{"id":583144,"date":"2026-04-05T05:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/583144\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T05:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T05:01:23","slug":"when-you-start-like-a-prayer-the-guitar-that-you-hear-before-the-door-slams-thats-prince-how-madonna-transitioned-from-pop-to-the-profound-with-a-vatican-enraging-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/583144\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWhen you start Like a Prayer, the guitar that you hear before the door slams, that\u2019s Prince\u201d: How Madonna transitioned from pop to the profound with a Vatican-enraging classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Much like her teenage hero, David Bowie<\/a>, Madonna\u2019s career has been defined by change. From the hip street-pop of her early 80s ascendancy to the glacial electronics of the William Orbit-helmed Ray of Light, and the euphoric, glitter-strewn dance-pop of the mid-2000\u2019s’ Confessions on a Dancefloor-era, Madonna\u2019s persistent drive to evolve has spawned a vibrant body of work. <\/p>\n

But it was back at the close of the 1980s that Madonna proved beyond any doubt that she would become so much more than just a pop cultural relic from the decade of excess.<\/p>\n

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1989\u2019s Like a Prayer dug into Madonna\u2019s own feelings of repressed guilt and the inherent contradictions between her Roman Catholic upbringing and her stature at the summit of fame.<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

The stuff of standard chart-fare it wasn’t, but millions would soon regard Like a Prayer as Madonna\u2019s strongest song to date.<\/p>\n

Part hymn and part ecstatic expulsion, the song, and its controversial video, set a new, fearless manifesto for Madonna ahead of the looming decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s sad. It\u2019s joyful. It\u2019s carnal. It\u2019s spiritual. It\u2019s the whole human experience in one song,\u201d was an apt summation of Like a Prayer\u2019s brilliance by Madonna super-fan and author Abdi Nazemian on his Talking Madonna podcast<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n

The first track written for her fourth LP, Like a Prayer was born out of a tumultuous surrounding context. Madonna\u2019s brief marriage to Sean Penn was coming to an abrupt, messy end, and the warring pair would finalise their separation in January 1989. This emotional upheaval was exacerbated by Madonna hitting the age of 30.<\/p>\n

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Although a milestone for anybody, the age of 30 had a particularly painful resonation for Madonna Louise Ciccone; It was the same age that her mother was when she passed away, when Madonna was just five years old.<\/p>\n

“It was like a part of my heart was ripped out,\u201d Madonna said in an interview with People<\/a>, when asked how her mother\u2019s loss had affected her.<\/p>\n

On an artistic level, Madonna was at a crossroads. Since exploding into the public consciousness almost overnight with her brash 1983 debut and its salvo of chart-scorching singles (Holiday<\/a>, Borderline<\/a> and Lucky Star<\/a> to name just three) and proving herself as a daring controversy-stirrer with its insolent follow-up, Like a Virgin<\/a> a year later, Madonna was losing interest in writing for a teenage audience.<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

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\"Madonna\"\n<\/p>\n

Madonna owned the 1980s. As a new decade dawned, her songwriting took on loftier concerns (Image credit: Michael Putland\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Her latest album, True Blue was angled at the more mature-end of the market – and had been a massive success when released in 1986.<\/p>\n

But, as the decade approached its final year, Madonna realised that bolder steps were needed to maintain her relevancy in an ever-saturated pop universe. With these recent personal torments swimming about her head, Madonna was more motivated than ever to turn the spotlight inward.<\/p>\n

In September 1988, Madonna and True Blue producers Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard set to work on album number 4, with Madonna encouraging the pair to bring their distinct musical sensibilities into play on a record that would push out her boundaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue Blue was about feeling romantic and wanting to be unabashed about love,\u201d Bray recalled in an interview with The Guardian<\/a>, \u201cThen she changed chapters. \u2018Things didn\u2019t work out the way I thought.\u2019 That\u2019s how Madonna processes fear, in Freudian pop writing – free association turned into pop songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In-studio tension had long been essential for the Madonna songwriting engine room. With Bray and Leonard\u2019s competing attitudes toward arrangements pushing everyone to up their game.<\/p>\n

Their collaborative process was swift. \u201cWe wrote Like a Prayer, Spanish Eyes, Till Death Do Us Part, Dear Jessie, Promise To Try and Cherish in a two week period,\u201d Patrick told Billboard<\/a>. \u201cI was working on another album at the time, so she\u2019d just come in on Saturdays or days off. Nothing took more than four hours ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Patrick that hit upon Like a Prayer\u2019s musical foundation. Constructed in the key of F major, Patrick devised a shimmering chord sequence on a Hammond B3 organ.<\/p>\n

