Guest groovyguy Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Posted May 21st, 2013 By Ray McDonald Last week, I noticed that Huey Lewis and the News were celebrating the 30th anniversary of their album “Sports.” This got me thinking of all the other musical milestones from the year 1983, and once I started investigating, I was impressed. Bon Jovi formed in 1983. So did Megadeth, the Flaming Lips, and Phish. Metallica released its first album in 1983, as did R.E.M., Pulp, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Michael Jackson electrified the world with his moonwalk at the Motown Records 25th Anniversary TV special. Of them all, however, the event with the most enduring cultural impact may have come on July 27, 1983. On that day, Sire Records released Madonna’s self-titled debut album. It opened in 123rd place on the “Billboard” album chart – can you imagine? One year later, Madonna was the hottest new star in the world and the album hit number eight. A hard-charger from Bay City, Michigan, Madonna Ciccone started as a dance club favorite and ended up becoming the template for all subsequent female stars. Outrageous costumes – or lack of them…controversial pronouncements to the press…constant reinvention: Madonna showed us how stardom would look in the video age. It’s all there on display in the clip for her breakout single, “Lucky Star.” Madonna’s been a star for 29 of the past 30 years. You can read all about her here, but what I find especially intriguing is, why her? Was it her insatiable drive to be a star? A need to be loved? Natural charisma? All of them, perhaps, and more. Like many artists of her generation, Madonna has lost ground on the domestic music charts. As of December, her most recent album “MDNA” had barely edged the half-million seller mark here in the United States (although I should note it did reach number one in more than 40 countries). Madonna’s real strength lies in her live presence. Her MDNA Tour brought in more than 305 million dollars, becoming the year’s top grossing tour – and, in the process, making her a billionaire. At age 54, Madonna’s seen it all, done it all, and remains the moving target her competitors still seek to match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greeny Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Great article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ciccone's Cheeks Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Still, and will forever (even at 78) be ONE hit away from a smash HU style Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimera Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 yes , she's fucking amazing, period Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skin Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 . As of December, her most recent album “MDNA” had barely edged the half-million seller mark here in the United States As was the case with most of the albums from 2012 even from the younger "It" artists of the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acko Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 I can't believe WBR isn't capitalizing on this... There needs 2 b a re-release with loadsa editorial fan-fare... This is the most influential female star of all time. OF ALL TIME. MOTHERFUCKERS. & I don't think it would work as well with any of her other albums...MADONNA has that aesthetic hipsters would dig. I could c this chart briefly again in some countries, when handled right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Camacho Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest groovyguy Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mluv Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 She is a living legend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonski43 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Was Lucky Star the 'breakout' single in the US? I thought it was Holiday that was the radio crossover hit? Then Borderline consolidated and even Madonna was getting fed up with its success and didn't want to release Lucky Star but the record company went ahead and pushed back the LAV launch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivy Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 How impatient of her, even back then:) most artists would kill to have 5 singles released from the one album but not our Madonna. The ambition from the get go is astounding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt420 Posted May 25, 2013 Share Posted May 25, 2013 Was Lucky Star the 'breakout' single in the US? I thought it was Holiday that was the radio crossover hit? Then Borderline consolidated and even Madonna was getting fed up with its success and didn't want to release Lucky Star but the record company went ahead and pushed back the LAV launch? I would consider Borderline more of her "breakout" hit in the US. It was her first top 10 and first video to get heavy rotation on MTV. The success of that song breathed new life into the "Madonna" album and I guess Warner wanted to capitalize on that and pushed back LAV release from summer to fall '84 and decided to release Lucky Star. Good move though! Lucky Star was a bigger hit than Borderline and supposedly it was LS that started the whole "wannabe" trend. LAV was an entity all to itself no doubt, but without the first album singles and videos to precede it, who knows if it would've been such a smash right out of the box the way that it was. Of course after that, there was no looking back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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