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Happy 30th birthday Into The Groove!


loomer

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I'm not into the piano break, I don't like how TIC version begins either, the single version is the best version, pure 80s pop!

I'm attached to the Immaculate edit of the song but only because I listened to the cassette so much when I was younger.

The anachronistic CD reissue :crazy::bad: But at least it was paired with CAC.

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Causing a Commotion? Underrated classic.

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Her second #1 in Australia (as a double A-side with "Angel") and the second highest selling single of the year. It was absolutely massive, as was Madonna. It spent four weeks at #1 and then was displaced by "Crazy For You", which also spent four weeks at #1. Madonna became the first artist to replace herself at #1 in Australia since ABBA had done so (twice) almost a decade earlier in late 1975 (I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, followed by Mamma Mia, followed by SOS). No artist managed to achieve this feat again until 2009, when The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" replaced "Boom Boom Pow" at #1.

As for the song itself, it's brilliant! It was my favourite Madonna song until "Like A Prayer" dethroned it :)

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I always love when she goes into "Live out your fantasy here with me...." and her voice goes deeper such an amazing highlight for me to such an amazing song that you can never listen to too many times!!!

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Her second #1 in Australia (as a double A-side with "Angel") and the second highest selling single of the year. It was absolutely massive, as was Madonna. It spent four weeks at #1 and then was displaced by "Crazy For You", which also spent four weeks at #1. Madonna became the first artist to replace herself at #1 in Australia since ABBA had done so (twice) almost a decade earlier in late 1975 (I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, followed by Mamma Mia, followed by SOS). No artist managed to achieve this feat again until 2009, when The Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling" replaced "Boom Boom Pow"

I see. I assumed CFU was the second #1. Neat info. :wow:

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Speaking of charts, at the end of July ITG debuted at #4 on the UK charts (then a record for a female artist, then beaten by Kylie who debuted at #2, then equalled by Madonna again with LAP and finally the first female to debut at #1 was Mariah of all people with her horrific cover of "Without You").

It would've been in the top 10 the same time as CFU I'm imagining, but the big record was her first top 10 hit "Holiday" got an appropriate seasonal re-entry and Madonna occupied the top 2 positions simultaneously with Groove (shares her record for most weeks at #1, with 4 weeks at the top) and Holiday.

It was the 31st best selling single of the 80s (Like a Virgin was her other entry at #53) and sold 871,300 copies in the UK.

It remains her best selling UK single, though I read Like a Prayer is catching up with downloads... :confused:

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Critical reception[edit]

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Madonna performing "Into the Groove" during the Sticky & Sweet Tour (2008–09), while dancing on top of a DJ's station

Ever since its release, "Into the Groove" has received critical acclaim. J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, said that the song demonstrated Madonna's ability to create infectitious dance music.[2] Rikky Rooksby, author of Madonna: the complete guide to her music, said that "'Into the Groove' will make you feel like you're a winner either way. And that's one of the best things pop music can do for ya. [it's] Madonna's first great single."[3] Clive Barker and Simon Trussler, authors of New Theatre Quarterly, felt that the song was the first disco-anthem of the 1980s.[15]

Toby Cresswell, author of 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories and Secrets, said that the song is a "sweet, limited white tune on the top, and there's Madonna – all the right-shop chic – dragging the straight world into this subterranean paradise. All the magic of the eighties is right here."[4]Matthew Rettenmund, author of Totally Awesome 80s: A Lexicon of the Music, Videos, Movies, TV Shows, Stars, and Trends of that Decadent Decade, declared "Into the Groove" as the ultimate 80s song and felt that it "cemented Madonna's place as the dancing queen of the era".[16] Dawn Keetley and John Pettigrew, authors of Public Women, Public Words: A Documentary History of American Feminism, called it a "mesmerizing theme song".[17]

Santiago Fouz-Hernández and Freya Jarman-Ivens, authors of Madonna's drowned worlds: new approaches to her cultural transformations, commented that the song "taunted playfully".[18] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine ranked it at twenty-nine on the list of "100 Greatest Dance Songs". He commented: "It's hard to imagine the most famous woman in the world dancing alone in her bedroom at night, locking the doors so 'no one else can see' (as she sings on 'Groove'), even 20 years ago, but you can't help but believe her. The song—and Madonna's performance—are that good."[19] Alfred Soto from Stylus commented that "'Into the Groove' itself is as much wish-fulfillment as 'Crazy For You'.[20] Austin Scaggs from Rolling Stone commented that the song had "an amazing bassline".[8]

By the end of the 1980s, "Into the Groove" was honored by Billboard magazine as the "Dance Single of the Decade".[21] In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their top-twenty Madonna singles of all-time by Q magazine; "Into the Groove" was allocated the number-three spot.[22] In 2009, the song was ranked at ninety on Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".[23]Billboard ranked the song number three on a 2015 list of Madonna's top 15 best songs, calling it "the Madonna club track."[24]

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From Q magazine's readers 100 Greatest Singes Of All Time (1999)

68. Into The Groove

Madonna

SIRE, 1985

Highest UK (1) US (1) (sic)

Madonna stayed in the UK charts for 14 weeks with this message of musical liberation. "Only when I'm dancing can I feel this free" she sings with joy over fat basslines, marking the moment when the dance underground met mainstream pop and exploded. For Madonna it meant new-found critical as well as commercial acclaim. And "you've got to prove your love to me" laid down a sexual challenge that was frankly scarifying.

