One Song - Madonna's "Into the Groove" with guest Guillermo Díaz

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

This week on One Song we’re getting “Into the Groove”. Hosts Diallo Riddle and LUXXURY are joined by Madonna superfan — and star of hit show, Scandal — Guillermo Díaz to discuss the iconic dancefloor-filler. Come for the isolated Madonna vocals, lore surrounding the recording, and all of the synths. Stay for a breakdown of Guillermo’s many Madonna tattoos and his recollection of the time he met the Queen of Pop. Artist: Madonna Album: Like a Virgin Released: 1984 Genres: R&B/Soul, Pop, UK R&B Featured songs: Call Me Mr Telephone by Cheyne, You Are in My System by The System, I Feel For You by Chaka Khan, Wood Beez by Scritti Polittli, Into the Groovey by Sonic Youth, Into the Groove by Mina, Into The Groove by The Triffids, Into the Hollywood Groove by Madonna, Sidewalk Talk by Jellybean, Toma Que Toma by Tomas Gubitsch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to One Song, the podcast that I host. My name is Luxury with my co-host, Diallo Riddle. And today we have a guest named Guillermo Diaz. He's great. Start on the show now. I'm actor, writer, director, and sometimes DJ, DJ, DJ, DJ, Diyalo Riddle. I'm producer, DJ, and songwriter Luxury, also known as the guy who talks about interpolation on the internet. All over the internet.

Everywhere. And this time on one song, we're getting into the group. All right. today we have a very special guest who you might know from his roles on TV shows like weeds Chappelle's show Broad City and Girls and you most certainly will recognize him as Huck from Scandal but today we are talking to him about a different role it's a party plays in his daily life as a Madonna superfan welcome to the show Guillermo Diaz hello thank you thank you thank you thank you for coming down to our little show yeah and we you know I have to say right off the

bat that one of the reasons I was so excited is because I feel like, you know, outside of the TV shows, like you're just a funny dude. And we had been, you know, we were like, oh my God, he wants to come on one song. No way. Yeah, we're pretty flattering. So this is very exciting for us.

Thank you for being here. Thanks, man. You know, it's funny. You say I'm a funny dude because I've done all these movies with comedians. And I'm always, I don't do stand up. I'm not, you know, I'm much more comfortable doing drama and like serious stuff. But I just kind of got thrown into these, you know, comedic movies that I remember being on sets and all these guys,

Dave Chappelle and, you know, Tracy Morgan and everybody just cracking jokes left and right. And I was just like, hey guys. You know, I was just like the audience. But anyway. But I do think that there is something. I mean, first off, there's a lot to be said about the person who's taking it seriously. The straight man. Right.

It's like the kid who's not trying to be funny is always the funniest. Oh, yeah, I'm brilliant. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. I love it. Yeah, I'm really good. No, I'm kidding. You have three kids? Oh, my God.

I have three kids, man. I got three kids. I have three goldfish and a little dog, and sometimes I'm like, I got to fucking feed them again. Like, what is going on? I can't imagine having three little humans running around. You learn that life is resilient. Every day. Life is very, you know, these kids, they tend to survive.

and we're so happy to have them here. Do you have any siblings? That I don't know. I have two older brothers. Oh, nice. So I have three boys. Oh, yeah. And you're from three boys.

But my older brother was like into like Judas Priest and Ozzy Osbourne and all that. So I grew up like loving heavy metal because he loved it. But then somehow I, I went to the blonde ambition tour when I was like 17. And that's when I was like, oh my God, I love this woman. But you had been like the last morning you had put on like metal. up your ass or something like that. Exactly, yes. Metallica.

So, like, you're listening to metal exclusively, like, not even the radio? Yeah, I was listening to the radio, but at home, you know, my brother would bring home. And he was cool. He was, like, your older brother. So, like, that music was, like, cool. And then I really did, you know, I really did appreciate it. I loved Ozzy Osbourne and Iron Maiden and all that stuff. But, of course, I listen to the radio.

I love Lisa Lisa. And, you know. Oh, yeah. We're going to talk about Lisa Lisa, the cult jam. Yeah. Some of the things that brought me personally to this song, and thank you again for choosing it. Because to our listeners, we sent him a couple of Madonna songs to choose from. And this is the one he sent back.

And I'll say, you know, as a fan of like what later became known as freestyle, like, this was really, this song like just sounds like a sound that to me never gets old the way that other genres get old. Yeah. You know. But we're going to get into all that. It sounds like you first fell in love with Madonna at a concert. Yes, yes, yes. It was a blonde ambition tour. And I had never seen her live.

I mean, she'd only done like one, two tours before that. What album is this for? This is for like a prayer. Okay. Yeah. Oh, wow. And so I saw, and that, you know, that was her first tour. It was, she was like the first artist that sort of had a, you know, made every, every song was like a theatrical piece on stage.

And then, you know, here comes like a virgin. and she, you know, rises up out of the floor on a bed and masturbates at the end. And it was like nothing I had ever seen before on stage. You're with your family watching this? I was with, like, two friends. So, yeah. So it wasn't, like, cringy with the mom there.

No, yeah. My parents would have been cool, though. My parents took us to see, like, the exorcist in the movie theater and lipstick. Do you remember that movie lipstick about a woman that gets raped? My parents didn't get it about it. Well, you were growing up in New York City proper? Like, you got cool New York parents. Yeah, and they also didn't speak English.

They were like, oh, cool. They don't necessarily know what's happening. We were just traumatized. They didn't know a rated arm. Yeah. Really good. No. Offer really solid.

What neighborhood? Washington Heights. Washington Heights. Yeah, yeah. Manhattan. Yep. In the Heights. Gosh, I want to get into all this so much.

But can I ask you real quick? What stood out about Madonna to you, that first time he saw? I think, I think the fact that. she didn't give a fuck about anything and she was like just willing to take these risks that were you know just so over the top and so provocative and sexual like she wasn't afraid of being sexual and then she was like and i'm and i freaking read you know you know 100 books a year like she's super intelligent she's just not you know um so there was like thought behind everything she did and of course you know for growing up as a gay man like

I don't know, she just became like that middle finger that was like, you're, you know, just your typical heteronormative, whatever bullshit. Yeah. And she just became like a, you know, like a hero, like an icon who was out there speaking out for us. And, you know, she was the first one that spoke out, you know, about gay rights and AIDS and, you know, practicing safe sex and all that stuff. I mean, like, I will say definitely she came with a political component that, I didn't see from many of the other.

Like, I don't know if this is the current pantheon, but like when I thought about the 80s then and like in the 90s and 2000, I always thought there were three. There was Michael Jackson. There was Prince and there was Madonna. And they're all born in 1958. No way, really? Yeah, I've always think of them as connected with them.

What was in the water? Probably radiation. Probably some atomic falloff. Can we please bubble wrap Madonna? We cannot lose the third. You need to protect her. Crazy, yeah. She made it longer than those guys.

