Has there ever been an artist as tailor-made for a decade as Madonna was for the 80s? Her willingness to push boundaries dovetailed with the restlessness of the decade’s music scene. And, of course, her immense talent ensured that she stayed on top of the game.
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Along the way, Madonna went to the movies a few times, or at least her music did. These four 80s hits of hers lit up the cinema at the same time that they were dominating at radio.
“Into The Groove”
Madonna as a writer-for-hire? Well, that was almost the scenario for this song that she took to the top of the charts in the UK. (It wasn’t eligible for the charts in the US because of its initial release here as a B-side.) An artist named Cheyne was supposed to record “Into The Groove”, a song that Madonna composed with Stephen Bray. But then she was corralled by filmmaker Susan Seidelman into the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan. Madonna recorded her own version of the song and brought it with her to the film. The song is sharp, while her performance in the movie captured the unpredictable energy of her music at the time.
“Crazy For You”
If you grew up in the 80s, Vision Quest, a hybrid of romantic drama and Rocky-ish sports movie, probably found a spot in your VCR rotation a few times or more. Originally, however, the film didn’t do a ton of box office. But it left an impact anyway thanks to Madonna’s performance of “Crazy For You”. At the time she was recording the song, she’d mostly made her mark on upbeat dance songs. That’s why there was some debate among the folks behind the scenes about whether she could handle the song, written by John Bettis and Jon Lind. But she rose to the occasion with a performance full of engaging vulnerability, leading to a No. 1 spot on the US pop charts.
“Live To Tell”
Patrick Leonard would go on to become one of Madonna’s most consistent collaborators throughout her career. “Live To Tell” pretty much represented the beginning of their musical union. Leonard had written a musical piece for a film, only to have the piece nixed by the producers. When Madonna heard it, she thought it had potential as a pop ballad. As luck would have it, one was needed for a film called At Close Range, starring Sean Penn, who was then married to Madonna. She penned the lyrics and gave a standout vocal performance, once again proving she could do the slow stuff quite well.
“Causing A Commotion”
Perhaps distracted by her personal life, Madonna couldn’t quite lend her full attention to the soundtrack of her 1987 Who’s That Girl? She performed on only four of the album’s nine songs. And most of what she did turn out wasn’t exactly the most memorable stuff. The title track gave her another No. 1, but it was a far cry in quality from her earlier hits. However, “Causing A Commotion”, co-written with Stephen Bray, at least delivered a personal perspective. Madonna later explained that the song’s lyrics were inspired by her tempestuous marriage to Penn, which ended not long after this No. 2 hit was released.
Photo by Ross Marino/Icon and Image/Getty Images
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