Madonna’s Danceteria Lyrics: Who Is Everyone Mentioned In The Confessions II Song?

It’s a very exciting time to be a Madonna fan.

Not only has the Queen of Pop’s latest release Confessions II got some of the most glowing reviews in her 40-year career, she’s just topped the UK albums chart for the first time since 2012.

What’s more, Confessions II cut Danceteria has also become her first solo top 40 single on this side of the Atlantic, proving people are still up for hearing from the trail-blazing star even four decades into her career.

Hype around Danceteria was strong even before its release, after it was prominently featured in Madonna’s Confessions II short film, in a star-studded sequence featuring a host of A-list cameos.

Danceteria itself also namechecks a host of key figures from Madonna’s past, who she used to rub shoulders with at the titular nightclub before shooting to fame in the early 80s. Some of them were friends of hers from back in the day, some went on to achieve huge success in their art form, and some are even still in Madonna’s life all these years later.

With Danceteria quickly becoming one of Madonna’s most talked-about songs in years, we’re running through some of its lyrics with a quick guide to everyone who gets a mention in the song…

A visual artist who was a pivotal part of the downtown art scene in 80s New York, Martin Burgoyne befriended a young Madonna at Danceteria and later became her roommate.

The two worked together numerous times in the early years of her career, and after years of friendship, he eventually became one of the first people in her life to die from AIDS-related causes.

During the final stages of his life, Madonna paid for Martin’s medical bills, as well as an apartment for him that meant he could be nearer St. Vincent’s Hospital, where he received his treatment.

She later paid tribute to him on her Erotica album track In This Life, and in 2023, when Madonna turned her song Live To Tell into a memorial to those who died in the AIDS crisis, Martin’s face was the first projected onto the stage.

“He was really cute: blond curly hair, earrings up his ears, plaid golf shorts, Doc Martens, black frames, and a white t-shirt with a sweater vest over it,” Madonna told Interview magazine earlier this year, while recalling their first meeting.

“He’s like, ‘You look lost’. And I was. He said, ‘Come with me. I’ll get you in’. And he just crashed to the front of the line.”

She added: “Everybody knew him. He said hi to everybody. The doorman opened the velvet rope. He brought me in and my whole life changed.”

Haoui Montaug ran the door at several iconic New York clubs, including the Tunnel, Studio 54 and, of course, Danceteria.

At Danceteria, he was also in charge of the club night No Entiendes, where Madonna performed her debut single Everybody back in 1983 (he can be seen introducing her at the beginning of the video below).

In the early 90s, after being diagnosed with AIDS, Haoui held what became known as a “suicide party” to say goodbye to his loved ones (including Madonna, who is reported to have attended over the phone) before taking his own life the following morning.

Debi Mazar is an actor, TV personality and life-long friend of Madonna’s, having previously appeared in the music videos for hits like Papa Don’t Preach, True Blue and Music.

The two also met at Danceteria, where Debi used to work on the lift (as mentioned by Madonna in her lyrics).

As the singer put it to Interview magazine: “[Debi] was 16 when she was working there and lying about her age. She was going to the Wilfred Academy of Hair & Beauty Culture and we hit it off right away.

“She used to put the elevator on hold, like press the emergency button, and come out and dance with me.”

Madonna added: “She had the most incredible looks all the time. Her face was beat. Her hair was done. I kept going, ‘Damn, girl, how do you look so good? I have three pieces of clothing and I don’t even know how to do my makeup’.”

Debi also described Madonna as her best friend during an interview with Watch What Happens Live in the early 2010s.

Since her Danceteria days, Debi’s screen credits have included everything from the films Goodfellas, Empire Records and Malcolm X to the popular TV series L.A. Law, Entourage, Ugly Betty and Younger, plus lending her voice to Maria Latore in the Grand Theft Auto games.

Notably, she’s also the only person name-checked in Danceteria to also appear in its accompanying visual.

As you can probably guess, Mark Kamins was one of the DJs at Danceteria at its heyday, who helped Madonna out majorly by playing a demo of her song Everybody, which eventually became her debut single, during a night out.

In Interview last month, Madonna claimed she specifically used to go to Danceteria in an attempt to “butter up” the DJ, with whom she’d briefly go on to work in the first years of her pre-fame career.

As she put it: “He saw me as a complete stalker. Someone would say, ‘There’s Mark Kamins’, and I’d go sit next to him and say, ‘Hey, I know you’re the DJ here and I’ve been working on this music and I’d love to get a chance to play it for you if it’s possible’.

“He was cute and I was turning on the charm as much as I could, and he’d be like, ‘Do you know how many people bother me about wanting to play me their demos?’. He left, but I kept harassing him. I just kept coming back.”

She continued: “Eventually I ended up in a bathroom with Mark Kamins, and I saw him snorting coke. He’s dead now. I can say that.

“He was a wonderful guy, but he did a lot of things people did in the ’80s that they shouldn’t have done. You know what I’m talking about […] So anyway, I brought him some coke in the bathroom, took him in the stalls, me and Debi […] So anyway, we made out, we did a little blow, and then he agreed to listen to my demo.”

Like many of the people name-checked in Danceteria, Fab 5 Freddy was a burgeoning artist in the era Madonna’s hit is set, at that time mostly dabbling in large-scale graffiti art.