But you're right. Like I think about Michael, I think about Prince, I love their music, but like, Madonna, like for the time that she was doing, you know, videos where she was kissing Jesus to, you know, even even before I really even knew what LGBT was back then. Like, I was like, oh, her friends seem to run the whole rainbow. I probably didn't even think it turns of rain, but like it was very obvious. Like she was friends with her dancers. Yeah. They were in the videos.

and it was a different vibe. And you're right, out of the three of them, Prince was obviously very sexual. And he has, am I black or white, am I straight or gay? Every now and then there's some lyrics that are like, but she was,

even that's early on. Like, that's pretty purple rain prince. I was going to say, I think definitely Madonna kind of held her own in terms of like being very explicitly like, this is important. Gay people matter.

A million versions of like using her platform for like spreading the word of diversity and just like anti-hedo-normativeness. And in truth or dare is the first time we saw two men make out on the, the big screen. That was such a big deal. That was huge.

Crazy to think about how big a deal. Being a teenager, knowing I was gay and not out of the closet, seeing that, it was like, okay, I'm okay. I'm going to be okay. I was going to ask you to 17. You were probably, you were not. Oh, yeah. No, I didn't come out until I was like 27.

It was the fucking 80s of Washington Heights. I wasn't like, I'm out, you guys. But this planted a seed for you of like representation. Exactly. Yeah. It was all about, you know, hiding. who you were and you couldn't be yourself. But anyway, so seeing those two, you know,

Gabriel and Slam make out on the big screen. In a Madonna documentary, not mockumentary, a documentary was like exhilarating, you know. Who are Gabriel Slam? There are two of the dancers. They're the two dancers that made out in the film. And they were dating during the time of the tour.

And they were both HIV positive, which no one knew. Gabriel, Slam, and Carlton. They're super open about it now. But they were all, they had just found out they were HIV positive. We know, but I want to let the audience know that you have a tattoo of Madonna. That is super cool. But I have to ask, what is the most extreme thing you've done for your love?

For Madonna. I not only have one tattoo, I have like nine Madonna tattoos. I've gotten more. When did you get the first one? When did I get it? It was like eight years ago. Ten years ago, maybe it wasn't that long ago. It wasn't right after the Blind Ambition Tour.

It wasn't right after the Blind Ambition Tour, no. But then I have another portrait of her on my chest. He's actually taking up his pose. You can't see it because it's not crazy. No, people on YouTube can see. We're watching all of that. Oh, I guess I should take it off. People on YouTube can see.

Make a choice. Make a choice. Off or on. I used to work at a photo stock agency in New York City. And I used to file pictures of celebrities. So session photographers and paparazzi would come and bring their slides, and it was all on slides. And anyway, so I would file all the pictures, you know, in the appropriate files.

And they all knew I loved Madonna. And one of the photographers, Steve Eichner, I still remember his name, was like, hey, I'm shooting the girly show tomorrow. Do you want to come with me? And I'll say you're my assistant. And you'll be in the pit. So the photographers get to go in the pit, which is right there in front of the stage for three songs. and then they leave. But they, you know, they're photographing her.

And I was like, uh, yeah. And he brought me, and there I was, like, cut to me in the pit with it. And he gave me a camera because he was like, just act like you're taking pictures because I wasn't a... You don't know. They can't tell you really are. But as I'm taking pictures, I kept just putting the camera down and going, My daughter! I love you!

And people were like... The other photographers are like, this guy's not professional. This photographer really loves Madonna. And I got some... photos back and I have this one amazing photo that somehow, you know, I took one really good one and it's up in my wall. You beat all the professional photographer. Yeah, right? Yeah, yeah. So that's there was love. There was love in your clicks. You know, there was a certain sort of like, I get this. There was love in my clicks. Yeah. And you've seen almost every tour of hers, right?

I have. The only two I haven't seen are the Virgin tour and the Who's That Girl tour. Really? I've seen every other tour. The current tour. She's on the current tour, the name of which. Celebrate. Celebration tour. Celebration tour. Has it come to LA yet? Not yet. It'll be here in March. In March?

I'm going in March. I think we all should go. Right? Let's go. How much fun. I actually hear. Can we get to us? Can we get to us?

In the photo. In the photo booths. Now, we asked you what song you wanted to talk about on today's show. And you chose into the groove. Good choice. I'm just curious of everything in the Madonna catalog. What do you love about this song? What does it mean to you?

Honestly, I've been obsessed with desperately seeking Susan lately because it's on Tooby Shout out to Tooby. Shout out to Tooby. If you want to talk about extreme and fandom, we're talking Tooby. Come on Tooby. Come on, Tooby. So I've been watching that movie like almost every week. It's one of those movies, too. I love it.

It's a really good movie, but then it's a really feel... I don't know why it makes me feel good. Maybe it's New York City and the 80s. It's familiar and it's Matana. Go ahead. No, sorry. You please. I was just going to say there. Stephen Wright is in it. who plays the guy on the couch in half-baked. He's a dentist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This little movie called Half-Bake that I did. But yeah, and then, you know, this song is just so, it's so New York, it's so disco, it's just so vibey, it's so good.

And another, this song also has this funny story for me because you guys aren't from New York, right? We both live there, though. You both live there. Do you remember the Robin Bird Show? Yes. Of course. On Access, the sort of pseudo-porn interview. It was like a porn. Like she's sort of...

She's in her 50s or 60s or 80s, who knows. And she's sort of taking it off. Yeah, after like 1 o'clock in the morning, you could see this show on public access. And, you know, as a young, horny teenager, I would watch it. And she would have female dancers come out and strip. And then she'd have male guys come out and strip. And I remember there... And I used to record when the male guys would come out and...

But this one guy, the first guy I recorded, danced... you into the groove. So whenever I hear it in her brain, the song is seared in my head. I mean, other things too, but that very specifically, I think of this guy coming out and, you know. Can you say shaking?

You can say all of that. Please. Say all the words. Say every word. We're hoping that they sue us. It's more publicity. I hope so, right? Hell yeah.

That's so interesting because it plays into what we were saying about Madonna and the sexuality thing. There's something really critical. She was representation, not just for all. the not just for gay and lesbian. Like this is representation for sexuality as being okay. Yeah. Because we've had a little bit of that maybe with Prince.

Like we mentioned a little David Bowie, but for the, I feel like Madonna coming out there. First of all, remember, she was in Playboy. It was a quote unquote scandal. But then she goes on stage at Live Aid and says, I ain't taking shit off today. Yeah. And she totally makes it, erases it.

Instead of it being a shameful thing. She's like, I got boobies. I'll show them again if you like. Yeah. And she did come out also and say, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of it.

I'm not ashamed of sexuality. Yeah. And she's doing that all while being named Madonna. Yeah. Coming from a very Catholic upbringing. Yeah. This whole juxtaposition where she's constantly like, playing with the version,

more dynamic literally, like on screen in these videos. That's so important for us as kids growing up to see and be like, sex isn't just bad. It can be good. But also, I think that, like, let's be honest, she's also white. And so her fan base, like, she had Middle America on lock with, like, the fingerless gloves. and like the whole 80s.

