Gives Good Face...1989

I'll Remember...1989

In the spring of 1989, during an episode of The Cosby Show (I watched it live!), Pepsi ran an unprecedented 2 minute ad* debuting Madonna’s new single “Like a Prayer.” The video for the ad was designed as a Pepsi commercial, not a music video, but the music was the original song. It wasn’t edited into a jingle.

Madonna was paid $5 million dollars, with the plan of running a shorter 30-second version beginning the following day.

But the next day was also the debut of the music video for Like a Prayer. The video’s blending of sexuality, religion, and racial politics caused quite a stir. The pope actually had Madonna banned from Italy. Donald Wildmon, founder of the American Family Association, led the charge calling on Pepsi to abandon the ad or face a boycott. Pepsi caved in to the pressure, while Madonna walked away with the money.

When Madonna later won Video of the Year at the MTV Music Awards, she declared “I would really like to thank Pepsi for causing so much controversy.” Pepsi was a sponsor of the award show.They had done something similar in 1984 with Michael Jackson, but Jackson actually changed to “Billie Jean” into a song about Pepsi for the commercial. Pepsi ran Madonna’s song unchanged.

Gives Good Face...1989

Gives Good Face...1989

I'll Remember...1989

Strike a Pose...1989

I'll Remember...1989

Gives Good Face...1989

I'll Remember...1989

The U.K. 12” vinyl picture disc for 1989’s “Cherish” with photo from the video for the prior single, “Express Yourself”, by Alberto Tolot.  However, the disc incorrectly states the photographer as Herb Ritts, who took the photo used for the standard sleeve.

Madonna Covered...

Nelly Furtado - ‘Like A Prayer’

I'll Remember...1989

Strike a Pose...1989

For the Record...Keep It Together

Released as the sixth and final single from the 'Like a Prayer' album on January 30, 1990; "Keep It Together" was initially planned to carry with it a previously unreleased b-side. The b-side in question? "Vogue." Luckily, that anthem would go on to have its own single release. Instead, "Keep It Together" set sail on its own -- without a sexy b-side to spice up sales. In the United States, "Keep It Together" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 56, on the issue dated February 3, 1990. The next week, "Keep It Together" jumped to number 41, becoming one of the greatest gaining songs. It eventually peaked at number eight on the Hot 100, on the issue dated March 31, 1990.  Its redux was reminiscent of the then-popular track "Back to Life" by Soul II Soul.  In Australia, it was released as the B-side of "Vogue", while it was not released in the United Kingdom at all, where "Dear Jessie" served as the album's final single.

Strike a Pose...1989

On the Cover of a Magazine...1989

Madonna’s ‘Like a Prayer’ at 25: Classic Track-by-Track Review

To celebrate its 25th anniversary on March 21, here's our track-by-track look back at Madonna's classic studio album, 1989's "Like A Prayer."

By early 1989, the world had come to know Madonna as a dance-pop provocateur with quirky-sexy style. She was the biggest female celebrity on the planet, and yet for all her fame, few realized just how much pain and self-doubt this soon-to-be-divorced 30-year-old lapsed Catholic from Detroit was carting around. With “Like a Prayer,” that would all change.

Recorded amid the dissolution of her marriage to actor Sean Penn, “Like a Prayer” was Madonna’s most introspective and eclectic album to date. Unlike the three that came before, it blended classic psychedelic rock with then-current synth-pop sounds. And now, a quarter-century after its March 21, 1989 release, it doesn’t sound a bit dated. Lyrically, it’s about growing up, moving on from bad romance, and getting right with God and family. At least two of the songs center on the death of Madonna’s mother, a childhood trauma that had a strong part in making the singer who she is.

Before “Like a Prayer” was even released, Madonna made it clear this wouldn’t be just another album. Three weeks before the release, she debuted the video for the title track, the first of five top 20 Hot 100 singles spawned from the album. Featuring depictions of murder, interracial love, and cross burnings, the clip juxtaposed notions of religious and sexual ecstasy, leaving some folks puzzled and just about everyone talking. Catholics denounced her; Pepsi dropped ads featuring her (and ended plans to sponsor her tour). Fans, of course, ate it up.

Controversy aside, “Like a Prayer” is among Madonna’s finest moments, and over the next 10 tracks, its namesake album never lets up. It’s funky, poignant, and even a little kooky. And while Madonna is the quintessential singles artist, this chart-topping LP stands as one of her most fully realized collection of songs. Read on for our classic track-by-track review.

I'll Remember...1989

I'll Remember...1989

Madonna recently made waves for posting an Instagram photo of her teenage son posing with bottles of gin and vodka. And 25 years ago, she was stirring controversy over another beverage: Pepsi. 

In January 1989, the pop provocateur inked a $5 million endorsement deal with the soft-drink brand. On March 2, 1989, Madonna debuted "Like a Prayer," the title track of her fourth studio album, in a two-minute television commercial called "Make a Wish." The flashback-fueled spot saw her watching a black-and-white home movie of her 8th birthday, and interspersed footage of the young girl with shots of adult Madonna dancing in the street and in a church with a gospel choir. 

The fairly innocuous ad aired during NBC's The Cosby Show, and it seemed unlikely to offend anyone. But when Madonna premiered the actual music video for "Like a Prayer" on MTV the following day, viewers were singing a different tune. 

The video's imagery, which included burning crosses, stigmata and the seduction of a saint, drew the ire of religious groups and customers, who assumed it was part of the Pepsi ad. 

"When you've got an ad that confuses people or concerns people, it just makes sense that that ad goes away," Tod MacKenzie, a spokesman for Pepsico Inc., told the New York Times. 

And go away, it did. Though the commercial was canceled, "Like a Prayer" spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that spring, and Madonna reportedly kept the $5 million fee. 

The once-incendiary hit went on to become one of the most celebrated songs in Madonna's canon, and it was even featured in her 2012 Super Bowl halftime performance – no small feat in the post-Nipplegate era. But one thing that hasn't changed is the Material Girl's earning power: According to Forbes, Madonna was the highest paid musician of 2013. 

Watch the banned Pepsi commercial above, and the "Like a Prayer" music video below. 

I'll Remember...1989

Strike a Pose...1989