He is now considered a pioneer in the hip-hop scene, and was previously name-checked in Blondie’s Rapture “rap” back in 1981, too, before putting together the film Wild Style and going on to become a VJ for MTV’s flagship hip-hop show.

Jean-Michel Basquiat is among the most influential artists of the 20th century, rising up through the New York graffiti scene before turning his hand more to painting in his own signature style.

He and Madonna dated in 1982, at a time they were both on the cusp of a breakthrough in their professional careers, though the future Queen of Pop said that his continued use of hard drugs was what ultimately led to the end of their relationship.

“He wouldn’t stop doing heroin,” she told Howard Stern decades later, adding: “He was an amazing man and deeply talented. I loved him.”

Madonna claimed that after their split, he made her return two paintings of his that he’d once gifted her, which she later learned he’d destroyed with black paint.

In 1988, he died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27.

Artist and activist Keith Haring’s distinct drawing style is immediately recognisable, and has been referenced in Madonna’s career dating all the way back to her Borderline video in 1984.

His work incorporated heavy themes including issues around race, drug misuse and the AIDS crisis, and is recognisable by its colourful and uniquely-shaped drawings of people and animals.

Keith died as a result of complications from AIDS in 1990. In 2023, he was also among the figures included in Madonna’s tribute to those lost in the AIDS epidemic on her Celebration world tour.

Another artist who came up with Madonna in her Danceteria days was Kenny Scharf, known for his distinctive style that sends up middle-class American iconography, often incorporating cartoon characters from his youth, like the Flintstones and Jetsons.

Still active today, he has turned his hand to various artforms over the years, including sculpture, video and even fashion, and was the subject of the 2020 documentary Kenny Scharf: When Worlds Collide.

Art dealer Tony Shafrazi opened up his own gallery in the late 1970s, which quickly became a key space in the downtown art scene.

The Tony Shafrazi Gallery and Danceteria were both known as a hub for artists of that era (including many of them named in Madonna’s latest hit), eventually closing in 2014.

In more recent years, Shafrazi has become a more divisive figure in the art world due to his vocal support for Donald Trump.

French fashion designer and stylist Maripol was an important figure in the early years of Madonna’s career, helping put together the image that would make her a global superstar.

Most notably, she styled the future chart-topper on her first two album covers, as well as in the music videos for hits Burning Up and Like A Virgin, as well as her inaugural tour, The Virgin Tour.

Outside of her work with Madonna, she’s also collaborated with musicians like Cher, Grace Jones, Sir Elton John and Blondie’s Deborah Harry.

Alright, you’ve got us there.

Danceteria actually name-checks three different “Freds”, including the aforementioned Fab 5 Freddy and The B-52s’ frontman Fred Schneider, but quite who the mysterious “guy named Fred” is supposed to be is up for debate.

One contender suggested by fans on Reddit is the photographer Fred Seidman, who took Madonna’s pictures for the New York paper The Village Voice years before she made it big.

During Madonna’s time partying at Danceteria, breakdancing was still very much on the come-up, with one of the artform’s most popular troupes being the Rock Steady Crew.

Their leader was Richard Colón, better known to fans as “Crazy Legs”, whose distinct moves made him one of breakdancing’s most influential figures.

The co-founder of Chic was instrumental in some of the band’s biggest hits, including Everybody Dance, I Want Your Love and Le Freak.

While Nile Rodgers and Madonna moved in the same circles at Danceteria, interestingly, they wouldn’t work together until she’d already broken through, and he produced some of the biggest hits from her second album, most notably Material Girl, Like A Virgin and Dress You Up.

Still a huge figure in the pop music sphere, Nile Rodgers has quite literally worked with everyone, from Diana Ross, David Bowie and Duran Duran to Mariah Carey, Beyoncé and Lady Gaga. He and Chic are still staples on the festival scene, too.

Most of us will know David Byrne best as the guitarist and lead vocalist of the avant-garde rock group Talking Heads, whose biggest hits include Once In A Lifetime, Burning Down The House and Psycho Killer.

Like Madonna, David Byrne is very much still making music, releasing his most recent album in 2025, in collaboration with Ghost Train Orchestra.

He’s also an Oscar winner thanks to his work on the score of the 1987 film The Last Emperor.

Of course, the B-52s had their breakthrough a few years after Madonna with their seminal floor-filler Love Shack.

Quite why Madonna says they “had money to burn” in their Danceteria days remains to be seen, but at least frontman Fred Schneider appeared to see the funny side of it all.

Saxophonist John Lurie co-founded the band Lounge Lizards in the late 1970s, merging elements of jazz with other popular genres from that time, including punk, new wave and other avant-garde music.

Much like Madonna herself, the Lounge Lizards would often perform at Danceteria as well as frequenting it as patrons.

Although she doesn’t reference him by name, Madonna’s “take a walk on the wild side” here nods to Lou Reed’s similarly-named hit.

To drive her point home, she then launches into the “do do do” section of Take A Walk On The Wild Side, which is why the late Lou Reed is also named as a co-writer on Danceteria.

Lou, of course, is a true icon of the music world, first coming up as a member of The Velvet Underground, before enjoying decades of solo success.

He died in 2013 at the age of 71, and continue to record and tour even in his final years.