Like, you know, like, she had them. Like, she was, you know, they were there. And then all of a sudden she's like, Bengals, remember the bangles? Absolutely. And the bracelets and necklaces. Oh, yeah. Lucky Star era.

They had forgiven her for taking the name of Jesus' mom. Maybe they are. And then she's like, oh, okay, so you're listening. All right. Here I come with like, you know, these controversial videos. I mean, like, just, I remember how big it was that Jesus was black in her video. That's right. You all remember that?

Is that the like a prayer video? Well, first of all, he was a, he was a, he was a, saint. It wasn't Jesus. It wasn't Jesus. Well, it looked like. He thought it was. But he was black and she makes out with him. And he's supposed to represent the black man that's being persecuted because he's black and they assumed

he committed a crime. I think I was too young to get all that. Wow, Madonna's kissing Jesus. Which by the way would be like an incest, too. So it's just she was always pushing to blackness. Did you ever think of that? I never thought about it. I just said Madonna kisses Jesus. But also, I used to think

that Madonna was a made-up name that she made up for the stage. It's not. It's her mom's name. That was her mother's name was Madonna and they named her Madonna and I think a lot of people thought that she just, you know, chose that name. It can't possibly be a real name, right? It doesn't seem like a real name. Yeah, yeah, it doesn't. But it was what they called

her. You know, up until you just said that I think I've always thought it was a made-up name. And I'll never forget the first time that we as as kids came to school and kids were talking about Madonna and I remember this girl was like, it's real messed up that she took, you know, the Lord and Savior's mother's name like that. And you just forget the certain things that we just accept now. Yeah. They were

big deals back. Yeah. You know. Yeah. And then she named her daughter Lourdes. Right. Which is also another biblical. Isn't that another biblical name? I think it is or it's a place or it's, I don't know. Kim. It feels like it's in that word cloud of like stigmata and like the sort of like the pieta, like sort of agony. Yeah. Agony of Christianity. I don't know. Yes. And now Madonna's daughter has chosen the stage name Lola Hole as her stage. Okay. And what does that mean? Whole as a... We will find out. Showing hole. By the end of the hour. But she's amazing.

All right. Before we go any further, Guillermo, I just want to say on this show, we go really deep into the song that we discuss and we'll be playing you the isolated stems so that you can even hear Madonna's vocals with no baggage track. But before we get there, luxury, I know you want to help set the stage. Yeah, we're going to set the stage a little bit, a little bit of history. before we get into the specific moment. That's one of the fun parts of the show is that we are, because it's one song,

it's also one moment, it's one era. And Madonna, as we've sort of been alluding to, jumping around historically, she wonderfully has had so many eras. Like, let's steal that word back from Taylor Swift. Like Madonna has this song, exactly, right? Madonna is the true queen of pop.

And this era for her, I mean, let's talk about it. To me, I think about, I mean, first of all, she's at University of Ann Arbor, is that right, in the 70s? And she starts smooth to New York. York and she starts being in bands, which are kind of punk-e bands, or kind of rock punk bands. So she said she wanted to be a part of Bowie's scene, didn't she? Okay, is that right? I feel like I read that. He was a huge inspiration. Yeah. Yeah, David Bowie. That makes so much

sense because what she's doing is she's an artist, a dancer, and a musician. And the musician is arguably just kind of one of the things she is. Like pop music is a vehicle to express, as we've just been discussing. What do we think about? All of these things about Madonna and sexuality, music is a means of expression for that. So she comes to, New York. She is in a band called, I think the first one was the Breakfast Club. That's right. Oh, man, that is like an 80s explosion. Right?

That name. That name is so 80. Is that before the movie? It was before the movie, yeah. Did it inspire the movie? Do we know? I don't know. I don't think so. It's just kind of a thing people say at the Breakfast Club. Then she's in Emmy and the Emmys. Oh, that's right. I don't know much about these bands. It's hard to find the actual recordings, but she hasn't gotten into

synth pop yet, which is the next era. And in my mind, this song into the groove is kind of a little bit the end of the synth pop era in the beginning of the next one. But we'll get into that when we get into the music. A little more about the history. So she's in these bands. She's going to dance a teria. She's becoming a queen of the nightlife. She's meeting everybody. And actually one of the and she's, by the way, importantly, meeting all these DJs and underground producers, which becomes a through line for her whole career. Because she's always attuned to what the next

trend is and which DJ is spinning it. So she's bringing in the jelly beans. Later in life, it's the Shep Bedabones and the Steward Price's and the Nellie Hooper's. She's always like making pop music with who was the coolest underground music. But at Danceateria, she's friends with Mark Kamens. Is that how we pronounce it? And between that connection and one with Stephen Bray, who goes back to her college days, actually. And apparently they moved to New York together.

And I think they're in a band in the breakfast club. Right. So Stephen Bray is an important part of the story because he is the co-writer of Into the Groove. So we're going to get into some of the work he did when we listened to the stems. I just want to finish giving Stephen Bray his flowers because out of all of his collaborators, he's maybe one of the lesser known, I would say, but he's incredibly important.

Obviously, huge Madonna fans know exactly who he is, but for those who don't know, as I mentioned, he came to New York with Madonna, was in the Breakfast Club, one of their first bands, Emmy and the Emmys. They were in both of those bands together. And he co-wrote actually half of like a virgin. You know, people think of, I think of that album as like,

Nile Rogers' album. Like a prayer, you mean? Or like a virgin? No, like a virgin. Like a virgin. Yeah. He co-wrote half of the songs, and he also co-wrote Express Yourself, which is arguably, it might be my favorite Madonna song after.

So good. It's such a good song. I was listening back to it. I was like, I forgot how, I don't know why, that song really hits me kind of in a similar way to this one. He co-wrote that one. He co-wrote Angel. He co-wrote True Blue. And now he continues to be a musician, but he actually just got a Grammy Award for being the composer

and lyricist for the version of the color purple on Broadway. Stephen Bray, I, I, met him one time. Oh, you did. I used to work for a guy named John Lynn, uh, at Hollywood Records. And John Lynn actually wrote Live to Tell for Madonna. Which is like one of her first, such a good song. Yeah, such a good song and such an early ballad. Shout out to John. Unfortunately, I think he passed away about two or three years ago. I didn't really keep

a touch with him, but, but him and Stephen Bray, I feel like they were all part of that, you know, songwriter collective. We're going to go back. We're going to now land in July 1985. It's, it's into the groove time, y'all. And this song, actually is released two days after Live Aid where it was performed. I didn't really realize that, which means that it wasn't necessarily very widely known by people when she played it. It's a really fun version that they play at Live Aid. But the story behind it, which is really kind of crazy, is that it was kind of an afterthought, desperately seeking Susan, this amazing movie, which we need to talk more about for all the reasons.

