"
Music" is the first single by American singer-songwriter
Madonna from her 8th studio album
Music and was released on August 21, 2000 by
Maverick Records. It was also released on
DVD single, a debut in this format by Madonna. It was nominated for a Grammy for
Record of the Year in 2001. In 2006, The song was remixed using "
Disco Inferno" by the
Trammps and was re-named "Music Inferno" for the 2006
Confessions Tour. This version appears on the 2007 live album
The Confessions Tour.
Song information
On May 27, 2000 an unauthorized copy of the song leaked onto the
Internet. In several days it spread all over
cyberspace through forums and
Napster. Madonna's spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg reacted with the comment that the material was a "work-in-progress which was stolen". To counter the trend of
music piracy, Madonna actively campaigned against Napster with fellow musicians from other genres, including
hip-hop superstar
Dr. Dre and Lars Ulrich, drummer of
heavy metal band
Metallica. Madonna later performed this song and several others on a promotional tour; her concert at
Brixton Academy in
London was a live webcast on her website and was watched by a record 10 million people around the world.
The opening line of the song ("Hey Mr. DJ, put a record on, I want to dance with my baby") features a male-sounding voice. The voice is actually Madonna's voice, heavily transformed.
Chart performance
The song shot to the top of the charts very quickly. It went to number one in the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Italy, South Africa and
Argentina, to name but a few countries. It was Madonna's twelfth number one single in the USA. By reaching number one, it made Madonna the second artist after
Janet Jackson to achieve number one hits in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s in the USA. Eventually it went platinum, selling over a million copies, proving to be one of her biggest-selling singles. The song was her first number-one hit in the USA since "
Take a Bow" went to number-one in 1995. it was also reported to be the best selling single of 2000. Music was the 24th best selling single of 2000 in the UK.
In 2003, Madonna fans were asked to vote for their top 20 Madonna singles of all time by
Q magazine. "Music" was allocated the #2 spot.
In 2004, Canadian tech-metal band
Out of Your Mouth released a
cover version, which reached the
Top 40 in Canada.
Music video
Madonna in "Music" video.
The
music video was shot in April 2000 at A&M Stage and a nightclub in downtown Los Angeles by Swedish director
Jonas Åkerlund. The video starred Madonna and her longtime backup singer
Niki Haris and actress
Debi Mazar as well as comedian
Sacha Baron Cohen as his famous character
Ali G. The video started with Madonna along with her friends boarding Ali G's limousine. The song started and Ali G was directed to take them to a club, and later to a strip-club, where he was denied entrance. An animated section followed where, Madonna attacked various neon signs with the names of many of her songs, including "
Rain", "
Lucky Star", "
Bad Girl", "
Vogue", "
Fever", "
La Isla Bonita", "
Express Yourself" and "
Material Girl". In the extended version, at the end of the animated section, Ali G. briefly interrupts the song to demonstrate his rap skills to persuade Madonna to include him on her next single. An annoyed Madonna asks him to stop and to turn the song back on. Madonna was heavily pregnant with her second child, Rocco, during the shooting and the animated section of the video was added as a result. The video ended with Madonna and her friends travelling in the limousine with many of the strippers and Ali G engaging in a rendezvous with them.
The video won several awards, including
Best Pop Clip Of The Year at the
Billboard Video Awards in 2000 and
Best Dance Video at the International Dance Music Awards in 2000.
The music video was parodied on
MADtv. The parody was called
Movies, and featured
Mo Collins as Madonna. The video poked fun at Madonna's
filmography, with an animated 'Madonna' attacking signs that had the names of her movies.
- Director of Photography: Eric Broms
- Production Company: HSI Productions
DVD release
The video to the single was released on
DVD only and contains two versions of the music video: a standard version and an extended. It also includes a weblink to an official Madonna "Music" website, but the site is no longer active. The extended version includes the sequence during which
Ali G interrupts the song to demonstrate his rap skills.
Live performances
200px|right|thumb|Madonna performing "Music" during the Confessions Tour.The first live performance of "Music" was at the
2001 Grammy Awards. Since then,
"Music" has appeared in all four of
Madonna's tours since it was released:
Drowned World,
Re-Invention,
Confessions and
Sticky & Sweet.
For the Drowned World Tour, it was used as the final encore; Madonna wore tight black jeans and a customised
Dolce & Gabbana halter top that proclaims "Mother" in the front and "F*cker" in the back. She sang the song surrounded by her dancers, while imagery of her all-time music videos were displayed on backdrop screens.
