4 decades on top!

Madonna News

The only female artist of all time to have 1 hit (at least) in 4 successive decades that exceeds 100 million views on YouTube:
80’s: Isla Bonita
90’s: Vogue (since today)
2000: Hung Up
2010: Bitch I’m Madonna


(Thx Yannick P.)

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Madame X Russia (unofficial) and corrected clear vinyl added to discography

Discography, Madame X, Madonna News

Two newly added items to our Madame X discography

  • Russia CD (unofficial, pictured)
  • 12″ U.S.A. clear vinyl with corrected tracklisting 

Normally I wouldn’t have included an unofficial release in the specific discography, however for this Russian CD I am making an exception as it’s quite a convincing one. To inform serious collectors I wanted to point out that even though the Matrix indicates a Universal pressing, it is not an official release! This Russian CD contains all 18 tracks on one CD, so that might ring an instant alarm. 

Please check this and the corrected 12″ clear vinyl out HERE

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Thunderpuss GHV2 Megamix discography online – 11 different (promo) pressings

Discography, Madonna News

After a long (Madame X) break we are picking up the discography again. So where did we leave it? We had just finished scanning and photographing the releases of the ‘Music’, so now moving on to the GHV2 era!

Brand new is our discography to the promotional only release of the Thunderpuss GHV2 Megamix, a remix that was released to promote Madonna’s follow-up greatest hits collection to ‘The Immaculate Collection’ from 1991. Madonna’s record company even released a promotional video for the megamix.

We have collected 11 different pressings for this promotional track in our discography, check it all out HERE

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Madonna ‘Lucky Star’ debut album article from WEA Germany industry only mag (1983)

Madonna News

To remain in the spirit of the 36th anniversary of Madonna’s debut album we have added another rare article to The First Album page HERE.

This article comes from WEA Germany industry only magazine ‘Good News’ from 1983 (WEA Nachrichten zum saisonstart 1983). As you can see they refer to her upcoming first album as ‘Lucky Star’. The translation goes a little something like this:

‘Who is Madonna? With two Maxi-Singles (Everybody and Burning Up) she conquered the US Dance Charts. “When people see me they are honestly surprised that I am caucasian and not a punk”. She writes her own songs, Reggie Lucas is responsible as a producer for the funk on her first album “Lucky Star”. “Lucky Star” is a dynamic debut by a young and exciting singer and songwriter.’

MADONNA

“Lucky Star”

92-3867-1 U

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Celebrating 36-Years Of Madonna – Borderline Never-Before-Heard Rehearsal Take

Madonna News

36-years ago, today, Madonna released her now-iconic debut album, appropriately titled Madonna, which sold more than 10-million copies, and spawned 5-massive singles. Borderline spent a staggering 30-weeks on the Billboard 100, helping to catapult Madonna into an international superstar. 

In 1982, Madonna was working with producer Reggie Lucas on her debut album. She had already composed three songs when Lucas brought one of his own compositions to the project, calling it “Borderline.” After recording the song, Madonna was unhappy with the final version, feeling that Lucas used too many instruments and did not consider her ideas for the song. This led to a dispute between the two. After finishing the album, Lucas left the project without altering the songs to Madonna’s specifications. Madonna brought her then-boyfriend John “Jellybean” Benitez to remix “Borderline” and two other recorded tracks. On hearing the final version, Seymour Stein, head of Sire Records, declared, “I dared to believe this was going to be huge beyond belief, the biggest thing I’d ever had, after I heard ‘Borderline’… The passion that she put into that song, I thought, there’s no stopping this girl”

The song has been performed by Madonna on The Virgin Tour in 1985, in the 2008 Sticky & Sweet Tour which was not included in the 2009 leg of the tour and was replaced by a rock version of “Dress You Up”. The song was also performed at her one-off concert, Madonna: Tears of a Clown, in 2016. She also performed a stripped-back version of the song live on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2016. 

At the 1984 Billboard Music Awards,”Borderline” received two nominations, in the categories of Best New Artist and Best Choreography in a Music Video. To celebrate, PopWrapped CEO, Zachary Jaydon, has dug into his personal collection of Madonna Master Tapes, to offer you a rare, never-before-heard rehearsal take of Borderline, the fifth and final single from the record.

LISTEN HERE

More at Popwrapped

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Madonna 1983 promotional (post)card for debut album

Madonna News

To celebrate the 36th anniversary of Madonna’s debut album we have added the following item to our ‘MADONNA’ album promo page.

This is an extremely rare promotional (post)card in big size with the album’s logo on the front. Now I had never seen one before and didn’t knew it existed until I got this one straight from Warner Bros’ archives in New York. The back of the promotional card is blank, however my copy has interesting handwritten notes on it that say

‘Mike Todd Room June 11’

These details refer to the location of the official After Party for the final night of The Virgin Tour in the Mike Todd Room at The Palladium in New York City on June 11 1985.

To check this out and more click HERE

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The power of vocal manipulation lets stars break free from human form

Madame X

What is art about if not breaking free from unremarkable human form? Botticelli envisioned Venus emerging from the sea fully grown. Max Shrek’s face was twisted into a ghostly visage to play the title role in F W Murnau’s Nosferatu. Madonna used auto-tune on her album Madame X to alter the pitch of her vocals into something different. Something superhuman.

