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Madonna · S3 E1
Mark Kamins
The DJ who got her into the Sire Records office — and what she had to promise to make it happen
Sire Records pressing plant, spring 1982. Twelve-inch singles of "Everybody" roll off the press with no photo of the artist on the sleeve, because the label wants Black radio to play it before anyone sees what she looks like.
"Music", official music video (2000). Madonna behind a DJ console, hands on the decks, controlling the room. Eighteen years after Mark Kamins played her demo at Danceteria, she makes a song about the very thing that launched her: the DJ as gatekeeper, the dance floor as democracy, the record as the only credential that matters.
TAP TO REVEAL: Why did Sire Records release "Everybody" without Madonna's photo?
The Kamins Deal
Mark Kamins does not hand Madonna to Sire Records for free. His condition for making the introduction to label president Seymour Stein is that he gets to co-produce the first single. Madonna agrees, but the dynamic is tense from the start. She has specific ideas about how "Everybody" should sound, and Kamins has his own instincts.
“She knew exactly what she wanted. I'd suggest something and she'd say no. Then she'd tell me what to do and it would be right. It was infuriating and impressive at the same time.”
— Mark Kamins
Sire Records president Seymour Stein signed Madonna after hearing her demo. Where was he when he made the decision?
Think of Me
One of the earliest songs Madonna records for her debut album, produced by Reggie Lucas. Raw, minimal, and closer to the demo-tape energy of the Kamins era than anything else on the finished record. This is what she sounds like before the polish arrives.
The first single lands on the dance charts, but she needs a crossover hit to break through to pop radio. Next episode: a remixer named Jellybean Benitez pushes her to record a song called "Holiday," and she almost turns it down.
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