On July 23 1985, Into The Groove was released as a single in the UK.
Not wanting to draw more attention away from the Like A Virgin album following the release of the soundtrack hit Crazy For You, Sire/Warner notoriously relegated Into The Groove to the b-side of the Angel 12″ single in North America & Australia, although they eventually ceded to issuing it as an A-side in most other international territories.
Into The Groove was written & produced by Madonna & Stephen Bray and was their first released co-production to not be reworked by an outside producer (the pair had already been producing their own demos for years). The original demo version was used over the closing credits of Desperately Seeking Susan (seemingly dubbed from an actual cassette copy of the demo–granted, DAT’s were still a few years away), and although the commercially released mix featured a slightly beefed-up and more polished-sounding musical backing track, it kept Madonna’s original demo vocals intact.
In the UK, and throughout most of Europe, the single was backed by the Madonna-penned ballad Shoo-Bee-Doo, while the original album version of Everybody (another song credited to her alone) rounded out the 12″ single…it would be fair to assume that Madonna likely earned some of the biggest single-generated songwriting royalty cheques of her career thus far with this release. It’s interesting to note that despite being one of Madonna’s most enduring dance floor classics, no remixes were produced for Into The Groove at the time of its release. It wasn’t until 1987’s You Can Dance remix compilation that the song finally received an official extended remix treatment.
Oh boy the into the groove debacle good job Warner bros for throwing away the number one record of the year for angel smart move. Sorry I’m counting it as her 13th number one. The record was huge beyond belief up there with Vogue prayer and virgin. Madonna was one of a few acts who didn’t even have to over promote some of her records because they were that huge. The demand for groove was off the charts and it remains as one of her best. For inspiration
Agreed multiple times!
Into the Groove-still the best and my favorite Madonna dance track!
Into The Groove — one of my all-time favorite Madonna songs.
ITG remains my favorite Madonna track of all time. WB in the U.S. blew it on this one! Angel would have done just fine as a single, but ITG was MASSIVE even without single sales. I believe it was the #1 most requested song of the summer 1985. Correct me if I’m wrong
No correction needed. It was the song of the summer and probably would have went to number one as long as like a virgin
Crazy for you and into the groove
great songs that elucidate her versatility as an artist