We alluded to a little bit. It's New York. It's the mid-80s. It's club culture. They needed a song for that scene that we were just talking about in Danciteria. So when the husband goes to the club to meet Madonna, I don't want to ruin the movie, but like, go out and see it. It's a really fun movie.

You've had 40 years to see it. It's not time to see it. It's true. Maybe it's time to ruin it. Let's ruin it right now for everybody. You don't deserve to know what this movie's about if you haven't seen it. So Madonna has a demo, which she had written with this Mark Kamens, and it was intended for this artist named Shane.

Now, Shane is at the time, a 15-year-old, and when you read now with 2023 eyes, a 15-year-old protege. of Mark Kamens, you're like, why does this man have a 15-year-old project? So no shade, but like, that's a little bit, you know, you know, I'm sure everything was on the level. But Shane actually went on to have a couple of hit songs, including this one. This is Call Me Mr. Telephone, which went to number one on the dance charts in 1985 and listen to her voice because when I heard it, I was like, oh.

Just listen when the vocals come in. A little bit to me. It's got... Sounds like Madonna. Madonna vocal similarity, right? but this is a 15-year-old black girl. So Mark Kamens is not happy that the song is given away and later goes on to say that he's pissed in quotes.

That's a big 80s thing to say. I feel bad that there's this whole trade of music where a young black woman does something and reaps no benefit. Absolutely no benefit. Well, she got a number one on that song, but she didn't get into the groove, which was intended for her.

Oh, yeah, well, by the way, I love that song because in a weird way, it clearly shares some DNA with Into the Groove and that. I feel like I'm in 1980. New York. Absolutely. Like there was such a cool merger of like this dance music with like clearly a hip hop sensibility on that song more than into the groove obviously.

But like it's just you can hear you can I just imagine this club where like some people dressed like Madonna. Some people were like early B boys in the bad by Freddie since like you know. There was like a merger of cultures there. Like in the movie there's a lot of like goth. I forgot that that was like a big part of it. A lot of mohawks and a lot of like Robert Smith kind of stuff. That's the one part where I'm always like, does that really happen?

because anytime you look at an old 80s movie, the bad guys that street tests are always dressed like punks. And you're always like, they always are usually like the nicest people you can meet. That's true. But according to 80s movies, those are like the people who will stab you and rob you. Stay away.

It's always the punks. And yet we know from our friends who are gotts, like they're sweet and sad and kind and lying. Not out to hurt anybody. But to your point about her being robbed, you know who else was robbed? Madonna was robbed. This song was not a number one single,

and it should have been because of just the race. randomness of how it came out. In the United States, it was robbed of it being a number one because the record label had two big songs already out and they didn't want to interfere with the chart success. Right. And they didn't know, they didn't release it because they put it as the B side of Angel. Yeah. Oh, wow. That's what I'm saying. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It wasn't eligible for charting because of that. It goes to number one in the UK and doesn't other countries, but in the U.S. It never gets the love it deserves on on the radio and number, number, number. I've always felt like this is probably my favorite 80s Madonna song, hands down. Really? And hands down. And I had no idea it was the chart success until we were researching this episode. I mean, like, to know that it is to this date her biggest single ever in the UK. Yeah, I didn't know that.

And that is really wild stuff. But like as a DJ, I will say up until just about 10 years ago, you could still play this pretty much near the peak of the night and get a huge crowd. Nowadays, this is officially the music. Like, Gen Alpha, this is their grandmas. Right, right. You know what I mean? I get it. But like, there's something about those punchy synths synthesizers in it.

That beat is outstanding. And that's why we're going to play some stems from it. Yeah, absolutely. Just one more little thing. I looked it up. So the songs that were in the top 10 already were material girl and crazy for you. So it kind of makes sense that Sire Records is like, we're saturating the airwaves. It's not like the Beatles in the 60s anymore.

We got to like take this. Nowadays, they would totally release it. Like, nowadays, I feel like Taylor can have like eight songs in the top of it. Like, they don't feel like one is aping, you know, pulling off of, because people aren't spending their $5 at the record store. But this song is so special because in spite of all of these, like, impediments to being heard by the public, it not being released as a single, it not being eligible. It wasn't even on the desperately seeking Susan soundtrack, which is insane.

Totally insane. It still has survived all these years to be, as we're saying, to be one of the best known and best love songs in Madonna's huge catalog. That's so weird. It's crazy, right? It's like Vogue. I never knew that Vogue is on the breathless. I'm breathless soundtrack. The Dick Tracy soundtrack. That is crazy. I used to think it was on the like a prayer album. I just assumed it was. But it's another like huge song that people love and it's just sort of randomly released. Which just makes it harder to buy an access. You can only imagine how much bigger it would have been had it been like.

So I guess on later releases of like a Virgin, they added it after the fact. talk about anyway. Oh, they did? Yeah. Oh, interesting. I just feel bad for the Desperly Seekin's Susan soundtrack. Right? I know. Like the ones. It's like they showed up with all those other songs. Nobody was buying it for leaving Atlantic City. Yeah. You bought this soundtrack. You're like, wait a second. I don't want to listen to this. It's important to remember that Madonna was cast for Desperately Seeking Susan when she was a star but not a global mega star. And what happens is they use this song. It's in the movie. Madonna's present. in the movie. All of it leads to, I found this great quote where Rosanna Arquette turned out to be

really unhappy about the evolution of Madonna's super stardom as shooting is ongoing. She goes, it was completely unfair. As soon as Madonna came into the picture, the script was changed to suit her. I told them that if Susan was going to be nothing more than a two-hour rock video, spotlighting Madonna, well, I didn't want to be a part of it. A disco dance movie isn't what I cite on to do. However, I couldn't get out of it. She's so wrong. I love Rosanne Arquette, but she's so wrong. I don't think it's that at all. I think Rosanna Arquette shines in the movie. She's amazing in the movie.

It's all about her re-emerging as this woman finding herself and wanting to give up being a housewife. Yeah. Like I feel like she's with love. Yeah, Madonna's great in it. But I still think Roseanne Arquette really shines. She's the star. Yeah. After the break, you will hear Madonna's untreated vocals.

You will hear a very punchy synth baseline. And we'll be getting deeper into the groove with Guillermo Diaz. Stay with us. Deeper and deeper. Deeper and deeper. Oh, by the way, I love that song.

Deeper and deeper is a great song. Stick around. We'll be right back. All right, luxury, I'm so excited to hear these stims. Our guest,

Mr. Diaz, he is excited. Oh, yeah, kind of. Fair, that's a fair answer. He's only being timidly excited

because we don't want to step on your toes. Oh, there's no toes to step on here. Well, you know what you got for us. So please stay away from the white. Those are very clean.

Very clean. And the pineapple socks killing it. Oh, Thanks for noticing my thoughts. We're so excited to hear these stems. What are you got for us? I mean, what's cool about these stems?

