"
Burning Up" is a song by American
singer-songwriter
Madonna from
her self-titled
debut album. It was
released as the album's second single on March 9, 1983, in some
countries as a AA side single with
"Physical
Attraction". The song was presented as an early recorded
demo by Madonna to
Sire Records who
greenlighted the recording of the single after the first single
"
Everybody" became a dance
hit. Madonna collaborated with
Reggie
Lucas, who produced the single while
John Benitez provided the guitar riffs and
backing vocals. Musically, the song incorporates instrumentation
from bass guitar, synthesizers and drums, and the lyrics talk of
the singer's lack of shame in declaring her passion for her
lover.
Released with "Physical Attraction" on the B side, the song was
given mixed reviews from contemporary critics and authors, who
noted the song's darker, urgent composition while praising its
dance beats. The single failed to do well commercially anywhere,
except the dance chart in the United States, where it peaked at
three, and the Australian Charts, where it was a top twenty hit.
After a number of live appearances in clubs to promote the single,
it was added to the setlist of 1985's
The Virgin Tour. An electric guitar version
was performed on 2004
Re-Invention
Tour. The song was included on Madonna's 2009 compilation,
Celebration.
The accompanying music video of the song portrayed Madonna in the
classic submissive female positions, while writhing in passion on
an empty road, for her lover who appeared to come from her behind
on a car. The video ended showing Madonna driving the car instead,
thereby concluding that she was always in charge. Many authors
noted that the "Burning Up" music video was a beginning of
Madonna's depiction of her taking control of a destabilized male
sexuality.
Background
In 1982, Madonna was living in New York and trying to launch her
musical career. Her Detroit boyfriend
Steve
Bray became the drummer of her band. Abandoning hard-rock, they
were signed up by a music management company called Gotham records,
and decided to pursue music in the funk genre. But they soon
dropped those plans. Madonna carried rough tapes of three songs
with her namely "
Everybody", "Ain't No Big Deal" and
"Burning Up". Madonna presented "Everybody" to the DJ
Mark Kamins who, after hearing the song, took
her to
Sire Records and she was signed
for a single deal. When "Everybody" became a dance hit, Sire
Records decided to follow up with an album for her. However,
Madonna chose not to work with either Bray or Kamins, but opted
instead for Warner Brothers producer
Reggie
Lucas. Michael Rosenblatt, the A&R director of Sire Records
explained to Kamins that they wanted a producer who had more
experience in directing singers; hence they appointed Lucas. He
pushed Madonna in a more pop direction and produced "Burning Up"
and "Physical Attraction" for her.
While producing the tracks, Lucas radically changed their structure
from the original demo versions. Madonna did not accept the
changes, hence
John "Jellybean"
Benitez, who was a DJ at the Funhouse Disco, was called to
remix the tracks. He came and put some extra guitar riffs and
vocals in "Burning Up". Sire Records backed up the single by
sending Madonna for a series of personal appearances in clubs
around New York where she performed the single. They also hired a
stylist and jewellery designer called Maripol who helped Madonna
with the single cover. The cover for the 12 inch dance single for
"Burning Up" was designed by Martin Burgoyne.
Musically "Burning Up" has a starker arrangement brought about by
bass,
single
guitar and
drum machine. The guitar
riffs in the songs were not characteristics of Madonna's later
records. The
tom-tom drum beats used in
the song were reminiscent to the records of singer
Phill Collins. It also incorporated
electric guitars and the most
state-of-the-art synthesizers of that time. The
chorus is a repetition of the same three
lines of the lyrics, while the
bridge
consists of a series of double entendres in regards to the lyrics
of the song which describes what she is prepared to do for her
lover and that she is individualistic and shameless.
Critical and commercial reception
Author Rikky Rooksby in his book
The Complete Guide to the
Music of Madonna commented that the song was noticeably weaker
compared to other singles like "
Lucky
Star" and "
Borderline". Sal
Cinquemani of
Slant Magazine
called the track as edgy and punk-infused.
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from
Allmusic commented that "Burning Up" and B
side "Physical Attraction" had a darker, carnal urgency in their
composition. Don Shewey from
Rolling
Stone called the song "simple stuff" while complimenting
the B side saying "'Physical Attraction' is practically a capsule
history of high-school proms, with its sly references to
The Association's "
Cherish" and
Olivia Newton-John's "
Physical."
