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Erotica (Madonna album)

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This article is about the album. For other uses, see Erotica (disambiguation).
Untitled

Erotica is the fifth studio album by pop singer Madonna, released on October 20, 1992 by Maverick Records. The album was released to accompany and promote the release of Madonna's first book publication, Sex. The album has sold an estimated 7 million copies worldwide.

Album information

Erotica is a concept album about sexuality and relationships. Each track explores a different facet of sexuality, usually involving sexual relationships. Lyrically, the album does not tie sex and sexual relationships with the traditional ideals of romance. A dance record by all accounts, the album showcases hip hop and jazz-affected club production from co-producers Shep Pettibone and André Betts. It is interesting to note that the song "In This Life" is based on George Gershwin's Prelude No. 2.

Madonna's intentions were that the album would be an accompaniment to her book Sex, which share the same cover photograph - a colored reverse negative of Madonna's face done à la Andy Warhol, from whom Madonna found much inspiration during her so-called "Erotica period" (for example, her "Erotica" and "Deeper and Deeper" videos were shot in near identical style to many of Warhol's films, with Madonna paying obvious homage to Edie Sedgwick in the latter). The photos included in the album's liner notes also come from the Steven Meisel Studio photographs shot for the Sex book.

The album is Madonna's first album to bear a "Parental Advisory" label (the only other albums to do so being 2003's American Life and 2007's The Confessions Tour). A separate "clean" version was released without the sexually explicit song "Did You Do It?"

Originally, "Bad Girl" was planned as the second single from the album with an X-rated video to match the '"Erotica" single, but it was changed due to the backlash of the Sex book and instead it was released as the third single. Madonna performed "Erotica", "Fever", "Bye Bye Baby", "Deeper And Deeper", "Rain", "Why's It So Hard" and "In This Life" on her 1993 The Girlie Show Tour.

Original artwork

File:EroticaoriginalCDcover.jpg
The original artwork chosen by Madonna for the album Erotica was deemed too explicit by Warner Bros. Records

Originally, the album was to feature completely different artwork (see right). Warner Bros. Records refused to use it, as it was too explicit. The original image is now seen in the final inlay sleeve of the album.

The final image used is identical to the Sex book foil cover, if you place the CD on the cover it is the same size and fits perfectly. Up until near the release date, the finished artwork did not include any writing on the cover and later a "Madonna" font sticker was added to the bottom right corner using the same font as the "Bad Girl" single. The new writing was added at the last minute.

The completed tracklisting was not what Madonna originally had planned, if the Maverick Records press information is to be believed:

  1. "Erotica"
  2. "Waiting"
  3. "Rain"
  4. "Deeper and Deeper"
  5. "Thief of Hearts"
  6. "Bad Girl"
  7. "Why's It So Hard"
  8. "Where Life Begins"
  9. "In This Life"
  10. "Words"
  11. "Bye Bye Baby"
  12. "Secret Garden"
  13. "Goodbye to Innocence"
  14. "Fever".[1]

"Did You Do It?" does not appear and "Goodbye to Innocence" may have been included as a bonus track. The catalogue number for this tracklisting is the Parental Advisory version.

Track listing

# Title Time
1. "Erotica"*
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Anthony Shimkin
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 5:17
2. "Fever"
Writers: Eddie Cooley, John Davenport
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 5:00
3. "Bye Bye Baby"*
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Anthony Shimkin
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 3:56
4. "Deeper and Deeper"
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Anthony Shimkin
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 5:33
5. "Where Life Begins"
Writers: Madonna, Andre Betts
Producers: Madonna, Andre Betts		 5:57
6. "Bad Girl"*
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Anthony Shimkin
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 5:21
7. "Waiting"
Writers: Madonna, Andre Betts
Producers: Madonna, Andre Betts		 5:46
8. "Thief of Hearts"*
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Anthony Shimkin
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 4:51
9. "Words"*
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Anthony Shimkin
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 5:55
10. "Rain"
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 5:24
11. "Why's It So Hard"*
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Anthony Shimkin
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 5:23
12. "In This Life"
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone
Producers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone		 6:23
13. "Did You Do It?"**
Writers: Madonna, Shep Pettibone, Andre Betts
Producers: Madonna, Andre Betts		 4:54
14. "Secret Garden"
Writers: Madonna, Andre Betts
Producers: Madonna, Andre Betts		 5:32

(*) ASCAP has officially added Anthony Shimkin as co-writer to these songs. Inlay notes to the album do not include this.
(**) Performed by Madonna, Mark Goodman and Dave Murphy. Available only on the Parental Advisory version of the album, omitted from the clean version. Shep Pettibone has been officially added by BMI as co-writer of this song.

Controversy

While Madonna had always expressed her sexuality suggestively through her art -- primarily through music and promotional music videos -- she was never as explicit as she had been during the Erotica period of her career. Erotica was one of a trio of sexually oriented mainstream projects released by Madonna or with her involvement within a span of several months. Released nearly simultaneously with Erotica was the coffee table book Sex, which featured the singer in photographs depicting simulations of sexual acts and BDSM. Less than four months later, a poorly received film titled Body of Evidence was released to theatres, featuring Madonna fully nude and in scenes engaged in simulated sexual acts.

