Released on March 20, 1990, Madonna’s seminal dance hit ‘Vogue’ marked a gay dance-craze revolution, and it’s coming up soon on the Madonna Timeline so get ready. Until then, however, in the week wherein we celebrate the anniversary of ‘Vogue’, here’s a look back at some of Madonna’s other dance hits. I love her ballads, but I think we all love her dance songs a little bit more. It’s where we first connected, and it’s where we will always find happy communion.
Launching the resurrection that was ‘Confessions on a Dancefloor‘, 2005’s ‘Hung Up‘ scored an elusive Abba sample and thumped its way onto dance floors around the world. Follow-up single ‘Sorry‘ was even better, in my opinion, with its sassy fuck-off of a message.
One of her first racing aerobic jaunts, ‘Over and Over‘ sonically delivered a consistent Madonna-mantra of getting up again after being knocked down. ‘Dress You Up‘ offered that delicious Virgin Tour guitar bridge which saw Madonna cutting a rug with her back-up dancers. From that moment we knew that Madonna would always go hand-in-hand with movement and motion.
She’d also work with some amazing choreographers, such as Vince Paterson, who had her grabbing her crouch in ‘Express Yourself‘ (among other things on the epic Blond Ambition Tour). Sister-soul-dance song ‘Keep it Together‘ was the final single off the ‘Like A Prayer’ album (and provided the original slot for a B-side named ‘Vogue’ that would later, and fortuitously, be yanked for its own A-side glory).
Speaking of Vogue, ‘Deeper and Deeper‘ cribbed a couple of lines from it, lending some additional fabulousness to an already-perfect dance anthem. Junior Vasquez transformed the sultry but laid-back ‘Secret‘ into a club smash, and worked similar magic for the title track of her ‘Bedtime Stories‘ album.
The wondrous ‘Ray of Light’ was tailor-made for the dance-floor, but lead-single ‘Frozen‘ needed some remix treatment at the hands of Victor Calderone before it got us out of our seats (and then it was unstoppable).
Everybody danced with their respective babies when ‘Music‘ came on, and the second track from that album was even more than an ‘Impressive Instant‘. Closing out the Sticky & Sweet Tour with dance jam ‘Give It 2 me‘ was an inspired fan-favorite decision, and bits of it found their way into the ‘Celebration‘ finale of the MDNA Tour (which opened with the thundering ‘Girl Gone Wild‘ in fantastic fashion). The cheerleading-accented ‘Give Me All Your Luvin‘ was a fluffy shuffler, while the polarizing ‘Bitch I’m Madonna‘ grated its way into the clubs as her last bona-fide dance hit. Here’s hoping she returns shortly with a new stomper. It’s spring. It’s time to dance.
