Today in Madonna History: February 27, 1991

immaculate-collection-body-of-work-promo-stand

On February 27 1991, Madonna’s first greatest hits video collection, The Immaculate Collection video was certified double platinum (for sales of 200,000 units).

Stephen Thomas Erlewine (AllMusic) had this to say about the video collection:

If any artist exploited MTV and music video to its full extent, it was Madonna. Duran Duran may have been the first video stars, but Madonna was savvy enough to redefine her image with each video, not just each album. All of her major videos between 1983 and 1990 (with the exception of her first, Burning Up, and Justify My Love, which was one of the new tracks on the greatest-hits The Immaculate Collection) are included on the video edition of Immaculate. Images from the videos — the gondolas of Like a Virgin, the Marilyn Monroe homage of Material Girl, the faux-Blade Runner Express Yourself, the taboo-shattering Like a Prayer, the sleek, stylish Vogue — have not only become part of pop music history, but of pop culture, and that becomes apparent after watching this collection. It’s truly astounding to watch the videos back to back, as it confirms that Madonna always knew where she was going, visually and musically. The singles were benchmarks of pop music in the ’80s, and if anything, the videos are even more important. This is what mainstream pop was all about in the ’80s.

Today in Madonna History: February 26, 1987

rolling-stone-magazine-readers-poll-1987-1 rolling-stone-magazine-readers-poll-1987-2 rolling-stone-magazine-readers-poll-1987-3

On February 26 1987, Madonna won Best Female Singer and Sexiest Female Artist in Rolling Stone magazine’s 11th annual Readers Poll.

Today in Madonna History: February 25, 1992

blond-ambition-laser-disc-1

On February 25 1992, the Pioneer LaserDisc-only release Madonna: Blond Ambition World Tour Live won Best Music Video–Long Form at the 34th annual Grammy Awards at Radio City Music Hall, New York.

Although Madonna had received four Grammy nominations in previous years (Best Female Pop Vocal in 1986 & 1987; Best Original Song From A Motion Picture in 1988; Best Music Video–Short Form in 1991 for Oh Father), Madonna: Blond Ambition Tour Live represented her very first Grammy Award win. Ironically, the lack of a VHS edition or of any subsequent DVD/Blu-Ray reissue of the title meant that only those in possession a pricey LaserDisc player were afforded the opportunity to purchase and enjoy the award-winning release.

Madonna would receive three more Grammy nominations for Best Music Video–Long Form in the years that followed; she was nominated in 1995 and 2007 for The Girlie Show–Live Down Under and I’m Going To Tell You A Secret, respectively, before finally winning the award a second time for The Confessions Tour in 2008.

Today in Madonna History: February 24, 1991

madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-1 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-2 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-3 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-4 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-5 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-6

On February 24 1991, Madonna’s Crazy For You was re-released to promote The Immaculate Collection in the UK.

The song was originally released in the United Kingdom on June 8, 1985, it debuted at number 25 and peaked at number two. The re-release again reached a peak of number two.

The CD single included remixed versions of Crazy For You, Keep It Together and Into The Groove.

Today In Madonna History: February 23, 2000

On February 23 1999, Madonna’s Beautiful Stranger won Best Song Written For A Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media at the 42nd annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center, in Los Angeles, California.

Today in Madonna History: February 22, 1992

vlcsnap-2015-02-21-18h14m48s14 vlcsnap-2015-02-21-18h13m37s69 vlcsnap-2015-02-21-18h04m42s39 vlcsnap-2015-02-21-18h30m14s71

On February 22 1992, Madonna made a surprise guest appearance on NBC-TV’s Saturday Night Live, where she lovingly spoofed longtime publicist Liz Rosenberg (and herself as well) in the recurring skit “Coffee Talk” alongside her favorite SNL alum Mike Myers and host Roseanne.

But the biggest surprise turned out to be reserved for Madonna, Myers and Roseanne when the subject of their adoration in the skit, Barbra Streisand, made a rare public appearance by sauntering on set as they were finishing up the sketch.

Today In Madonna History: February 21, 1998

national-lottery-frozen-madonna

On February 21 1998, Madonna performed Frozen on BBC1-TV’s National Lottery Show in London, England.