Author Archives: Jay

Today in Madonna History: September 5, 1986

September 5, 2014 By in 1986, September Tags: , , 1 Comment

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On September 5 1986, Madonna was honoured with the Video Vanguard Award for her visionary videos at the 3rd annual MTV Video Music Awards at the Palladium in New York City.

Madonna found immense popularity by pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music and imagery in her music videos, which became a fixture on MTV. Her videos depicted controversial subjects such as teen pregnancy, racism, religion, sex and violence.  She received the Video Vanguard Award for her contributions to the world of music video.

Today in Madonna History: September 4, 1987

September 4, 2014 By in 1987, September Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

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On September 4 1987, Madonna performed Causing A Commotion live via satellite from the Stadio Communale in Turin, Italy, during the Who’s That Girl World Tour and won Best Female Video for Papa Don’t Preach at the 4th annual MTV Video Music Awards at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California.

Today in Madonna History: September 3, 2009

September 3, 2014 By in 2009, September Tags: , 1 Comment

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On September 3 2009, Madonna’s Sticky And Sweet world tour was named the highest-grossing for a solo artist ever.

The tour, which finished in Tel Aviv on September 2 2009, made $408 million (£250m), according to promoters Live Nation. During the tour, Madonna played 85 shows, drawing in more than 3.5 million fans from 32 countries.

The Sticky And Sweet tour broke Madonna’s previous record for the most successful outing by a solo artist with her 2006 Confessions Tour, which grossed $194 million.

Today in Madonna History: September 2, 1993

September 2, 2014 By in 1993, September Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

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On September 2 1993, Madonna opened the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards performing Bye Bye Baby.  She cavorted on stage with three scantily clad women in a brothel-style setting, dressed in tuxedos and top hats, in a choreographed, highly sexual routine.  According to choreographer Alex Magno, he wanted to do Justify My Love or The Beast Within on MTV, but Madonna decided that they might be too controversial for live television and abandoned the idea. Nevertheless, Bye Bye Baby was chosen and performed with the choreography they had been practicing for The Girlie Show World Tour, since it represented the whole idea behind the tour.  Louis Virtel from The Backlot ranked the performance at number eight on a list for Madonna’s 11 Greatest VMA Moments. He praised Madonna’s rendition of the song at the Video Music Awards, calling it “a hell of a VMA performance” and a “killer cinematic throwback”.

Today in Madonna History: September 1, 2012

September 1, 2014 By in 2012, September Tags: , , , 1 Comment

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On September 1 2012, Madonna performed her MDNA Tour on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City. A sold out crowd of 72,000 fans attended the outdoor event.

Today in Madonna History: August 25, 1987

August 25, 2014 By in 1987, August Tags: , , , 1 Comment

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On August 25 1987,  Causing a Commotion was released as the second single from the soundtrack album Who’s That Girl, by Sire Records. Causing a Commotion was written and produced by Madonna and Stephen Bray, the song was inspired by Madonna’s relationship with then husband Sean Penn, and his abusive and violent nature.

Today in Madonna History: August 22, 1987

August 22, 2014 By in 1987, August Tags: , , 1 Comment

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On August 22 1987, Madonna’s Who’s That Girl single (from the soundtrack album of the same name) went to number-one on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Regarding the development of the music for the film, Madonna explained:

“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 [her character name in the movie] 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.”