On December 13 1990, Madonna’s Blond Ambition World Tour Live was released exclusively on LaserDisc by the trek’s sponsor, Pioneer.
Recorded at the final show in Nice, France, the concert had originally aired as a live HBO special in the U.S.
The LaserDisc release would go on to win a Grammy award (Madonna’s first) for Best Music Video, Long Form in 1991.
On December 12 1986, Open Your Heart was released in North America as the fourth single from True Blue. The song was written by Madonna, Gardner Cole & Peter Rafelson and produced by Madonna & Patrick Leonard.
The single’s worldwide b-side, White Heat, an album track from True Blue, developed a relatively high profile due to its inclusion as the flip-side to two of Madonna’s #1 hits–the aforementioned Open Your Heart and 1987’s Who’s That Girl, released only six months apart. Gaining further exposure as a set-list staple during the Who’s That Girl Tour, the live performance of White Heat foreshadowed some of the dramatic elements that Madonna would expand upon in future tours.
White Heat’s original submission for copyright was registered to Madonna & Leonard under the working title Get Up, Stand Tall with a 1985 date of creation. Notes from the registration on file also list the title Dangerous–but it is likely just another working title that was being considered rather than a separate recording. White Heat is thought to have been among the earliest songwriting collaborations between Madonna & Leonard to be completed, coming shortly after their first composition, Love Makes The World Go Round, surfaced during Live Aid in the summer of 1985. The sequence of the registration numbers for the two songs suggests that they may they have been completed within a month or two of each other. Madonna’s version of Open Your Heart (which she revised from the Cole/Rafelson demo) is also thought to have been recorded with Leonard during the same time period.
The liner notes of True Blue dedicated White Heat to actor James Cagney, who in 1949 played ruthless, deranged gang leader Arthur “Cody” Jarrett in the Warner Brothers film, White Heat. Several clips of Cagney’s dialogue from the original motion picture were used in the song for dramatic effect.
On December 11 2009, Madonna’s official website announced that Revolver would be released as the second single from the deluxe edition of her greatest hits collection, Celebration. The digital maxi-single would be released on December 29th, with the CD maxi-single hitting North American stores in late January and a vinyl 12″ following in early February 2010. This would be Madonna’s final single release under her contract with Warner Bros. Records.
On December 10 1983, Madonna was featured on the back cover of Billboard magazine with the caption: “A Star Is Born!”
Very perceptive, Billboard! Bravo!
On December 9 1989, Madonna was featured in a two-page spread in Billboard magazine, paid for by her record company and management, congratulating her on being named Artist of the Decade by Musician magazine.
Madonna’s September 1989 performance of Express Yourself at the MTV VMA’s perfectly encapsulates the sentiments expressed in the tribute. As her only live performance that year, it only hinted at Madonna’s next mission: to revolutionize the concert touring industry.
On December 1 2018, Madonna shared this photo and message through her social media channels:
With My Good Friend Keith Haring. He was a big AIDS activist when everyone was calling it GAY cancer. I was with him the day he died of AIDS. He said what hurt him the most was how people did not want to touch door knobs after he touched them. The discrimination then was next level. #worldaidsday.
On November 30 2002, Die Another Day (Remixes) spent the first of two weeks at number-one on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart in US. It was Madonna’s 28th single to top the dance charts.
