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The First Remixes You Heard


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I didn't always know about remixes. Like with anything else, it's something you discover along the way or someone introduces you to it.

The first time I ever heard a remix, it was of a Madonna song and it was in 1990. I would sometimes go over to my next door neighbour's house. She was 14 and I was 12, her and her big sister were always very kind to me, we'd play games and listen to music. That day I went over to hear The Immaculate Collection, they just got it on cassette.

I really wanted to hear Like A Prayer, it was my favourite song and I didn't have it at hone, and as it came on I was puzzled why it sounded so different. What does she say at the start, and why is the choir at the beginning? And those drums and that bassline! That's not the same song!

The girls explained it was called a "remix" and that was the first time I noticed how a song could be "remixed".

The next time I heard a remix was in 1993 when I noticed the Fever video sounded different to what I had on my cassette of the album. I wanted to hear more songs that were remixed like that and in my mind I thought every song must probably be remixed, including Oh Father and Live To Tell!

On the radio I heard Rain and that too sounded different from my cassette version. It was about a year later I started buying singles and Virgin Megastore still had tapes of Fever and Bad Girl, so I bought those.

Fever had a radio mix, and again it was different from the other two versions I'd heard. Bad Girl had the William Orbit Dub of Erotica and that was absolutely mind blowing!

Then I remembered back to 1990 when Justify My Love had come out and there was an MTV News report about Satanic versions of the song if you played them backwards. I tried to remember if they called them a remix or not. I managed to get the 12" singles for Like A Prayer and Justify, and though I tried to play them backwards and didn't hear any Satanic messages (much to my disappointment!), I was still thrilled to hear the 12" Club Version and The Beast Within Mix.

Those were my first experiences of remixes, and they were absolutely thrilling. I never did find those mixes of Oh Father and Live To Tell that I'd imagined, but I'll Remember, Bedtime Story, Frozen... right up until the end of the American Life era was when I was an avid listener of those reworked tracks, they really satisfied a hunger. 

Watching The Girlie Show was also another way of experiencing remixes, albeit live ones. Erotica, Fever, Vogue, Express Yourself, Deeper and Deeper, Rain, Justify My Love, Holiday... They all sounded different compared to the album versions. Even The Beast Within was remixed! 

I didn't realise it at the time, but back in 1991, every time MTV showed Like A Virgin from the Blond Ambition Tour, to promote In Bed With Madonna, that too I guess was a remix. 

I also enjoyed the extended mixes and dubs of the 80s, but for me it was all about the 90s and the amazement of hearing all those Fever, Rescue Me, Erotica, Vogue and Deeper and Deeper mixes.

What were the first ones for you and how did you come by them? 

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@PWCCAWe're you in love with Dress You Up and Open Your Heart? I was mad for those mixes, they just made me feel so happy! And Shep's mix of Into The Groove as well. I think Who's That Girl was probably the first Madonna remix released where different elements were added to original arrangement. I wonder if there are unreleased mixes similar to the extended version of La Isla Bonita for Who's That Girl. 

 

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@AspergerArtistI loved reading your story.

I grew up as an only child in a rather conservative town, part of the Dutch 'Bible Belt'. There was little room for movies and pop music. There was no cinema and no record store. Sundays were spent either inside your house or in church. Only in school kids would talk about music or movies. But I hardly knew the artists who were mentioned. I was quite naive and lived in a bubble. I read a lot and had little interest in things like pop music. However, there was one big exception: Madonna. As opposed to other families my parents did have television and I was allowed to watch whenever I felt like it. When I saw the Lucky Star video for the first time I was sold immediately. Madonna was so different than any other artist that she fascinated me, even though I was too young to understand that I was witnessing the rise of an icon.

In august 1990 I became 14 years old and my parents took me to another town to buy me a cd-player. It was the best birthday present ever. 'Well', my father said, 'if you're going to have a cd player you might as well get some cd's!' It was the first time I was in a record store. There were only three cd's I needed: Like A Prayer, I'm Breathless and the album Pump Up The Jam by a group called Technotronic. For four weeks I listened non-stop to these albums.

