Burning Up
Encyclopedia
"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 green-lighted 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 set-list of 1985's The Virgin Tour
. An electric guitar version was performed on 2004 Re-Invention World Tour.
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.
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.
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 Phil Collins
. It also incorporated electric guitar
s 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. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing
, "Burning Up" is written in the time signature
of common time with a dance beat tempo
of 138 beats per minute. The song is composed in the key
of B minor
, with Madonna's vocals ranging from the tonal nodes of A3 to B4. "Burning Up" follows a basic sequence of Bm–Bm7–A–G–B5 as its chord progression
.
". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine
denoted 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" 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.
chart, but this time "Burning Up" even failed to chart in the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
chart. It did however manage 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 also used as background music for a scene in the 1984 film The Wild Life
.
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 counter-text 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.
, 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. The performance ended with the music of "Like a Virgin
" starting.Jon Pareles
from The New York Times
felt that Madonna posed like Marilyn Monroe
during the performance of the song. Mikel Longoria from The Dallas Morning News
called the performance as "crisp and energetic".
Madonna included the song on the set-list 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. Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times described the performance and the video backdrops 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
, "Burning Up" was performed by the punk rock band The Stooges
, along with "Ray of Light
". In 2009, Jonathan Groff
covered the song for American television show Glee
. His version was included in the extended play
titled Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
, and it was also released as a bonus track to the iTunes Store
. Singer Britney Spears
covered "Burning Up" in 2011 during select shows, for her Femme Fatale Tour
. The performance featured her straddling a giant, glittering guitar, ten feet high and twice as long. However, Barry Walters from Rolling Stone
felt that the cover she sung on the tour, "lacked Madge's [Madonna's] authority." A studio recording of the cover, described by Sarah Maloy of Billboard as "glammed-up without a hint of the '80s to be found", leaked on June 10, 2011.
Credits adapted from the album liner notes.
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
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
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
who green-lighted the recording of the single after the first single "Everybody" became a dance hit. Madonna collaborated with Reggie Lucas
Reggie Lucas
Reginald "Reggie" Lucas is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Lucas is most famous for his production work with percussionist Mtume and for producing the majority of Madonna's 1983 self-titled debut album.-Biography:...
, who produced the single while John Benitez
John Benitez
John Benitez, better known as "Jellybean Benitez" is an American drummer, guitarist, songwriter, DJ, remixer and music producer of Puerto Rican descent...
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 set-list of 1985's The Virgin Tour
The Virgin Tour
The Virgin Tour is the debut concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her first two studio albums, Madonna and Like a Virgin . Although, initially planned for an international audience, the tour was restricted within United States and Canada only. Warner Bros. decided...
. An electric guitar version was performed on 2004 Re-Invention World Tour.
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 BrayStephen Bray
Stephen Bray is an American songwriter, drummer, and record producer from Detroit. Bray is best known for his collaboration with Madonna.Bray began studying music through private instruction in Detroit, and continued his education at Berklee College of Music in Boston.Bray owns and operates Saturn...
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
Mark Kamins
Mark Kamins is a New York club DJ.He is best known for helping launch the career of one-time girlfriend Madonna by presenting a demo to Seymour Stein of Sire Records. He also produced her first single "Everybody" in 1982...
who, after hearing the song, took her to Sire Records
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
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
Reggie Lucas
Reginald "Reggie" Lucas is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Lucas is most famous for his production work with percussionist Mtume and for producing the majority of Madonna's 1983 self-titled debut album.-Biography:...
. 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
John Benitez
John Benitez, better known as "Jellybean Benitez" is an American drummer, guitarist, songwriter, DJ, remixer and music producer of Puerto Rican descent...
, 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.
Composition
Musically "Burning Up" has a starker arrangement brought about by bass, single guitarGuitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
. The guitar riffs in the songs were not characteristics of Madonna's later records. The tom-tom drum
Tom-tom drum
A tom-tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snare.Although "tom-tom" is the British term for a child's toy drum, the name came originally from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala; the tom-tom itself comes from Asian or Native American cultures...
beats used in the song were reminiscent to the records of singer Phil Collins
Phil Collins
Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....
. It also incorporated electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
s and the most state-of-the-art synthesizers of that time. The chorus
Chorus effect
In music, a chorus effect occurs when individual sounds with roughly the same timbre and nearly the same pitch converge and are perceived as one...
is a repetition of the same three lines of the lyrics, while the bridge
Bridge (music)
In music, especially western popular music, a bridge is a contrasting section which also prepares for the return of the original material section...
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. According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Alfred Publishing
Alfred Publishing
Alfred Music Publishing is a family-owned and operated music publishing company, founded in 1922. Headquartered in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, it is the largest educational music publisher in the world.- Profile :...
