Inside The Groove - Madonna’s Music

When Madonna performed this song - for the very first time - at the MTV VMAs in 1984, her manager told her that her career was over. He was wrong. It's the song that turned her into a household name. It was written by a pair of songwriters and produced by the top producer in town, Nile Rodgers. This episode discusses that process and plays in tracks from the studio session and the subsequent remix by Jellybean.

Penned by Bjork and British producers Nellee Hooper and Marius De Vries, this song would be the turning point for Madonna as she moved from commercial music to a more avant garde sound. The podcast also talks about the jettisonned follow up to Erotica recorded with producer Shep Pettibone, naming many of the lost tracks that Madonna dumped when she had a change of direction on the album - including some rarely heard demos from that period.

A brief discussion on this 1989 song through the use of demo recordings, interviews with the collaborators and a rare live recording from the 90s.

The 20th movie in the James Bond franchise was released on 007's 40th movie anniversary and who better to write the theme tune than Madonna? Die Another Day was also a sneak peak of her upcoming new album, American Life, which would be released a few months later and once again paired the singer with producer Mirwais. But the song's story was not an easy ride as it went through at least one title change and faced problems from the studio...

A demo of this 2005 song has leaked with quite different verses, so here's a chance to hear it and find out a little more about how it ended up on the internet. 

The ultimate 1980s dance tracks and one of the finest musical compositions and productions of all time. Yet 'Into The Groove' couldn't be simpler and this podcast discusses the lead up to its recording, including Madonna's inspiration for the lyrics along with studio recordings and isolated tracks, a demo of the song and elements that were used in the subsequent remixes.

The song that flagposted Madonna's most controversial era, released in conjunction with her fifth studio album of the same name and her collection of erotic photographs called Sex. Erotica went through many versions before becoming the final piece of music and this podcast includes an exclusive interview with one of the songwriters.

Tony was the composer of so many tracks on Erotica which he discusses in great detail along with his experiences on the songs Vogue, This Used To Be My Playground, Rescue Me and the mixing of Immaculate Collection. There are some terrific recollections here on both a technical and personal level.

This stunning house pop track launched the Rebel Heart era, but this time with a controversy not of Madonna's making as it was rushed out early following a leak of 13 songs from Madonna's new project. But this is an opportunity to explore the creation of the song and listen to isolated tracks including the piano played by Alicia Keys. We also get to hear a demo of the song which may be regarded as superior to the released version.

Has Lady Gaga ripped of Madonna? That's what some fans are saying... so I'm hot off the line to NYC where I spoke to Tony Shimkin, the man who recorded and edited Vogue and wrote several other songs with Madonna for the definitive word.

What happens when you combine Madonna with Stuart Price and ABBA? You get one of the most fantastic pop songs of all time and as her highest-selling digital single, a great commercial success too. The song's origin was as part of a musical written by Luc Besson, but can be traced back even further to the summer of 1979 when ABBA rehearsed their tour at Europa Studios in Stockholm. Hear outtakes from that ABBA record along with the stems from the Madonna song which would hit no. 1 around the world.

Lucy is author of the definitive biography of Madonna, Like An Icon, which charts the singers career and includes interviews with many of the key players from Madonna's times in the studio and on the road. Here, she discusses the book, her research and her own thoughts on Madonna as a songwriter, producer and performer.

The song that closed one era of Madonna's career and began another and it still sounds fresh almost 30 years later. Shrouded in controversy, not least of all for its video, which was banned from MTV, but for the fact that three separate legal cases were brought against the song's producer, Lenny Kravitz. Also discussed is the issue of sampling, the singer's Immaculate Collection album and the isolated tracks from the studio session for Justify My Love.

The first single from True Blue was also the main song from husband Sean Penn's movie 'At Close Range'. The story behind the writing and recording with collaborator Patrick Leonard is as dramatic as the film itself and, by listening to the isolated tracks from the studio recording, a new depth can be found to one of Madonna's most popular song. 

Second single from the album Hard Candy, Madonna's co-write and co-sing with Pharrell Williams, has stood the test of time as we deep dive into this 2008 single, listening to demos, multitrack takes and a brief tutorial on pitch correction.

In this special episode, I chat with Madonna fan, musician, and singer Darren Hayes, about his love of the icon and the story behind his astonishing cover of her song Ray of Light. Darren describes the time he met Madonna and gives an in depth appraisal of some of the finest moments of her career. 

Second single and title track of Madonna's Grammy award-winning album, Ray of Light also features a stunning vocal performance from the singer. Its origin dates back to a 1971 British folk song which was dramatically reworked by producer William Orbit. 

Borderline was key in launching Madonna's career and this is the story of, not only the artist's signing to Sire records, but the recording with producer Reggie Lucas. Included is a demo recording, isolated track from the session and a brief history of a small, black, orange and wooden box, which would - like Madonna - change the pop music scene... forever!

Writer Peter Rafelson has contacted Inside The Groove to give his full account of the writing process behind Open Your Heart, which was the subject of confusion when presented in episode 2 of this series. Now we have the full story of the creation of one of Madonna's biggest hits.

The song that would hit no.1 in over 20 countries was seen as a "success for avant garde music" by the track's co-writer and producer Mirwais as it heralded a new era for the superstar. But how and where was the song recorded? Listen to not only a rarely-heard demo of the song, but also individual, isolated tracks including Madonna' raw vocal takes and outtakes, tracked twenty years ago.

The fourth single from Madonna's hugely acclaimed and highly successful album, True Blue, started out as a demo for Cyndi Lauper. But the writers of the track have very different stories about its origins. Listen to a demo along with studio takes from the original multitrack to find out how Open Your Heart was created and why it's one of her most popular singles to date.

Madonna's 'Vogue' is 30 years old and one of the singer's most popular hits. But did you know it was recorded as a b-side? Did you know that it's backing track is based on a Janet Jackson song? And do you want to hear studio outtakes from the original 1989 recording session?

Inside the Groove has it all. Listen now.