On August 3 1991, Madonna was featured on the cover of TV Guide.
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Today in Madonna History: August 2, 2008
On August 2 2008, Madonna and Nathan Rissman introduced their film, I Am Because We Are at the Traverse City Film Festival in Traverse City, Michigan.
The film was directed by Nathan Rissman, produced by Madonna and Angela Becker, written by Madonna, narrated by Madonna with music by Patrick Leonard.
The 86-minute film focuses on the effects of AIDS on orphaned children living in Malawi.
The event was co-founded by filmmaker, author and fellow Michigan native Michael Moore. Moore told the audience that he was humbled to be able to call Madonna a friend:
“She has such an incredible heart and such a generous spirit, she does so much out of the glare of the lights to make the world a better place.”
Madonna was happy to present her film in her home state:
“It’s great bringing my movie to a place that I feel familiar. Not like the Cannes Film Festival, where nobody’s speaking English, or the Tribeca Film Festival, where no one sits down. There’s something poetic about coming back to the place where I used to come for holidays – camping trips with my dad and stepmother and my very large family.”
Today in Madonna History: July 25, 2001
On July 25 2001, Madonna played the first of five sold-out shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden during her Drowned World Tour.
Today in Madonna History: July 24, 1991
On July 24 1991, Madonna appeared on the cover of Just Seventeen (UK) magazine. We go Maddie mad!!
Today in Madonna History: July 23, 1985
On July 23 1985, Into The Groove was released as a single in the UK.
Not wanting to draw more attention away from the Like A Virgin album following the release of the soundtrack hit Crazy For You, Sire/Warner notoriously relegated Into The Groove to the b-side of the Angel 12″ single in North America & Australia, although they eventually ceded to issuing it as an A-side in most other international territories.
Into The Groove was written & produced by Madonna & Stephen Bray and was their first released co-production to not be reworked by an outside producer (the pair had already been producing their own demos for years). The original demo version was used over the closing credits of Desperately Seeking Susan (seemingly dubbed from an actual cassette copy of the demo–granted, DAT’s were still a few years away), and although the commercially released mix featured a slightly beefed-up and more polished-sounding musical backing track, it kept Madonna’s original demo vocals intact.
In the UK, and throughout most of Europe, the single was backed by the Madonna-penned ballad Shoo-Bee-Doo, while the original album version of Everybody (another song credited to her alone) rounded out the 12″ single…it would be fair to assume that Madonna likely earned some of the biggest single-generated songwriting royalty cheques of her career thus far with this release. It’s interesting to note that despite being one of Madonna’s most enduring dance floor classics, no remixes were produced for Into The Groove at the time of its release. It wasn’t until 1987’s You Can Dance remix compilation that the song finally received an official extended remix treatment.
Today in Madonna History: July 22, 2003
On July 22 2003, the first photos from the GAP jeans campaign featuring Madonna and Missy Elliot were released.
Today in Madonna History: July 21, 1987
On July 21 1987, the Who’s That Girl: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack album was released.
Who’s That Girl was released as the lead single from the soundtrack, it became Madonna’s sixth single to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making her the first artist to accumulate six number-one singles in the 1980s, and the first female performer to earn that many number-ones as a solo act.
The album’s second single, Causing a Commotion, was released on August 25, 1987. In the United States, the single quickly climbed up the chart, ultimately peaking at number two in the week of October 24, 1987, the same week Michael Jackson’s Bad advanced to the pole position. It remained in second position for three weeks, before descending from the chart.
The third song released from the album was the European single The Look of Love. In the United Kingdom, The Look of Love was released on December 12, 1987, and entered the UK Singles Chart at position 15. The next week, it reached a peak of nine on the chart, her first single to miss the top five since Lucky Star in 1984.
Regarding her contributions to the soundtrack, Madonna said:
“I had some very specific ideas in mind, music that would stand on its own as well as support and enhance what was happening on-screen and the only way to make that a reality was to have a hand in writing the tunes myself… The songs aren’t necessarily about Nikki or written to be sung by someone like her, but there’s a spirit to this music that captures both what the film and the characters are about, I think.”
The only Madonna song not to be released as a single or performed live from the soundtrack was Can’t Stop. Madonna had been performing her three other songs from the soundtrack during the Who’s That Girl World Tour for over a month prior to the album’s release.
