Everybody (Madonna song)
"Everybody" | |
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Song | |
B-side | "Everybody" (Dub Version) "Everybody" (Instrumental) |
"Everybody" is song by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her self-titled debut album. It was released on October 6, 1982 by Sire Records as her debut single. Madonna had recorded a demo of the song with Steve Bray. She urged DJ Mark Kamins, who played at her dance club, to play it. He was impressed by the song and took her to Sire Records, who signed her for a two song deal. However, after the recording of the two singles were over, Sire executive Michael Rosenblatt was not impressed with the production of the other song and decided to release only "Everybody".
Musically incorporating R&B infused beats, the song portrayed the image of Madonna as a black artist, since her picture did not appear on the single cover. However this misconception was cleared later when Madonna convinced Sire executives to allow her to shoot a music video for the song. The low-budget music video directed by Ed Steinberg portrayed Madonna and her friends singing and dancing in a club to the song. The video helped to promote the song and Madonna as an artist further.
Critically the song did not receive any acclaim and failed to enter the official Billboard Hot 100 chart, but charted on its dance charts. The song helped Madonna achieve her first photograph in a dance magazine and getting nominated for the song's sales. She has performed the song in a number of live appearances. It was performed as the final song for The Girlie Show World Tour and was one of the songs performed by Madonna at the 2006 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The song was included on the deluxe edition of Madonna's 2009 compilation, Celebration.
Background and release
In 1982, the 23 year old Madonna was living in New York and trying to set up her music career.[1] 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. However after that, they abandoned playing songs in the hard-rock genre and got signed by a music management company called Gotham Records with the plan of pursuing a new musical direction.[2] They decided to pursue the funk genre but the record company was not happy with their musical abilities. Hence they were dropped. Madonna and Bray left the band also.[1] Meanwhile, Madonna had written and developed some songs on her own. She carried rough tapes of three of the songs, namely "Everybody", "Ain't No Big Deal" and "Burning Up". At that time she frequented the Danceteria nightclub in New York. It was there that Madonna convinced the DJ Mark Kamins to play "Everybody".[1] The song received positive reaction from the crowd. Kamins decided that he should get Madonna a record deal on the understanding that he would get to produce the single.[1] He took her to his boss Chris Blackwell, who owned Island Records, but he refused Madonna.[3] This led to an approach to Sire Records in 1982. Michael Rosenblatt, who worked at the artists and repertoire department of Sire, commented that,
"Madonna is great. She will do anything to be a star, and that's exactly what I look for in an artist: total co-operation... With Madonna I knew I had someone hot and co-operative, so I planned to build her career with singles, rather than just put an album right away and run the risk of disaster."[4]
Rosenblatt offered Madonna $5,000 in advance plus $10,000 in royalties for each song she wrote.[5] Madonna was ultimately signed for two 12 inch singles by the President of Sire, Seymour Stein, who was impressed by her singing,[4] after listening to "Everybody" at a hospital in Lenox Hill where he was admitted.[5] The 12 inch version of "Everybody" was produced by Mark Kamins who was romantically involved with Madonna at that time. He took over the production work from Steve Bray.[5] The new recording ran 5:56 on one side and 9:23 for the dub version on the flipside. Madonna and Kamins had to record the single at their own cost.[6] Arthur Baker, friend of Mark Kamins, guided him through the role of a music producer and provided him with keyboard player Fred Zarr.[7] Due to the restrained budget, the recording was a hefty affair as Madonna could not understand Kamins' directions and Kamins himself faced problems directing. Hence the A-side "Ain't No Big Deal" did not become as successful as everyone expected.[8] 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".[5] The single was commercially released in October 1982.[4]
Composition
The song starts with a heavily synthesized and spoken introduction with Madonna taking a loud intake of breath.[9] Madonna displayed her bubblegum pop voice in the song, which was doubletracked.[9] The song is written in the key of A minor with the melody of the song beginning in G♭ and rising to the second scale degree on the syllable 'bo' of 'everybody', thus highlighting the chorus which follows in the chord progression of G–A–B–A.[10] "Everybody" incorporated R&B infused beats. Sire Records marketed the soulful nature of the dance song for the black audience[8] and Madonna was promoted as an African-American artist, thereby fitting the record into a radio playlist where the song might chart. In New York, the song was played on WKTU radio station which had an African-American audience.[11] For the cover of the single, Sire Records portrayed a hip-hop collage of downtown New York, rather than a portrait shot of Madonna, further perpetuating the notion that Madonna was African-American.[8]
Reception
Critical response
"I was living on the Upper West Side, 99th and Riverside, and about 7:00 at night I had the radio on in my bedroom, on WKTU, and I heard 'Everybody'. I said 'Oh, my God, that's me coming out of that box.' It was an amazing feeling.
