MADONNA LIKE A VIRGIN VNTG 1984 FIRST PRESS UPSIDE-DOWN REAR COVER MINT VINYL LP

$

20

MADONNA
LIKE A VIRGIN
ORIGINAL 1984 VINYL LP

ORIGINAL FIRST PRESSING
SIRE RECORDS No. 1-25157
WITH
UPSIDE-DOWN REAR COVER

CONDITION Vinyl: Mint / Jacket: Mint Includes the original illustrated Inner Sleeve with Lyrics to the songs on the album.

SONGS side one MATERIAL GIRL ANGEL LIKE A VIRGIN OVER AND OVER LOVE DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE
side two DRESS YOU UP SHOO-BEE-DOO PRETENDER STAY
_________

When Sire Records was preparing the release of "Like A Virgin" Madonna‘s second album, they were faced with potential areas of controversy.

Despite Madonna appearing on the sleeve in a wedding dress, reinforcing the supposed traditional concept of being a virgin on her wedding night, the addition of the Boy Toy belt, and the notoriety surrounding the singer’s onstage antics, could have been viewed as poking fun at the religious ‘no sex before marriage’ doctrine. Also, her prominent pair of boobies and the sultry look on her face may have met with raised eyebrows at how one could consider her a ‘virgin bride‘. Many thought Madonna had never looked so beautiful and sexy, but Sire was concerned that retailers in certain areas, particularly the so-called ‘Bible Belt‘, might be met with hostility by the suggestive sleeve.

As a result, in a move which has inadvertently led to the confusion of many fans for decades, Sire came up with the genius idea of giving retailers two options on which sleeve they displayed in-store to potential shoppers, and gave fans two options from which to choose. The suggestive and potentially ‘offensive‘ front cover we know and love, and a less provocative but equally attractive alternative rear cover.

But have you ever wondered why all copies of the LP were pressed with the rear sleeve upside down? Well, Sire hit upon the snag that if they pressed this alternate cover the correct way up then when stacked in stores and on fans’ shelves at home it would mean that the spine of the album was pointing into the shelf rather than out to the customer/owner. How would you know what record that was in amongst a bunch of others? So to enable the spines of the album to point outwards irrespective of which cover was displayed, they printed the main sleeve the correct way up, and flipped the other one over for the rear.

This may sound silly, but if you look at the two sleeves side by side you will see that the album title and Madonna’s name are given exactly the same prominence and feature in exactly the same position.