"
Into the Groove" is a 1985 song by American singer-songwriter
Madonna from her first major feature film
Desperately Seeking Susan. It was released as a single in the UK on July 23, 1985 by
Sire Records. It later appeared on the 1985 European re-issue of her second studio album,
Like a Virgin, and is also included on her 2009 greatest hits album,
Celebration. Remixed versions of the song appear on the 1987 remix compilation
You Can Dance and the 1990 greatest hits compilation
The Immaculate Collection.
In some countries, such as the
United States and
Australia, it was released only as the B-side to the maxi-single of "
Angel".
Song information
The version heard in the film
Desperately Seeking Susan is the original demo version of the song that still remains unreleased.
After its successful British release on 23 July, 1985, "Into the Groove" was added to the
Like a Virgin album in Europe. The song became one of Madonna's signature hits and record stores in the States actually had to put up signs to tell consumers that the song was available on the "
Angel" maxi-single. Due to similar problems with "
Crazy for You" and "
Material Girl" being released at similar times and competing with each other, in the United States it was decided against releasing "Into the Groove" as a 7" single so it would not compete with "
Angel" off the
Like a Virgin album. It did however contribute to additional sales of the "Angel" maxi-single.
Madonna indicated that she wrote the song while a Latin boy was waiting to take her out on a date. In the UK, as well as 7" and 12" there was a heart-shaped picture disc. With its double-stickered sleeve, it is currently valued at £50. And a 12" with film poster, valued at £30.
The song was remixed in 1987 by
Shep Pettibone for Madonna's remix compilation
You Can Dance. Pettibone again remixed the song in 1990 alongside Goh Hotoda for the
Immaculate Collection compilation.
Madonna re-tailored the song in 2003, with a
remix called "
Into the Hollywood Groove", which replaces the first verse of "Into the Groove" with the first verse of "
Hollywood". The lyrics of the chorus are also slightly altered. It also features a rap by
Missy Elliott. This version of the song was used for a
Gap ad featuring the pair of them in Gap jeans in the summer of 2003. A remixed version made by
Josh Harris and Omar Galeano (as The Passengerz) can also be found in the 2003 Madonna EP
Remixed & Revisited.
In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their top 20 Madonna singles of all-time by
Q magazine. "Into the Groove" was allocated the #3 spot. Madonna also incorporated bagpipes (bagpiper
Lorne Cousin) in her 2004 version of "Into the Groove" during her
Re-Invention World Tour.
In 2005, the song placed at #90 on
Blender magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".
Chart performance
To date, it is Madonna's best selling single in the UK, having sold 987,762 copies since its release. It stayed at number one in the UK for four weeks. During its stay at number one, Madonna's first UK hit "Holiday" (which had re-entered the chart shortly after the release of "Into the Groove") was at number two and "Crazy for You" was in the lower regions of the top 40. The song was the third biggest UK seller of 1985 behind
Jennifer Rush's "
The Power of Love" and "I Know Him So Well" by
Elaine Paige and
Barbara Dickson.
In the U.S., while popular in dance clubs and Top 40 radio stations, a regular 7-inch commercial single was not released as not to compete with Madonna's current single at the time, "
Angel", and was, therefore, ineligible to chart on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles. However, "Into the Groove" did spend six weeks atop the
Variety Singles Sales listing, with the 12-inch single charting separately from the 7-inch "Angel" single. The 12-inch single achieved gold status, selling more than 600,000 units in the USA. On the
Radio & Records CHR/Pop airplay chart, "Groove" peaked at No. 6, spending 11 weeks on the survey.
Music video
170px|left|thumb|Madonna in a scene from the music video of "Into the Groove".The
music video was made up of clips from the movie
Desperately Seeking Susan with the lyrics often matching the images. Doug Dowdle of Parallax Productions (a company that pioneered in movie tie-in music videos during the 1980s) created this video from edited footage of the movie, directed by
Susan Seidelman.
- Director: Susan Seidelman
- Producer: Jeffrey Abelson
- Director of Photography: Ed Lochman
- Production Company: Parallax Productions
Track listing and formats
7" Single
12" Single / CD Single (Re-Issue)
Germany 5" CD Single (1990)
Official versions
Performing "Into the Groove" on the Sticky & Sweet Tour.
- The Immaculate Collection/QSound Mix 4:10
- You Can Dance Version 8:26
- You Can Dance Single Edit 4:48
- You Can Dance Dub Version 6:22
Charts
1 (B-side to "Angel" 12" single)Live performance
Madonna performed "Into the Groove" on
The Virgin Tour, on the
Who's That Girl World Tour in 1987, in 1990 on the
Blond Ambition Tour, on the
Re-Invention World Tour in 2004 and in 2008 on the
Sticky & Sweet Tour. She also performed it on her
Live Aid performance in 1985.
The version used in Madonna's 2004
Re-Invention Tour was the opening of the show's last segment (the Scottish-themed part), where it was introduced with a bagpipe interlude. The song was updated
again in the 2008-2009
Sticky & Sweet Tour, layering the song with elements of
Cassius's "
Toop Toop",
Frankie Smith's "
Double Dutch Bus",
The Sugarhill Gang's "
Apache (Jump On It)" and Madonna's own "
Jump".
Cover versions
- Kids Incorporated: the cast of this popular children's musical sitcom covered the song on television in 1985 - the original, sexually-suggesitive lyrics were slightly altered to be more youth-oriented.
- In 1988 the Italian singer Mina covered "Into the Groove" in her album Ridi pagliaccio.
- A dance cover of the song was recorded by the group Mad'House for the album Absolutely Mad.
- French pop/rock group Superbus covered "Into the Groove" for their 2002 album, Aéromusical. It was the third and final single from the album.
- A 2007 tribute compilation to Madonna, entitled Through the Wilderness, features a cover of the song by Jeremy Jay.
Sampling
In 2003, Madonna's "Into the Groove" was combined with the vocals of
Dannii Minogue's third and final single from her album
Neon Nights, "
Don't Wanna Lose This Feeling". The mix, called "Don't Wanna Lose This Groove", was the second official sampling of a Madonna song, preceding the
Avalanches' sampling of "
Holiday".
"Into the Groove"'s instrumentation (and a small Madonna vocal sample) were added to Dannii Minogue's vocals (though Minogue's pitch was altered to fit the tempo of the song).
Parodies
- Heard on the radio in Southern California at the time of the song's popularity was a parody called "Into the Nude." The parody contained lyrics such as "Only when I'm naked can I feel this free/At night, I hit the lights so everyone can see."