"Music" was later added to the Re-Invention Tour as the fourth song of the Scottish segment; this mix of the song was slower,
Hip-Hop-based. The same version was used at the
2005 Live 8 benefit concertIn the 2006 Confessions Tour, the song was mixed with
The Trammps'
"Disco Inferno", thus creating the hedonistic
Music Inferno. It was preceded by the short video introduction "The Duke Mixes The Hits", and it sampled the chorus from "Where's The Party", a song from her
1986 album "
True Blue". Madonna and her two female back-up dancers appeared onstage wearing
Saturday Night Fever-inspired
John Travolta outfits and started to sing "Music" together.
"Music" was part of the
Hard Candy Promo Tour, in support of the
Hard Candy album; this version sampled
Fedde le Grand's
"Put Your Hands Up for Detroit", getting a
Dance-version of the song. It was the last song performed during the 2nd act of her
Sticky & Sweet Tour, the
Old School tribute, where Madonna used the version of the
promotional tour, with a sample of
Indeep's
"Last Night A DJ Saved My Life" at the beginning of the song.
Track listings and formats
US CD single
(9 16826-2)US cassette single
(9 16826-4)- "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
US 2 x 12" vinyl
(9 44909-0)- A1 "Music" (HQ2 Club Mix) - 8:50
- B2 "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
- D1 "Music" (The Young Collective Club Mix) - 13:16
US DVD single
(38526-2)- "Music" (Long Video Version) - 4:45
- "Music" (Short Video Version) - 4:23
EU DVD single
(7599 38526-2)- "Music" (Short Video Version) - 4:23
- "Music" (Long Video Version) - 4:45
EU Maxi-CD
(9362 44898 2)- "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
- "Music" (Deep Dish Dot Com Radio Edit) - 4:15
EU 12" vinyl
(W 0537 T2)- A2 "Music" (HQ2 Club Mix) - 8:50
- B1 "Music" (The Young Collective Club Mix) - 13:16
- B2 "Music" (Deep Dish Dot Com Remix U.S. Edit) - 4:29
EU 12" vinyl
(picture disc)(W537TX1)UK 12" vinyl
(W 0537 T1)- A1 "Music" (Deep Dish Dot Com Remix) - 11:21
- A2 "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
UK CD single 1
(9362 44896 2, W 0537)- "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
- "Music" (Deep Dish Dot Com Radio Edit) - 4:15
UK CD single 2
(W5372CD2)- "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
- "Music" (Deep Dish Dot Com Remix U.S. Edit) - 4:29
UK Cassette single
(W537C, 5439 16838 4)- A1 "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
- B1 "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
GR CD single
(5439 16838 2)- "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
AU CD single 1
(enhanced)(9362-44925-2)- "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
- "Music" (Deep Dish Dot Com Radio Edit) - 4:15
AU CD single 2
(9362-44926-2)- "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
- "Music" (HQ2 7" Mix) - 3:59
- "Music" (The Young Collective Radio Mix) - 3:48
- "Music" (HQ2 Club Mix) - 8:50
- "Music" (The Young Collective Club Mix) - 13:16
JP CD single
(WPCR-10901)- "Music" (Album Version) - 3:44
- "Music" (Deep Dish Dot Com Radio Edit) - 4:15
JP Maxi-CD
(WPCR-10902)CA Maxi-CD
(CD 44909)US Maxi-CD
(9 44909-2, 9 44909-2)- "Music" (HQ2 Club Mix) - 8:50
- "Music" (The Young Collective Club Mix) - 13:16
- "Music" (HQ2 Radio Mix) - 3:59
- "Music" (Calderone Radio Edit) - 4:25
- "Music" (Deep Dish Dot Com Radio Edit) - 4:15
- "Music" (Groove Armada GA 12" Mix) - 5:30
Charts
Certifications
Chart procession and succession
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Trivia
- The song samples a drum loop from the song Never Young Again of Mirwais Ahmadzai who is also the writer and the producer of Music.
- The intro of the Drowned World Tour Version version of the song samples the intro of the song Trans Europe Express by Kraftwerk.
- The Re-Invention World Tour version of the song samples a short part from the original soundtrack of Mission Impossible.
- Madtv made a parody called "My Movies" making fun of the song's repetetive rhythms and Madonna's acting.
