On January 16 1988, Spotlight entered Billboard’s Airplay chart at #37. The track would reach a peak of #32 three weeks later before falling to #40 in its final week.
Although Spotlight was not actively promoted to radio by Warner Bros. in the North America, radio’s eagerness to spin the cut regardless serves as a good indication that it likely would have continued Madonna’s hit streak at the time if it had been granted a proper single release.
On January 15 1993, Body of Evidence was released across North America. The erotic thriller was produced by Dino De Laurentiis and directed by Uli Edel. The film starred Madonna and Willem Dafoe, with Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer, Julianne Moore and Jürgen Prochnow in supporting roles.
The theatrical release for the film received the rare NC-17 rating (“No Children Under 17 Admitted”).
Sex was a game to her. She got off on the control. She always used to tell me it had to be her way.
When was the last time you watched Body of Evidence? Thoughts?
On January 14 1993, Madonna was featured in a 2-part interview with Bryant Gumbel on NBC-TV’s Today to promote the film Body of Evidence.
Madonna seemed quite fond of Gumbel. If they were to get any closer she’d be sitting on his knee. And note the conspicuously missing gap between her teeth. Hmmm. On second thought, it may have had something to do with the filming of her next movie, Dangerous Game…what do you think?
On January 13 2001, Madonna graced the cover of InStyle magazine. Inside included new photos by Regan Cameron (some were later used to promote the Drowned World Tour) and an interview by Tim Allis.
On January 5 1995, Madonna’s fabulous Bedtime Stories album was certified platinum (for shipment of 1 million units).
Barbara O’Dair reviewed the album for Rolling Stone magazine:
After the drubbing she has taken in the last few years, Madonna deserves to be mighty mad. And wounded anger is shot through her new album, Bedtime Stories, as she works out survival strategies. While always a feminist more by example than by word or deed, Madonna seems genuinely shocked at the hypocritical prudishness of her former fans, leading one to expect a set of biting screeds. But instead of reveling in raised consciousness, Bedtime Stories demonstrates a desire to get unconscious. Madonna still wants to go to bed, but this time it’s to pull the covers over her head.
Still, in so doing, Madonna has come up with some awfully compelling sounds. In her retreat from sex to romance, she has enlisted four top R&B producers: Atlanta whiz kid Dallas Austin, Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Dave “Jam” Hall and Britisher Nellee Hooper (Soul II Soul), who add lush soul and creamy balladry. With this awesome collection of talent, the record verily shimmers. Bass-heavy grooves push it along when more conventional sentiments threaten to bog it down. Both aspects put it on chart-smart terrain.
A number of songs — “Survival,” “Secret,” “I’d Rather Be Your Lover” (to which Me’Shell NdegéOcello brings a bumping bass line and a jazzy rap) — are infectiously funky. And Madonna does a drive-by on her critics, complete with a keening synth line straight outta Dre, on “Human Nature”: “Did I say something wrong?/Oops, I didn’t know I couldn’t talk about sex (I musta been crazy).”
But you don’t need her to tell you that she’s “drawn to sadness” or that “loneliness has never been a stranger,” as she sings on the sorrowful “Love Tried to Welcome Me.” The downbeat restraint in her vocals says it, from the tremulously tender “Inside of Me” to the sob in “Happiness lies in your own hand/It took me much too long to understand” from “Secret.”
The record ultimately moves from grief to oblivion with the seductive techno pull of “Sanctuary.” The pulsating drone of the title track (co-written by Björk and Hooper), with its murmured refrain of “Let’s get unconscious, honey,” renounces language for numbness.
Twirled in a gauze of (unrequited) love songs, Bedtime Stories says, “Fuck off, I’m not done yet.” You have to listen hard to hear that, though. Madonna’s message is still “Express yourself, don’t repress yourself.” This time, however, it comes not with a bang but a whisper.
On January 4 2012, Kylie Minogue denied a rumour (via Twitter) that she and Madonna would be joining forces for a killer duet:
“It’s just a rumour, but of course it would be amazing!! maybe one day!”
Madonna demonstrated her admiration for Kylie by wearing a Kylie t-shirt during a performance at the November 2000 MTV Europe Music Awards.
On January 3 2014, it was announced that Hard Candy Fitness, the global luxury fitness brand in partnership with Madonna and New Evolution Ventures, would open a new facility in Toronto on February 11, 2014.
Today In Madonna History 