This was so raunchy in 1984. I hope it doesn’t offend your delicate sensibilities today.
It’s the day of the week that’s always comes under a lucky star, Monday! That means it’s time to get into the groove with another true blue lost masterpiece that can only be found across the borderline of The Nest’s Dusty Vinyl Archive. DJ Scratchy doesn’t care whether you like a virgin or a prayer, she never takes a holiday from queuing up the old school jams that would make your Papa preach and cause a commotion. I hope you all cherish the many unclever titles I’ve worked into this intro, unlike the Sponkies who had the misfortune of not getting to live through the vogue 80’s. Oh well, it’s time to express ourselves….
Yeah, if it wasn’t obvious from everything you saw and read above, today’s featured artist is Madonna… you may have heard of her before. She couldn’t quite get her early career right on track with Breakfast Club, so she eventually sought out on her own in 1983 and would go on to become the most influential female artist of the past three decades. That long litany of songs I embedded within the introduction should be well known to even the most casual fans of the material girl, but it all started out with a couple of club hits that never saw the light of day on any of the mainstream Billboard charts.
What gets played in da club stays in da club.
One of those lost songs that springboarded Madonna’s career did have a music video that introduced pop’s new ray of light to the MTV masses before she first broke into the mainstream, and that was this awesome little dance pop number “Burning Up”…
It’s hard to believe this song didn’t get any pop chart love… I guess this music didn’t make the people come together. But the video sure did set the tone for pretty much every Madonna video that followed. The blonde bombshell gets down and dirty by seductively slinking and sliding her sultry self all over that road that some possum had probably just gotten squashed on earlier.
It’s gonna be an interesting morning for the roadkill patrol.
Sadly this song pretty much only lives on today in that music video, which is hard to catch anymore now that the best retro music video channel on cable (VH1-Classic) has bitten the dust. Oddly enough, those who may not even be familiar with this song would probably recognize some of the signature elements of “Burning Up’s” video… it was even incorporated towards the end of Weird Al Yankovic’s video for his Madonna parody “Like A Surgeon.”
And you thought you only had to fear the music destroying your brain this week…
I’ll be back next Monday to dress you up in yet another lost song that was banished to La Isla Bonita…
Time for me to take a bow.
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
I can’t remember this song, but hey, it is much better than material girl and this howliday-thing… I sometimes wonder if the charts are really a correct thing….
I like Material Girl, but will agree with you on Holiday…. which oddly enough was her FIRST hit. I’m sure there’s a lot of bribery and other unfair stuff going on behind the scenes of the countdowns… they probably keep Justin Bieber afloat.
Put me on the love “Holiday” side, always did. That said, your choice of earworm for today is absolutely fantastic. “Burning Up” is one of my favorites from that first Madonna album, and you are right, it should have been a high charting hit.
I never understood why I never heard this song on any regular or satellite radio station until I found out its history and that it never ventured outside of the dance charts. And it’s odd that this underground song had a video, yet there were so many of her 80’s staples (True Blue, Causing a Commotion, and even that first hit Holiday) that did not have official music videos to go with them.
Music history can be weird sometimes. That’s like me hearing “Holiday” on black radio and just assuming the singer was black, until I watched Solid Gold and had all doubt removed.
I am *SO* glad we missed hearing this song…Shaking my piggy head. Brings new meaning to raunchy. XOXO – Bacon
Well, I think she was a little less raunchy than Miley Cyrus. Hey, at least Madonna kept her clothes on!
This is true – so very true. XOXO – Bacon
I remember listening to this song a lot. I think someone must have had a Madonna cassette tape because I don’t know how else a less known song like this would have made it to my neck of the woods.
I miss the days when a video like that was considered raunchy!
Yeah, these days you have to swing around on a wrecking ball naked for anyone to notice what a ho you’re being. Then again, had Madonna been born 30 years later, she might have done just that…
Some of these albums are still selling well as downloads and DVDs. They should remake the charts to include all the years. It would change the number quite a lot, I’ll bet.
Well, the charts are a reflection of the time period… and it is interesting to notice how what was popular then isn’t so much popular now and vice versa. Had the internet and downloading existed back then (and been included in the chart rankings), I think a lot of artists would have hit it big even sooner than they did. I can see this song, for instance, being a big hit in an online 1983 world rather than just getting played at the finest dance clubs….
Dammit! Once again I can pull audio/visual on my computer. It’s been an on again off again problem I’ve been having. I’ll have to make a mental note to watch the video once my system magically starts working again. Good job on your first paragraph, though. Well done.
I actually continued the theme throughout most of the post and count 18 Madonna song titles I worked in…. plus the bonus Breakfast Club track. And I only thought of more I could have worked in after I posted it…
LOL! I want a water car! I love the surprise ending, I was worried there might be a squashing but HEY! its Madonna who has brains, as well as beauty (and Yuge Talent) and she, is seen driving off in the car. I hadn’t seen that video BUTT I had seen “Like a Surgeon” so now I understand the ending moves! I love a bit of Al and Madonna is just great, always. Two really talented and hard working musicians. Thanks for the fun ES. 😀
OMG, the water car gave me nightmares when I saw that! I first re-checked this video out to use in this post last week, and it was a day after all that flooding we had, so driving through deep water like that was already fresh on my mind! One of the things that makes Weird Al even better is the fact that he often parodies the artist’s music videos as well as their songs. There’s about 4 or 5 Madonna video style elements you can find in Like A Surgeon…
Oh yes. Real cars do not like water in their underparts AT ALL as mentioned in your wet brakes post.
LOL…. underparts!
Hmm, very “80’s samey” I thought. I do like a lot of Madonna’s stuff, and some I don’t – she keeps changing her style.
And as for “Holiday”, I’ll jump in on the “absolute rubbish” side of the debate. I liked nearly everything she did from that era except for that awful, annoying song. You should have added a “Holiday – Love it or hate it” poll, since everyone will have heard of this week’s featured artist for a change 🙂