|
''Madonna'' is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna, released on July 27, 1983 by Sire Records. It was renamed ''Madonna: The First Album'' for the 1985 international re-release of the album. In 1982, while establishing herself as a singer in Downtown New York, Madonna met Seymour Stein, president of Sire Records, who signed her after listening to her single "Everybody". The success of the single prompted Sire to sign her for an album's deal. Reggie Lucas was chosen as the primary producer, with Madonna solely writing five of eight tracks on the album. However, she was not happy with the completed tracks and disagreed with Lucas's production techniques. She then invited John "Jellybean" Benitez to help her finish the album. Benitez remixed many of the tracks and produced "Holiday". The overall sound of ''Madonna'' is dissonant, and is in the form of upbeat synthetic disco, utilizing some of the new technology of the time, like the usage of Linn drum machine, Moog bass and the Oberheim OB-X synthesizer. The songs on the album are sung by Madonna in a bright, girlish vocal timbre, and lyrically talks about love and relationships. To promote the album, Madonna performed in various one-off gigs in clubs and television programs in the United States and United Kingdom throughout 1983–84. Five singles were released from the album, with "Holiday" becoming her first song to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and "Lucky Star", her first top-five hit. The album was later promoted by The Virgin Tour in 1985. Contemporary critics have applauded the album, but Madonna was dismissed by some critics when it was released in 1983. In 2008, the album was ranked at number five on ''Entertainment Weekly''s list of "Top 100 Best Albums of Past 25 Years." The album peaked at number eight on the ''Billboard'' 200, and was certified five-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of five million copies across the United States. It also reached the top ten of the charts in Australia, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom, while selling more than 10 million copies worldwide. Critics retrospectively noted that the album helped popularize dance music in mainstream recording industry. It pointed the direction for numerous female artists of the 1980s and set the standard for dance-pop for decades afterward. ==Background== In 1982, the 24-year-old Madonna was living in New York, and trying to set up her music career. She was joined by her Detroit boyfriend Steve Bray who became the drummer of her band, the Breakfast Club, which played generally hard-rock music. Soon they abandoned playing songs in the hard-rock genre, and got signed by a music management company called Gotham Records, planning to move in a new musical direction. They decided to pursue the funk genre, but the record company was not happy with their musical talents and they were dropped from the label; Madonna and Bray left the band also.〔 Meanwhile, she had written and developed some songs on her own. She carried rough tapes of three of the songs, "Everybody", "Ain't No Big Deal" and "Burning Up". At that time she was frequenting the Danceteria nightclub in New York. It was here that Madonna convinced the DJ Mark Kamins to play "Everybody".〔 The song was received positively by the crowd, and Kamins decided that he should get Madonna a record deal, on the understanding that he would get to produce the single.〔 He took her to his boss Chris Blackwell, who owned Island Records, but Blackwell refused to sign Madonna so they approached Sire Records. Michael Rosenblatt, who worked at the artists and repertoire department of Sire, offered Madonna $5,000 in advance, plus $10,000 in royalties, for each song she wrote. Madonna was ultimately signed for two 12" singles by the President of Sire, Seymour Stein, who was impressed by her singing,〔 after listening to "Everybody" at a hospital in Lenox Hill where he was admitted.〔 The 12" version of "Everybody" was produced by Mark Kamins at Blank Tapes Studios in New York, who took over the production work from Steve Bray.〔 The new recording ran 5:56 on one side and 9:23 for the dub version on the reverse side. Madonna and Kamins had to record the single at their own cost. Arthur Baker, friend of Mark Kamins, guided him through the role of a music producer and provided him with studio musician Fred Zarr who performed his keyboard wizardry on the track. Zarr became one of the common musical threads on the album by eventually performing on every track. Due to the restrained budget, the recording was a hefty affair as Madonna could not understand Kamins' directions and Kamins himself faced problems directing. Rosenblatt wanted to release "Everybody" with "Ain't No Big Deal" on the other side, but later changed his mind and put "Everybody" on both sides of the vinyl record after hearing the recorded version of "Ain't No Big Deal".〔 The single was commercially released in October 1982 and became a dance hit in the United States. This led to Sire signing Madonna for an LP and two more singles.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Madonna (Madonna album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|