It kind of reminds me, we did an episode, Let's Go Crazy by Prince. Something very similar that emerges is how low-fi this song is. It's really crazy. It was recorded on an eight-track taskam, like a home recording equipment. It was recorded. The vocals were recorded. You know how like if somebody gives you a microphone on stage,

like even at a high school, like at a grammar, you know, fifth grade concert? It's going to be a sure SM-58. It's a $99 microphone. phone. It's kind of crazy that that was the process behind it. And this is the huge global pop sensation 40 years later song that we all still love. It's such a lo-fi song. And again, with the prince analogy, because when we listen to Let's Go Crazy, that song was similarly recorded not in a big fancy studio with million dollar equipment. So that's the first thing I just

want to say before we get into it, because what you're going to hear may shock you. What stems are you playing for us first? Let's start with the beats. And one more thing to say, is that, so this is again, Stephen Bray and Madonna co-wrote this song. I believe Stephen Bray is the programmer behind all these and performer of, this is all electronic. So it's all, I'll tell you, as we go one at a time, but all of the beats and all the synths are being generated from machines, arguably in his home studio, again, his A-track, very low-fi.

There's a second version, though, as we alluded to, which is arguably equally maybe more famous, which is the Shep Pettibone remix, and it is using the same elements. It adds some percussion, a piano solo. If we have time, we might get into that too. Let's start, though, with the original version. And let's start with the percussion. So I'll build it up from the hi-hats and gradually add things until you hear the whole beat. There's a tom there, clap hi-hats. And that's this lo-fi beat coming out of... So good. An Oberheim DMX. Now, on the internet, this is one of these songs that has like,

crazy rabbit holes you can go down to get lost on. I'll spare you all of that, but it's probably an Oberheim DMX. It might be a DX. We're not sure. All that matters, though, is that this is the same drum machine that we talked about on the New Order episode. So it's the same one that did Blue Monday. Yeah. Play da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da, maybe.

And it's also one of the ones we talked about with Jimmy Jam because he had been using it and was starting to switch over to the Lynn drum, which is the Prince drum machine. I'm surprised we're not hearing more Roland TR-808s. on this show. Because I always felt like that's the drum machine that took over the world. And yet, some of our favorite songs are this DMX or DX.

One of these days, you can debate it at home. We'll do the Planet Rock episode. We'll be definitely getting into that. It's okay, rock, rock. So those are the beats. Yeah, exactly. That's the one.

Don't stop. Do not stop. And now we get to the part that I, I know I'm the most excited about. Like, what is arguably the heartbeat of the song, the best part? Is this sick, sick, baseline?

That's in the bass. I want to hear you, reaction first. And then we'll talk a little bit about the details. So good. I have no idea what you guys were talking about all that. DX. The drum machine stuff, the music nerd production stuff. But as a listener and a lover of the music, it's

wild because you could hear just a tiny like a second of that and know it's into the groove. Do you know what I mean? So distinctive. I have a question. I don't know. What instrument is generating that? So this is, again, the rabbit hole thing. I am 88% sure from my research that it's a

Roland MKS 80, which which is basically a Jupiter 8th synth, but as a rock mount, it is known for being digitally harsh. If you listen to it again, I like the digital harshness. Right, the lo-fi thing that I was referring to. We heard it in the drums. You can hear this kind of like crunchiness a little bit. This is my favorite part of the song, I will admit.

This is the part. The heartbeat and the heart. Yes, as a DJ, like, you know, you try not to do too much with the trouble and the baseline or whatever, but whenever I would get to certain parts of the song, especially the bridge, like I would do everything I could on my mixer to isolate

this baseline because it is so and I never even really noticed the like at the end of this bar that's the weird little moment it feels very daft punk you know I know the dad punk is trying to go for the sound but like that harsh

that harsh synth lines like that it's very marauder it's very Georgian marauder in that moment with a doda da da da da da da da da I like how crunchy it sounds it's very crunchy That's a good daft punk connection too because you'll hear that a lot in the daft punk

is sort of an eight-bit crunchiness that they add as a filter, which at the time in the 80s is all they could do. It's so hard. I love it. It actually taps it to a part of my soul. We'll bring it back. But I just want to talk a little bit for a minute about like the baseline influences

because it is this electro-funk kind of boogie moment. We talked a little bit about this with Jimmy Jam too, right? Because they're programming synths these baselines, which means you can do things that are very hard for a bass player to do. In particular, those 16th notes, but no, no, no, no, don't, don't, don't do, and it's precise, and every note sounds exactly the same. And that's very gratifying to the human brain on the dance floor, especially, right? It's, you get into a groove, if you will.

That's both interesting and very sad, that we're falling in love with the part that it would be very hard for a human to do. Right. Yeah. It's like, let the robots play the music. Well, it very much evokes to me, do you remember this song by The System? You Are in My System? This is one of my favorites. One of my favorites.

They also did, Don't Disturb This Groves. groove. I'm sure you don't disturb this groove. Oh, yeah, of course. There's a way you say that I'm so into you. Oh my God. It's so good. Great song, right? Yes. But this song, you are in my system. Yeah. Not only a great song, but also on the

soundtrack to Grand Theft Auto by City. And so I used to steal cars and just be blasting. You are in my system. To this tune. Yes. But this baseline to me, it very much evokes this baseline, which is from 82, a few years earlier. Having GTA. So sick. The sickness of this. Or, Maybe even.

Wait, wait. Can I just say that? Yeah, yeah, please, please. That section you play it, I just want to see Eddie Murphy and his Axel Foley jacket running down the street about to tackle a dude. Doing something, right? There's something about that sound that's like screams 80s movie. The sound of that programmed synths with the 16th notes and it's funky and syncopated, it also shows up. And by the way, the same person programmed David Frank programmed this other song, which you all will recognize, called I Feel for You by Shaka Khan.

Oh. Right? So this little moment of like a 16th note run of melodic run that is like just carves its way into your like pleasure centers. Oh my God. Okay. I'll tell you what else no human can do. No human can bring up the name Shaka Khan without one of my aunts going Shaka Khan. Chuck Chachachshakhan.

Oh, totally. Apparently it's impossible. I think I'm one of your aunts because I can't hear that without doing that. That baseline connection is the one I wanted to make because this is sort of like the sound of the dance floor of the moment. And so it wouldn't surprise me if Madonna and Stephen were like, let's get some of this electro-funk. David Frank is the name of the programmer on both of the songs I just played you. Let's get some of that vibe in here. The bridge on I feel for you and the bridge on Into the Group by Madonna, both, I think, two of my absolute favorite bridges of all time.

The two bridges, ironically, that jump out to me from the 80s where I was always as a DJ trying to isolate either the bass on Into the Groove or that weird symphonic height. that that sound on I feel for you like those are two iconic bridges that just come in and they take your heart out molaram style we cannot help but have this we're going to end this rabbit hole any minute now I promise you but you just reminded me because we talk a lot about like riffs and melodies and stuff there's something about this baseline which crosses the bridge to me into like riff because a baseline is a sick bass line It's usually low, kind of you feel it in your body. But this one, because it's a little higher pitched maybe. I'm not really sure what it is.