—Madonna talking about hearing "Everybody" first time on radio.[12]
Author Rikky Rooksby, in his book The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, noted that the song closed the Madonna album on a flat note. He called the music artificial, repetitive and uninspired.[9] Don Shewey from Rolling Stone commented that "At first, it ["Everybody"] doesn't sound like much at all. Then you notice its one distinguishing feature, a girlish hiccup that the singer uses over and over until it's irritating as hell. Finally, you get hooked, and you start looking forward to that silly little catch in her voice."[13] Bill Lamb from About.com commented in general that the songs from the album had "irresistible" pop hooks.[14] Author J. Randy Taraborrelli in his biography on Madonna commented that the song was a rhythmic call to party.[15] Author Santiago Fouz-Hernández in his book Madonna's Drowned Worlds, complimented the chorus of the song, saying that "Everybody" and "Music" are the two Madonna singles which define her artistic crescendo.[10]
Commercial performance
The 12-inch single of "Everybody" failed to break into the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.[16] It peaked at seven on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart which is equivalent to a position of one hundred and seven for the Hot 100 chart.[15] However the song moved quickly up the dance charts,[5] and was Madonna's first single to chart on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play Chart, peaking at number three.[17] Since its release, the single has sold around 250,000 copies.[2] The song helped Madonna achieve a first magazine cover photograph. In the December issue of Dance Music Report magazine, Madonna and another band Jekyll and Hyde were nominated for awards in the sales category of a reader's poll. It was Madonna's picture that appeared on the cover.[18]
Music video
Sire Records had marketed the "Everybody" single as if Madonna was a black artist. This misconception was cleared by the release of the music video for the song.[11] Regarding the importance of the video Madonna had commented that,
"If I didn't have a video, I don't think all the kids in the Midwest would know about me. It takes the place of touring. Everybody sees them everywhere. That really has a lot to do with the success of my album."[19]
She invited Sire Records executives, including Stein and Rosenblatt, to the New York nightclub Danceteria. She performed "Everybody" on the dancefloor, wearing a top hat and tails.[11] On the night of the performance, Madonna's friend Haoui Montag introduced her to the 300 strong audience. Cheered by them, Madonna and her dancers performed their choreographed dance moves, later described as a 'disco act backed by avant-garde dancers.'[20] Seeing the performance, they also realised that Madonna appeared visually stunning. They ordered an in-house video of "Everybody" to be sent to the clubs around the country which used dance videos.[11]
Rosenblatt contacted Ed Steinberg, who ran the Rock America video company and asked him if he could spare a few hours to make a music video for "Everybody" with Madonna on stage at her next performance in Danceteria.[21] The idea was to play the video as promotion across the United States so that people will come to recognize an image of Madonna and her performance. Rosenblatt offered Steinberg $1,000 for the in-house production video, when artists like Duran Duran and Michael Jackson were spending six figure sums on videos.[21] They finally agreed on $1,500. With the low-budget,[22] the video was directed by Steinberg.[23] Steinberg suggested shooting the video on location at Paradise Garage, a downtown gay disco, instead of filming a live performance. Madonna's friend Debi Mazar did the makeup and joined her other backup dancers, namely Erika Belle and Bags Rilez. Mazar brought a few of her friends to act as a disco crowd in the video, including African-American graffiti artist Michael Stewart.[21] Steinberg was impressed by Madonna's professionalism on the set and he helped to send copies of the tape to nightclubs across America which used dance music videos for their entertainment. This promotion helped the song to grow from being a dance hit in New York to a nationwide hit.[18]
The video starts with Madonna and her two backup dancers dancing in a club while lights blink in the background.[24] The shots continue while interspersing close-up shots of Madonna dancing while wearing a coat and junk jewellery.[24] Author Douglas Kellner in his book Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern noted that already with her first video, Madonna was deploying fashion, sexuality and the construction of an individual image to present herself both as an alluring sex object and as a transgressor of established norms.[25] The band Fab Five Freddy reminisce that with the video Madonna "is attracting those who were more street, more savvy, more flavorful."[18]
Live performances