Best bit: (0:04) "You can dance (dance)... for inspiration."

Where to get it now: Like A Virgin, SIRE

You said: "Tickles the toes." Bruno MacDonald, Shropshire

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The Song That Changed My Life - Madonna, 'Into The Groove'

BY BEN HEWITT
26TH APRIL 2012

I’m nine or ten years old, and sitting in the back of a stuffy, clapped-out Ford Escort on the way to some Godforsaken holiday destination. It’s broiling hot, and we’re stuck in an almighty traffic jam, and there’s two separate ding-dongs going on – one because nobody has a clue where we’re supposed to be going, the other because my Dad won’t let us open any windows even though the air-conditioning doesn’t work – but I’m happy enough, sipping on a juice carton and sporting some rather fetching boyish shorts.

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Mercifully, the Van Morrison compilation that always soundtracks these sojourns has finished, and my Mum sticks the radio on. ‘Into The Groove’ by Madonna is playing – God knows why – and I nearly spit out a mouthful of drink. I’ve never heard something quite like this before, you see. Not because it’s particularly radical or groundbreaking, but because I’ve never really paid attention to music that’s a bit saucy… a bit sexy, before.

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I love Queen (embarrassingly, I once drew a moustache on my face and made my parents watch me mime along to ‘Another One Bites The Dust’). I’ve just woken up to Oasis and Blur and Pulp. But none of those people sing in a breathy, saucy way like Madonna; they don’t coquettishly purr things like “Touch my body and move in time” or “We might be lovers if the rhythm’s right”. Do I really understand what she means when she says these things? No. But it doesn’t matter, because Madonna – especially with that bone-rattle, shivering sound that ushers in the sugary, pure-pop chorus – is the first person who’s really making me understand what this whole ‘Birds and the Bees’ business is all about.

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I realize, of course, that I’ve strayed somewhat from the usual ‘Song That Changed My Life’ shtick here. And, of course, there are loads of other songs that I’d deem life-changing, too, like ‘What Difference Does It Make?’, or ‘Transmission’, or ‘Lithium’, or ‘Heart Of Glass’, or ‘Dress’, and I cherish the people who made them much more dearly than I do Madge. But there’s something self-consciously searching about how seismic their impact was, fuelled by a sense of looking for an identity through music and actively hunting down a transmogrifying experience. Whereas ‘Into The Groove’ was a bolt from the blue, and one that makes me see that music has a whole lot more to offer than mere guitar-rock.

There are better Madonna songs than ‘Into The Groove’, no doubt; there are definitely sexier ones, too, but it’s had a titanic impact on me. It’s why I’m so unmoved by the flesh-flashing, dead-eyed gyrating of Rihanna, Katy Perry et al, because I know that loin-stirring pop music doesn’t have to be eye-poppingly gratuitous. And it’s also why I’m such a sucker for raunchy stuff like the eloquent rudery of Wild Beasts, the high-end sleazy glam of Suede, or the virile funk of Prince. That’s a huge part of my music taste, right there – and one that can be tracked back to the time Madonna asked me if I wanted to dance with her, as I sat gulping down my Um Bongo.

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The NME review at the time was quite snippy, but whoever the writer was as said they loved the song. Funnily enough, the follow up Angel was an NME single of the week, she had a single of the week (shared with 6 others to represent every day of the week) with debut single Everybody.

(From NME's "Essentials with iTunes" pullout circa mid 00s)

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Into The Groove

Madonna

Pure hedonistic, lascivious '80s disco pop. Allegedly, Madge wrote it while a man was waiting to take her out on a date,

WHAT WE SAID AT THE TIME:

"Madonna jiggles her Anita Harris-style bullet-hole to a bump'n'grinder borne the wrong side of the blanket of Shannon's 'Let The Music Play'. Not that Madonna's totally unentertaining you dig; it's just that the ongoing triumph of naked ambition over a mouse-like talent loses its charm after 15 minutes."

(20/7/85)

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In the UK last night ITV showed the nations favorite 80s number ones..into the groove was Madonna's only entry at number 19. Some good songs on there but it was a shit programme

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I always love when she goes into "Live out your fantasy here with me...." and her voice goes deeper such an amazing highlight for me to such an amazing song that you can never listen to too many times!!!

Absolutely!

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WeboGirl flashback:

It was the summer of '85, I was 14 years old. My friends and I made our routine weekend visit to mall. This time we were on our way to get the Into The Groove single. To our surprise, the lady in the locally owned record store said it was only available on the Angel 12 inch. We thought, 'how weird'. So the three of us bought our own copy of the Angel 12". Beautiful cover.

What a great summer that was.

Love this. :) One of her most beautiful sleeves EVER.

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Love this thread loomer. And I love this song. Nothing is better than the original version. It's heaven. The bridge is life. The bass is infectious. I'm too late to the party now, and I'm probably just repeating things that other people have already posted. I love it all!

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