FEATURE:
I'm Not the Same
Madonna’s Burning Up at Forty
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WRITTEN by Madonna…
for her debut album of the same name, Burning Up turns forty on 9th March. I am writing about Madonna quite a bit at the moment. The song was presented as an early recorded demo by Madonna to Sire Records. They gave her the green light to go after her debut single, Everybody, became a hit. Produced by Reggie Lucas, Burning Up concerns her (Madonna’s) lack of shame in declaring her passion for her lover. I am going to write about Madonna’s debut album closer to its anniversary in July. Although it was not a big chart hit in the U.S. or got major attention, it was a top twenty song in Australia. With Physical Attraction as its B-side, this is a song that has grown in importance through the years. Her first single release of 1983, and the third track off of the Madonna album, I was eager to mark the approaching fortieth anniversary of a very important song. I think Burning Up announced Madonna, not only as a terrific songwriter, but an original and confident artist. It would take a little while longer for her to become the Queen of Pop and an icon, but songs such as Burning Up show why the Madonna album is revered and seen as influential. I am glad there is a lot of information on Wikipedia regarding the song.
IN THIS PHOTO: Madonna in 1983/PHOTO CREDIT: Marcus Leatherdale
Maybe not considered one of Madonna’s best or most famous songs, it is definitely one of her most important. When it turns forty on 9th March, I know it will get a lot of love and celebration around the world. I hope Madonna herself marks its fortieth:
“Rolling Stone staff described the video as a juxtaposition of "disparate images of illuminated busts and cars driving on water with Madonna writhing in the middle of the road". The narrative shows Madonna proclaiming her passion for her lover, being portrayed as a "helpless" victim and a "stereotyped [female] portrayed in many silent movies". Though lyrics such as Do you want to see me down on my knees? portray female helplessness, the video acts as a counter-text; when this line is sung, Madonna is shown kneeling on the road in front of the advancing Amphicar, then turns her head back while exposing her throat back in a posture of submission. However, her voice tone and her look at the camera portray a hardness and defiance that contradict the submissiveness of her body posture and turn the question of the line into a challenge for her lover. At the end of the video, it is her who's driving the car, with a knowing, defiant smile on her lips. She has ditched the man, thereby giving the message that she's in charge. This theme would become recurrent throughout her career.
Author Andrew Morton, in his biography on Madonna, commented that the video was America's first introduction to Madonna's sexual politics. Author Robert Clyde Allen in his book Channels of Discourse compared the video to "Material Girl" (1985). According to him, both videos have an undermining ending, while employing a consistent series of puns and exhibiting a parodic amount of excess associated with Madonna's style. The discourses included in the video are those of sexuality and religion. Allen wrote that Madonna's image of kneeling and singing about 'burning in love' performed the traditional ideological work of using the subordination and powerlessness of women in Christianity to naturalize their equally submissive position in patriarchy. Author Georges-Claude Guilbert in his book Madonna as postmodern myth commented that the representation of the male character becomes irrelevant as Madonna destabilizes the fixing and categorization of male sexuality in the video. Her utterance of having "no shame" was interpreted by author James B. Twitchell, in his book For Shame, as an attempt to separate herself from contemporary female artists of that era”.
I don’t think people realise the sort of promotion Madonna did for singles like Burning Up. Before its March 1983 release, she performed the song around various New York clubs. She was in London and performed at clubs such as Heaven, Camden Palace, Beatroot Club. She also played it at The Haçienda in Manchester. Being a new artist and someone a lot of people were not overly aware of, the performances were not received that well. Burning Up is a song that Madonna is fond of and has performed on a few of her tours: Virgin (1985), Re-Invention (2004) and Rebel Heart (2015–2016). As she is touring later in the year, I wonder whether Burning Up will get an outing at all. Her debut album is forty in July, so it is only right a few tracks from it get a modern live performance from Madonna. I am going to end with another bit from Wikipedia. The video for her debut single, Everybody, was quite low-budget and basic. It is just Madonna dancing in a room. To be fair, her third single, Holiday (1983), was not too dissimilar. For Burning Up, there is more concept, cinema, and ambition. It is another reason why the song is important and iconic:
“Author Andrew Morton, in his biography on Madonna, commented that the video was America's first introduction to Madonna's sexual politics. Author Robert Clyde Allen in his book Channels of Discourse compared the video to "Material Girl" (1985). According to him, both videos have an undermining ending, while employing a consistent series of puns and exhibiting a parodic amount of excess associated with Madonna's style. The discourses included in the video are those of sexuality and religion. Allen wrote that Madonna's image of kneeling and singing about 'burning in love' performed the traditional ideological work of using the subordination and powerlessness of women in Christianity to naturalize their equally submissive position in patriarchy.
Author Georges-Claude Guilbert in his book Madonna as postmodern myth commented that the representation of the male character becomes irrelevant as Madonna destabilizes the fixing and categorization of male sexuality in the video. Her utterance of having "no shame" was interpreted by author James B. Twitchell, in his book For Shame, as an attempt to separate herself from contemporary female artists of that era.
To the staff of Rolling Stone, it can be seen as a "great testament to the anything-goes era of early MTV". Jon Pareles, writing for The New York Times, compared Madonna's poses to those of Marilyn Monroe. Louis Virtel deemed it Madonna's 18th greatest video and wrote: "Before [Madonna] humped the stage of the MTV Video Music Awards in a wedding dress, she thrusted away at pavement in a chintzier white ensemble". It was ranked her 13th best by Eric Diaz, who went on to call it "iconic" and a "classic". He further wrote that "there is something [about 'Burning Up'] that is just so ’80s, and so Madonna - the rubber bracelets, the chains, the bleach blonde hair with the terrible roots. When girls today dress up like '80s Madonna' for Halloween, it's the look from this video they're emulating".
In their feature from 2018, Entertainment Weekly placed Burning Up 11th in their list. They commented about how it is underrated and borrowed from the Punk scene. The Guardian, in 2018 too, placed it forty-third. Parade put it at thirty-three. Everyone notes at how rocking and punky the song is. In 2016, Rolling Stone named Burning Up Madonna’s tenth-best song. It is clear how important it is, and it goes to show just how assured and compelling she was from the start. It is only right that we all celebrate Burning Up on its fortieth anniversary on 9th March. It is another big moment and anniversary for an artist who will celebrate forty years of her debut album and Holiday…
LATER this year.