Tag Archives: Music Videos

Today in Madonna History: August 31, 2006

August 31, 2014 By in 2006, August Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

Confessions Tour

On August 31 2006, Madonna played the fourth of four sold-out dates at the Palais Omnisports de Bercy-Paris during her Confessions Tour. The show played to nearly 68,000 fans at the venue during its tour run.

Madonna has become quite familiar with the Palais Omnisports over the years, having played a combined total of 19 sold-out concerts at the venue between 1990 and 2009 for roughly 320,000 fans.

The venue was also used to film two of her shows – 1990’s Blond Ambition Tour and 2004’s Re-Invention Tour. Ironically, both films were used as part of documentaries – Truth or Dare and I’m Going To Tell You A Secret respectively. Since both documentaries focused equally on behind-the-scenes and on-stage content, only select performances could be featured in each. The complete shows for both tours filmed at the venue remain unreleased, much to the bewilderment of fans.

Today in Madonna History: August 29, 1989

August 29, 2014 By in 1989, August Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

Cherish Single

On August 29 1989, the music video for Cherish – the third single from the album Like A Prayer – premiered in Canada.

The song was written by Madonna & Patrick Leonard and was one of the first tracks completed for the album. Madonna had been reading Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet during breaks from rehearsals for the play Speed The Plow, which inspired the lyrics for the song.

The video was filmed on July 22, 1989 at Paradise Cove Beach in Malibu, California. It marked the first time that late photographer Herb Ritts had crossed over to shooting and directing a music video, which he agreed to do reluctantly at Madonna’s insistence. He quickly became a highly sought-after music video director, winning numerous awards for his work within the medium.

“Cherish” hit the top of the charts in Canada on October 9th, spending two weeks at number-one. It went on to become the ninth best-selling single of the year with a total of seventeen weeks on the RPM Singles chart.

While no maxi-single was issued for Cherish in North America, the single included the previously unreleased Like A Prayer outtake Supernatural – another collaboration with Patrick Leonard.

Today in Madonna History: August 21, 2000

August 21, 2014 By in 2000, August Tags: , , , , 1 Comment

madonna-sing48music

 “Hey Mr. DJ, put a record on, I want to dance with my baby.”

On August 21 2000, Madonna’s Music single was released.  Music was the lead single from her eighth studio album of the same name.  It was written and produced by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzaï.

Music peaked number one in 22 other countries, including Australia, Canada, Italy, New Zealand, Norway and the United Kingdom.  The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Music was the longest running number-one single on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart for the decade (five weeks).  The song was the second most successful dance single of the decade in the United States, behind Madonna’s own Hung Up (2005). Music was the last number one hit on the Canadian RPM singles chart.

Today in Madonna History: August 19, 1997

August 19, 2014 By in 1997, August Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

buenos_aires_madonna-1 buenos_aires_madonna-3 buenos_aires_madonna-2 buenos_aires_madonna-5 buenos_aires_madonna-4

On August 19 1997, Buenos Aires (from Evita) was released as a promo-only single to club DJs and radio stations in the USA to promote Evita on video.

Here is a full listing of the different mixes of Buenos Aires:

World Mix Edit
World Mix Edit – Shorter
Te Amo 12″ Extended Vocal Version
Te Amo 12″ Extended Instrumental Version
Te Amo 12″ TV Dub
Te Amo 12″ Acapella Version
Te Amo Single Edit
Te Amo Radio Version

Today in Madonna History: August 12, 2003

August 12, 2014 By in 2003, August Tags: , , , 2 Comments

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On August 12 2003, Madonna was honoured with the Greatest Female Singer Of The Video Age award by VH1 (based on a viewer’s poll).

Today In Madonna History: August 2, 1985

August 2, 2014 By in 1985, August Tags: , , , , , , 1 Comment

A Certain Sacrifice (1985)Madonna & Pattnoshmadonna - bruna

On August 2 1985, Madonna lost a court battle against director Stephen Jon Lewicki over the video release of A Certain Sacrifice. The low-budget indie film starring Jeremy Pattnosh and Madonna was shot sporadically over a two-year period in New York City between 1979 and 1981. The film also featured Madonna’s former Breakfast Club bandmate Angie Smit in a minor role.

Madonna was said to have been unhappy with the inclusion of several topless scenes in the film, although it has also been reported that despite instigating the court case, her lawyers did not present much of an argument during the proceedings, leading some to speculate that she had no serious interest in blocking the release of the film. After a limited number of screenings in New York in October 1985, the film was quickly issued on home video and laserdisc in order to capitalize on Madonna’s fame. In more recent years, the film has been reissued on DVD.

Lewicki was not the only person attached to the film who was attempting to hitch a ride on Madonna’s wave of success in the mid 1980’s. While it is unclear whether he was involved as an extra or behind the scenes, top Madonna mooch Otto Von Wernherr is also thanked in the film’s credits. It does not appear that any of his music was used in the film, which for once is actually unfortunate because Von Wernherr’s songs would have sounded right at home alongside the truly bizarre musical selections, including several by Pattnosh, that are showcased throughout A Certain Sacrifice.  Perhaps it was Lewicki’s fringe fetish that ruled out the possibility of using any of Madonna’s pre-Warner tunes in the film?

Today In Madonna History: July 26, 1986

July 26, 2014 By in 1986, July Tags: , , , , , 1 Comment

Papa Don't Preach single frontpapa don't preach cdv

On July 26 1986, Papa Don’t Preach spent its third and final week at number-one on the UK singles chart. It was certified Gold by BPI on August 1st, 1986 for shipment of over 500,000 copies, based on certification thresholds at that time. With a chart run extending for 15 weeks, the single ranked #8 overall in the UK’s year-end charts tally.

The song was a massive hit across Europe, topping the Eurochart for an incredible eleven week stretch from August 2nd through October 11th, 1986 when it was finally overtaken by none other than Madonna herself with the follow-up single, True Blue.

Although Justify My Love is often cited as being the first-ever video single, it is interesting to note that it was actually not the first Madonna music video to be marketed commercially as a single. Possibly an attempt to cash-in on the success and controversy surrounding Papa Don’t Preach or more likely as a means of testing out new marketing possibilities for a hybrid laserdisc/cd format, Warner issued limited quantities of Papa Don’t Preach as a CD Video in the US, UK and Japan containing three audio tracks along with the music video. Perhaps anticipating the limited appeal of the format, Warner did not bother modifying the track-listing to include the appropriate b-sides in either the UK (Ain’t No Big Deal) or Japan (Think Of Me), instead opting to issue the US b-side (Pretender) on all three pressings. Stranger still was the release date – 1988 – two years after the standard single hit stores. Needless to say, this early attempt to market a music video single did not stir public interest the way it would in 1990, and the concept went into hibernation mode until Madonna gave audiences a video single they were willing to pay for.