, "Burning Up" is written in the time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
of common time with a dance beat tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
of 138 beats per minute. The song is composed in the key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of B minor
B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The harmonic minor raises the A to A. Its key signature has two sharps .Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major....
, with Madonna's vocals ranging from the tonal nodes of A3 to B4. "Burning Up" follows a basic sequence of Bm–Bm7–A–G–B5 as its chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
.
Critical response
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 "BorderlineBorderline (song)
"Borderline" is a song by American pop singer Madonna from her self-titled debut album. It was released on February 15, 1984 as the fifth single from the album, by Sire Records. Written and composed by producer Reggie Lucas, the song received remix treatment from Madonna's then boyfriend John...
". Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
denoted the track as edgy and punk-infused. Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
from Allmusic commented that "Burning Up" and B side "Physical Attraction" had a darker, carnal urgency in their composition. Don Shewey from Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
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
The Association
The Association is a pop music band from California in the folk rock or soft rock genre. During the 1960s, they had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts and were the lead-off band at 1967's Monterey Pop Festival...
's "Cherish
Cherish (The Association song)
"Cherish" is a pop song written by Terry Kirkman and recorded by The Association. Released in 1966, the song reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in September of that year and remained in the top position for three weeks. In Canada, the song also reached number one...
" and Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
's "Physical
Physical (Olivia Newton-John song)
"Physical" is a song by Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John, released in September 1981. The song was an immediate success, shipping 2 million copies in the United States, being certified Platinum, and spending 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately becoming Newton-John's...
." Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
called the 12-inch pair of "Burning Up" and "Physical Attraction" electroporn. Santiago Fouz-Hernández in his book Madonna's drowned worlds complimented the song for having upbeat dance music. Jim Farber from Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
commented that "Burning Up" proved that Madonna could rock also.
Commercial performance
Like its predecessor "Everybody", "Burning Up" failed to break into the Billboard Hot 100Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart, but this time "Burning Up" even failed to chart in the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles
The Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It lists the top 25 singles below number 100 that have not yet charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Sometimes, however, singles halt their progress on this chart, and never appear on the Hot 100...
chart. It did however manage to peak at number three on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
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 also used as background music for a scene in the 1984 film The Wild Life
The Wild Life (film)
The Wild Life is a 1984 comedy-drama film, written by Cameron Crowe and directed by Art Linson.The movie was an indirect sequel to the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The film is only available on VHS and Laserdisc in pan and scan with stereo analog tracks. No DVD version has been released due...
.
Music video
Sire Records commissioned a music video for the song to be directed by Steve Baron. Madonna's friend Debi MazarDebi Mazar
Deborah "Debi" Mazar is an American actress, perhaps best known for her Jersey Girl-type roles; as sharp-tongued women in independent films; and for her recurring role as press agent Shauna Roberts on the HBO series Entourage.-Early life:...
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
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
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 counter-text 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
Andrew Morton (writer)
Andrew David Morton is a former British Fleet Street journalist, a notable writer and biographer.Before moving into a career in journalism, he attended grammar school, then studied history at the University of Sussex....
, in his biography on Madonna
Madonna (book)
Madonna is a biography by American author Andrew Morton, chronicling the life of American recording artist Madonna. The book was released in November 2001 by St. Martin's Press in the United States and in April 2002 by Michael O'Mara Books in the United Kingdom. Morton decided to write a biography...
, 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
Material Girl
"Material Girl" is a song performed by American singer-songwriter Madonna. It was released on January 30, 1985, by Sire Records, as the second single from her second album Like a Virgin. It also appears slightly remixed on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and in its...
". 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
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
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 and covers
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 traveled to London to promote it in clubs like HeavenHeaven (nightclub)
Heaven is a Superclub in London, England which appeals predominantly to the gay market. It is located underneath Charing Cross railway station in Central London, just off Trafalgar Square.-Early history:...
, Camden Palace, Beatroot Club as well as The Haçienda
The Haçienda
Fac 51 Haçienda was a nightclub and music venue in Manchester, England. It became most famous during the "Madchester" years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, during the 1990s it was labelled the most famous club in the world by Newsweek magazine...
in Manchester. However, those performances were not well received by the British audience. The song was performed on 1985's The Virgin Tour
The Virgin Tour
The Virgin Tour is the debut concert tour by American singer-songwriter Madonna. The tour supported her first two studio albums, Madonna and Like a Virgin . Although, initially planned for an international audience, the tour was restricted within United States and Canada only. Warner Bros. decided...
but was omitted from the Live – The Virgin Tour VHS released by Warner Home Video. The performance ended with the music of "Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin
Like a Virgin is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on November 12, 1984 by Sire Records. It was re-released worldwide in 1985, with the inclusion of the bonus track "Into the Groove". In 2001, Warner Bros. Records released a remastered version with two bonus...
