc, as always, thank you for your amazingly deta...Herc, as always, thank you for your amazingly detailed stories when it comes to these great records. They are always welcome and appreciated.Martin Maenzahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08640466353011569116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620417008960069715.post-8215885243943091612013-07-27T23:44:40.750-04:002013-07-27T23:44:40.750-04:00Part Two
Recorded the three songs onto a cassette...Part Two<br /><br />Recorded the three songs onto a cassette (left the dub version off) and left it in my girlfriend's car. Next day I saw her she was all excited about the songs on the tape, said she kept rewinding it and playing them over and over and her sister loved it too. Said she wanted to hear the rest of the album and I told her that was all there was so far but she didn't believe me. She came by to see me at work later that night and said she found out album was coming out in "the Summer". Sure enough, when the first week of August rolled around she had Madonna's self-titled album on cassete in her Firebird. That tape and one of Def Leppard's <b>Pyromaina</b> were her soundtrack for the Summer. I made her a few mixtapes to listen to but whenever we took her car, invaribly she only had Madonna and Def Leppard to listen to. My favorite songs on the album were "Holiday" (which turned out to be first Madonna song we heard on radio) and the first two tracks on the album: "Lucky Star" and "Borderline".<br /><br />That's my Madonna story.<br /><br />A look back at the album is also featured in <i>Entertainment Weekly</i> this week. There is a sidebar to the article that features other great albums from 1983. While the Madonna piece isn't online yet, <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20720167,00.html#21368152" rel="nofollow">the albums of 1983 is</a> and has been expanded to a list of 30.HERChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00361888365133381438noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-620417008960069715.post-54196171531527909092013-07-27T23:23:00.318-04:002013-07-27T23:23:00.318-04:00Been waiting for this one...
Get comfortable, it&...Been waiting for this one...<br /><br />Get comfortable, it's a long one...<br /><br />PART ONE<br /><br />I was on pretty good terms with Frank, the night clerk at hollywood records (lower case intentional) here on 22nd Street and Prudence. Used to ride my bike over and talk to him about music for hours, even help him close up the store sometimes. When I got old enough to drive, it was first place I applied for a job. Only ever saw four different people manning the stool behind the counter in front of the wall of cassettes, usually smoking something.<br /><br />One night in the Fall of 1982 shortly after I started Junior year, I'm in there talking to Frank, no one else in the store and he's processing the day's incoming package shipment, a four foot tall stack of record and tape boxes. He opens one of the thinner boxes, like Columbia House records used to come in, and pulled out three records. He said something like "fresh meat" or "new grooves" and walked over to the store's turntable underneath the cash register and replaced the Rush album that was playing (there was always a Rush album playing during Frank's shifts) with one of the new records.<br /><br />The first sounds were weird, kind of whooshing almost like they were slowed down. Frank said something under his breath and then I watched him hurry back over and duck down by the record player and lifted needle off record. Heard him say "Oops!" and then heard needle drop again.<br /><br />Sounded better this time around - apparently speed was off and he was playing at 33⅓ rpm instead of 45 rpm. That was first time I heard Madonna. The song was "Everybody": the music was catchy but the lyrics were almost non-existant and still it stuck in my head for weeks. We spent some time looking at the record sleeve the 12" single came in for clues as to Madonna was but found nothing. When record ended, he flipped it over and played the other side which turned out to be a weird sounding and very long (9-10 minutes maybe) dub version, probably one of the first I had ever heard up to that point. It would be almost a year before I heard it on the radio.<br /><br />Around my birthday in 1983, I asked Frank whatever happened to that record and why hadn't an album been released. He said something about "disco dollies" and handed me a record box with a skull and crossbones drawn on it that had been taped shut - I opened it and pulled out the "Everybody" and another record: the only words I could make out on cover were "Burning Up Physical Attraction". I handed him the box back and he refused it, saying it was for me. I asked him to play the second record but again he refused saying he was "deep into" this new Rush bootleg he was playing. I thanked him and drove home. Fell asleep before I got around to playing record but I played it the next morning. It was a new Madonna single with a different song on each side: a <i>fast side</i> with "Burning Up" and a <i>slow side</i> with "Physical Attraction" with each song running about six minutes long. More groove rich dance music with simple lyrical, shout it out hooks.HERChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00361888365133381438noreply@blogger.com