Today in Madonna History: July 12, 1986

hb_tb-1On July 12 1986, Madonna’s third album, True Blue, debuted at #1 on the UK Albums Chart.

Here’s the AllMusic review of True Blue by Stephen Thomas Erlewine:

True Blue is the album where Madonna truly became Madonna the Superstar — the endlessly ambitious, fearlessly provocative entertainer that knew how to outrage, spark debates, get good reviews — and make good music while she’s at it. To complain that True Blue is calculated is to not get Madonna — that’s a large part of what she does, and she is exceptional at it, but she also makes fine music. What’s brilliant about True Blue is that she does both here, using the music to hook in critics just as she’s baiting a mass audience with such masterstrokes as “Papa Don’t Preach,” where she defiantly states she’s keeping her baby. It’s easy to position anti-abortionism as feminism, but what’s tricky is to transcend your status as a dance-pop diva by consciously recalling classic girl-group pop (“True Blue,” “Jimmy Jimmy”) to snag the critics, while deepening the dance grooves (“Open Your Heart,” “Where’s the Party”), touching on Latin rhythms (“La Isla Bonita”), making a plea for world peace (“Love Makes the World Go Round”), and delivering a tremendous ballad that rewrites the rules of adult contemporary crossover (“Live to Tell”). It’s even harder to have the entire album play as an organic, cohesive work. Certainly, there’s some calculation behind the entire thing, but what matters is the end result, one of the great dance-pop albums, a record that demonstrates Madonna’s true skills as a songwriter, record-maker, provocateur, and entertainer through its wide reach, accomplishment, and sheer sense of fun.

Today in Madonna History: July 11, 1987

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On July 11 1987, Madonna’s True Blue album was certified 5x platinum (5 million units) in the USA.  The album went on to sell an estimated 19 million units worldwide.

How many copies of True Blue do you own? Cassette? 8-Track? LP? CD? 

Today in Madonna History: July 10, 1985

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Madonna I'm Not Ashamed

On July 10 1985, The Playboy magazine issue of nude Madonna photos was released.

Today in Madonna History: July 9, 2015

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On July 9 2015, Adi Lederman was sentenced to 14 months in prison for hacking Madonna’s song library and leaking early demos from her yet-to-be-released Rebel Heart album.

Under a plea bargain, Lederman confessed to computer trespassing and infringement of privacy and property rights.  Lederman was fined 15,000 shekels ($4,000 US dollars), in addition to his prison sentence.

The court released this statement:

“The ease with which crimes such as this can be committed by those who have skills in the field, such as the accused, require an appropriate punitive response that has a deterrent and uncompromising message.”

Madonna said the crime was an “invasion into my life – creatively, professionally and personally remains a deeply devastating and hurtful experience“.

Today in Madonna History: July 8, 1996

On July 8 1996, Madonna appeared on the cover of People magazine in a feature called, Bringing Up Babies: As Clocks Tick and Instincts Prevail, Stars Single and Married are Heeding the Nesting Urge.

 

What do you think Madonna’s career would be like if she hadn’t had children? 

Today in Madonna History: July 7, 1992

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On July 7 1992, Madonna contributed This Used To Be My Playground to the Special Olympics benefit CD, Barcelona Gold.

This Used To Be My Playground was the theme song to the hit film A League of Their Own, but it was not included on the film soundtrack. The soundtrack for the film was released by Columbia Records, while Barcelona Gold was released by Warner Bros., possibly the reason why Madonna’s hit single appeared on the benefit CD instead of the soundtrack.

Today in Madonna History: July 6, 1987

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On July 6 1987, Madonna performed the first of two sold-out Who’s That Girl concerts at the Montreal Forum.  Madonna performed in front of 32,985 fans during the two dates (July 6 and 7).