From Loudersound.
Earlier this month, Madonna announced that she’d been celebrating her four hugely successful decades in the music business with The Celebration Tour, a showcase of her greatest hits.
Given that she’s racked up no fewer than 63 Top 10 singles in the UK, deciding on a definitive setlist might be quite a challenge for the 64-year-old singer, and sadly, we suspect that one song that won’t make the cut will be the Queen Of Pop’s ‘lost’ punk anthem Shit On The Ground (Safe Neighbourhood), recorded back in 1979 when Madonna sang and played drums with New York new wave punks The Breakfast Club.
Back then, Madonna was studying to be a dancer, and dating New York singer/songwriter Dan Gilroy, who’d formed The Breakfast Club with his guitarist brother Ed. The story goes that while Madonna’s dance career was flatlining, her boyfriend gave her some rudimentary drums and guitar lessons, and quickly realised that she’d make a a great focal point for his band. At some point in 1979 the group, with Madonna on vocals, recorded a four-track demo featuring the songs Shit On The Ground (Safe Neighbourhood), Shine A Light, Little Boy and Love Express, and it’s on the first of these – pitched somewhere between X-Ray Spex and The Go-Gos – where her nascent talent really shines.
In 1980, Madonna left the band to form her own group, Emmy and The Emmys, with whom she recorded another four-track demo, featuring the songs (I Like) Love For Tender, No Time for Love, Bells Ringing and Drowning, adopting a persona not unlike Pat Benatar, according to her former bandmate and ex-boyfriend Steve Bray.
“She was playing really raucous rock & roll, really influenced by the Pretenders and the Police,” Bray told Rolling Stone. “She used to really belt. If we’d found that right guitar player, I think that’s when things would have taken off…”
Again, fame eluded Madonna, but in 1981, she signed a deal with Gotham Records and began promoting herself as a solo artist. Her creative partnership with Steve Bray endured, however, and the pair co-wrote four songs on Madonna’s 1984 album Like A Virgin plus future hits Into The Groove, True Blue and Express Yourself. These songs, we suspect, have a significantly better shot at making Madonna’s Celebration Tour setlist.
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- Madonna - Ray Of Light - Sealed - UK - 2-LP vinyl set - £34.99, $43.39, €41.64 (New Item) (arrived 29-Jan-2025 10:14)on January 29, 2025 at 11:02 am
MADONNA Ray Of Light (2019 UK/EU limited edition 13-track double album 2-LP, originally released in 1998 and featuring the hit singles Frozen, The Power Of Goodbye and Nothing Really Matters, not to mention the stellar title track Ray Of Light. Produced by Madonna and William Orbit, Ray of Light is an electronica and techno-pop record which incorporates multiple genres, including ambient, trip hop, psychedelic music and Middle Eastern music, while also seeing Madonna singingwith greater breadth and a fuller tone. Picture sleeve, factory sealed. Highly recommended) #Top 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time
- Madonna - Open Your Heart - US - 12" vinyl - £15.00, $18.60, €17.85 (New Item) (arrived 27-Jan-2025 18:00)on January 29, 2025 at 11:02 am
MADONNA Open Your Heart (1986 US 3-track 12" single of the huge radio hit, including the Extended & Dub mixes, also featuring White Heat [LP Version], picture sleeve. The sleeve just displays some faint shelfwear only and the vinyl has little evidence of play)
- Madonna - With Love - UK - picture disc LP - £20.00, $24.80, €23.80 (New Item) (arrived 27-Jan-2025 18:00)on January 29, 2025 at 11:02 am
MADONNA With Love (Stunning 'TellTales' UK limited edition interview Picture Disc LP which is part of a series of albums which contain rare and spontaneous interviews with the stars. These interviews are exclusive to Tell Tales records and have not been heard by anyone apart from the interviewer prior to release. Housed in a clear PVC sleeve. The disc depicts Madonna wearing a pair of sunglasses on one side and one of her wearing a vest top! MA-1)
- Madonna - Angel - UK - sheet music - £25.00, $31.00, €29.75 (New Item) (arrived 27-Jan-2025 18:00)on January 29, 2025 at 11:02 am
MADONNA Angel (Rare 1985 UK 6-page sheet music featuring the words & music by Madonna and Steve Bray, great front cover picture with artwork taken from the single. This example has some light general age wear, otherwise a really nice example)
- Madonna - Dress You Up + Obi - Japanese - 12" vinyl - £35.00, $43.40, €41.65 (New Item) (arrived 27-Jan-2025 18:00)on January 29, 2025 at 11:02 am
MADONNA Dress You Up (1985 Japanese 4-track 12" vinyl EP including the 12" Formal Mix & Casual Instrumental Mix plus Ain't No Big Deal and Shoo-Bee-Doo, housed in a picture sleeve with the illustrated Japanese / lyric insert & discography obi-strip. The sleeve & obi display just a little age wear and the vinyl remains in a 'near mint' condition P-5202)
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