Madonna's Born This Way Involvement Trivia

[jojuun 4,159]

We all know Gaga's Born This Way song of course... but here's a very fun and interesting bit of trivia...

Born This Way was once a disco song by Valentino, released in 1975, then by Carl Bean in 1977 (both artists for Motown Records). It was written by Chris Spierer and Bunny Jones. The record was first released on the Motown-distributed Gaiee Records and performed by Valentino (real name Charles Harris). Frankie Crocker of WBLS Radio in New York first aired the song and it was an instantly well-liked. The writers, Spierer and Jones, wanted to write a gay anthem and make the plight on gay issues known and bring it to the forefront. 

In 1978, the Carl Bean version on Motown Records became a club hit on the Billboard Club Play Singles at #15. The song was remixed by Madonna's long time producer Shep Pettibone (he was kinda like Madonna's RedOne ) and Bruce Forest in 1986, and along with a mix by Timmy Regisford was re-released on Next Plateau records. That remix became a huge club anthem during the 80s. 

Then, in 1999 the song was sampled again by Stuart Price, using the alias "Pour Homme", as "Born this Way". It was a club-hit in Europe. A year later he became Madonna's musical director and in 2005 produced Madonna's now classic Confessions On A Dance Floor album.

In 2010, Lady Gaga wrote her own Born This Way song and continued working on it's arrangement until it's release in February 2011. It was instantly compared to Madonna's iconic hit song Express Yourself by the press because of it's empowerment theme and similar chord progressions. In January 2012, almost a year after Gaga's Born This Way release, Madonna commented on the comparisons between the two songs in the now famous 20/20 Interview. Later that year, she went on tour and covered Born This Way along with her own classic Express Yourself.

I think it's INSANE how much Madonna is somehow involved in the release of every single version of Born This Way that became a hit. First the vintage song and then the Gaga song. How INSANE is this trivia? Also... It was mentioned in an in-depth review of Confessions On A Dance Floor in 2005 that Stuart had pleased the gay clubs before doing Confessions with Madonna, by releasing his version of Born This Way. Do you think Gaga researched Madonna that well that she knew of her ties to the infamous club-hits Born This Way? Gaga said she said she used to be obsessed with Madonna in the early days so it IS a possibility. What is also a possibility is that she researched classic gay anthems and then ultimately you discover the original Born This Way... Both scenarios seem very likely. But what is SO unlikely is that Madonna is involved in some way or another every single time a gay anthem named Born This Way is released and becomes a hit. The eighties gay club hit, the early 2000's club hit and then again in the 10's via Gaga's version.

What a story! Wanted to share this with you all and ask what do you think? How is it possible Madonna has so many ties to records with that name?!

Madonna and Shep Pettibone recording Erotica, early nineties:


Madonna and Stuart Price recording Confessions, late 2004/early 2005:


Madonna and Gaga, 2 years prior to Gaga's Born This Way:

[Lava 3,526]

tbh fashion of his love sounds way more like express yourself, madge should have came for that song

[jojuun 4,159]

Just now, Lava said:

tbh fashion of his love sounds way more like express yourself, madge should have came for that song

Please refrain from comments on the "reductive" thing. This topic is about the fact Madonna has ties to every single Born This Way release, all versions of it.

[Loyalty 3,904]

she isn't really involved in the 1977 born this way when it came before her so...

[Andrew Warhola 12,992]

I'm pretty sure Madonna isn't even aware of this

[takemetovenus 4,826]

2 minutes ago, jojuun said:

Please refrain from comments on the "reductive" thing. This topic is about the fact Madonna has ties to every single Born This Way release, all versions of it.

 

You really expected people to not bring that up? 

[jojuun 4,159]

Just now, Shoop said:

she isn't really involved in the 1977 born this way when it came before her so...

But that version only became a gay hit when her producer remixed it in the eighties...

[Loyalty 3,904]

Just now, jojuun said:

But that version only became a gay hit when her producer remixed it in the eighties...

But that's her producer not her.

[jojuun 4,159]

3 minutes ago, takemetovenus said:

You really expected people to not bring that up? 

2 minutes ago, Shoop said:

But that's her producer not her.

@takemetovenus This topic really isn't about me saying "MADONNA IS THE ORIGINAL BORN THIS WAY QUEEN", of course not. But how much accidental association and coincidence can one songtitle have with an artist that never released it? 

@Shoop But I'm not saying anywhere that she sang it or used it for something. She's linked/tied to it. Both Shep and Stuart are most famous and known for working with Madonna. They are cult producers/DJ's and celebrated in the world of producing and clubs but their mainstream attention came mostly from working with Madonna. They both produced some of her worldwide main hits.
 

[sipthistea 21,099]

Just now, Lava said:

tbh fashion of his love sounds way more like express yourself, madge should have came for that song

That one sounds like "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston, who was one of the main inspirations of the album. 

At least Whitney didn't make such a big deal out of it. 

[Loyalty 3,904]

Just now, jojuun said:

She's linked/tied to it.

that's the phrase i was looking for.

[Sister 9,907]

Queenie Madonna.

And this thread will not go over well, on this forum.

[jojuun 4,159]

12 minutes ago, sipthistea said:

That one sounds like "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston, who was one of the main inspirations of the album. 

At least Whitney didn't make such a big deal out of it. 

Again, this is not a shady topic about the reductive thing. And by the way, while Gaga did thank Whitney for inspiring Born This Way at the Grammy's back then, she literally looked like she came off-stage of Madonna's Blond Ambition tour when she said that about Whitney. The outfit, the ponytail... Classic Madonna. Gaga showed herself with a tooth gap (Madonna's trademark) and a sparkling white glove in the end of the Born This Way video. Clearly an homage to the Queen & King of Pop. You can't argue that Madonna wasn't an inspiration to Gaga. She THANKED her in the credits of The Fame along with Bowie. Don't get it twisted. Just because things went south afterwards because Madonna felt like the homages were becoming a little much, doesn't mean you need to discredit that Madonna was SO impactful that Gaga payed tribute to her in more ways than one. In the early days of The Fame Monster, Gaga wore Madonna's most famous outfit, the Jean Paul Gaultier cone-bra. The EXACT outfit. I remember reading in an old article that Gaga's team reached out to Jean Paul's team to pull up the exact outfit because Gaga wanted to wear it in tribute to Madonna. Gaga was a huge Madonna stan in her early career, it's obvious to literally anyone who can see and hear outside of this fanbase.

[jojuun 4,159]

6 minutes ago, Sister said:

Queenie Madonna.

And this thread will not go over well, on this forum.

True. But that's not going to stop me from posting wonderfully remarkable stories, even if it involves someone people on here generally hate for reasons that are long over with. People here need to focus on the CONTENT of the threads, not their blind biased hatred because of ONE WORD that was said in an interview 5 years ago. No one cares. Even Madonna and Gaga made up and are cordial/friendly and share a record label, touring company, film rep agency and more.

[VTV 12,842]