July 27, 1983

The beginning of a new era in pop music.

Erotica

Once underrated by many, today a cult album for many more, it has always been my favorite M album and surely among the top 10 in my list of Best Albums Ever Made - and we're talking about 34 years of music listening.

Like A Prayer and Ray Of Light may be consensually appointed as M's ultimate masterpieces, but Erotica is the only one that encapsulates certain qualities like no other can:

Cutting-edge
Sophisticated
Avant-garde
Bold

(feel free to add some more)

It has now turn 20 years (release date: October 20, 1992) and still remains as one of the most remarkable sonic monuments The Queen has ever built.

The world surrenders to MDNA

iTunes sales

February 5, 2012
MDNA pre-sale (1st weekend)
#1 in 54 countries

March 26 , 2012
MDNA release day
#1 in 48 countries

 

MDNA Day

On the day of its official worldwide release, MDNA is already #1 on iTunes in more than 20 countries.

OH YEAH!

The Queen of Dance

Dancing is a primal part of the M-DNA, so it's no wonder that Give Me All Your Luvin reached #1 at the Billboard Dance/Club Play chart.

It's the 41st in her history of #1 dance singles!

According to Billboard.com,

The achievement also gives Madonna No. 1 Billboard singles in four consecutive decades: the '80s, '90s, '00s and '10s. Madonna extends her lead for most No. 1s in the chart's history, pulling further ahead of runner-up Janet Jackson, who has 19.

Here's the full list, for our delicious delight:

1. Holiday/Lucky Star (5 weeks; double-sided chart single)
2. Like a Virgin (3 weeks)
3. Material Girl
4. Angel/Into the Groove (double-sided chart single)
5. Open Your Heart
6. Causing a Commotion (Remix)
7. You Can Dance (LP Cuts)
8. Like a Prayer (2 weeks)
9. Express Yourself (3 weeks)
10. Keep It Together
11. Vogue (2 weeks)
12. Justify My Love (2 weeks)
13. Erotica
14. Deeper and Deeper
15. Fever
16. Secret (2 weeks)
17. Bedtime Story
18. Don't Cry for Me Argentina
19. Frozen (2 weeks)
20. Ray of Light (4 weeks)
21. Nothing Really Matters (2 weeks)
22. Beautiful Stranger (2 weeks)
23. American Pie
24. Music (5 weeks)
25. Don't Tell Me
26. What It Feels Like for a Girl
27. Impressive Instant (2 weeks)
28. Die Another Day (2 weeks)
29. American Life
30. Hollywood
31. Me Against the Music (Britney Spears feat. Madonna) (2 weeks)
32. Nothing Fails
33. Love Profusion
34. Hung Up (4 weeks)
35. Sorry (2 weeks)
36. Get Together
37. Jump (2 weeks)
38. 4 Minutes (2 weeks)
39. Give It 2 Me
40. Celebration
41. Give Me All Your Luvin'

We can dance!

One word: Triumphant

Rolling Stones bows to The Queen

On the 9th day, God wrote this on what would be called The Music Bible.
F**K YEAH!!!

«To say that Madonna won this poll in a landslide would be like saying that she was a kind of popular pop singer in the 1980s. It wouldn't even begin to explain the scope of the situation. She received five times as many votes as Lady Gaga, who landed in second place by a very comfortable margin. The only persistent criticism that Gaga has dealt with in recent years is that she's too much like Madonna. It's a hard shadow to escape. Madonna is a musical icon without peer. Her run of hits over the past 30 years is simply astounding, and when she hits the road, tickets sell like it's a Led Zeppelin reunion tour. Sure, her last few albums didn't match up to the classics. Nobody cares. She's Madonna. Lady Gaga has accomplished more in recent years than any artist of her era, but she's still got a long climb until she reaches Madonna level. It's very likely that no other artist will ever reach it though. Her manager Guy Oseary recently tweeted that she's started recording her 12th studio album, so clearly she has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.»

Rolling Stone, 2011

Happy 25th anniversary

I knew it was going to arrive soon. Everyday I would sneek into the record store near my place, hoping for the moment. One day, the lady smiled at me: "Ruizinho, it has arrived". When I looked at the cover, I was mesmerized, couln't even speak. My heart started racing. She was so incredibly beautiful. The album cost me 1200 Escudos. I was 8 years old.

«I can't open my coat, yet...»

Marvellous.

Euroquake

In fact, Cannes veterans say they haven't seen anything like this since Brigitte Bardot's appearance in 1952.

May 13, 1991: Madonna presented Truth Or Dare (now In Bed With Madonna) at the Cannes Film Festival. I actually retain this in my memory as Coronation Night. Europe fell at her feet.

Truth Or Dare: the world premiere

Although we immediately think of Cannes when we talk about the Truth Or Dare premiere, it was actually in Los Angeles that the movie had its world premiere.

On May 6th 1991, Madonna came out as a brunette (what an amazing dark hair!) and set LA on fire with this huge event, starting with a screening at the Hollywood Cinerama Dome. Two hours later, the Queen, her entourage (director, brother, backup singers and dancers) and all the guests danced the night away at the Arena.

And here are the TV reports. Altought CNN's words are full of crap, the images are great. And how I love Liz in full action! The Validator rules!!!

Then, MTV's (attempt to do an) interview. Madonna at her ultimate best, channelling Susan. I could watch this 24/7.

