Today in Madonna History: February 11, 2017

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For the week ending February 11 2017, the Rhino reissue of Madonna’s first greatest hits collection, The Immaculate Collection, charted at #9 on the Billboard Vinyl Albums Chart in the USA.

The double vinyl reissue was printed on blue/white marble and gold vinyl, limited to 6500 copies in the USA and Canada.

Today in Madonna History: November 4, 1991

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On November 4 1991, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection was certified triple platinum (for shipment of 3 million units) in the USA.

Here’s a quick review of The Immaculate Collection by Rolling Stone magazine:

A perfect Madonna CD: You get timeless pop such as Holiday, provocations like Papa Don’t Preach, dance classics like Into the Groove and a then-new Lenny Kravitz-produced sex jam, Justify My Love, which samples Public Enemy.

Today in Madonna History: September 5, 1991

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On September 5 1991, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection won Best Long-Form Video at the 8th annual MTV Video Music Awards at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California.

Today in Madonna History: June 15, 1991

On June 15 1991, Madonna’s Holiday was re-released in the UK to promote both The Immaculate Collection and the limited edition EP, The Holiday Collection.

This was the third release for Holiday in the UK:

  • January 1984 (reached #6)
  • August 1985 (reached #2, while #1 was Madonna’s own Into The Groove)
  • June 15 1991 (reached #5)

If Madonna were to release another greatest hits album and decided to re-release a classic hit, which song would you choose? 

Today in Madonna History: June 8, 1991

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On June 8 1991, Madonna’s Holiday debuted at #12 in the UK.  It was the third time that Holiday was released in the UK, this time to promote The Holiday Collection.

The first time the song was released in the UK it peaked at 6. The second time it was released it peaked at number 2, only to be kept away from number 1 by her own Into the Groove.  The 1991 released peaked at number 5 during the week of June 15.

Today In Madonna History: March 23, 1985

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On March 23 1985, Madonna’s Material Girl hit #2 in the USA.

The US and UK 12″ singles included:

Side A: Material Girl (Extended Dance Remix) 6:05

Side B: Pretender 4:28

Material Girl also appeared on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and on the 2009 greatest hits compilation, Celebration. The song was written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans, and Nile Rodgers produced the track.

Today in Madonna History: March 16, 1995

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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.