Today in Madonna History: November 28, 2000

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On November 28 2000, Madonna performed a mini-set at London’s Brixton Academy. The show was part of the Don’t Tell Me Promo Tour, which began only two months after the birth of her second child, Rocco, and consisted of a few small club dates as well as television performances and interviews to promote the second single from her Music album. Aside from the promotional aspect, Madonna also used the club shows as an opportunity to test the waters for performing live shows again following a seven-year hiatus from touring. The Brixton gig closely mirrored her set at New York’s Roseland Ballroom several weeks earlier, with one notable exception being the addition of Holiday to the UK set-list.

The full London set-list consisted of:

  1. Impressive Instant
  2. Runaway Lover
  3. Don’t Tell Me
  4. What It Feels Like For A Girl
  5. Holiday
  6. Music

The Brixton Academy performance was streamed live across the internet to an estimated 9 million viewers.

Today in Madonna History: November 27, 1990

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On November 27 1990, the MTV network announced it had banned Madonna’s Justify My Love video due to extremely strong displays of sexuality.

“We respect her work as an artist and think she makes great videos,” said MTV executives in a statement about the clip. “This one is not for us.”

“When I did my Vogue video…I’m wearing a see-through dress and you can clearly see my breasts,” Madonna told ABC’s Nightline in 1990. “MTV told me that they wanted me to take that out, but I said I wouldn’t and they played it anyways. So I thought that once again I was going to be able to bend the rules a little bit.”

Today in Madonna History: November 26, 2003

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On November 26 2003, Madonna appeared on The Tonight Show (with host Jay Leno) at NBC Studios, in Burbank, California.

Madonna handed out gifts to new dad David Letterman when she appeared on the Late Show earlier in the month, and she didn’t want to leave his TV rival Leno out.

“I brought you some Thanksgiving presents.”

Madonna handed the TV host a baseball jersey and a framed illustration from her new children’s book Mr. Peabody’s Apples.

Most odd about this appearance is that Remixed and Revisited was released on November 24 and Madonna never mentioned it.  The Nothing Fails single was also released on November 21, and an upcoming single for Love Profusion (December 8) was also never mentioned.  Very few artists would skip mentioning new releases in such a high profile interview.  It makes me wonder how involved Madonna was with these releases – or if Warner Bros. was forcing the singles and the remix collection to be put out.  All Madonna chose to talk about was her marriage to Guy, her father’s winery, her children’s books and Kabbalah.  

For the record, I think this is an adorable interaction between Madonna and Jay.  She’s funny, sweet and articulate.  

Today in Madonna History: November 25, 1993

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On November 25 1993, Madonna’s Bye Bye Baby debuted at #39 on the Swiss Hit Parade chart, and after three weeks it rose to a peak of number 28, before dropping off the chart.

The Bye Bye Baby single cover was shot by Herb Ritts. This post includes outtakes from that photoshoot.

Today in Madonna History: November 24, 2000

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On November 24 2000, Madonna performed Don’t Tell Me and Music live on French television program Nulle Part Ailleurs.

Today in Madonna History: November 23, 1996

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On November 23 1996, Madonna’s You Must Love Me hit #18 in the USA on the Billboard Hot 100.

Today in Madonna History: November 22, 2002

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On November 22 2002, the twentieth James Bond film,  Die Another Day,  was released by MGM.  Die Another Day was the fourth and last film to star Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.

Die Another Day was directed by Lee Tamahori.  The film marks the James Bond franchise’s 40th anniversary.  The series began in 1962 with Sean Connery.

The title song for Die Another Day was written and produced by Madonna & Mirwais. Madonna also had a cameo in the film as Verity, a fencing instructor.