«She bares her nipples and her soul»

For the first time on film, the bitch goddess descends from her pedestal to laugh at her narcissism. She bares her nipples and her soul. She wants to be liked. Is this vulnerable Madonna the real thing or a ploy to ingratiate herself with film audiences who've found her chilly and strident? You be the judge. But there's no denying that Truth Or Dare is at its raunchy best when Madonna is kicking ass instead of kissing it.

Rolling Stone, 1991

Like we've never seen her before

It was simply one of Madonna's boldest, bravest and decisive moves.

Originally titled Truth or Dare: On the Road, Behind the Scenes and In Bed with Madonna, the documentary that stopped the world in 1991 simply needs no introduction.

All of us M fans thought we died and entered the gates of Heaven; press from all around the globe went wild about it; 10-page articles were written by movie critics and scholars, dissecting the whole «true-not-true» question.

So here we were: one year after the monumental Blond Ambition, M was at the height of her popularity... again. No doubt about it: she was the absolute female pop icon of the 90s.

Twenty years after its release, and with a second (kinda) sequel in the meantime, Truth Or Dare is still one of the most amazing things M has ever generated.

Because no words will everencaplusate the Truth Or Dare experience, here are some interesting facts about it:

While sketching the first ideas in early 1990, she thought about David Fincher to direct this documentary about the upcoming tour. At the last minute she dropped it and turned into a small-time video director whose college thesis she'd admired: Alek Keshishian.

The only moments when M said to Alek «You just can't» were during business meetings and with her grandmother.

Truth Or Dare was the most financially successful documentary of all time, making a total $15,012,935 at the box office. The film cost $4 million to make.

Sooner Or Later

Truly one of the most memorable, amazing 5 minutes in M's career... and in Oscar history.
Noeone else in this Planet but Madonna could do this.
And I can't believe it's been 20 years already...

Open Your Heart

More than just another M classic, and definitely one of our all-time favourites, Open Your Heart is a true milestone, for so many reasons.

And because it happened 24 years ago - on February 7th 1987, it reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart - let's stick with it for a moment.

Follow Your Heart

Yep, this was the song's original title. Gardner Cole and his friend Peter Rafelson wrote it for over a year, as a rock song (circa 1984-85). According to Cole, «Follow Your Heart is the name of a vegetarian restaurant in Los Angeles. I was in love with a waitress there named Lisa and she was the original inspiration for the lyrics.»

Donna's first step into Planet M

At that time, Cole had already submitted a song to Madonna (the title was Motor City Girl), but she rejected it. In the meantime, the original demo of Follow Your Heart was sung by Jason Scheff, Chicago's then lead singer (after Peter Cetera left the group).

It was Freddy Demann who, after listening to the demo, saw it as a potential hit for Madonna. He asked Cole to make a new demo, with a female voice instead. Cole asked his former girlfriend to sing the demo - a girl called Donna DeLory.

Later, on he suggested Pat Leonard to use Donna as back-up singer and dancer, by the time Pat was helping Madonna put together an upcoming tour...

Madonna says Yes

Even though the original song didn't sound like Madonna at all, she ended up accepting it. M teamed up with Pat and magic was made. Some of the lyrics were altered, a new title was given, a bassline was added, mid-tempo became up-tempo, a dance-pop song was created.

But it was Madonna's interpretation that really hit the mark. Just read the lyrics alone: not that special, even silly and juvenile (yes, it worked perfectly on Glee).
Now listen to Madonna's singing: powerful, assertive, sexual. The Midas touch.
Finally, picture her in late 1985, at the recording studio. Open Your Heart was, indeed, the first cut for the True Blue album.

Breakthrough

And then, there was the music video. It is said that Sean Penn was originally set to direct it. Fact or fiction, the truth is that Jean-Baptiste Mondino came along... and a true work of art was created. Shot in October 1986, it was released two months later. And it could still be released today.


In fact, this is one of those cases where the music video transcends time and the actual song itself. We just cannot dissociate Open Your Heart from all that peep-show atmosphere. That's why the Peugeot advert was so... strange.

This is where we get to the "landmark" bit: the Open Your Heart video was the Big Bang for an entire universe of elements that would radiate from Madonna's art, for years to come. Just to name a few:

1) Sex
Before OYH, it was all about innuendo. Now, sex was reeealy on the table - and in our faces. I was 9 years old at the time and I blushed when I saw the video for the first time, at a friend's house. Oh my god, we can actually see her groins!... Remember, it was 1986. It totally pushed all boundaries.

2) Mondino
The first "French touch" in M's career (Patrick Hernandez doesn't count...).

3) The conical bra
First lesson in one of the most iconic symbols in M's career. Period.

4) Tamara de Lempicka
First lesson in Art History.

5) Super-fit
In Papa Don't Preach, we could tell she was slimmer. But now... oh my god! Meet the fucking amazing quadriceps!

6) Androginy
Boys who are girls... inside the viewing booth; and at that fantastic end.

7) The chair
Cabaret, Broadway... M finally embraced such a poetic prop. Later on, she would take it to the stage.

.

Surely, there is more to add to the list. But I have to stop now. I just have to watch the video.

Sources:
Wikipedia
MadonnaTribe's interview with Gardner Cole

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Watch this visual extravaganza in pictures, Through The Looking Glass.