Although I never owned a Madonna album back in the day, I was aware of how popular she was.  Sure, Michael Jackson was steamrolling all charts, but Madonna was a constant presence both in and out of the record stores. Shops that didn’t sell records had her posters and mannequins dressed in her particular style.

I was more of a Cyndi Lauper person, but I understand she never quite has the reach Madonna had. Still, true colours and time after time were staples of mixtapes, at least on my behalf.

I spent elementary school and junior high school in boys only schools, so if you mentioned you liked Lauper or Madonna, you’d get a barrage of homophobic comments for the rest of your time there. The nuns apparently were ok with this. Still, I didn’t care much for their opinions, I can’t control what people think of me, only how I react to it.

Into the groove is a perfect gateway track into Madonna’s discography. The infectious beat, her vocals, and the crisp production keep it simple and sickly sweet. It never goes into the rarefied atmospheres of massive hits like Like a prayer or Vogue, but never falters like who’s that girl? or La Isla Bonita. Don’t get me wrong, those latter two are still hits in their own right, but it feels like into the groove is a song you could listen to again and again and again. Much like Michael Jackson’s wanna be startin’ something, you understand everything that works for Madonna’s eighties sound.

Madonna eventually evolved her signature music with the times. Contrary to Jackson, Madonna’s 90s work is pretty fresh and kept with the times. As much as I think frozen is Madonna’s all time best song, Into the groove is a calling card, your trailhead to hike through an artist’s ever changing visage.

-Sam J. Valdés López