Rising and resolving, the organ-based chord cycle had the feel of the profound about it. It was clear that whatever this song would end up being, it was going to be something quite different to previous Madonna tracks.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came in with the music, the gospel influence, and Madonna added the words,\u201d Patrick told The Guardian. \u201cThe protest against the church came later in the video. But it\u2019s a testament to the weight of the song that this vessel could hold it. When we wrote it, it felt like being on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Madonna\"\n<\/p>\n

1988 was a rough ride for Madonna, but 1989 would see her re-establish herself as the world’s most high-profile music artist, and one of its most controversial\u2026 (Image credit: Ron Galella\/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

When Madonna heard Leonard\u2019s religious-leaning foundation, it sparked an inrush of creativity.<\/p>\n

\u201cPat had the chord changes for the verse and the chorus. We hadn’t written the bridge yet,\u201d Madonna told Paul Zollo in SongTalk magazine<\/a>. \u201cI really wanted to do something really gospel oriented and a capella, with virtually no instrumentation, just my voice and an organ. So we started fooling around with the song, and we’d take away all the instrumentation so that my voice was naked. Then we came up with the bridge together, and we had the idea to have a choir. In almost everything I do with Pat, if it’s uptempo, there’s a Latin rhythm or feeling to it. It’s really strange.\u201d<\/p>\n

Penning her lyric in a staggeringly brisk three hours, Madonna imbued the dissonant threads of her own Catholic upbringing, her sexuality and its role in her life, as well as the intimations of a higher power overseeing the twists and turns in her extraordinary journey to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was it I wanted to say? I wanted [Like a Prayer] to speak to things on my mind. It was a complex time in my life,\u201d Madonna was quoted as saying in Madonna: An Intimate Biography.<\/p>\n

Beginning with its meditative, organ-and-choir-backed first verse, the song exploded outwards via an irresistible drum fill into the exuberant chorus.<\/p>\n

Madonna’s lyric intertwined the iconography of faith with a not hugely-shrouded sexual subtext:<\/p>\n

Life is a mystery
Everyone must stand alone
I hear you call my name
And it feels like home<\/p>\n

When you call my name, it’s like a little prayer
I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there
In the midnight hour, I can feel your power
Just like a prayer, you know I’ll take you there<\/p>\n

These suggestive undercurrents didn\u2019t sit well with Leonard initially. In particular, the fairly overt line, \u2018I’m down on my knees, I wanna take you there.\u2019<\/p>\n

Despite arguing that the chorus’s double entendre diluted the weight of the piece, Leonard relented when Madonna explained her vision for the song was that it would purposefully muddy the waters between religious rapture and sexual passion.<\/p>\n

Finally convinced, Patrick ultimately got on board with what Madonna was trying to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there was a point when we realised that it was the title track, and the lead track, and it was going to a powerhouse,\u201d Leonard told Billboard. \u201cIt became obvious that there was something unique about it. And that somehow we made this thing work: with its stopping and starting, and a minimalistic rhythmic thing, and the verses, and these bombastic choruses, and this giant choir comes in. This is ambitious, you know?!\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Madonna\"\n<\/p>\n

Madonna was strictly one-take for Like a Prayer: “There were no re-takes, there was the demo vocal and that was the record. It was absolutely extraordinary\u201d (Image credit: Frank Micelotta\/ImageDirect\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

When expanding upon the arrangement, the The Andra\u00e9 Crouch Choir was given the instruction to release all the tension of its pensive verses, and unleash their own feel-based gospel improvisations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a song that explores the word \u2018prayer\u2019,\u201d said Andra\u00e9 Crouch, the leader of the The Andra\u00e9 Crouch Choir in an interview with The Guardian. \u201cMadonna wanted something very churchy, so I tried to blow up what she did and make it as powerful as I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undulating between the haunting verses and the jubilant choruses, the song gathered pace with a tunnelling (bass-led) bridge sequence into a lengthy outro vamp. Like a Prayer was quite the most ambitious track Madonna had cut to date.<\/p>\n

On a musical level this was a statement of intent. On a lyrical level, a masterstroke of pop catharsis.<\/p>\n

