Today in Madonna History: May 17, 1991

May 17, 2026 By sonicboy19 in 1991, May Tags: Blond Ambition World Tour, In Bed With Madonna, Live Videos, Truth or Dare, Vogue 1 Comment

On May 17 1991, Madonna: Truth Or Dare was released in 538 U.S. movie theatres.

Madonna: Truth or Dare chronicled the life of Madonna during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour. The film was well received by critics and was successful at the box office, at that point becoming the highest-grossing documentary of all time with a worldwide gross of $29,012,935.

Outside of North America, where the game that inspired the documentary’s title was not well known at the time, the film was marketed under the title In Bed with Madonna – despite protests from Madonna herself who found the alternate title unoriginal.

A Blu-Ray edition of the documentary was recently announced for the UK market and interestingly it uses the film’s original, Madonna-approved title, Madonna: Truth or Dare. If the release pans out as announced, it will be the first domestic UK release of the film to use this title.

Today in Madonna History: May 16, 1988

May 16, 2026 By sonicboy19 in 1988, May Tags: Curtis Hudson, Japan, Jellybean Benitez, Oricon, Shep Pettibone, Spotlight, Stephen Bray, True Blue (Album) 1 Comment

On May 16 1988, Madonna’s Spotlight reached a peak of #3 on the Oricon International Singles Chart in Japan. The single was released on 7″ vinyl and 3″ mini CD single by Sire and Warner-Pioneer Japan on April 25 1988.

Spotlight was originally planned to be included on the True Blue album, but was cut from the line-up and eventually appeared on Madonna’s You Can Dance remix album, released on November 17 1988.

The song was written by Madonna, Stephen Bray and Curtis Hudson. The song was remixed by Shep Pettibone, with additional mixing done by John “Jellybean” Benitez.

Today in Madonna History: May 15, 1993

May 15, 2026 By sonicboy19 in 1993, May Tags: Bad Girl, Fever 1 Comment

fever-promo-stand

On May 15 1993, Madonna’s Fever hit number-one on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Club chart in the USA. Fever was the fourth single from the Erotica album and was the b-side to Bad Girl in North America.

Today in Madonna History: May 14, 1993

May 14, 2026 By sonicboy19 in 1993, May Tags: AIDS Benefit, Anthony Keidis, Arsenio Hall, Fever, The Lady Is A Tramp 1 Comment

On May 14 1993, the 1000th episode of The Arsenio Hall Show aired, featuring Madonna as the headline act.

The 1000th episode was an AIDS benefit concert and it was filmed at the Hollywood Bowl.

Madonna performed Fever as well as The Lady Is A Tramp with Anthony Keidis from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Today in Madonna History: May 13, 1983

May 13, 2026 By sonicboy19 in 1983, May Tags: Burning Up, FunHouse, Jellybean Benitez, New York, Physical Attraction, Remix Videos 1 Comment

On May 13 1983, Madonna performed Physical Attraction during a track date at the FunHouse in New York City.

Located at 526 West 26th St, the FunHouse (1979-1985) was a breeding ground for the new electronic sounds of the street and helped to make its resident disc jockey, Jellybean Benitez, one of dance music’s first superstar DJ’s.

Of course, Jellybean’s close association with Madonna certainly didn’t hinder his growing popularity either. His first working collaboration with Madonna was to remix Physical Attraction, the b-side to her sophomore single on Sire Records, Burning Up/Physical Attraction, which may explain why it was chosen over the more frequently performed lead track for her performance at the FunHouse. The same remix of Physical Attraction was later used on her debut album, together with new remixes Jellybean provided for Burning Up and Lucky Star alongside his first full production for Holiday.

Today in Madonna History: May 12, 1998

May 12, 2026 By sonicboy19 in 1998, May Tags: Jonas Åkerlund, MTV Video Music Awards, Music Videos, Ray of, Ray Of Light (Single) 1 Comment

On May 12 1998, Madonna’s Ray of Light video premiered on MTV.

The video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund, with Madonna’s scenes being shot on March 25–26, 1998 at Raleigh Studios and Florentine Gardens nightclub in downtown Los Angeles. The images of various cities include Los Angeles, New York, London, Las Vegas and Stockholm.

The video was ranked No. 40 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Videos, listed No. 1 on Back In… 98’s Top 5 Best Videos, ranked No. 7 on Listed’s Top 40 Memorable Videos Pt. 1 & 2, on MuchMoreMusic, and ranked No. 26 on MuchMusic’s 100 Best Videos. It was ranked at number four on “The Top 100 Videos That Broke The Rules”, issued by MTV on the channel’s 25th anniversary in August 2006.

The video received a total of eight MTV Video Music Awards nominations, becoming Madonna’s second most-nominated video at the award show, after “Vogue” in 1990. It won five awards for Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Choreography, becoming her most-winning song at the show.