It feels, it's one of those you take away from the song and hum it in your head kind of hooks. I mean, and there's 50 of them in the vocals that we're about to hear. We're going to move away from this baseline. Rabbit hole that we are stuck in. But it is a pleasure to be in here with you, Germud. It's so fun to watch you guys talk about music. You guys are so into it. I love it.

We're going to get deeper into it. We're going to talk about. So knowledgeable about it all. We love nerding out about this stuff, and it's a pleasure to do it with you. Hopefully you'll take some of it away and sort of nudge your friends next time and be like, that's an Oberheim DMX.

And they'll be like, wow, Gerey. And they'll be like, never invite Guillermo to anything ever again. They'll be like, just past that. Pass the blunt and shut up. What's the next stem that you got for us? All right, so let's move on to the synths. Not a lot going on in this song in terms of the number. There's no guitars.

We just have the beats you heard, that baseline. And then we have, there's three synths technically, but two of them are doing the same thing, just with different sounds. So the simplicity is another part of, I think, what makes the song successful. Because it gives Madonna and her melodies an opportunity to shine. But first, before we get to that, here is the iconic synth melody. Which is something you don't always notice, but you don't notice this. That's almost like Depeche Mode level. Like, here it comes.

That's in the song? Yeah. That's so trippy. to hear it isolated like that. Yeah, that first part, I've never even noticed before. I'll play for you in the mix. Here it comes. Yeah, this part.

The weird thing happens to hear it. Oh, in the background. You know what? You can hear it more prominently. I'm glad we're kind of backing up for a second. There's the demo version of this song that is far more hearable. And it's also what's used in the movie. Oh, really?

The version in the movie is not quite the version we all. And you'll recognize. Right? You can do. Wow. For inspiration. So good. Right?

It's so interesting. So they obviously decided to bury that a little more for like the commercially released version. So good. So good. I think I might actually like the demo version. I do too. It's like grittier, right? Yeah.

Raw. You can, you can almost smell the sweat on West 21st. Yes. All those gotts. Yeah. On that dancer dancing on the Robin Bird show. You can smell that sweat off. We were all sweaty on that show.

Where is that guy? Where is that guy? Don't you wonder that sometimes? Oh, man. They were all hell of sweaty on that show. Let's get back to the synths. There's only one more sound. There's one more stem?

There's only two more synth stems, but they are doing the same thing. One of them is a Juno 106 playing the chords like this. And you can dance. Yeah. And then we have an OB8, which doubles that. that's that's the one I hear and then together it sounds like this makes it much bigger

yeah you know what you don't really hear that higher pitch sense but you definitely appreciate it it just right it adds something to it yeah and we were talking with Jimmy Jam about this so cool right these sounds are the presets in these synths so at the time like you would buy a synth and you would just go to you know

42 or whatever the patch would be to find a sound and use it So these, to any, I have a Juno 106, and I recognize these sounds. They are what you get before you start tweaking it to make it sound sort of more original. So it's really funny to hear in the mix. And this huge hit song, they just used what, when they bought the machine, it came with. Okay, but before we play those vocal stems, I do have a question for you real quick. People say never beat your heroes. But you have met Madonna.

You have? Wait, I didn't know this. Yeah. Oh, my God. Our researchers have done their flawless fact check. Please. And you've met her. What was that like?

Tell all. And where was it? Tell us about that experience. You can tell us like moment by moment. It was like meeting the Madonna, the Jesus Christ's mother. It was it was exhilarating. Madonna Christ. Yeah.

So exciting. I did a show called Scandal and Portia de Rossi was on the show. Portia's married to Ellen's a generous. Ellen is a huge fan of the show. She knows that I'm a huge Madonna fan. She's had me on the show to show my tattoo. And she said when I have Madonna back on, I'm going to bring you on as the guest DJ. And she did.

I show up. You told DJ Tony to go home that day. Yeah, she's at going to kick rocks. Scram. And so I get there and she's like, come on, we're going to go watch Madonna rehearse. And there's me, Ellen and Ellen's mom in the audience. No, you know, before the audience was there and we watched Madonna do, you know,

she did Living for Love twice. And anyway, and then we started taping the show. And Ellen has me bring up this basket of Michigan State like, you know, blankets and good. and stuff because Madonna's daughter just started going to college there. And I walk up to Madonna and I say, look, I have you on my arm. And I show her my tattoo of her. And she's like, oh, and she hugs me and kisses me.

And then I get down on my knees and go down to her. And she has this look on her face like, yep, that's where you should be. That's accurate. But yeah, it was crazy. I still can't believe that that happened. That is insane. Did you get a picture or autograph? I mean, you're on the episode.

So there's video. I mean, it's on the internet. You know, you can Google it. I was shooting the show. I was shooting scandal in the middle of taping that. And the producers were so cool. They were like, we know you love Madonna, go tape it. But they had a driver there waiting for me.

And Ellen was like, stay after the show and I'm going to introduce you properly. And we can talk and hang out. And they were like, you got to get back to set. No. I had to leave. Yeah. Did you tell them that you were like. Yeah, I mean, they knew.

But at that point, I had already hugged her and kissed her and, you know. On stage, it was fine. Yeah. All right, luxury. Let's get back into it. We've denied the people long enough. We want to hear Madonna's voice. No more denying of the people.

No. So let's listen to the iconic vocal intro. And I know for some of you, because it certainly was for me, it's a bit of a surprise when you hear it isolated, what it sounds like. What she's saying. And you can dance for inspiration. There's not how much bleed there is.

Come on. That I'm waiting is so like. So sweet and fading out. But it was hard. I couldn't hear that for years. She's so demure. She's very demure. Yeah, that Madonna, just a little wallflower.

Yeah, shrinking violent. They're shrinking. But you can hear what I was mentioning about the SM58 microphone and there's like bleed. It's like this is probably intended to only ever be a demo. In fact, I read somewhere, in fact, I read actually on Stephen Bray's Instagram where he says when they told him that it was going to be a single and they needed to redo it. he told Madonna like let's let's go in and re-sing it. She's like, I'm not going to re-sing it.

Really? Yeah. So what we're getting is intended to have been a demo vocal, but there was no problem with it. It's what we've been hearing all this time. And sometimes when you can try and do things twice, it just isn't the same. No.

It's not the same. It ain't perfect, but when you try and get it perfect, it's just something loses something. You're trying too hard. Also, if the internet is to be trusted, she had a date after the song. So she was rushing to get out of the studio. Yeah, she was in a hurry.

So she was like, let's get, let's get through this. And it became her number one single of all time in the United Kingdom. Of course. Well, it sounds like from what I read, she wasn't crazy about it. And we talked about maybe the record label held it back. It sounds like I've also read where maybe she wasn't so crazy about it and didn't want to release it as a single either. Maybe these things were combined. But like, we all love.

