Today in Madonna History: July 28, 1990

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On July 28 1990, Hanky Panky hit its peak position of number-ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.

The rarely seen official video for Hanky Panky was recorded at the May 27th 1990 concert in Toronto, Canada. Rather than use live audio from the tour, Warner opted to overdub the live performance with the album version. The video was broadcast for a few weeks and then withdrawn from rotation in most countries. Although no official reason was given, it is assumed that due to the low-budget nature of the video, it was only ever intended to serve as an initial promotional push for the song, with its subsequent withdrawal from rotation being part of the plan.

Today in Madonna History: June 1, 1990

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On June 1 1990, Madonna was controversially featured grabbing her crotch and breast on the cover of Interview magazine.

Madonna was interviewed by Glenn O’Brien at the Disney Studios, where she was rehearsing the Blond Ambition Tour. Here’s a snippet from the interview:

Glenn: Let’s talk about your show.

Madonna: Let’s not. Today was a horrible day. That was the worst rehearsal.

Glenn: Well, I liked it, but I haven’t seen it when you thought it was good. I loved the number where you’re lying on the piano singing a torch song.

Madonna: You saw only one segment of the show. I’ve created five different worlds, and the set is all based on hydraulics. One is going down and another is coming up. The world changes completely. I think of it more as a musical than as a rock concert. There is a straightforward Metropolis section, like my Express Yourself video – that set with all the gears and machinery; it’s very hard and metallic. That’s the heavy-duty dance music. Then the set changes and it’s like a church. We call it the temple ruins. It’s all these columns, trays of votive candles, a cross. I do Like a Virgin on a bed, but we changed the arrangement, so it sounds Indian. Then I’m being punished for masturbation on this bed, which is, as you know, what happens. Then we do the more serious, religious-type material – Like a Prayer, Papa Don’t Preach… Then it changes to what you saw, this Art Deco ’50s-musical set. That’s when we do three songs from Dick Tracy, and then after that we do what I call the camp section. Then it gets really serious again and we go into our Clockwork Orange cabaret set.

Today in Madonna History: May 25, 1990

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On May 25 1990, Madonna had to cancel a third scheduled Blond Ambition concert at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago, Illinois, due to laryngitis.

Today in Madonna History: May 4, 1990

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On May 4 1990, Madonna opened the 12-city North American leg of the Blond Ambition World Tour 1990 at The Summit, in Houston, Texas.

Today In Madonna History: April 26, 2001

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On April 26, 2001, one of Madonna’s eye-popping conical bras, designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, sold for $21,150 at a pop memorabilia auction in London. The bra was sold to a Chilean fashion museum.

The conical bra was worn by Madonna during the Blond Ambition Tour in 1990.

Madonna’s fans would very much like to see the Blond Ambition Tour released on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Today in Madonna History: December 13, 1990

On December 13 1990, Madonna’s Blond Ambition World Tour Live was released exclusively on LaserDisc by the trek’s sponsor, Pioneer.

Recorded at the final show in Nice, France, the concert had originally aired as a live HBO special in the U.S.

The LaserDisc release would go on to win a Grammy award (Madonna’s first) for Best Music Video, Long Form in 1991.

Today in Madonna History: July 31, 2015

On July 31 2015, Madonna’s Blond Ambition World Tour documentary, In Bed With Madonna (aka Truth Or Dare) was certified platinum by BPI (British Phonographic Industry) for sales of over 50,000 units on DVD/home video in the UK.