A key part of the mix was some standout bass playing from bassist Guy Pratt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have very vague memories of [Like a Prayer]. But I’m pretty sure that what I wrote, when I did what I did, that I was just mocking about,\u201d Pratt told Ultimate Guitar<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m sure it was one of those, ‘Okay, we’ve got it! Now let’s do one, just go nuts!’. And when I clearly did, somehow it stayed on the album.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pratt\u2019s bass playing was doubled by a Minimoog to double the oomph.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I was playing Madonna was going: \u2018Guy, more! More!\u2019 By the fade I had run out of licks and had to go back to the beginning again,\u201d Pratt told The Guardian. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing having that bassline on that song.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lockdown Licks Episode 2 Like a Prayer – YouTube
\n\"Lockdown<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Another interesting note, which we\u2019ve previously explored in a separate article<\/a>, was the fact that, aside from Madonna\u2019s own studio cabal of musicians was one Prince, whom Madonna had enlisted to co-write album track Love Song<\/a>. He\u2019d also interspersed additional guitar work throughout the record, namely on Keep It Together<\/a> and Act of Contrition. <\/a><\/p>\n

As Leonard told Billboard, Prince also makes a brief, uncredited appearance on the title track, during its brief introductory segment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you start Like a Prayer, the guitar that you hear before the door slams, that\u2019s Prince. What happened is, [Madonna] sent him something to play on and he played on it and sent it back. And we didn\u2019t feel that what he did served it. But that piece, that beginning, is him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just have the utmost respect and admiration for him,\u201d Madonna said in SongTalk. \u201cAn incredible songwriter. Incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

To stress that she was at the peak of her powers, Madonna – as with every other song on the Like a Prayer album – was rapid when it came to recording vocals. Getting them down in just one take.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe really crazy thing about this, and I know this is out there already, she only ever sang these songs one time,\u201d Leonard told Music Business Worldwide<\/a>. \u201cI mean, she didn\u2019t sing the songs on Like a Prayer more than once, ever. There were no re-takes, there was the demo vocal and that was the record. It was absolutely extraordinary.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a song, Like a Prayer was a triumph. But it would be the provocative video, directed by Mary Lambert, that made the biggest splash (which, of course, helped sales of the single tenfold!)<\/p>\n

The video\u2019s overt usage of sacred religious imagery, charged eroticism and a narrative that also took the law\u2019s racial biases to task was jaw-dropping in 1989.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to explore the correlation between sexual ecstasy and religious ecstasy,\u201d Mary Lambert said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter<\/a> of the iconography of the video.<\/p>\n

Madonna – Like A Prayer (Official Video) – YouTube
\n\"Madonna<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

The video\u2019s story began with Madonna witnessing a white gang beating and murdering a woman down an alley, and the resulting arrest of a young black man for the crime. A terrified Madonna runs away, and takes refuge in a church.<\/p>\n

There, she witnesses the face of the same young black man now rendered upon the statue of a saint within a shrine. As the saint begins to weep, Madonna then falls into something of a dream state. Surrounded by clouds, she meets a black female figure who propels her back to reality.<\/p>\n

Back in the church, the saint comes to life, and tenderly kisses Madonna before leaving the church. This prompts Madonna to pick up a knife and carve her hands with stigmata-esque cuts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the guilt in Catholicism that if you do something that feels good, you will be punished,\u201d Madonna explained, when asked about this moment, to the New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back to the video. Suddenly Madonna is able to relive the events from earlier, and change them. Now empowered by her vision, she’s compelled to act. Going to the police and, we assume, providing a witness statement which releases the wrongly-accused young black man.<\/p>\n

Back within the church, she cavorts with a now fully-impassioned choir and kisses the young black man (or is it the saint?) sensually.<\/p>\n

If that wasn’t enough to chew over, scenes of Madonna dancing and singing in front of burning crosses are also intercut\u2026 providing a crucial side garnish of outrage.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s just run through that shopping list; There\u2019s burning crosses, weeping idols, self-imposed stigmata, implied sex within a church (as well as some pretty racy dance moves), and the spotlighting of racial prejudice.<\/p>\n

This latter theme is explored in both by the law\u2019s knee-jerk arrest of the young black man and by the video itself triggering some of the more conservative viewership, some of whom would be aghast at the idea of a non-white saint.<\/p>\n

It was strong stuff at the time, particularly for a household-name pop star like Madonna, who had suddenly realised that she could easily unload these weighty concepts into the homes of middle America.<\/p>\n

