On March 18 1995, Madonna hosted a pajama party for 1,500 fans at Webster Hall, in New York, to celebrate the premiere of the Bedtime Story music video broadcast live on MTV. During the party, Madonna also read a bedtime story of Miss Spider’s Tea Party by David Kirk.
On February 16 1998, Madonna’s Frozen music video premiered on MTV.
The video was delivered to select music video outlets (such as MTV and MuchMusic) in a block of dry ice. Leading up to the video premiere, the VJs had to melt or chip away at the block to get to the video inside.
Select radio stations also received a promotional ice chest, which included a 3-track CD and a flyer promoting the lead single from Ray Of Light. The CD included the following tracks:
On October 22 1990, Madonna was featured in a public service announcement on MTV’s Rock The Vote in which she was wrapped in the US flag and urged young people to register and vote; the ad caused a controversy with US Veterans of Foreign Wars who were enraged by Madonna’s provocative use of the American flag and said that it bordered on desecration.
On October 19 1995, Madonna’s I Want You video was featured on the MTV documentary Inner City Blues: The Music Of Marvin Gaye. The documentary was assembled to promote the release of the accompanying tribute album.’
On October 2 1992, Madonna’s Erotica video premiered on MTV.
The Erotica video was directed by fashion photographer Fabien Baron, and featured a masked Madonna in a dominatrix costume. It also featured celebrities such as Naomi Campbell, Isabella Rossellini and Big Daddy Kane. The video was highly controversial, being aired by MTV a total of three times, before becoming Madonna’s second video to be banned, after Justify My Love in 1990.
MTV spokeswoman Linda Alexander said, “The themes of the video are clearly aimed at a more adult audience. It is not appropriate for a general viewing audience”.
The footage of Madonna lip-synching the song in her S&M dominatrix costume was filmed on August 22, 1992 at The Kitchen in New York City, while the rest of the footage for the video was shot during the photo sessions for Madonna’s Sex book.
In order to imitate the look of old home-made movies, the entire video was shot with Super 8 film.
On November 27 1991, Madonna contributed a pre-taped monologue for the MTV 10th Anniversary – Money for Nothing special that aired on ABC-TV. Madonna’s segment was filmed by Alek Keshishian.
The following quote is how Madonna started her monologue:
I’m here because I wanted to talk to you about us.
And all that we’ve been through.
I wanted to talk about me and you.
I remember when we first met.
You didn’t know who you were yet.
I didn’t know who I was.
We grew up together.
On October 2 1986, Madonna’s True Blue music video premiered on BBC1-TV’s Top Of The Pops. The video was directed by James Foley and shot in early September (1986) in New York.
Two of Madonna’s closest friends (at the time), Erika Belle and Debi Mazar, appeared in the video.
A second video for True Blue (which does not include Madonna) was shown on MTV in the USA. The second video was the winner of Madonna’s ‘Make My Video’ Contest. The winners (Angel Gracia and Cliff Guest) were flown to MTV’s New York studio where Madonna presented them a $25,000 check live on MTV.
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