Today in Madonna History: November 6, 1984

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On November 6 1984, Madonna’s Like A Virgin was released as the lead single from the album of the same name.  The b-side for Like A Virgin was Stay.

Billy Steinberg reflected on the recording process and commented that:

“When Madonna recorded it, even as our demo faded out, on the fade you could hear Tom (Kelly) saying, “When your heart beats, and you hold me, and you love me…” That was the last thing you heard as our demo faded. Madonna must have listened to it very, very carefully because her record ends with the exact same little ad-libs that our demo did. That rarely happens that someone studies your demo so carefully that they use all that stuff. We were sort of flattered how carefully she followed our demo on that.

Today in Madonna History: November 5, 1994

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On November 5 1994, Madonna’s Secret hit #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA.

Here’s what Larry Flick from Billboard had to say about Secret:

“The lushly layered album mix simmers with a strumming acoustic intro that breaks into a languid funk/R&B beat. As Madonna delivers a solid performance that emphasizes her increasingly strong lower vocal range, a meticulously woven arrangement of quasi-psychedelic colors and raw hip-hop elements percolates. Naturally, the hook is pure pop candy, sticking to the brain after one spin.”

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Today in Madonna History: November 4, 1991

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On November 4 1991, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection was certified triple platinum (for shipment of 3 million units) in the USA.

Here’s a quick review of The Immaculate Collection by Rolling Stone magazine:

A perfect Madonna CD: You get timeless pop such as Holiday, provocations like Papa Don’t Preach, dance classics like Into the Groove and a then-new Lenny Kravitz-produced sex jam, Justify My Love, which samples Public Enemy.

Today in Madonna History: November 3, 1994

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On November 3 1994, Madonna began filming the Take A Bow music video in Ronda, Spain.

The video was directed by Michael Haussman. Haussman later directed the follow-up video to Take A Bow, You’ll See (in 1996).

Take A Bow was filmed between November 3 and 8 in Ronda. The bullfighting scenes were filmed at Plaza de Toros de Ronda.

The video depicts Madonna as a bullfighter’s neglected lover, yearning for his unrequited love. The bullfighter in the video was played by real-life Spanish bullfighter Emilio Muñoz.

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Today in Madonna History: November 2, 1999

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On November 2 1999, the Madonna: The Video Collection 1993-99 was released on home video and DVD.

Madonna: The Video Collection 1993-99 was released as a collection of Madonna’s favourite videos from 1993-1999. The collection contains 14 videos: Bad Girl, Fever, Rain, Secret, Take A Bow, Bedtime Story, Human Nature, Love Don’t Live Here Anymore, Frozen, Ray Of Light, Drowned World, The Power of Goodbye, Nothing Really Matters, and Beautiful Stranger.

Today in Madonna History: November 1, 2000

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On November 1 2000, Guinness World Records announced Madonna as the Most Successful Female Solo Artist for selling 130 million records (singles and albums) and having 35 Top 10 singles and 12 Top 10 albums in the US with a UK total of 47 Top 10 singles and 14 Top 10 albums.

Today in Madonna History: October 31, 1992

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By October 31 1992, Madonna’s Sex book had sold a record 500,000 copies in the USA.  The controversial coffee table book was released on October 21 1992.

Is yours wrapped or unwrapped?