On January 22 1983, Madonna’s Everybody peaked on Billboard’s Bubbling Under singles chart in the U.S., spending the first of three consecutive weeks at #107. Although the song managed to bubble under for a total of eight weeks, it didn’t gain enough support from mainstream radio to break into the Hot 100.
Today in Madonna History: January 21, 1992
On January 21 1992, a lawsuit was filed against Madonna by 3 ex-dancers: Oliver Crumes, Kevin Stea and Gabriel Trupin – they charged her with invasion of privacy, fraud and deceit, intentional misrepresentation, suppression of fact, and intentional infliction of emotional distress for exposing their private lives in her 1991 film documentary Truth or Dare.
In a commercial for MTV’s Rock the Vote campaign later that year, Madonna joked about the lawsuit, saying, “You’re probably thinking that’s not a very good reason to vote… So sue me! Everybody else does.”
In October 1994, after more than two years of litigation, the suit was withdrawn and an undisclosed settlement was reached.
Today in Madonna History: January 20, 1996
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.
Today in Madonna History: January 19, 1991
On January 19 1991, Billboard magazine reported on the controversy surrounding Madonna’s use of prose from the Book of Revelations in a remix featured on the maxi-single of Justify My Love, titled The Beast Within. The remix was created by Madonna & Lenny Kravitz during the recording session for Justify My Love.
While The Beast Within would later be featured prominently in 1993’s Girlie Show tour and as the opening sequence of 2004’s Re-Invention tour, in both cases the biblical verse that had sparked the controversy was excluded.
The article also mentions the song’s use of Public Enemy’s Security Of The First World as the basis of Justify My Love‘s rhythm track, with Public Enemy’s co-producer revealing an intent to sue Madonna & Kravitz over its use. Madonna had only received credit for “additional lyrics” on the song, while Kravitz was originally credited as composer and producer.
Today in Madonna History: January 18, 1986
On January 18 1986, Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour hit #1 on Billboard’s Top Music Videos chart in the US. It went on to become the country’s top-selling music video of 1986.
Today in Madonna History: January 17, 1996
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 16, 1999
On January 16 1999, The Power of Good-Bye spent its sixteenth and final week on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart at #75. The song had peaked at #26 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart during the week of November 28, 1998.
Today In Madonna History 