By American cultural standards, a celebrity of Madonna's stature releasing such sexually explicit material was quite anomalous and noteworthy, and it could be argued that no mainstream American star with such immense fame has ever gone as far, before or since. In spite of the poor reception at the time of this era in Madonna's career, today many critics and fans highly respect her for what she presented during this period.

Critical reception

The controversial sexuality presented to the mainstream by Madonna during the Erotica period was not well received.It was widely taken down and Madonna had always been considered an expert at "pushing buttons", but many thought she had greatly misstepped here. At the time of Erotica's release, she was widely condemned in the media for having pushed the limits of sexuality too far and was no longer considered acceptably suggestive, but lewd. Madonna was always a person who was designed to do these things.

Interestingly, the sexual imagery Madonna put forward in both Erotica and Sex was widely criticized for not actually being erotic, but sterile and calculating. On the subject, Madonna said to CNN's Larry King on January 19, 1999, "I didn't write a book about sex. I wrote a book that -- I mean I published a book that basically was sort of a -- an ironic tongue-in-cheek, sticking-my-tongue-out-at-society photo essay..."

Reviews of Erotica that concentrated only on the musical aspect of the album were mostly positive; Rolling Stone hailed the album as one of Madonna's best. In hindsight, both fans and critics have warmed to the album over the years, with some even considering it to be among her best work. In its 15th anniversary review of the album, Slant Magazine called it "Madonna at her most important, at her most relevant."[2]

Commercial reception

The surrounding massive media and critical backlash hurt Erotica's sales. While sales were initially brisk, the album didn't go through the roof as many predicted, shifting 167,000 in the first week. The album stalled over the long-term, selling a disappointing two million copies each in the USA, and Europe. Erotica also became the first album since her debut to yield no number one hits in either the UK or the USA, with the title track reaching #3, being the highest charting single from the album. In fact, the #36 Billboard Hot 100 peak of "Bad Girl" made it the first Madonna single to fail to reach the U.S. top 20 after 29 consecutive releases stretching back to "Holiday" in 1983 had done so. Nonetheless, the album produced six singles and was well received on the dance club circuit. To date, "Erotica" has shifted more than 5 million units globally.

Singles

# Title Date
1. "Erotica" September 1992
2. "Deeper and Deeper" November 1992 (UK) / December 1992 (US)
3. "Bad Girl" February 1993
4. "Fever" March 1993 (UK, France and Australia)
5. "Rain" July 1993
6. "Bye Bye Baby" September 1993 (Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Germany)

Certifications, Peaks & Sales

Country Peak Position Certification (If Any) Sales/shipments
Australia 1 (3 weeks) 3x Platinum [3] 210,000+
Austria 10 Gold [4] 25,000+
Brazil Gold [5] 100,000+
Canada 2x Platinum [6] 200,000+
Germany 5 Gold [7] 150,000+
Netherlands 8 Gold [8] 50,000+
New Zealand
Norway 11
Sweden 6
Switzerland 5 Gold[9] 25,000+
United Kingdom 2 (2 weeks) 2x Platinum [10] 600,000+
United States 2 2xPlatinum [11] 1,900,000+ [12]

Credits

Personnel

Production

  • Producers: Madonna, André Betts, Shep Pettibone
  • Engineers: Mike Farrell, Robin Hancock, George Karras, P. Dennis Mitchell, Shep Pettibone, Tony Shimkin
  • Assistant engineer: Mark Goodman
  • Mixing: Goh Hotoda, George Karras
  • Mastering: Ted Jensen
  • Sequencing: Shep Pettibone, Tony Shimkin
  • Programming: Joe Moskowitz, Shep Pettibone, Sander Selover
  • Drum programming: Andre Betts, Tony Shimkin
  • String arrangements: Jeremy Lubbock
  • Contractor: Emile Charlap
  • Art direction: Siung Fat Tjia
  • Design: Siung Fat Tjia
  • Photography: Steven Meisel

Miscellanea

  • In Malaysia, Erotica was the only Madonna album banned by the government for homosexual-related content. At the same time, SEX was also banned from bookstores around the country. In spite of this, her singles "Rain", "Deeper and Deeper", "Bye Bye Baby" were significant airplay hits on national radio.
  • Malaysian all-girl group Feminin recorded a version of "Bye Bye Baby", called "Rindu Dirimu", in the '90s.

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/music_review.asp?ID=396
  3. ^ ARIA
  4. ^ IFPI Austria
  5. ^ ABPD
  6. ^ CRIA
  7. ^ IFPI Germany
  8. ^ NVPI
  9. ^ IFPI Switzerland
  10. ^ BPI
  11. ^ Billboard – Ask Billboard
  12. ^ Billboard – Ask Billboard
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