A month later I bought another cd: Trip On This, the remix album by Technotronic. I absolutely had no clue regarding remixes, but it blew me away. I remember dancing in my room to the Terry Dome Mix of Pump Up The Jam and the Morales Spinster Mix of Spin That Wheel. I thought it was magic the way a track could be changed, using different chords, beats and instruments.

In november 1990 I bought Rhythm Of Love by Kylie Minogue and The Immaculate Collection. I noticed how different tracks like Express Yourself and Like A Prayer sounded and I loved it. I was also very impressed with the 'What are you looking at' intro of Vogue. And that was the trigger for me to buy the Vogue single, featuring the Bette Davis Dub and the Strike A Pose Dub. Afther that I bought the Justify My Love single, then the Rescue Me single. I looooooooooved the Lifeboat Vocal Mix and to this day it's still one of my all time favourite Madonna remixes. Being impressed with all these remixes I bought You Can Dance and Madonna: The First Album. I loved the extended versions of Lucky Star and Borderline. And so my Madonna collection became bigger and bigger.

When I got older I often went to Amsterdam, to a record store called Fame Records, which had a huge collection of Madonna albums, singles and rarities. I thought I was in paradise.

To this day remixes take a huge part in my music collection. I remember hearing this song by Starsailor, 'Four To The Floor'. It was remixed by someone called Jacques Lu Cont. I loved his sound so much that to this day I became the guy's biggest fan. I think I own all of his remixes. The day I heard he was going to produce Madonna's Confessions album I almost fainted... :)

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I don't remember what song but I remember having so good moments listening to remixes of Open Your Heart, Dress You Up (I love them), La Isla Bonita, 80's we all love.

I didn't have a cd player that time, I used to bought K7 in some fan clubs with a lot of remixes. One unofficial megamix was super special to me: Canadian Megamix part I & II. Unfortunately I never found the second part in mp3.

I remember when I got a K7 with Shine A Light & other demos, it was so different from the Madonna I knew. Little by little my collection grew. 80's and 90's Madonna official remixes were the best.

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6 hours ago, AspergerArtist said:

@PWCCAWe're you in love with Dress You Up and Open Your Heart? I was mad for those mixes, they just made me feel so happy! And Shep's mix of Into The Groove as well. I think Who's That Girl was probably the first Madonna remix released where different elements were added to original arrangement. I wonder if there are unreleased mixes similar to the extended version of La Isla Bonita for Who's That Girl. 

 

I loved them all. I remember actually recording a tape compilation of all the extended mixes from all the ones I had on vinyl singles so I can listen to them on my journeys on the school bus, lol

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Well, I guess I'm from a new generation of fans. The first remixes I heard on the radio were:

Music (HQ2 Radio Mix)

Image result for madonna music gif

Don't Tell Me (Thunderpuss Radio Mix)

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What It Feels Like For A Girl (Above & Beyond Club Radio Edit)

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and Nothing Really Matters (Club 69 Radio Mix) which was very popular here in Chile. I actually remember buying the Ray of Light album in 2001 and being shocked when I found out that the song had an original album version which was slower and with different production lol

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  • 2 months later...

The first remix Ive heard was Britney's Boys which was remixed for the single release, but the one that shocked me was Me Against The Music - Gabriel and Dresden Club Mix... I remember playing it on full volume, it's so pumping and massive in sound. Still love it. Since then I was fascinated with remixes. I love them, I love when they manage to take the song to another level.

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Hard to remember but it's probably the 12" Version of 'Vogue' and the 12" Remix of 'Keep It Together' from the Vogue 12" single. After that it was probably when I bought the 'Justify My Love', 'Rescue Me' and 'Erotica' USA CD Maxi-Singles.

I think my love for remixes intensified when I started to collect the Japan EPs such as 'Remixed Prayers' and 'Rain EP'. Once I had all of the officially released remixes, I started to collect the rarer promo mixes.

I find M's recent remixes disappointing in comparison to her earlier ones. The MDNA era remixes being my least favourite. Rebel Heart had a few decent mixes but mostly they're generic. I guess modern dance music isn't as appealing to me as it was in the 90s and 00s.

I've compiled a Remix Anthology with my favourite remixes of each single along with the odd b-side or non-lp track.

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