On April 5 1999, Madonna was voted the Most Positive & Influential Sexual Voice Of The Past 35 Years in a USA Today online survey.
Category Archives: 1999
Today In Madonna History: March 17, 1999
On March 17 1999, Madonna won Best Dance Artist – Solo and Best Dance Video (Ray Of Light) at the 14th annual International Dance Music Awards at the Winter Music Conference in Miami, Florida.
Today in Madonna History: March 13, 1999
On March 13 1999, Nothing Really Matters spent the first of two weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Club Play chart in the U.S.
Despite being a successful club hit, many have cited Warner’s unusual marketing choices for the single as the primary reason for its poor placement on the Hot 100, where its peak of #93 remains the lowest of her charting singles.
The delayed release of the commercial single – which came long after the song had peaked at radio – was clearly a blunder, while other aspects of the song’s promotion seemingly started too early. After declining to release the experimental remixes for The Power Of Good-Bye in the U.S. (the remixes were issued commercially in Canada & abroad), Warner jumped the gun by beginning to service remixes of Nothing Really Matters promotionally to clubs as early as September of 1998 – over six months ahead of the maxi-single release.
An alternative might have been to service the Sky Fits Heaven remixes promotionally in the U.S. during the interim, considering that it managed to enter the Dance/Club Play chart based solely on spins from the imported Drowned World/Substitute For Love single, with no push from the label domestically.
Chart positions and marketing decisions aside, the maxi-single for Nothing Really Matters, with its wonderfully varied set of remixes by Peter Rauhofer, Kruder & Dorfmeister and Talvin Singh, remains one of Madonna’s best, in our opinion. Together with its visually stunning music video, the single marked an artistically pleasing closing chapter to the epic Ray Of Light era.
Today in Madonna History: February 20, 1999
On February 20 1999, Madonna began rehearsals for her performance of Nothing Really Matters at the Grammys with Donna De Lory and Niki Haris. It marked their first live performance together since The Girlie Show Tour in 1993.
Today in Madonna History: February 1, 1999
On February 1 1999, a geisha-inspired Madonna was featured on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar magazine in the USA, with photos by Patrick Demarchelier.
Today in Madonna History: January 18, 1999
On January 18 1999, Madonna appeared on the cover of People magazine with the headline, “The New Pop Divas.”
The new pop divas. By that definition, say hello to the latest wave of pop divas: Celine Dion, 30; Whitney Houston, 35; Mariah Carey, 29; Madonna, the old-timer at 40; Janet Jackson, 32; Shania Twain, 33; and Jewel, 24—with divas-in-waiting Brandy, 19; Monica, 18; and LeAnn Rimes, 16, warbling in the wings. All certainly have the requisite lung power. Houston, whose Top 20 album My Love Is Your Love marks her first studio release in eight years, can rattle roof beams, Carey skips octaves with the ease of a kindergartner at jump rope, and Dion (who, like Carey and Twain, sang with Franklin on VH1) belts out “My Heart Will Go On,” the Oscar-winning Titanic theme, with chest-thumping majesty. And, with all due R-E-S-P-E-C-T to Aretha and company, these superdivas are richer and wield more power. True, some of their pre-MTV forebears dabbled in movies, but were they also best-selling authors a la Jewel? Did they, like Madonna, run their own record labels? Even divette Brandy has her own TV show.
Today in Madonna History: January 2, 1999
On January 2 1999, Madonna’s The Power of Good-Bye peaked at #14 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart in the USA. The single remained #14 for 6 non-consecutive weeks.
