Happy birthday to Ray of Light, the masterwork that introduced the world to Cosmic Psychedelic Madonna, 20 years ago this week. Ray of Light was the queen’s first proper album in four years, dropping on March 3rd, 1998, a week after she unveiled her new sound with the single “Frozen.” It was Madonna’s motherhood album, after giving birth to…
Madonna let the music take control and found herself in a dance-off … but she had the upper hand because she was grooving to her own hit track. Madge hit the dance floor at Catch NYC late Thursday night while celebrating the birthday of her lead dancer, Loic Mabanza. She showed up after midnight with…
By Rob Copsey With many of us experiencing a cold snap this week, it’s seems fitting that this week’s Flashback looks back at Madonna’s Frozen, which was Number 1 on the Official UK Singles Chart 20 years ago this week. The pop comeback that all other pop comebacks are measured against, Frozen was the…
The year is young, but Grammy chieftain Neil Portnow’s suggestion that female artists need to “step up” will take some beating for tone-deafness. To help today’s heroines unseat the likes of Bruno Mars, he might look to the 1999 ceremony The 41st edition of the awards properly reflected the female energy coursing through late 90s mainstream music. Only…
So Madonna is working on something new involving a photoshoot, Steven Klein, The Fat Jewish and her usual stylists. She tagged MDNA Skin and since she’s worked with The Fat Jewish on an MDNA Skin commercial before, you might think they’re working on a new campaign. Or is she starring in a new Moschino campaign?…
“Traveling, traveling / In the arms of unconsciousness,” Madonna cooed on the Björk-assisted single “Bedtime Story,” released in 1995. Overexposed and castigated after the ruckus surrounding “Erotica” and the carnal coffee-table book Sex, she’d forged a reverie about disconnecting from reality. “Today is the last day that I’m using words / They’ve gone out, lost their meaning.” But by 1998, Madonna had…
“And I feel like I just got home.” So goes the lyric in the title track from “Ray of Light”, Madonna’s seventh studio album released on Feb. 22, 1998. The album remains one of Madge’s most successful and critically-acclaimed: a celebration of spirituality, self-reflection infused with electronica and the dance floor beats. So, to celebrate…
Twenty years ago, Madonna released her seventh studio album, Ray of Light. The album would win three Grammys, sell 16 million copies, expose a growing spiritual side to the pop queen, and endear her even more to her legion of gay fans. Produced by British musician William Orbit, Ray of Light contained songs more opaque and electronica-infused than previous…
Madonna’s collaborators on ‘Ray of Light’ delve into the making of the star’s pivotal 1998 LP. Photofest Twenty years ago, Madonna was at a crossroads. After launching her Maverick entertainment company in 1992 with her widely but not wisely panned Eroticaalbum and Sex book, the star entered a period of relative caution. The exuberant queerness of those works gave way to muted…
This is the artwork to Matt Cain’s upcoming book ‘The Madonna of Bolton’, the book will be published July 12th!
Feb. 25, 1995
What’s Madonna‘s longest-leading Billboard Hot 100 No. 1? It’s not any of her signature ’80s songs like “Like a Virgin” or “Material Girl” (the latter of which peaked at No. 2). Nope, it’s ballad “Take a Bow,” which, on this date, began its seven-week command.
More at Billboard
Lucy O’Brien posits that, in the tradition of the 1970s-style concept album, Ray Of Light is Madonna’s Dark Side Of The Moon In February 1998 Madonna’s new album was literally a ray of light in stodgy UK charts made moribund by the Britpop comedown (Oasis’ Be Here Now, Stereophonics et al), and industry hits like the Titanic soundtrack.…
