Today in Madonna History: March 16, 1995

immaculatecollection-album-cover-1 immaculatecollection-album-cover-2 immaculatecollection-album-cover-3

On March 16 1995, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection was certified 6x platinum (6 million units) in the USA.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com):

On the surface, the single-disc hits compilation The Immaculate Collection appears to be a definitive retrospective of Madonna’s heyday in the ’80s. After all, it features 17 of Madonna’s greatest hits, from Holiday and Like a Virgin to Like a Prayer and Vogue. However, looks can be deceiving. It’s true that The Immaculate Collection contains the bulk of Madonna’s hits, but there are several big hits that aren’t present, including Angel, Dress You Up, True Blue, Who’s That Girl and Causing a Commotion. The songs that are included are frequently altered. Everything on the collection is remastered in Q-sound, which gives an exaggerated sense of stereo separation that often distorts the original intent of the recordings. Furthermore, several songs are faster than their original versions and some are faded out earlier than either their single or album versions, while others are segued together. In other words, while all the hits are present, they’re simply not in their correct versions. Nevertheless, The Immaculate Collection remains a necessary purchase, because it captures everything Madonna is about and it proves that she was one of the finest singles artists of the ’80s. Until the original single versions are compiled on another album, The Immaculate Collection is the closest thing to a definitive retrospective.

Today in Madonna History: February 24, 1991

madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-1 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-2 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-3 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-4 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-5 madonna-crazy-for-you-re-issue-6

On February 24 1991, Madonna’s Crazy For You was re-released to promote The Immaculate Collection in the UK.

The song was originally released in the United Kingdom on June 8, 1985, it debuted at number 25 and peaked at number two. The re-release again reached a peak of number two.

The CD single included remixed versions of Crazy For You, Keep It Together and Into The Groove.

Today in Madonna History: January 28, 1984

holiday-16-peak-billboard-solid-gold-1 holiday-16-peak-billboard-solid-gold-2 holiday-16-peak-billboard-solid-gold-3 holiday-16-peak-billboard-solid-gold-4 holiday-16-peak-billboard-solid-gold-5 holiday-16-peak-billboard-solid-gold-6

On January 28 1984, Madonna’s single, Holiday hit #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA.

Holiday was released on September 7, 1983, and became Madonna’s first hit single and remained on the charts from Thanksgiving to Christmas in 1983. It was Madonna’s first song to enter the Billboard Hot 100, at 88 on the issue dated October 29, 1983 and reached a peak of 16 on January 28, 1984 and was on the chart for 21 weeks. The song debuted at eight on the Hot Dance Club Play chart on the issue dated November 2, 1983 and was Madonna’s first number one single on the Hot Dance Club Play chart remaining at the top for five weeks.

In the United Kingdom, Holiday has been released three times as a single; in January 1984, reaching number six, and in August 1985 reaching number 2 (only being kept from number one by her own Into the Groove single). Its third release in 1991 included new artwork to promote The Immaculate Collection with a limited edition EP titled The Holiday Collection, which contained tracks omitted from the compilation; this version peaked at number five.

The photos for this post are from Madonna’s Solid Gold performance of Holiday.

Today in Madonna History: January 19, 1991

justify-immaculate-collection-1 justify-immaculate-collection-2 justify-immaculate-collection-3 justify-immaculate-collection-4

On January 19 1991, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection video collection hit #1 on the Top Music Videos chart in the USA.  The VHS video single for Justify My Love hit #2 on the same chart.

Today in Madonna History: January 5, 1991

madonna-justify-my-love-number-one

On January 5 1991, Madonna’s Justify My Love single hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

I’m open and ready
For you to justify my love
To justify my love
Wanting, to justify
Waiting, to justify my love
Praying, to justify
To justify my love
I’m open, to justify my love

Today in Madonna History: December 11, 1990

m-royal-box-1 m-royal-box-2 m-royal-box-3 m-royal-box-4 m-royal-box-5 m-royal-box-6 m-royal-box-7 m-royal-box-8

On December 11 1990, Madonna’s The Royal Box, a box-set which included The Immaculate Collection CD or cassette, VHS video, postcards and a folded poster of Madonna performing Vogue at the MTV Video Music Awards, was released.

Box sets seem to be a thing of the past.  Do you think Madonna will ever release another box set as great or greater than The Royal Box?

Do you wish Madonna had released more box sets when they were actually popular and sold well? 

Today in Madonna History: November 9, 1990

jml-video-mondino-a jml-video-mondino-aa jml-video-mondino-ab jml-video-mondino-b jml-video-mondino-e jml-video-mondino-d jml-video-mondino-g jml-video-mondino-c jml-video-mondino-h jml-video-mondino-i

On November 9 1990, Madonna began filming the Justify My Love video at the Royal Monceau Hotel in Paris, France, directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

During a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) segment in September 2013, Madonna told her fans that she considers Justify My Love to be her favourite Madonna music video.

Is Justify My Love the steamiest music video that you’ve ever seen?