Category Archives: 1990

Today in Madonna History: November 13, 1990

November 13, 2025 By in 1990, November Tags: 1 Comment

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On November 13 1990, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection, greatest hits CD and video collection were released in North America.

SoulBounce.com says this about the insanely successful collection:

That The Immaculate Collection is the biggest selling compilation album by a solo artist OF ALL TIME is no big surprise when you factor in the consummate icon that is Madonna Louise Ciccone. That even her greatest hits album would set the bar for all greatest hits albums to follow it is a no-brainer given the astronomical number of bars she’s raised. Let’s set the stage, though: 1990 was a huge year for The Material Girl even prior to The Immaculate Collection. The movie Dick Tracy, which Madonna starred in with then-paramour Warren Beatty, and the movie’s soundtrack, I’m Breathless, which includes the Academy Award winning Stephen Sondheim ballad Sooner Or Later and Vogue, one of the biggest hits of Madonna’s career, were both released mid-1990 to much fanfare and many accolades. Madonna also embarked on a huge concert tour in the spring of ’90, the Blond Ambition World Tour, while simultaneously shooting her concert documentary, Truth or Dare. She had already solidified her place as the most successful female artist of the ’80s with three number one albums and seven number one singles. So it’s only fitting that The Immaculate Collection, which served as a venerable summary of Madonna’s entire career up to that point, closed out her mammoth year.

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The CD included the following hits:

Holiday
Lucky Star
Borderline
Like A Virgin
Material Girl
Crazy For You
Into The Groove
Live To Tell
Papa Don’t Preach
Open Your Heart
La Isla Bonita
Like A Prayer
Express Yourself
Cherish
Vogue
Justify My Love
Rescue Me

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The music video collection included the following clips:

Lucky Star
Borderline
Like A Virgin
Material Girl
Papa Don’t Preach
Open Your Heart
La Isla Bonita
Like A Prayer
Express Yourself
Cherish
Oh Father
Vogue
Vogue (live at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards)

If you could change The Immaculate Collection, what would you do?

Today in Madonna History: November 6, 1990

November 6, 2025 By in 1990, November Tags: , , 1 Comment

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On November 6 1990, Madonna’s Justify My Love single was released as the first single from The Immaculate Collection, Madonna’s first greatest hits collection.

In the United States, Justify My Love peaked at number one for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. It also topped the Billboard Top 40 Tracks and Billboard Hot Dance Club Play charts.

Today in Madonna History: September 25, 1990

September 25, 2025 By in 1990, September Tags: , 1 Comment

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On September 25 1990, the photo shoot for the cover of the Justify My Love single was photographed by Patrick Demarchelier.

Today in Madonna History: September 19, 1990

September 19, 2025 By in 1990, September Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

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On September 19 1990, Madonna’s Hanky Panky was certified gold (for shipment of 500,000 units) in the USA.

During an interview with Rolling Stone, Madonna talked about getting a good “spanky”:

The spanking thing started because I believed that my character in Dick Tracy liked to get smacked around and that’s why she hung around with people like Al Pacino’s character. Warren Beatty asked me to write some songs, one of them, the Hanky Panky song, was about that. I say in the song ‘Nothing like a good spanky’, and in the middle I say, ‘Ooh, my bottom hurts just thinking about it’. When it came out everybody started asking, ‘Do you like to get spanked?’ and I said: ‘Yeah. Yeah, I do’.

Today in Madonna History: August 1, 1990

August 1, 2025 By in 1990, August Tags: , , , 1 Comment

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On August 1 1990, Madonna In Concert was taped by SACIS-RAI at Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain on the second to last date of Madonna’s Blond Ambition Tour.

The special was broadcast in Spain, Italy, the UK and Australia. It also aired on Canada’s MuchMusic on September 10, 1990. After being heavily promoted by the channel in the weeks leading up to the broadcast, the special aired in an edited version during its prime time slot, followed by an uncensored airing at midnight.

In addition to its intended use for broadcast, the recording also served as an unused safety net for her HBO special from the final date in Nice, France a few days later.

Today in Madonna History: July 21, 1990

July 21, 2025 By in 1990, July Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

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On July 21 1990, Madonna’s second single from I’m Breathless, Hanky Panky, debuted at #14 in the UK.

Check out the beautiful images above of Madonna performing Hanky Panky during her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour.

Today in Madonna History: July 2, 1990

July 2, 2025 By in 1990, July Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

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On July 2 1990, Roman Catholic groups condemned Madonna’s Blond Ambition concert as blasphemous due to her controversial show’s sex and religious themes and planned to cancel her concerts in Rome and Turin.

Madonna made this speech in response to the threats:

I am an ltalian-American, and I am proud of it.
Proud of being an American because it is the country I grew up in, the country that gave me the opportunities to be who I am today and a country that believes in freedom of speech and artistic expression.
 
My show is not a conventional rock show but a theatrical presentation of my music.
And, like theatre it asks questions, provokes thought and takes you on an emotional journey.
Portraying good and bad, light and dark, joy and sorrow, redemption and salvation.
I do not endorse a way of life but describe one, and the audience is left to make its own decisions and judgments.
This is what I consider freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of thought.
 
Every night, before I go onstage, I say a prayer not only that my show will go well but that the audience will watch with an open heart and an open mind and see it as a celebration of love, life and humanity.

*This is an edited transcript of the speech.  The full speech is included in the video posted above.