She loves it now. She's done it like on almost every tour. It's such a hit. But I've never seen. I can honestly. don't think I've ever been to a Madonna concert. So when I heard that she's performing, no, don't leave. Okay, you know what?

I'm sorry, I was too honest. We tend to be vulnerable here. I don't think I've ever, I've seen her live, so to speak, but it was in a club setting. I was saying that she had a dance show around like 2010 or somewhere in there. And I went to a, not a live taping of that, but like, it was her and the dancers from that competition show. And so I've been in the same, when I worked to Jimmy Fallon, she came on the show. I've been in the same space as her. but I've never been to a Madonna

concert and when I heard that Into the Groove is a part of this current lineup, I'm a bad girl from Erotica, I was like, you know what? I just, I got to go out and see this because I do feel like she is an artist who I have followed for many, many, many, many years.

And whether it was the Ray of Light album or the music album, like she's always had you know, a single or two out there that I'm like, okay, all right. You know, I guess I'm a Madonna. Justify my love. What is the first songs to sort of activate a teenage me and think like, oh, I think I like my Spanish teacher.

Because Justify My Love is such a, it's such a filthy, sexy song. Yeah. Lenny Kravitz wrote it. Yeah, I believe it. Yeah. And it's got that, like a public enemy sample in it.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, is that the funky drummer? Is that the, it's one of the classic hip-hop. Yeah. No, it's not. It's a classic hip-hop sample that a lot of people have used. I think it's programmed.

to sound like funky drummer. So maybe it's a interpulation. I think it's an interpolation of funky drummer, but it's S-3 lines. Okay. But it is that hip-hop beat that so many people use. Yeah. Okay. So now it is time to hear Madonna's isolated vocals for the iconic chorus.

Get into the groove, boy, you've got to prove your love to get up on your feet. Yeah, step to the bee, boy, what will it be? And that is indeed a double. I started with it isolated one take and then we added a second one. I like the doubling. Could you play me one of my favorite lines from the song? Only when I'm dancing.

Can you play that one? Let's do it. Only when I'm dancing can I feel this free. At night I lock the doors where no one else can see. I'm tired of dancing here all by. Tonight I want to dance with someone. Now that is one of my absolute favorite lines. from a song from this era.

Before I get into what I like about that line, is there anything you can say about this line? Because I think it's one of the great lines in this song. So good. She kind of sounds like Minnie Mouse a little bit, right? Very helium. She's so cute. She had such a cute voice.

She was very young. Back again. Yeah. She was like 26, 27 at this point. Yeah, something like that. Wow. I didn't know she was already 26? Yeah, I mean, a little older.

Her pop stardom started a little later in life. Amazing. Yeah, yeah. That's just because of show how young the pop stars are now. Yeah. I feel like even anyway. Do you have a favorite line from this song you want to hear? I can, I can.

If I can't. Can I just say, the reason why this is my favorite line is because, you know, there's just something about like a woman, I guess, you know, at the time it felt like a girl. It felt like sort of like the two sides of a personality. Like she's belting out this song, but then she admits that she's basically shy. Like she has to close the door. She has to lock it. And she's dancing in a room by herself.

like, you know. Like Robin, dancing on my own, right? Yeah, a little bit. It's confessional, you know? And I always thought that that line was excellent just from a creating a character for the song. You know, I guess that's a shy girl, right? Yeah, she's essentially a shy girl who, you know, can't just be, she's not out there just being like, you know, an extrovert all the time. Well, she's locked the door and she's dancing all by herself.

And you've nailed the premise in terms of what she said about how she wrote the song, which is, She said when she was writing it, she was sitting in a fourth floor walk up on Avenue B, and there was a gorgeous Puerto Rican boy sitting across from me that I wanted to go out on a date with, and I wanted to get over with, but she was basically, she's too shy. So there is a shyness and wanting to communicate but being a little too reticent that perfectly translates into the song, as we've been saying, that we were joking about demureness and Wallflower, but that's accurately the character in the songs, I think. I love it. Do you have a favorite lyric?

I don't know. I don't know. that's fine it's that type of song too where like this is the first time that you guys are you know we're talking about the lyrics so specifically that i'm i'm like oh that's what she's saying you know because sometimes you love a song and you just keep hearing it for years and you don't really know what they're saying or what the lyrics are it just feels it just sounds and it brings up you know just happiness in you and um so it's funny i i wouldn't even know what line to tell you that's fine because i think you know sometimes you can overthink things and sort of rob them of what makes them viscerally fun.

Yes, yes. So we are fans of both people who've dissected every single thing. And people were like, hey, man, 30,000 feet is perfect, leave it alone. Yeah. I can tell you my favorite part, and I'll play it for you. It's the bridge section. It's actually got a doubling and a harmony part. So I'll play it for you first by itself, and then I'll add the double.

I want to hear two elements just by themselves and see what that sounds like. Okay. Consider it a live remix. I don't even know what that is, but I'm excited. Okay, so let's start with Madonna's Bridge, and I'll tell you a brief story about how I got made. Live out your fantasy here with me. Just let the music set you free. Touch my body, moving time.

Now I know you're mine. I love the lows. When the lows come in, those are. Let's listen to those isolated because that harmony is really nice. And you're right, she's going underneath. the lead instead of on top which often happens with harmonies. Especially with girls. Girls together.

Live out your fantasy here with me. Just let the music set you free. Touch my body. So cool. Is that all her? That's all her. That's just her. That's just her.

And you know, like we've dealt with other singers on the show where we're like, oh, that background you hear that's professional background singer so and so and so. But here, this is just Madonna. And you were saying that in your mind is ingrained This dancer on a late night public access show I can't hear these lower Madonna Because the image that sticks out to me Because the music video for this was just clips from the movie

Yes right You know The image that sticks out to me is like I think she like kind of puts up her arms like this And like rocks over me Like that to me Sexy underarms Sexy underarms

That kind of got burned into my soul I can't think about this bridge Can't think about this bridge without thinking like, oh, what's she doing? Yeah, this is also the movie. And I think this is part of the video, too, is when she's drying her underarms with a hand dryer in the bathroom. So it's very arm-upy, this movie, yeah.

The train station at the beginning, right? Yes, yes, yes, yes. I want to hear, could you play me the bridge with just the bass synth and her vocals? Just those two things? And that bass line is so sick, too. Dude, I just want to hear Madonna, baseline, live remix happening right now

on one song I'll even give you the baseline isolated first just for the satisfaction of that and then we'll add the vocals on the vocals. That's what I'm going to do. Live remix. That's what I'm going to do. And just a quick story about this part by the way, Stephen Bray had written a section that wasn't working.

So when Madonna came in to sing, he had a melody in mind and it just wasn't working. It wasn't connecting. So on the spot Madonna came up with the melody and lyric, that whole thing that we just heard. She just had came up with on the spot to sort of solve the musical problem. That's the genius that she is.

She's going places. She's going places. Watch her. That is some sugary perfection right there. Sugar is a really weird. How do you feel about that? I love it. I love it.

