On July 8 1985, Madonna was featured on the cover of People magazine with the caption: “Can Madonna get Sean to the alter?”
Category Archives: 1985
Today in Madonna History: May 25, 1985
On May 25 1985, Madonna performed The Virgin Tour at Cobo Arena in Detroit, Michigan. The show was filmed by Daniel Kleinman, and released by Warner Music Video and Sire Records on November 13 1985.
Here is the dialog from Madonna’s famous Virgin Tour introduction (filmed by James Foley for the video release, it was not present during the concerts):
“I went to New York. I had a dream. I wanted to be a big star, I didn’t know anybody, I wanted to dance, I wanted to sing, I wanted to do all those things, I wanted to make people happy, I wanted to be famous, I wanted everybody to love me. I wanted to be a star. I worked really hard, and my dream came true.”
Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour was an enormous success. The home video release was the top selling music video cassette of 1986 in the USA, and the video was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 100,000 copies.
Today in Madonna History: May 11, 1985
On May 11 1985, Crazy For You hit number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. for one week. The track had spent the two previous weeks in the runner-up position behind the all-star single, We Are The World. In Canada, Crazy For You took a few weeks longer but also managed to displace USA For Africa’s charity track to become the county’s number-one single on May 25th.
The song was Madonna’s second chart-topping hit, and her first ballad to be released as a single.
Today in Madonna History: March 29, 1985
On March 29 1985, Desperately Seeking Susan was released. The American comedy-drama was directed by Susan Seidelman and starred Rosanna Arquette and Madonna.
The New York Times film critic Vincent Canby named the film as one of the 10 best films of 1985.
Interesting facts: The filmmakers had initially wanted Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn to play the roles of Roberta and Susan, but the director decided to cast newcomers Rosanna Arquette and Madonna instead and the studio wanted the film to have younger actors in order to appeal to younger filmgoers. Bruce Willis was up for the role of “Dez” and Melanie Griffith was up for the part of “Susan”. Madonna barely beat out Ellen Barkin and Jennifer Jason Leigh for the part of Susan. Suzanne Vega also auditioned for the role of Susan, but was passed over.
Today in Madonna History: February 1, 1985
On February 1 1985, Madonna’s music video for Material Girl premiered in the U.S. on MTV.
The Mary Lambert-directed clip was a tongue-in-cheek homage to Marilyn Monroe’s performance of Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend from the 1953 film, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
Today in Madonna History: January 19, 1985
On January 19 1985, Madonna reached #1 on the RPM Canadian Top 100 Singles chart for the very first time with Like A Virgin.
For the 1985 year-end chart, Like A Virgin was #35 (RPM Canadian Top Singles).
A promotional-only 7″ single was released in Canada on white vinyl. The 7″ included the album versions of Like A Virgin and Stay.
Hear an unreleased early rough mix of the underrated track, Stay, from the Like A Virgin album sessions below.
Today in Madonna History: January 10, 1985
On January 10 1985, Madonna’s Like A Virgin single was certified gold for shipment of 1 million units.
Prior to January 1 1989, the certification thresholds were Gold (1,000,000 units), and Platinum (2,000,000 units) in the USA (Recording Industry Association of America).