Robert Christgau called the 12 inch pair of
"Burning Up" and "Physical Attraction" as electroporn. Santiago
Fouz-Hernández in his book
Madonna's drowned worlds
complimented the song for having upbeat dance music. Jim Farber
from
Entertainment
Weekly commented that "Burning Up" proved that Madonna
could rock also.
Like its predecessor "Everybody", "Burning Up" failed to break into
the
Billboard Hot 100 chart, but
this time "Burning Up" even failed to chart in the
Bubbling Under Hot 100
Singles chart. The managed to peak at number three on the
Billboard Hot Dance Club Play, staying on the
chart for sixteen weeks. The song was a top twenty hit in Australia
in June 1984, peaking at number thirteen after having originally
charted in the lower reaches of the top one hundred in November
1983. The song was used as background music for a scene in the 1984
film
The Wild
Life.
Music video
Madonna in a white dress lying on the
road while writhing in passion for her lover, in the music video
for "Burning Up"
Sire Records commissioned a music video for the song to be directed
by Steve Baron. Madonna's friend
Debi
Mazar was hired as the make-up artist for the video while
Maripol was the stylist with Madonna's then boyfriend Ken Compton
appearing as her onscreen lover. By the time the video was
released,
MTV had begun to show dance music
videos. Hence the music video of "Burning Up" became a minor hit on
the channel. The narrative of the video shows Madonna in a white
dress, as she sings the song proclaiming her helpless passion for
her lover. She wore her famous rubber bracelets which were actually
typewriter belts. Her love for the boy portrayed her as a helpless
victim like the stereotyped female portrayed in many silent movies.
At one point in the video Madonna is shown being hit by a car
driven by a young man, played by Compton. By the end of the song
Madonna is shown driving the car, with a knowing, defiant smile on
her lips and has ditched the man, thereby giving the message that
she was in charge, a theme recurrent throughout her career. Though
the lyrics of the song like "Do you want to see me down on my
knees?" portray female helplessness, the video performance acts as
a countertext to it. When this line is sung, Madonna is shown
kneeling on the road in front of the advancing car, 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.
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 with that of "
Material Girl". According to him both the
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. 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.
Live performances
Before its release, Madonna promoted the single by performing at
different clubs around New York. Madonna was a professional
performer by that time and was assisted by dancers Erika Belle and
Bags Rilez to promote it.
After promoting in New York in numerous
nightclubs and pubs, she travelled to London to promote it in clubs
like Heaven, Camden Palace
, Beatroot Club as well as The
Haçienda
in
Manchester. However, those performances were not well
received by the British audience. The song was performed on 1985's
The Virgin Tour but was omitted from
the
Live - The Virgin
Tour VHS released by Warner Home Video. Madonna wore a
blue see-through crop-top which revealed her black bra, a purple
skirt, lacy leggings and a brightly patterened jacket. She also
wore crucifixes on it as well as around her ear and neck. "Burning
Up" was performed as a part of the encore. The performance ended
with the music of "
Like a Virgin"
starting.
Madonna included the song on the setlist of her 2004
Re-Invention World Tour in the
military segment. She was dressed in military garments and played
electric guitar for the performance.
As she sang the song, the backdrops displayed scenes of war and sex
which were scrambled to appear as if they have been shot with a
camcorder.
The New
York Times described the performance as being reminiscent
of the prisons in Abu
Ghraib
. Sal Cinquemani from
Slant Magazine commented that "it was a
hoot to see her [Madonna] strap on an electric guitar and sing
classics like 'Burning Up'."
During Madonna's induction at the 2008
Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame
the song was performed the punk rock band The Stooges, along with "Ray of Light".
Track listing
- "Burning Up" – 3:45
- "Physical Attraction" (7" Version) – 3:52
- "Burning Up" (12" Version) – 5:56
- "Physical Attraction" (Album Version) – 6:34
Credits
Notes
- Rooksby, p. 9
- Rooksby, p. 10
- Morton, p. 755
- Clerk, p. 36
- Rooksby, p. 12
- Fouz-Hernández, p. 59
- Grant, p. 4
- Grant, p. 9
- Allen, p. 281
- Morton, p. 756
- Guilbert, p. 79
- Twitchell, p. 109
- Morton, p. 758
- Madonna Live - The Virgin Tour [VHS]
Warner Home Video (1985)
- Clerk, p. 85
- Kellner, p. 272
References
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