Erotica is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter
Madonna, released on October 20, 1992 by
Maverick Records. The album was released simultaneously with Madonna's first book publication,
Sex. The
RIAA certified it double platinum on January 6, 1993, recognizing two million shipments throughout the U.S. The album has sold over six million copies worldwide to date.
Background
Erotica is a
concept album about
sexuality and
relationships. Each track explores a different facet of sexuality, usually involving sexual relationships. Lyrically, the album does not tie sex and sexual relationships with the traditional ideals of romance. A dance record by all accounts, the album showcases
hip hop- and
jazz-affected club production from co-producers
Shep Pettibone and André Betts. It is interesting to note that the song "In This Life" is based on
George Gershwin's
Prelude No. 2.
Madonna's intentions were that the album would be an accompaniment to her book
Sex, which share the same cover photograph—a colored reverse negative of Madonna's face done à la
Andy Warhol, from whom Madonna found much inspiration during her so-called "Erotica period" (for example, her "
Erotica" and "
Deeper and Deeper" videos were shot in near identical style to many of Warhol's films, with Madonna paying obvious homage to
Edie Sedgwick in the latter). The photos included in the album's liner notes also come from the
Steven Meisel Studio photographs shot for the
Sex book.
The album is Madonna's first album to bear a "
Parental Advisory" label (the only other albums to do so being 2003's
American Life and 2007's live concert album,
The Confessions Tour). A separate "clean" version was released, the only difference being the omission of the sexually explicit "Did You Do It?".
Originally, "Bad Girl" was planned as the second single from the album with an X-rated video to match the "Erotica" single, but it was changed due to the backlash of the
Sex book and instead it was released as the third single. Madonna performed "Erotica", "
Fever", "
Bye Bye Baby", "Deeper and Deeper", "
Rain", "Why's It So Hard", and "In This Life" on her 1993
Girlie Show Tour.
Early versions of some of the songs on the album, as well as demo versions of songs that were not included, were included in The Rain Tapes, a collection of songs registered during the album development stage.
Critical reception
The controversial sexuality presented to the mainstream by Madonna during the
Erotica period was not well received. It was widely taken down and Madonna had always been considered an expert at "pushing buttons", but many thought she had greatly misstepped here. At the time of
Eroticas release, she was widely condemned in the media for having pushed the limits of sexuality too far and was no longer considered acceptably suggestive, but vulgar and raunchy.
Interestingly, the sexual imagery Madonna put forward in both Erotica
and Sex
was widely criticized for not actually being erotic, but sterile and calculating. On the subject, Madonna said to CNN's Larry King on January 19, 1999, "I didn't write a book about sex. I wrote a book that—I mean I published a book that basically was sort of a—an ironic tongue-in-cheek, sticking-my-tongue-out-at-society photo essay..."
Reviews of Erotica
that concentrated only on the musical aspect of the album were mostly positive; Rolling Stone hailed the album as one of Madonna's best. In hindsight, both fans and critics have warmed to the album over the years, with some even considering it to be among her best work. In its 15th anniversary review of the album, Slant Magazine called it "Madonna at her most important, at her most relevant."
The surrounding massive media and critical backlash hurt Eroticas sales. While sales were initially brisk, the album did not go through the roof as many predicted. It debuted at number two on the
Billboard 200 shifting 167,000 in its first week. It was held off from reaching the top spot by
Garth Brooks's blockbuster album
The Chase (which that same week sold only 4,000 copies more than
Erotica). In the UK the album also debuted at number two behind
Simple Minds's
Glittering Prize 81/92. The album stalled over the long-term, selling two million copies each in the U.S. and Europe. While two million is impressive by any standard, it was not up to par with Madonna's other successful records.
Erotica also became the first album since her debut to yield no number-one hits in either the U.S. or the UK, with the
title track reaching number three, being the highest-charting single from the album. In fact, the number-thirty-six
Billboard Hot 100 peak of "Bad Girl" made it the first Madonna single to fail to reach the U.S. top twenty after twenty-nine consecutive releases stretching back to "
Holiday" in 1983 had done so. Nonetheless, the album produced six singles and was well received on the dance club circuit. To date,
Erotica has shifted more than five million units globally.
Controversy
While Madonna had always expressed her sexuality suggestively through her art—primarily through music and promotional music videos—she was never as explicit as she had been during the
Erotica period of her career.
Erotica was one of a trio of sexually oriented mainstream projects released by Madonna or with her involvement within a span of several months. Released nearly simultaneously with
Erotica was the
coffee table book Sex, which featured the singer in photographs depicting simulations of sexual acts and
BDSM. Less than four months later, a poorly received film titled
Body of Evidence was released to theaters, featuring Madonna fully nude and in scenes engaged in simulated sexual acts.
In Malaysia,
Erotica was the first Madonna album banned for homosexual-related content (the second would be live album
The Confessions Tour for the crucifixion scene during "
Live to Tell"). At the same time,
Sex was also banned from bookstores around the country. In spite of this, her singles "
Rain" and "Deeper and Deeper" were significant airplay hits.
The Rain Tapes
The Rain Tapes is a name given by fans to a collection of twenty-three demos recorded by Madonna in late 1991 and early 1992, during the development of the
Erotica album and submitted to the Library of Congress for copyright registration on two C90 cassettes. The songs were written by Madonna, Shep Pettibone and Tony Shimkin, and produced by Madonna and Pettibone. Most of the songs are early and alternate versions of songs used on the
Erotica album, while others—"Shame", "You Are the One", and "Jitterbug"—remain completely
unreleased.
Five full tracks from the tapes - and a few clips of others —leaked onto the Internet from 2007 to early 2008 and have become widely available for download. However, a wide number of fakes are also circulating, which claim to be from
The Rain Tapes, though they are in fact fan creations which mix clips from interviews and TV appearances with Shep Pettibone instrumentals from the likes of Cathy Dennis.
The only genuine Rain Tapes tracks in circulation remain "Erotica (Final Demo 2)", "Goodbye to Innocence (Straight Pass)", "Bye Bye Baby (First Day Rough)", "Thief of Hearts (Old Music)", "Cheat (Drunk Girl)" and part of the demo of "Shame". Any other songs in circulation claiming to be from the Rain Tapes are, in fact, fake.
Track listing
Additional notes- "Erotica", "Bye Bye Baby", "Bad Girl", Thief of Hearts", "Words" and "Why's It So Hard": ASCAP has officially added Anthony Shimkin as co-writer to these songs. Inlay notes to the album do not include this.
- "Did You Do It?" features Mark Goodman and Dave Murphy. This song is available only on the Parental Advisory-stickered version of the album, omitted from the clean version. Shep Pettibone has been officially added by BMI as co-writer of this song
Singles
Charts
Credits
Personnel
- Emile Charlap - contractor
- Glen Dicterow - conductor, concert master
- New York Philharmonic Orchestra
- Tony Shimkin - keyboard, background vocals
Production
- Engineers: Mike Farrell, Robin Hancock, George Karras, P. Dennis Mitchell, Shep Pettibone, Tony Shimkin
- Assistant engineer: Mark Goodman
- Mixing: Goh Hotoda, George Karras
- Programming: Joe Moskowitz, Shep Pettibone, Sander Selover
- Drum programming: Andre Betts, Tony Shimkin
- String arrangements: Jeremy Lubbock
- Contractor: Emile Charlap
- Art direction: Siung Fat Tjia
- Photography: Steven Meisel