Madonna has performed "Everybody" during 1985's The Virgin Tour and as the concert finale on 1993's The Girlie Show World Tour. In The Virgin Tour Madonna wore a blue see-through crop-top which revealed her black bra, a purple skirt, lacy leggings and a brightly patterned jacket. She also wore crucifixes in her hair, and on her ears and neck.[26] As the performance of "Into the Groove" ended, Madonna took the microphone and danced around the stage while singing "Everybody". The performance was included in the home video release titled Live – The Virgin Tour.[27] Madonna sampled "Everybody"'s line, "Dance and sing, get up and do your thing" during the opening bars of "Express Yourself" for the Blond Ambition World Tour.[28] In the Girlie Show, "Everybody" was performed as the closing song of the tour. Madonna wore pale shorts and a simple yellow and green V-necked shirt, which she hitched up into a bra revealing top.[29] The performance started off after "Justify My Love". The beginning contained the chorus from "Everybody Is a Star" originally by Sly & The Family Stone. As the song progressed, musical excerpts of "Dance to the Music", "After the Dance" and "It Takes Two" were included.[30]
Madonna played the song during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival while promoting her 2005 studio album Confessions on a Dance Floor. She performed the song wearing a tank top for the performance.[31] It was also performed at London's Koko Club. Madonna was dressed in an all-purple ensemble of jacket, velvet pedal pushers and knee-high boots. Before performing "Everybody", she announced that, "I feel like I'm really out of shape right now, I don't like falling off horses, so I'm going to do one more song."[32] On November 22, 2008, Madonna performed "Everybody" as the audience request song at Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall venue as part of her Sticky & Sweet Tour.[33]
Track listing and formats
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Credits and personnel
- Madonna – vocals, writer
- Mark Kamins – producer
- Butch Jones – synthesizer
- Reggie Lucas – guitars, drum programming
- Fred Zarr – synthesizer, electric and acoustic piano
- Dean Gant – electric and acoustic piano
- Bobby Malach – tenor saxophone
- Ed Walsh – synthesizer
- Gwen Guthrie – background vocals
- Brenda White – background vocals
- Chrissy Faith – background vocals
Notes
- ^ a b c d Rooksby 2004, p. 4
- ^ a b Cross 2007, p. 27
- ^ Morton 2002, p. 142
- ^ a b c Rooksby 2004, p. 5
- ^ a b c d e Cross 2007, p. 25
- ^ Morton 2002, p. 143
- ^ Morton 2002, p. 145
- ^ a b c Morton 2002, p. 146
- ^ a b c Rooksby 2004, p. 14
- ^ a b Fouz-Hernández & Jarman-Ivens 2004, p. 66
- ^ a b c d Cross 2007, p. 26
- ^ Scaggs, Austin (2009-10-29). "Madonna Looks Back: The Rolling Stone Interview". Rolling Stone. 1090 (90). San Francisco: Jann Wenner: 51. ISSN 0035-791X.
- ^ Shewey, Don (1983-09-23). "Madonna – Album review". Rolling Stone. Jann Wenner. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
- ^ Lamb, Bill (2001-06-03). "Madonna Discography". About.com. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
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(help) - ^ a b Taraborelli 2002, p. 77
- ^ "Madonna – Induction year: 2008". Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 2008-07-02. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
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(help) - ^ Letkemann, Jessica (2008-03-10). "Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Class Of 2008". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2009-06-29.
- ^ a b c Morton 2002, p. 151
- ^ Rooksby 2004, p. 8
- ^ Morton 2002, p. 149
- ^ a b c Morton 2002, p. 150
- ^ Cross 2007, p. 29
- ^ Morton, p. 332
- ^ a b "Everybody Music Video on Yahoo! Music". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - ^ Kellner 1995, p. 271
- ^ Clerk, p. 85
- ^ Madonna (1985). Live – The Virgin Tour. Warner Home Video.
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(help) - ^ Madonna (1990). Live! – Blond Ambition World Tour 90. Warner Home Video.
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(help) - ^ Clerk 2002, p. 243
- ^ Madonna (1993). The Girlie Show – Live Down Under. Warner Home Video.
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(help) - ^ Hiatt, Brian; Orloff, Brian (2006-05-01). "Madonna, Franz Heat Up Coachella". Rolling Stone. 1081 (09). Jann Wenner. ISSN 0035-791X.
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(help) - ^ Reporter, Daily Mail (2005-11-16). "Madonna sends London wild". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
- ^ "Sticky & Sweet Tour News". Icon: Official Madonna website. Madonna.com. 2008-11-26. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
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References
- Clerk, Carol (2002), Madonnastyle, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0711988749
- Cross, Mary (2007), Madonna: A Biography, Greenwood Publishing Group, ISBN 0313338116
- Fouz-Hernández, Santiago; Jarman-Ivens, Freya (2004), Madonna's Drowned Worlds, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 0754633721
- Kellner, Douglas (1995), Media Culture: Cultural Studies, Identity, and Politics Between the Modern and the Postmodern, Routledge, ISBN 0415105706
- Morton, Andrew (2002), Madonna, Macmillan, ISBN 0312983107
- Rooksby, Rikky (2004), The Complete Guide to the Music of Madonna, Omnibus Press, ISBN 0711998833
- Taraborrelli, J. Randy (2002), Madonna: An Intimate Biography, Simon and Schuster, ISBN 0743228804
External links