In the 1980s, Madonna was no stranger to controversy. But one of her biggest songs took on a life of its own after its release in the summer of 1986.
The song, “Papa Don’t Preach,” appeared on Madonna’s third album True Blue, and quickly became more than a pop song as it sparked a debate over teen pregnancy and the choices that young women make.
Written by Brian Elliott, the song opens with a dramatic string arrangement before snapping into an upbeat ‘80s dance pop groove, with Madonna singing about a pregnant teen who begs her father to accept her decision to keep her baby.
“Papa Don’t Preach” was fueled by a popular music video shot in Staten Island starring Madonna, Alex McArthur, and Danny Aiello, helping the song reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 16, 1986.
Madonna predicted the song would be controversial.
“’Papa Don’t Preach’ is a message song that everyone is going to take the wrong way,” she told The New York Times in 1986. “’Immediately they’re going to say I am advising every young girl to go out and get pregnant. …This song is really about a girl who is making a decision in her life. She has a very close relationship with her father and wants to maintain that closeness. To me it’s a celebration of life. It says, ‘I love you, father, and I love this man and this child that is growing inside me.’ Of course, who knows how it will end? But at least it starts off positive.”
As predicted, as “Papa Don’t Preach” climbed the charts, the song was debated by Planned Parenthood and pro-life groups.
Planned Parenthood of New York City executive director Alfred Moran said the song was “destructive” as it romanticized teen pregnancy.
“The message is that getting pregnant is cool and having the baby is the right thing and a good thing and don’t listen to your parents, the school, anybody who tells you otherwise -don’t preach to me, Papa. The reality is that what Madonna is suggesting to teenagers is a path to permanent poverty,” he told The New York Times.
Feminists for Life in America praised “Papa Don’t Preach” as a “pro-life” song that told of an alternative to abortion.
Everyone from activist Tipper Gore to feminist attorney Gloria Allred weighed in on the song, with Allred suggesting to The Los Angeles Times that Madonna should “make a public statement noting that kids have other choices, including abortion, or if she doesn’t want to make a statement, then she has the responsibility to make another record supporting the opposite point of view.”
Songwriter Elliot explained that he simply penned the song as “a sensitive plea for compassion and understanding about a young girl who found herself at a crossroads in life and didn’t know where to turn.”
He also noted that Madonna brought “a lot of depth” to the song.
“But once she sang it, it became the property of everybody, and they’ve all brought their different set of interpretations to it,” Elliott added. “I still feel it’s a lucky thing for me. Any time a song can galvanize the public and create this kind of debate, it’s as much as any pop song can ever hope to be.”
Forty years later, “Papa Don’t Preach” still stands out as one of Madonna’s boldest and most debated songs, a snapshot of the provocative pop star at the height of her cultural influence.
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