On January 11 1995, Madonna ranked #10 on Mr. Blackwell’s 35th annual list of the worst-dressed women of 1994.
We can only imagine that the Bettina Rheims photo shoot contributed to Madonna’s placement on the list. We love you Bettina!
Category Archives: 1995
Today in Madonna History: January 5, 1995
On January 5 1995, the lead single from Madonna’s Bedtime Stories album, Secret, was certified gold in the USA for shipment of 500,000 units.
The images in this post are for the UK Secret cassette single.
Today in Madonna History: December 24, 1995
On December 24 1995, Oh Father was released as the second UK single from Madonna’s ballads retrospective, Something To Remember.
Warner had initially declined the option to release Oh Father in most European markets when it became the fourth North American single from Like A Prayer in late 1989, instead opting for a more by-the-numbers portrait of childhood innocence with the release of Dear Jessie. Why it was determined to be a better idea in 1995, following its poor showing on the U.S. charts, is anyone’s guess. One possibility is that Oh Father‘s brilliant preexisting music video provided an easy, cost-free means of promoting the song while Madonna remained unavailable due to her recording commitments for the Evita soundtrack.
While I would personally rank Oh Father among Madonna’s very best musical and lyrical efforts, and its music video an underrated classic – it never had the makings of a commercial hit. And history repeated itself when the song’s dark subject matter once again stunted its ability to gain momentum on radio for its British release. It became only her third UK single at the time to peak outside the top-ten when it stalled at #16 in its first charting week. It fared better in Finland and Italy, however, reaching #6 in both countries.
Today in Madonna History: November 22, 1995
On November 22 1995, Madonna was featured on VH1’s television series VH1 To One in a previously recorded interview with Jane Pratt. The appearance was part of Madonna’s promotional activities for the ballads compilation, Something To Remember.
The interview was conducted in London, where Madonna had recently begun recording the soundtrack to Evita.
Today in Madonna History: November 10, 1995
On November 10 1995, Madonna’s Something to Remember was released in Japan under the title Best of Madonna: Ballad Collection.
The Japanese release included Madonna’s 1986 hit La Isla Bonita as a bonus track.
La Isla Bonita was re-released three months prior to the compilation as a double A-side record with Human Nature, the final single from Bedtime Stories. Receiving gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), the song was added to Something to Remember track listing in the hope of boosting the album sales in the Japanese region.
Today in Madonna History: October 30, 1995
On October 30 1995, You’ll See was released as the first single from the ballads compilation, Something To Remember. It was one of three tracks written and produced by Madonna with Canadian songwriter David Foster during a marathon writing/recording session in late September 1995, with One More Chance also making the album’s final cut. A shelved collaboration entitled I Can’t Forget was recorded by British electronic group Tilt (retitled Come Closer) in 2006 and later by Canadian vocalist Angelica Di Castro. Madonna’s original unreleased demo leaked to the internet in 2010.
A Spanish version of You’ll See entitled Verás (featuring lyrics by Paz Martinez) was recorded during a brief promotional push for the album and was included on the North American maxi-single alongside an instrumental version and a live recording of Live To Tell (taken from 1987’s Ciao Italia! concert release). An alternate version of the You’ll See video was serviced to Latin markets to promote Verás featuring in-studio footage of Madonna recording its vocals.
Today in Madonna History: October 21, 1995
On October 21 1995, the music video for I Want You by Madonna with Massive Attack hit #11 on VH1’s weekly chart in the U.S.
The video for I Want You is somewhat of an anomaly in Madonna’s career. The song was initially intended to be a joint release to promote both Inner City Blues (a Marvin Gaye tribute album on Motown Records) and Madonna’s own Something To Remember ballads collection on Sire/Maverick. Naturally, a music video was commissioned to accompany the planned single.
Unfortunately, legal wranglings between the two record companies ensued when Motown insisted on releasing the tribute album ahead of Madonna’s album. Concerned that the move could negatively impact sales of Something To Remember, Madonna’s label apparently backed away from plans to fully promote I Want You.
Fortunately for fans, the song’s excellent music video, which had already been completed by director Earle Sebastian, was not shelved. It was serviced to video channels ahead of the release of both albums and received moderate support despite the song’s absence from radio.
The video quickly faded into obscurity, however, once Madonna’s You’ll See single and its accompanying video were given a full promotional push from her label less than a month later.
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