The record plays like a straight-up museum piece. The way Madonna digitally manipulates her voice on the edgy high-end pop number Dark Ballet encapsulates the cerebral nature of her approach. Over spotless piano keys and a heavy electronic beat, the singer is a creature transformed. When the vocal effects fray at the edges of lyrics like, “‘Cause your world is such a shame/‘Cause your world’s obsessed with fame’/Cause your world’s in so much pain,” it suggests the erosion of our species’ righteousness, the erasure of our humanity.

Madonna later uses a vocoder to switch into a more discernible retro-futuristic robot voice, programming such lyrics as, “I will not renounce my faith in my sweet Lord”. Then there’s a rendition of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite: Dance of the Reed-Flutes. By uniting sci-fi tech, classical music and ancient scripture, Madonna creates a jarring juxtaposition. Her methodology highlights what using vocal manipulation techniques can achieve in pop performance.

Madonna used auto-tune on her album Madame X to alter the pitch of her vocals into something different. Something superhuman. Photograph: Steven Klein
More at IrishTimes
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The Virgin Tour homevideo promo ad from Argentina

Madonna News, New Madonna items

If you only knew how much stuff I still need to scan to update the many pages here on MadonnaUnderground. Thanks to a certain Madame X everything has been on a hold-up including our discography. Now that the hectic times have settled a bit and Madonna is deep into tour rehearsals I have some time to catch up on my work again.

First up here is an original rare promotional ad for The Virgin Tour homevideo from Argentina! It has been added to the press section of our Virgin Tour page.

MUCH MUCH more coming up, stay tuned!

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Madame X goodiebag giveaway winners announced

Madame X, Madonna News

Thank you once again for the dozens of entries to our Madame X goodiebag giveaway with thanks to Concerto Recordstore in Amsterdam!

From a random lottery draw the following winners were selected:

  • Rene Liet
  • Christophe Fadeur
  • Sandra Burton

Congrats! The bags will ship out asap!

If you didn’t win do not despair we will have another giveaway soon, though we cannot guarantee more goodiebags…but you’ll never know.

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Designer Jean Paul Gaultier Loves Madonna So Much, He Proposed to Her 3 Times

Madonna News

One of the fashion industry’s most iconic duos almost said “I do!”

Every since Madonna first wore one of Jean Paul Gaultier’s designs in the mid-1980s to the premiere of Desperately Seeking Susan, the two have been an inseparable fashion force. Since then, Madonna and Gaultier have collaborated on costumes for the pop sensation’s Blonde Ambition tour in 1990, the Confessions tour in 2006 and even attended the 2018 Met Gala together. Their bond was so close, in fact, that the French designer once wanted to take their friendship to the next level.

During an interview with London’s This Morning, a reporter asked Gaultier if he’s always been a bit in love with Madonna, to which he replied, “I was kind of.”

He added: “I asked her three times if [she] wanted to marry me.”

Though she loves him as a close friend, Madonna wasn’t ready to tie the knot. “She said no,” Gaultier told the outlet.

At the 2018  “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” Met Gala, Madonna turned to Gaultier to create her “Immaculate Goth Queen” look.

Her black ball gown featured a fitted bodice and a sheer cross cutout, a full ball skirt, black veil, cross-adorned crown and she finished the look off carrying a black flower in her hand.

“Madonna and Jean Paul have had quite a history together so it was a wonderful family reunion and quite the fashion throwback,” the star’s stylist Eyob Yohannes told PEOPLE. “It was lovely to work with Jean Paul who has such a creative eye.”

More at PEOPLE

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Madonna Collaborator Patrick Leonard Shares Original Like A Prayer Demos

Madonna News

Madonna’s former art advisor and friend Darlene Lutz is auctioning off a bunch of the star’s personal items, including a 1995 breakup letter from Tupac and cassette tapes featuring unreleased demos and recordings. Madonna has been trying to stop the unauthorized auction for two years now, but she failed, and there are currently over 70 lots on the auction block at the memorabilia company Gotta Have Rock & Roll.

But even if Madonna couldn’t legally stop the auction from happening, that doesn’t mean that she and her friends are just going to let it go. Yesterday, Madonna’s collaborator Patrick Leonard, who co-wrote and co-produced many of her albums including True Blue, Like A Prayer, and Ray Of Light, uploaded the original demos of “Cherish,” “Like A Prayer,” and the unreleased track “Angels With Dirty Faces” to YouTube for free in an attempt to deter fans from bidding on them.

“I hope these posts stop the sale of that cassette at auction,” Leonard wrote in one of the video’s descriptions. “Not cool at all that someone would sell it. Not theirs to sell.” The auction is set to close in three days. Listen to the original demos of “Cherish,” “Like A Prayer,” and “Angels With Dirty Faces,” apparently recorded the day they were written, below.

More at Stereogum
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Dave Chappelle’s no-cellphone rule doesn’t apply to Madonna

Madonna News

The rules don’t apply to Madonna.

 

 

Madge was spotted on Saturday at Dave Chappelle’s limited-run Broadway show, where guests are required to put their phones in securely locked bags to prevent them from sneakily recording the show — except the Material Girl, apparently.

“She was the only one who got to keep her phone,” said a spy at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, adding, “She laughed at everything.”

We’re told Madonna came with three dancers about 25 minutes before Chappelle went on, when opener Anderson Paak was performing.

After staying for two hours, which included an audience Q&A, we’re told she was “whisked away by security the moment that Dave was done.”

More at PageSix

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