As legendary journalist Greil Marcus perfectly assessed in the 1990 documentary, Madonna: Behind the American Dream, \u201c[It\u2019s] blasphemy on about ten levels at once, which as a story is as upsetting a piece of public work [as] you\u2019re going to see anywhere. You have interracial sex, you have sex between a human being\u2009 – a woman played by Madonna in the video\u2009 – and a saint, a black saint, who may not be a saint at all; he may be Jesus. That\u2019s just for starters.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Pope John Paul II, settling in for a nice evening of MTV in his Vatican HQ, the Like a Prayer video was tantamount to Madonna declaring open war on the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

After he publicly decried it, the video was banned across Italy. The Vatican called upon God-fearing fans to boycott Madonna\u2019s upcoming Blond Ambition tour as well as those commercial partners whom Madonna had worked with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe video is a blasphemy and insult because it shows immorals inside a church,\u201d Italian Roman Catholic historian Roberto de Mattei railed.<\/p>\n

Nerves had been successfully touched.<\/p>\n

With the Vatican\u2019s public pronouncements hanging in the air, a recently struck $5 million advertising partnership with Pepsi was hastily pulled by the soft drink giant. Their Madonna-starring ad (that also premiered Like a Prayer ahead of the video) was promptly dropped from the airwaves.<\/p>\n

Pepsi later changed tack, and reaffirmed their support of Madonna (and quietly allowed her to keep the $5 million advance).<\/p>\n

Years later, and with decades of hindsight behind them. Pepsi’s position shifted. “Our prayers have been answered! Cheers to disrupting the status quo,” A less backlash-fearing Pepsi said in the description of the officially uploaded clip on their YouTube<\/a> channel.<\/p>\n

Madonna | Like A Prayer, 1989 – YouTube
\n\"Madonna<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

Upon the re-airing of the ad at the 2023 MTV Music Awards, Madonna put out a statement that said, “34 years ago I made a commercial with Pepsi to celebrate the release of my song. The commercial was immediately canceled when I refused to change any scenes in the video where I was kissing a black saint or burning crosses. So began my illustrious career as an artist refusing to compromise my artistic integrity. Artists are here to disturb the peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

All this surrounding controversy would just put more wind in Like a Prayer\u2019s sails, helping Madonna fulfil her main aim – to gain credibility as a serious artist.<\/p>\n

Even those who\u2019d previously been staunchly anti-Madonna scrabbled to watch Like a Prayer’s allegedly \u2018sacrilegious\u2019 video.<\/p>\n

Like a Prayer hit the top of the charts internationally and soon became regarded as her greatest work to date. In the words of Rolling Stone, it was \u201cAs close to art as pop music gets\u201d.<\/p>\n

In just one complex single, Madonna had repositioned herself as a bastion of free expression, and someone who was clearly keen to ruffle the feathers of the establishment. This would be underlined on the Blond Ambition tour when she, famously, took to simulating masturbation with a crucifix.<\/p>\n

If you thought the Pope couldn’t get any angrier, you’d be wrong. “[It’s] one of the most satanic shows in the history of humanity,” was his review.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Madonna\"\n<\/p>\n

Madonna continues to push any button she’s presented with. Avoid getting in a lift with her at all costs (Image credit: Kevin Mazur\/MG25\/Getty Images for The Met Museum\/Vogue\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Over 35 years later, and Like a Prayer is a firm part of the 20th century pop canon, and is still regarded by many as Madonna\u2019s finest moment.<\/p>\n

Its popularity was recently rekindled thanks to its Madonna-approved usage in 2024\u2019s Deadpool vs Wolverine, during a ludicrously visceral climactic action scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadonna doesn\u2019t just license the song, and particularly that song has not been licensed,\u201d the film\u2019s co-lead Ryan Reynolds told SiriusXM<\/a>. \u201cSo it was a big deal to ask for it and certainly a bigger deal to use it. We went over and met with her and showed her how it was being used and where and why. She gave a great note. My God, she watched it and, I\u2019m not kidding, she was like, \u2018You need to do this, this, and this in this moment.\u2019 And damn it, if she wasn\u2019t like spot-on and right.\u201d<\/p>\n

‘Deadpool Corps’ – Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine | Movie Clip HD – YouTube
\n\"'Deadpool<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Much like her teenage hero, David Bowie, Madonna\u2019s career has been defined by change. From the hip street-pop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":{"0":"post-583144","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}