I kind of want to go dancing right now. It's so good. I feel like that's all I keep saying. It's so good. I love it. It's great. This baseline, the whole song, it's got like three or four different ideas.

They're all very propulsive. And they move. the song forward. They're bouncing and they're propulsive. It's really the heartbeat of the song and just sort of the pulse that kind of guides you through the entire thing. And they're also melodically satisfying. Like it's, that's another, this

baseline I just played for you. It's like, I love just listening to that by itself. It's almost like its own little melody. It is. It's a really genius work by Stephen Bray. Genius work. As we talked about, into the groove from Desperately Seeking Susan,

It represents Madonna's first major role. What are some of your favorite Madonna acting performances? Do you have some? Yeah, she did a movie called Dangerous Game. What year is that? That was 90s, like mid-90s, with Harvey Keitel. Oh, man. And, yeah, it's like one of the best performances, in my opinion.

Well, without any major, she's the killer. Without any major spoilers, what happens in Dangerous Game? She plays an actress in the movie. And so it's a sort of, it's kind of like they're documenting the rehearsal process. And then the filming of this movie in the movie. And the man that plays opposite Madonna is on drugs while he's doing the movie while he's, you know, off set. And then he becomes super abusive in the fake movie. It's just, it's a, it's a wonder if you haven't seen.

It's on Tooby as well. Dangerous game. So your favorite, your top three Madonna albums. Can you name them? Oh, yeah. Erotica. Okay. Number one for sure.

Like a prayer. Yeah. Oh, man, this is hard. And confessions on the dance floor. What year is that? My top three. What year's confessions? Is that 2005?

Yeah. So early 2000 mid, a little. Is that the one that hung up? Stuart Price. Yes. Yes. Yes. Hung up on you.

Yeah. And jump. It's got jump, which is an amazing track as well. Get ready to jump. Oh my gosh. It's on the Devil Wars Prada soundtrack. Yeah. Confessions is a dope album.

And it was also an amazing tour. Sorry. It was an amazing tour? No, I mean, you know, here's my thing. I loved music. I thought that was such a cool track. Yes, me too. And I feel like it didn't do like what I thought it was going to do.

I thought it was really going to mainstream. Like a craft. work, Madonna, like kind of collab is what it's like. Yeah, totally. It just felt like she had been listening what was happening in dance music. And for a long time, like, she kind of steered clear of like full on dance album. But I feel like with that one, like she sort of came in, it's a very danceable record. With music. Yeah. Yeah. And she has Don't Tell Me to Stop and that. And that album, which, which is amazing, which I think was written by her brother-in-law, Joe Henry, who wrote the song. Is that one with the acoustic kind of thing that starts? and stops at the beginning. Yeah, it was her cowboy era. Yeah, that's right. Well,

even in Ray of Light, she looked a little more cowboy. Yeah. Ray of Light, by the way. Oh, that might be my favorite. Single. Might be my favorite song.

That's your favorite? It might be expressed yourself Ray of Light into the group. And this whole conversation is like, I have a big battle in my head about the best Madonna is raging right now because it's so good.

Yeah, that was her, I mean, I don't want to say comeback, but she had, she had her kid. She had just had Lola Lourdes. And this was her album

right after she, you know. That's true because there was a break from like, erotic. You know, like the deeper and deeper vogue. Yes. And then Ray of Light was like a big shining moment. By the way, I have to say, before I ever was obviously old enough to go out, the music video for deeper and deeper, I was convinced to like to be able to go out to nightclubs in New York was like the most fun thing you could ever do. Yeah. Like it just looked like they were having the greatest time. It's a great house track. I mean, like, I don't know if people ever mix it into house sets. I've never heard it.

But, like, it's just a great early house track, you know? And it's such a good video. Such a good video, right? There's so many iconic, like, people in it. People in that Hollywood lawn and Udo Kier. And part of what I love about Madonna is that she represents this New York nightline undergroundness. Yeah. Which we talked a little bit before the show started, but, like, I have such a fantasy about living in other eras.

And so many of them are New York's factory era, but also New York in the CBGB era, but also New York in the 80s. Also, New York in the 90s, the Club Kid era. And Madonna has kind of a through line or connections, I should say, to so many of these things. She really represents that New York underground thing. She really does. Even with all the artists, with, you know, Jamisho Baskillard and Keith Herring and, you know, Julian Schnabel, all those people. But it's kind of like we've been saying, she's an artist first, and music is one of the many avenues. She's telling a story.

She's political. It's visual. It's, you know, representing ideas. and it's also music and it's also dancing. She's really put this package together. So it makes sense, as you guys were saying, about the Bowie Connection. Like, of course it's a Bowie connection.

Oh, yeah. That's also a Bowie. And he was such a performer, too, such a, right, a character-driven artist because he would go on stage and create characters. I think he's probably one of the first, you know, artists that did drag on stage, right? As one of, as a, you know, he was a musical.

I mean, he was already, like, pretty established, right? Aladdin scene. I mean, like, yeah. So many of these characters. And then the last question, if you were directing a Madonna biopic, we hear the studio, we're saying, Guillermo, you can direct it. Who plays Madonna? That's a really good question. Lourdes.

Lordezley and her daughter. Yeah. Her daughter. That's actually good. That's actually good answer. It's like ice cream. It's like I can't imagine anyone else worthy to play Madonna. I know they, she actually cast someone for the biopoeia.

pick. It's the woman, the girl from Ozark, the lead, the blonde. She was in Inventing Anna, the lead in inventing Anna. Julia Garner. Yeah, is that? Yeah, she's the one who has the curly hair. Yeah, yeah, Madonna cast her to play Madonna, yeah. That's perfect. Every now and then you're just like, thank God that person

became famous because you were already reminding me of a young Madonna. Is there anything... Totally for the biopic. Is there anything about Madonna that you have not shared today that you would like to share with us before we go? Hmm. No.

I know. I have to think about that one. Yeah. There's, I mean, I don't know. Just like I'm so disgustingly in love with her. But I think everyone knows that already. Do you know what I mean? But as a fan, what would you like to see her do next to tackle next?

Oh, man. I really, I really would love to see her act again, to see her in a movie. But she said she's, she's, she's, said it in the press. She's done with acting. She's just going to do music. But, you know, she said she's not going to do stuff before and then she's done it. So it's like a character dying on a soap opera. You're like, the writers can figure out a way for their evil twin to come to town. Exactly. Exactly. Is share really done with touring? No, she's not. Yeah. I love that. I love that. Well, thank you so much. This has been such a fun, fun episode with you.

Luxury, help me in this thing. All right. Well, I'm producer, DJ and songwriters. Luxury. I'm actor, writer, director, and sometimes DJ Diallo Riddle. And this is One Song. We'll see you next time. Bye-bye. Welcome to One Song. It's a podcast that I host with my friend Diallo Riddle. My name's luxury. And today we have a guest. His name is Guillermo Diaz. Here we go. Get into the groove. Boy, you've got to prove. Okay, I'm going to stop.