Today in Madonna History: February 17, 1996

February 17, 2024 By Jay in 1996, February Tags: Charts, Hot Dance Singles Sales, I'll Remember, Live To Tell, Live Videos, Top Of The Pops, You'll See 1 Comment

On February 17 1996, the maxi-single for You’ll See spent its final week on the Maxi-Single Sales chart in Billboard magazine at #40.

The release had a notably short run on the Maxi-Single Sales chart (by Madonna’s typically high standards), spending only three weeks on the proper chart, after debuting on the Bubbling Under chart at #52. It peaked at #18 on February 3rd.

There are several potential reasons that could explain the low sales of its maxi-single. Ballads, unless heavily and successfully remixed, naturally generated less interest with this format, which was primarily geared towards attracting dance music listeners. Many of Madonna’s ballads were not released in the format for this reason. You’ll See was not given an officially released remix treatment but instead featured a Spanish-sung version of the song, an instrumental version, and a live version of another previous ballad hit, Live To Tell.

Further reducing any incentive to buy the maxi-single was the fact that standard U.S. CD and cassette single inexplicably included three of the four cuts featured on the maxi-single, leaving only the Spanish version as an exclusive track on the latter. One wonders if the inclusion of the live version of Live To Tell on the normally two-track standard single was possibly due to a pressing error that they decided to go ahead and release, since it is not listed on the sleeve but is instead promoted as a nameless bonus track on an outer label affixed to the CD and cassette single cellophane (its inclusion is noted on the physical disc and cassette).

Only one Madonna maxi-single issued in the U.S. had both a shorter run and a lower peak on the Maxi-Single Sales chart, and it was another hit ballad. I’ll Remember spent only two weeks on the chart (plus its first week on the Bubbling Under chart), peaking at #30 on May 21, 1994. Similarly, it was also padded with a live cut. However, it also included some creative reworkings of the track by William Orbit, making the reason for its dismal placement on the chart more perplexing. In terms of contents value, it easily outshines the You’ll See maxi-single.

In Canada, You’ll See was only issued as a CD maxi-single, with no standard single being issued on cassette or CD.

Today in Madonna History: January 20, 1996

January 22, 2024 By Jay in 1996, January Tags: David Foster, Larry Flick, Something to Remember, You'll See 1 Comment

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On January 20 1996, Madonna’s You’ll See re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 at #10.

The lead single from Madonna’s Something To Remember ballads collection debuted at #8 on December 8, peaked at #6 on December 16, and in the following weeks fell to #9, #11, #12, #11 and then climbed back to #10.

Larry Flick had this to say about You’ll See:

Foster’s flair for musical melodrama inspires Madonna to turn in what is easily her most assured and full-bodied vocal performance to date. Amid a swirl of strings and Spanish guitars, she spews the song’s declaration of romantic independence with a theatrical verve that perfectly matches the stagey, potentially overpowering tone of Foster’s arrangement without flying over the heads of her youthful top 40 following. A stunning effort that could easily become the ‘I Will Survive’ of this generation.

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Today in Madonna History: January 17, 1996

January 22, 2024 By Jay in 1996, January Tags: Award, David Bowie, David Byrne, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 1 Comment

On January 17 1996, Madonna accepted David Bowie’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction on his behalf.

During her speech, Madonna described how as a “normal, dysfunctional, rebellious teenager from the Midwest,” a David Bowie concert in June 1974 at Cobo Arena in Detroit changed her life for good:

“I don’t think that I breathed for two hours. It was the most amazing show that I’d ever seen, not just because the music was great, but because it was great theater. Here’s this beautiful, androgynous man, just being so perverse … as David Byrne so beautifully put it … so unconventional, defying logic and basically blowing my mind. Anyway, I came home a changed woman, as you can see, and my father was not sleeping and he knew exactly where I went, and he grounded me for the rest of the summer. But it was worth every minute that I sat and suffered in my house that summer.”

Today in Madonna History: January 15, 1996

January 15, 2024 By Jay in 1996, January Tags: Bugsy Siegel, Castillo Del Lago, On the Cover of a Magazine, People Magazine, Robert Hoskins, Stalker 1 Comment

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On January 15 1996, Madonna appeared on the cover of People magazine, with the title: Madonna faces down her stalker in court.

Here’s an excerpt from the issue:

At first glance, it looked like any other Madonna-centric media event, with scrambling news crews and ogling fans swarming around her black limousine. But as soon as she entered courtroom 116 in the L.A. Criminal Courts Building on Jan. 3, it became clear that this was no ordinary Madonna performance. Inside, a jury listened intently as the normally flamboyant singer, 37, dressed with subdued elegance in a black, knee-length suit, soberly delivered testimony against a 38-year-old drifter accused of stalking and threatening to kill her. “He was there to take me away; he wanted me to be his wife,” she said in measured tones. “If he couldn’t have me [he told my secretary], he would slit my throat, from ear to ear.”

Madonna’s hour-long testimony may bring to some kind of conclusion an unsettling series of events that began when Robert Dewey Hoskins was first found hanging around the singer’s Hollywood Hills estate. Hoskins showed up at Madonna’s home last April 7, jumping a security wall before being ejected from the 3.5-acre grounds by a private guard. (Madonna was not home at the time.) Returning from a bike ride with her personal trainer the following day, Madonna encountered Hoskins at her gate. “He looked homeless, dirty; his clothes were wrinkled, and he had a crazy look in his eyes,” she testified. His stare, she said, was “creepy…deranged. It was scary.” Hoskins said nothing but left a note that said, “I love you. You will be my wife for keeps.”

The appearances by Hoskins were unsettling enough, Madonna says, to persuade her to sell the estate, once the home of gangster Bugsy Siegel. Seven weeks later, while Madonna was in Florida, where she also owns a home, Hoskins was back, this time carrying a four-inch wooden heart with the oddly misspelled inscription “Love To My Wife Madnna.”

Today in Madonna History: December 21, 1996

December 21, 2023 By sonicboy19 in 1996, December Tags: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Boston Phoenix, Evita, Peter Keough, Review, Tim Rice, You Must Love Me 1 Comment

On December 21 1996, Madonna’s You Must Love Me (the lead single from EVITA) spent its final week on Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay Chart in the USA. The hit single spent a total of 9 weeks on the chart.

Peter Keough of the Boston Phoenix had this to say about the song:

“You Must Love Me is an aching farewell that dispels the illusion of a romance-of-convenience to reveal the inescapable love and tragedy beneath”.