On July 28 1990, Unistar Radio Programming aired The Madonna Story radio special in the USA. The hour and a half special included a mix of Madonna’s hit songs and a selection of interviews. The special was aired again the next day.
The Madonna Story was recorded and released (promotional-only) on a 2-LP set with cue sheets.
On July 27 1992, Madonna was featured on the cover of People magazine and in a feature article about the previous 50 years of teen idols.
Here’s a snippet of what People had to say about Madonna in 1992:
Not Just a Mirror of the Times, Madonna Is a Hall of Mirrors: Temptress, CEO, Atomic Blonde, Fatal Attraction—She Struts a Multitude of Selves Across the Stage – From Brando to Axl, the boys have always had somebody to act out their fantasies of rebellion and stand in for their forbidden selves. Then, in 1984, the girls got Madonna. So what if she had a Betty Boop voice and a smidgen of fat around her navel? She also had lyrics that would have made a black-and-white cartoon blush scarlet. “Unlike the others, I’ll do anything,” she sang in the video Burning Up: “I’m not the same/ I have no shame.” No wonder the nuns at her Michigan grade school used to tape her smart mouth shut. Top it off with clothes that seemed hijacked entirely from Frederick’s of Hollywood. Madonna was the material girl all right, and the material she paraded was spandex, Lycra and nylon net. For millions of teenagers, Madonna was the girl of their disobedient dreams. She had power; they had none. She was free, while they still needed Mom’s permission to stay out past 10. Madonna could afford to call herself a boy toy. This was one puppet who pulled her own strings. Her ambition had muscles; her will had the glint of chrome. Susan Seidelman, who directed Madonna in her first hit film, Desperately Seeking Susan, understood her appeal: “Funkiness mixed with amazing confidence—that’s a real powerful combination, especially for teenage girls.” For some big boys too. Did Sean Penn give her trouble? She dumped him like a smart cookie shaking off a crumb. Warren Realty was the permanent playboy? A few months with Madonna and he went running for the quieter life of wedded bliss—with another woman. “I’m tough, ambitious, and I know exactly what I want,” Madonna once said. “If that makes me a bitch, OK.”
On July 26 1999, Beautiful Stranger hit #1 for the first of two weeks on the Top 100 Canadian Singles chart published by RPM.
In the U.S. a commercial single had been withheld for Beautiful Stranger to drive sales of Maverick Records’ Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack album, limiting the song’s chart potential on the Hot 100 despite favorable support from radio. In a rare move, Warner Music Canada opted against following the lead of its U.S. counterpart and instead released the song as a CD maxi-single on July 20th, 1999.
During the week of its release, Beautiful Stranger was spending a second week at #4 on the Canadian singles chart based on the strength of its airplay alone, however the loss of its bullet indicated that it had likely peaked at radio. Fortunately, the added boost from sales of the domestic maxi-single was enough to earn Madonna her 17th #1 single in Canada – her first since 1995’s Take A Bow, despite having achieved three Canadian top-5 hits in the interim between 1996 and 1998.
On July 25 1992, Madonna’s This Used To Be My Playground peaked at #2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 Airplay Chart in the USA.
On July 24 1989, Express Yourself spent the first of two weeks at #1 on the Canadian Top 100 Singles chart published by RPM.
On July 23 2013, Madonna attended the funeral of her close friend David Collins in Monkstown, Ireland.
Madonna had initially met Collins in 1995 while she was in London to record the soundtrack for Evita. Well-known for his work as an architect and interior designer, Collins also received a songwriting credit on Drowned World/Substitute For Love when Madonna chose to adapt elements of a poem he had written for her into the song’s lyrics.
On July 22 1989, Herb Ritts directed Madonna’s Cherish video. The black and white music video was filmed at Paradise Cove Beach in Malibu, California.
Today In Madonna History 