Madonna's "Everybody" Came Out 30 Years Ago Today

"Everybody"  By Madonna Was released on April 24, 1982 by Sire Records as her debut single. Madonna had recorded a demo of the song with Steve Bray. She urged DJ Mark Kamins, who played at her dance club, to play it. He was impressed by the song and took her to Sire Records, who signed her for a two song deal. However, after the recording of the two singles were over, Sire executive Michael Rosenblatt was not impressed with the production of the other song and decided to release only "Everybody".

Musically incorporating R&B infused beats, the song portrayed the image of Madonna as a black artist, since her picture did not appear on the single cover. However this misconception was cleared later when Madonna convinced Sire executives to allow her to shoot a music video for the song. The low-budget music video directed by Ed Steinberg portrayed Madonna and her friends singing and dancing in a club to the song. The video helped to promote the song and Madonna as an artist further.

Critically the song did not receive any acclaim and failed to enter the official Billboard Hot 100 chart, but charted on its dance charts. The song helped Madonna achieve her first photograph in a dance magazine and getting nominated for the song's sales. She has performed the song in a number of live appearances. It was performed as the final song for The Girlie Show World Tour and was one of the songs performed by Madonna at the 2006 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The song was included in a remixed form on Madonna's 1987 remix album, You Can Dance, and on the deluxe edition of her 2009 compilation album, Celebration.