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.
On January 23 1985, Madonna’s Like A Virgin album was certified 2x platinum (for sales of 2 million units) in the USA.
On November 9 1985, Madonna hosted the 1985-86 season premiere of NBC-TV’s Saturday Night Live.
The musical guest was Simple Minds. Simple Minds performed Alive and Kicking and Satisfy Yourself.
During the SNL skits, Madonna performed Take On Me, La Bamba and Lionel Richie’s Three Times A Lady.
For the eleventh season of SNL, Lorne Michaels returned as executive producer after a five-year absence. Michaels wanted his own cast so the entire cast from the previous season was fired.
Read this article by Queerty.com:
Say what you will about Madonna’s acting chops, but the icon has always had our backs and never been afraid to push the envelope. Take, for example, her only hosting stint on Saturday Night Live back in 1985 when she was indisputably the most famous entertainer woman on the planet. In the sketch, which was clearly inspired by the anxiety and, in some cases, furor that surrounded an episode of Dynasty. Superstar actor Rock Hudson had joined the cast as a love interest to series regular Linda Evans. In one episode Hudson kissed Evans on the mouth. Not a big deal, you’re thinking but by the time the episode aired Hudson was revealed to be battling AIDS and had known at the time it was filmed but hadn’t disclosed the information to his costar. It was a different era, friends, an AIDS diagnosis was thought to be a death sentence and there were even tabloid reports that Evans had contracted the disease from a mere smooch. Evans, for the record, bore no grudge against the late superstar.
Anyway, in the skit titled Pinklisting, Madge dons a dark wig to resemble Evans’ other costar Joan Collins and a clipped British accent (a harbinger of things to come!) to play a TV actress unwilling to do scenes with a costar “she doesn’t know” due to her fear of AIDS. The joke, if it can be referred to as one, is that the costar is played by Terry Sweeney (still the only openly gay male SNL player), as a super-femme gay actor who tries to butch it up but he loses his cool when confronted by a snarky Judy-Liza headline.
While the sketch isn’t exactly a rib-tickler it’s surprising in hindsight that it was a comic skit built around AIDS at a time when it was still considered a fatal disease, and broadcast in November 1985, less than a month after Hudson’s death. While that may seem insensitive, remember that this was the year Larry Kramer’s landmark AIDS-themed play The Normal Heart was first produced — and President Reagan hadn’t even uttered the word in public. So let’s hear it again for Madonna, forever at the forefront of progress, bringing a public discourse on the disease into the homes of millions of TV viewers.
On October 12 1985, Madonna’s Gambler debuted at #20 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was included on the Vision Quest soundtrack (along with Crazy For You) and released by Geffen Records. Madonna’s record company, Sire Records, prevented Gambler from being released as a single in the USA.
After two weeks on the chart, Gambler peaked at #4. It also reached #3 in Italy and #10 in Australia.
With Gambler‘s success, Madonna became the first female artist to rack up 8 UK top-ten singles in one calendar year.
Gambler was Madonna’s highest charting single in the UK that was entirely self-written. In the U.S. Lucky Star earned this distinction, reaching #4 on the Hot 100.
On October 3 1985, Madonna’s second single from the motion picture Vision Quest, Gambler was released by Geffen Records in select markets.
Gambler was entirely self-written by Madonna and produced by John “Jellybean” Benitez.
Gambler was never released in the United States, but it went to #4 in the UK. The single also reached the top-ten in the charts of Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Ireland, Netherlands and Norway.
The music video for the song is an excerpt from the film.
Madonna has performed the song only once, on her Virgin Tour in 1985.
Alex Henderson from Allmusic called the song “an ultra-infectious gem that, unfortunately, isn’t on any of the Material Girl’s CDs” and felt that Gambler should have been a big hit.
Would you like to see Madonna perform “Gambler” on a future concert tour?
On September 2 1985, Madonna and Sean Penn are featured on the cover of People Magazine with the headline: Madonna Weds Sean.
Here’s a snippet of the article inside People:
The World Watches (From Afar) as the Pop Princess Takes Reclusive Film Star Sean Penn on a Walk to the Altar. From above the bluffs of Point Dume, Malibu, a half-dozen choppers filled with photographers sent down a windy backwash and a constant din. Below, at the huge wooden gates fronting real-estate developer Dan Unger’s $6.5 million home, blue-blazered guards oversaw an I.D. check of all who entered, while inside others prepared for the evening ahead by arming themselves with infrared binoculars to scan the perimeter for intruders. One interloper—an Italian photographer in camouflage gear and blackened face who had been hiding in the shrubbery since 1:30 in the morning—was ejected and his pictures of the blessed event were destroyed.
On August 25 1985, Madonna appeared on the cover of Big Comics For Men (Japan).
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