" starting.Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles
Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of the New York Times. He played jazz flute and piano, and graduated from Yale University with a degree in music. In the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy!, and in the 1980s an associate...
from The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
felt that Madonna posed like Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....
during the performance of the song. Mikel Longoria from The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas Morning News is the major daily newspaper serving the Dallas, Texas area, with a circulation of 264,459 subscribers, the Audit Bureau of Circulations reported in September 2010...
called the performance as "crisp and energetic".
Madonna included the song on the set-list of her 2004 Re-Invention World Tour in the military segment. She was dressed in military garments and played electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
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. Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times described the performance and the video backdrops as being reminiscent of the prisons in Abu Ghraib
Abu Ghraib
The city of Abu Ghraib in the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq is located just west of Baghdad's city center, or northwest of Baghdad International Airport. It has a population of 189,000. The old road to Jordan passes through Abu Ghraib...
. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
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
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...
, "Burning Up" was performed by the punk rock band The Stooges
The Stooges
The Stooges are an American rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan first active from 1967 to 1974, and later reformed in 2003...
, along with "Ray of Light
Ray of Light (song)
A high-speed electronic dance song, "Ray of Light" has received stylistic comparisons to rave, psychedelic and acid music. The track contains strong techno elements, as well as disco, trance and Eurodance influences, and it sees Madonna deepen her dance roots and go for a more electronic sound...
". In 2009, Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Groff
Jonathan Drew Groff is an American singer-songwriter, stage, television and film actor. He originated the role of Melchior Gabor in the stage musical Spring Awakening and appeared as Jesse St...
covered the song for American television show Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
. His version was included in the extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
titled Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna
Glee: The Music, The Power of Madonna is the first extended play by the cast of the musical television series Glee. It contains eight songs from the season one Glee episode, "The Power of Madonna", which was a tribute episode dedicated to American recording artist Madonna...
, and it was also released as a bonus track to the iTunes Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
. Singer Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
covered "Burning Up" in 2011 during select shows, for her Femme Fatale Tour
Femme Fatale Tour
The Femme Fatale Tour is the seventh concert tour by American singer Britney Spears, in support of her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale. It was officially announced in March 2011, with dates for North American venues revealed. The tour was initially planned as a co-headlining tour with Enrique...
. The performance featured her straddling a giant, glittering guitar, ten feet high and twice as long. However, Barry Walters from Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
felt that the cover she sung on the tour, "lacked Madge's [Madonna's] authority." A studio recording of the cover, described by Sarah Maloy of Billboard as "glammed-up without a hint of the '80s to be found", leaked on June 10, 2011.
Track listing and formats
- U.S. 7" Single
- "Burning Up" (7" version) – 3:45
- "Physical Attraction" (7" version) – 3:52
- U.S. 12" Single
- "Burning Up" (12" version) - 5:56
- "Physical Attraction" (Album version) - 6:34
- Australian 7" Single
- "Burning Up" (Alternate album version) – 4:48
- "Physical Attraction" (7" version) – 3:52
- French 12" Single
- "Burning Up" (12" version) – 5:56
- "Physical Attraction" (Album version) – 6:34
Credits and personnel
- MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
– vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, writerSongwriterA songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer... - Reggie LucasReggie LucasReginald "Reggie" Lucas is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. Lucas is most famous for his production work with percussionist Mtume and for producing the majority of Madonna's 1983 self-titled debut album.-Biography:...
– producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, guitars, drum programmingDrum machineA drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music... - Butch JonesButch Jones-External links:*...
– synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones... - John "Jellybean" BenitezJohn BenitezJohn Benitez, better known as "Jellybean Benitez" is an American drummer, guitarist, songwriter, DJ, remixer and music producer of Puerto Rican descent...
– remixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Fred Zarr – synthesizer, electric and acoustic piano
- Dean Gant – electric and acoustic piano
- Bobby Malach – tenor saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
- Ed Walsh – synthesizer
- Gwen GuthrieGwen GuthrieGwen Guthrie was an American singer-songwriter, who also sang backing vocals for Aretha Franklin, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, and Madonna, among others, and who wrote songs made famous by Ben E. King, and Roberta Flack....
– background vocals - Brenda White – background vocals
- Chrissy Faith – background vocals
Credits adapted from the album liner notes.
Charts
| Charts (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Kent Music Report Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to 1998... |
13 |
| US Hot Dance Music/Club Play | 3 |
External links
- Madonna "Burning Up" video MTVMTVMTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....