We Met Madonna 40 Years Ago Today, Here’s How It Happened
American singer Madonna in a loft on Canal Street, New York City, December 1982. (Photo by Peter Noble/Redferns/Getty Images)
This morning Joel and Maryann in the Morning celebrated the fabulous Madonna Louise Ciccone. It was 40 years ago that Madonna was invented and asked “Everybody” to dance, sing, get up and do their thing.
Forty years ago today, Thursday, October 6th an unknown artist named Madonna invited us all to hit the dance floor, and four decades later, she’s still doing it.
On October 6, 1982, Madonna wrote, recorded, and released her debut single, “Everybody.” She’d convinced Mark Kamins, a DJ at New York’s famed nightclub Danceteria, to play it at the club, and when it went over well with the crowd, and he agreed to help her get a record deal. She was eventually signed to a three-single deal by Sire Records with an option for a full album.
When “Everybody” was released, the single cover didn’t have a picture of Madonna on it, leading some to believe she was a Black artist; in fact, Sire Records marketed the single as though she was. That misconception was cleared up, however, when Madonna insisted on shooting a video for the song: a very low-budget production filmed at New York’s Paradise Garage. The video was sent to nightclubs across the country, helping the song become a national dance hit.
While “Everybody” didn’t chart on the Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot Dance/Club Play Chart. The song’s success even landed Madonna her first magazine cover: She appeared on the November/December 1982 issue of Dance Music Report.
Over the years, Madonna has performed “Everybody” on many of her tours, most recently on 2015’s Rebel Heart performances. It’s also included on her Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones remix album.
Madonna fans, scholars, and experts would later note that lyrics like “Everybody come on, dance and sing/Everybody get up and do your thing,” “Everybody” was the template for the Queen of Pop’s future career and message that music, as she’d sing, “makes the people come together.”
Happy anniversary, Madge!!
Lizzo's Historic Crystal Flute Jam Made Some People Mad
Lizzo’s historic performance using a 200-year-old crystal flute in hand has sent the internet in a frenzy. As we earlier reported, the singer and rapper became the first person to play the crystal flute that was made for the 4th U.S. President James Madison in 1813 on Tuesday night (September 27). Lent to Lizzo by the Library of Congress, the flute was crafted by the Parisian watchmaker and mechanic Claude Laurent in 1813, before making its way to Madison.
On a day that the Library of Congress was closed to the public, Lizzo spent an afternoon exploring its massive flute collection and trying out several of the historical instruments.
“She is amazingly talented,” said Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford, who serves as the library’s curator for the flute collection. She said she handed Lizzo more than a half dozen different types of flutes and she could play them all. The library has the largest flute collection in the world.
Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress, sent Lizzo an invite via Twitter, writing to the artist, “The @librarycongress has the largest flute collection in the world with more than 1,800,” Hayden tweeted last week. “It incl Pres James Madison’s 1813 crystal flute. @lizzo we would love for you to come see it and even play a couple when you are in DC next week. Like your song they are ‘Good as hell’” with a winking face emoji.
When it came time for her performance, Lizzo told the crowd, “I want everybody to make some noise for James Madison’s crystal flute, y’all! Bitch, I’m scared.” As her very long nails made their way over the instrument, she added to the screaming crowd, “It’s crystal, it’s like playing out of a wine glass, so be patient.” After playing the smoothest note and getting the audience’s approval, Lizzo cheekily sticks her tongue out to the crowd and gets back to playing the crystal flute some more while adding some leg gyrating.
After successfully not dropping the historical artifact, she raised the crystal up with a face of astonishment and happiness before returning it to the Library of Congress people. “Bitch, I just twerked and played James Madison’s crystal flute from the 1800s. We just made history tonight! Thank you to the Library of Congress for preserving our history and making history freaking cool! History is freaking cool, you guys.”
As the Library of Congress assured concerned people, they wrote: “Music Division curators made sure it could be played without damage. This sort of thing is not all that unusual, in fact. Some of the Library’s priceless instruments were donated with the stipulation that they remain functional & be played.”
Lizzo responds to the haters with a “cheeky” tweet:
https://twitter.com/lizzo/status/1575596364058066945?s=20&t=PmNBC0utrJaYQKGfhMXiWA
See how folks on Twitter reacted to Lizzo’s historic performance below:
Joel Katz is the Morning Show Personality, Assistant Program Director, Podcast Host, Voiceover artist, audio producer, and Digital Content Writer for Magic 98.3. Joel has been working in New Jersey radio since college and started at Magic in 2002 as the Morning Show Host, “I can’t think of another place where I’d fit more perfectly; it’s just a great company with awesome people.” Joel is married to Kathleen, his elementary school sweetheart (they were each other’s first dates at age 9), shares a birthday with his oldest son, Ty, and has twins, Kiera and Liam. Joel runs at least 3.1 miles every day and enjoys playing basketball, doing laundry, saving his turn signal for when he really needs it, kissing dogs through a fence, using coasters, making that cool noise by rubbing his fingers on balloons, and chasing after ping pong balls on a windy cruise ship.
