Madonna

Sampling Bobby Byrd's "Hot Pants - I’m Coming, I’m Coming, I’m Coming." -- Madonna considered shooting the video in Iceland but opted for a desert in California. She explained to MTV News: "You know what, I'm going to be freezing. I'm going to be miserable, I'll be complaining all day, I'll be sorry that I ever chose a cold place. So I said, 'Let's do it in the desert, it'll be warm,' and it would be sort of the opposite, because even though you think of deserts as being hot, they're still sort of frozen in terms of there's no vegetation and they're very desolate. I thought that that would still work as a visual, but then we got there and it was like 20 degrees below zero, it was bitterly cold, and I was barefoot. I was barefoot for the entire video, and then it started pouring rain and everyone got really sick, and it just actually turned out to be a really miserable experience.": www.youtube.com

The previous song was re-imagined in 1996 by Maldoon’s niece—Christine Leach—and producer William Orbit as an electro alt-rock demo. Two years later, the chairman of Maverick Records—Guy Oseary—would foster a relationship between Orbit and the popstar Madonna. Madonna, through Orbit, found Leach’s demo as exactly the fresh sound she was looking for on her new album. After adding a techno arrangement and adjusting the length from 8, to 10, and then 5 minutes, Madonna transformed the hidden folk gem into the title track of her 1998 album. -- The video is a day in a life filmed in four minutes. It was filmed in Sweden, New York and Las Vegas using time-lapse photography. It won the 1998 Grammy for Best Music Video Short Form and the MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year.: www.youtube.com

This buoyant musical celebration was Madonna's first hit. Released on her first album, it's one of her favorites, and the song she has performed most often in concert. -- This was written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens, who were members of Pure Energy, a dance/pop group from East Orange, New Jersey. They shopped the song around but couldn't find any takers - Mary Wilson of The Supremes is among those who turned it down. Then their friend John "Jellybean" Benitez, a club DJ they had worked with, asked if they had anything for a new artist he was producing on the Warner Bros. label who needed one more song for her album. They gave him "Holiday," and Benitez produced it for Madonna, sticking close to the original demo. Benitez, who was dating Madonna at the time, became a top producer known for his dance remixes.

Madonna is one of many who sampled the drums in the Lafayette Afro-Rock Band's "Hihache." -- Back in 1992, Madonna sampled "El Yom 'Ulliqa 'Ala Khashaba" by Lebanese singer Fairuz in "Erotica" without Fairuz's consent. It caused a controversy and led to a lawsuit that was settled out of court.

Did you hear it? Madonna's "Vogue" samples the hook from The Salsoul Orchestra's "Ooh, I Love It (Love Break) (Shep Pettibone mix)." -- Madonna performed "Vogue" live at the MTV Awards in 1990: www.youtube.com

“Papa Don’t Preach” lit a prairie fire of outrage. Addressed to an adored but feared fictional daddy, the lyrics describe a life-changing decision a little over a decade after Roe v. Wade. "I saw it as a sensitive plea for compassion and understanding about a young girl who found herself at a crossroads in life and didn't know where to turn,” said songwriter Brian Elliot at the time. Enjoy this NPR American Experience feature about "Papa Don't Preach": www.pbs.org

"Bye Bye Baby' samples multiple elements of Lyn Collins' "Think (About It)." It also samples Soul II Soul's "Keep On Movin'." -- Watch a tuxedo-clad Madonna perform "Bye Bye Baby" live: www.youtube.com

Madonna's "Perfect Stranger' interpolated the hook from Love's "She Comes in Colors." She also sampled multiple elements of The Mamas and the Papas version of "The 'In' Crowd."

Madonna and Stephen Bray wrote this song. According to the book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, Bray was having trouble with the bridge when Madonna walked into the studio, stepped up to the microphone and sang, "live out your fantasy here with me."