Category Archives: March

Today in Madonna History: March 19, 2021

March 19, 2021 By in 2021, March Tags: , , , , , 2 Comments
On March 19 2021, a new digital album or remix EP for Madonna’s Bedtime Story single was loaded to digital platforms.

The digital single was loaded with 15 remixes, including some promo-only cuts never before available commercially:

  1. Bedtime Story (Edit)
  2. Bedtime Story (Junior’s Wet Dream Mix)
  3. Bedtime Story (Junior’s Dreamy Drum Dub)
  4. Survival
  5. Bedtime Story (Orbital Mix)
  6. Bedtime Story (Junior’s Sound Factory Mix)
  7. Bedtime Story (Junior’s Single Mix)
  8. Bedtime Story (Junior’s Sound Factory Mix Edit)
  9. Bedtime Story (Junior’s Sound Factory Dub)
  10. Bedtime Story (Junior’s Wet Dream Dub)
  11. Bedtime Story (Lush Vocal Radio Edit)
  12. Bedtime Story (Lush Vocal Mix)
  13. Bedtime Story (Luscious Dub Mix)
  14. Bedtime Story (Percapella Mix)
  15. Bedtime Story (Unconscious in the Jungle Mix)

Today in Madonna History: March 18, 2005

March 18, 2021 By in 2005, March Tags: , , , 1 Comment

On March 18 2005, a resolution was reached in a UK copyright lawsuit (Coffey v Warner/Chappell Music Ltd. & Others) which alleged that elements of the Madonna & Patrick Leonard composition, Nothing Really Matters, had infringed on the copyright of claimant Elizabeth Coffey and her song, Forever After, performed by Peter Twomey.

The case took almost four years to reach the court and went under a considerable number of amendments by the plaintiff during that time. Coffey eventually alleged that the recording of Forever After included an original musical work, which consisted of the combination of vocal expression, pitch contour, and syncopation of or around the words “does it really matter,” but did not extend to the melody or lyrics surrounding those words.  She pleaded that the words “does it really matter” comprised the song’s lyrical hook and alleged that the copyright in Forever After was infringed by the defendants’ activities in relation to Nothing Really Matters.

In turn, the defendants moved to have the claim struck out as the method the plaintiff had identified the alleged copied elements was contrary to copyright law in general. Another defense offered was that, in any event, no copying had occurred.

The case was dismissed on the legal grounds that, in copyright, one cannot cherry pick the elements of the song that are the most similar in an attempt to build a stronger case. In his findings, the presiding Judge Blackburn, noted:
“The three somewhat elusive features identified by the claimant as her musical work cannot by any stretch of the imagination be said to be sufficiently separable from the remainder of the song as themselves to constitute a musical work. […] What the copyright work is in any given case is not governed by what the claimant alleging copyright infringement chooses to say that it is. Rather, it is a matter for objective determination by the court.”
A summary analysis and MIDI clip of the claimant’s song (which, incidentally, bears no perceivable resemblance to Nothing Really Matters) can be found here. The complete judgement in the lawsuit can be viewed here.

 

Today in Madonna History: March 17, 1999

March 17, 2021 By in 1999, March Tags: , , , 2 Comments

On March 17 1999, CBS-TV’s news magazine, 60 Minutes II, aired a Madonna interview conducted by Charlie Rose. The segment was titled “Madonna at 40”.

“I refused to wear makeup – and that’s when girls are, sort of, going out of their way to be attractive and please boys at school. I said, ‘Well I’ll be damned! They’re going to have to like me with hairy armpits or they’re not worthy of me!'”

Today in Madonna History: March 16, 2004

March 16, 2021 By in 2004, March Tags: , , , , 3 Comments

On March 16 2004, Love Profusion was commercially released in North America on CD maxi-single. In the U.S., a double 12″ vinyl edition of the maxi-single was also released one week later, on March 23rd. Written & produced by Madonna & Mirwais Ahmadzaï, Love Profusion was the fourth and final North American single release from the American Life album. In the UK, Warner chose to issue the song instead of Nothing Fails as the album’s third and final single in December, 2003.

Though lack of radio support kept Love Profusion from charting on the Hot 100 in the U.S., it nevertheless managed to top the Hot Dance/Club Play chart. North of the border, the track peaked at #3 on the Canadian singles chart.

North American pressings of the CD maxi-single included a fold-out tester square of the Estée Lauder fragrance Beyond Paradise. The television commercial for the fragrance featured the song Love Profusion – and although Madonna was replaced by supermodel Carolyn Murphy, it used the same computer-generated imagery as the music video’s “daylight” scenes. Both the video and the commercial were created simultaneously by director Luc Besson.

Today in Madonna History: March 15, 1994

March 15, 2021 By in 1994, March Tags: , 3 Comments

soul-train-94-awards-2 soul-train-94-awards-3 soul-train-94-awards-4 soul-train-94-awards-5 soul-train-94-awards-6

On March 15 1994, Madonna attended the 8th annual Soul Train Awards with Rosie Perez at the Shrine Auditorium, in Los Angeles, California.

Today In Madonna History: March 14, 2001

March 14, 2021 By in 2001, March Tags: , , 1 Comment

DWorld

On March 14, 2001, Madonna held open auditions for dancers for her Drowned World Tour at Musical Theatre Works in New York, NY.

Today in Madonna History: March 13, 1999

March 13, 2021 By in 1999, March Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

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.