Madonna - "Bedtime Stories" (1994)

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

Bedtime Stories' 25th anniversary is coming up! This is honestly my fave Madonna album, along with Erotica. Definitely one of her most underrated albums! It's very different from her previous albums. On Bedtime Stories, I love how she seems more vulnerable, soft, and mellow. We rarely get to see that side of her. I also love that it was a lil bit more R&B (my fave genre). My fave songs besides the singles are absolutely Love Tried To Welcome Me, Inside Of Me, Survival, Sanctuary, Don't Stop, and I'd Rather Be Your Lover. I also love the outtake song "Your Honesty".

Bedtime Stories was released on October 25, 1994. It was produced by Babyface and Dallas Austin. It became one of the very few occasions where she collaborated with well-known producers, the first since Nile Rodgers on Like a Virgin (1984). In the United States, Bedtime Stories debuted at #3 on the Billboard 200 chart on the issue date of November 12, 1994, with 145,000 units sold in its first week. Despite a considerably weaker debut than its predecessor, Erotica (1992), which opened at number two with sales of 167,000 copies, its chart longevity made Bedtime Stories outsell Erotica in the end. Following Madonna's appearance on the American Music Awards, sales of the album increased by 19%. It was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of more than three million units within the country. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album has sold 2,336,000 copies as of December 2016.

Bedtime Stories era is also when Madonna famously said the "F" word 13 times on the David Letterman show, and the Courtney Love mess happened at the 1995 VMAs. She started dating basketball player Dennis Rodman (remember him?), and started sporting body piercings like her nose and navel. 

Share your memories of this era! I was 6 when it came out, so I was a bit too young to experience it, but all the videos from this era were my favorite and they had fantastic, beautiful storylines and themes! The only memory I have of this era was when I was 7 and I saw "Take A Bow" on MTV. The other videos I saw when I was a little bit older and more aware.

There are two Bedtime Stories cover versions (the upside down and the regular one), I have the regular one below with the powder blue CD tray! I also have the "Secret" and "Take A Bow" singles.





Secret: #3 Hot 100, #2 A/C, #1 Dance, #3 Top 40

Take A Bow: #1 Hot 100, #1 A/C, #40 R&B, #1 Top 40

Bedtime Story: #42 Hot 100, #1 Dance, #38 Top 40

Human Nature: #46 Hot 100, #2 Dance, #57 R&B, #30 Top 40

[jenglisbe]

Solid album. My faves:
Love Tried to Welcome Me
Secret
Bedtime Story

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

It's the 90s all over again!!!!





Decades-old albums by Madonna, Janet and Mariah top iTunes





preview.houstonchronicle.com/music/decades-old-albums-by-madonna-janet-and-mariah-15237208









What year is this?







Decades old albums by Madonna, Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson have all entered the iTunes top 10. Two of them have even reached the peak position.







JUST BREATHE: Houston singer Robyn Troup wants you to 'Relax'







It's all thanks to social media campaigns organized by fans, who urged others to buy and stream the albums. Apparently, lots of people were listening. And had the time while sitting at home.







Carey's 2008 album "E=MC2" went to No. 1 on iTunes earlier this week. Even she was taken aback by the news.







"What is going on?????" Carey tweeted. "#JusticeForEMC2!!!!! So OVERWHELMED by this moment! Thank you #lambily for always lifting my spirits and giving me life. Love you forever."





She then posted a snippet of herself singing "Last Kiss," a nonsingle from the album, in celebration of the achievement.







"E=MC2" features the No. 1 single "Touch My Body" and the top 20 hit "Bye Bye." It's a solid album, and the real jam here is "Side Effects."







Not to be outdone, Madonna fans followed suit, sending her 1994 opus "Bedtime Stories" to the top of the iTunes album chart Thursday morning. That's 25 years after its original release.







"Bedtime Stories" was hailed as a return to form for Madonna after the explicit, underappreciated "Erotica" and features "Take a Bow," one of the biggest singles of her career, along with second No. 1 "Secret," "Bedtime Story" and "Human Nature."





Jackson's "Control" is the latest classic pop album to reemerge into the iTunes top 10. It was released in 1986 and was hailed as Jackson's breakthrough after two modestly received albums, 1982's self-titled debut and 1984's "Dream Street."







"Control" spawned a series of dynamic singles: "What Have You Done for Me Lately," "Nasty," "Control," the No. 1 "When I Think of You," "Let's Wait Awhile" and "The Pleasure Principle." It set Jackson on the course to superstardom and made her one of the first artists to maximize the use of extravagant music videos.

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

How Did Older Albums by Madonna, Mariah Carey & Janet Jackson All See Sales Gains This Week?





www.billboard.com/articles/business/chart-beat/9370383/madonna-mariah-carey-janet-jackson-albums-sales-gains-itunes-store







A sale promotion in the iTunes Store lifted a number of older albums to sales increases, and fans took notice.

It might be the year 2020, but if you glanced at the U.S. iTunes Store’s Top Albums tally this past week, it’d be hard to tell what decade you were in.


Thanks to sale pricing and fan promotion, a trio of older albums by Mariah Carey, Madonna and Janet Jackson all jumped into the iTunes Store's always-updating Top Albums tally. On April 27 and 28, Carey’s 2008 album E=MC2 was No. 1 on the iTunes Store’s Top Albums tally, while Madonna’s 1994 set Bedtime Stories visited No. 1 on April 30. Meanwhile, Jackson’s 1986 album Control also visited the top 10 during the week -- and at one point, all three albums were together in the top 10.


According to initial sales reports to Nielsen Music/MRC Data, E=MC2 sold about 2,000 copies total across all retailers in the U.S. in the week ending April 30. About half of that sum was driven by digital sales on April 27, the day the album topped the iTunes tally. Traditionally, the album sells a negligible figure on a daily basis.


Mariah Carey Thanks Fans for All the 'E=MC2' Love With 'Impromptu Version' of 'Last Kiss'



As for Bedtime Stories, it shifted a little over 1,000 copies for the week, while Control sold just under 1,000. Again, the bulk of each album’s sales were driven by digital sales -- nearly 1,000 for Bedtime Stories on April 30 (the day it was No. 1 in the iTunes Store) and a little under, 1,000 for Control across three days (April 28-30). Like with E=MC2, both Bedtime Stories and Control generally sell a negligible figure on any normal day.


It doesn’t necessarily take a large number of sales to reach No. 1 on the iTunes Store’s Top Albums ranking, especially considering album sales have been on the decline for years, and it was a particularly soft week for new releases on April 24. The trio of albums were part of an iTunes Store promotion where more than 100 pop albums were discounted to $4.99 and advertised in a banner ad that appears at the top of the front page of the Store, directing consumers to “$4.99 Pop Albums at a Great Price.”


As generally happens with deeply discounted albums (most new titles sell for at least $9.99), they start to rise up the iTunes Store Top Albums list, since it reacts in real time to customers’ purchases. After that, fans of the divas took notice of the albums dotting the iTunes Store Top Albums list and began awareness campaigns on social media to drive attention to the albums. That promotion then helped engineer more sales for the albums, which brought them to the top 10 of the store. At that point, the albums got much wider attention, since the top 10 of the Top Albums list is visible on the front of the iTunes Store, and casual music fans likely saw the albums in the top 10 -- perhaps encouraging even more sales.


E=MC2 debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated May 3, 2008. Bedtime Stories debuted and peaked at No. 3 (Nov. 12, 1994), and Control hit No. 1 on July 5, 1986. None of the albums are expected to re-enter next week’s Billboard 200 chart, despite their surge on the iTunes Store.

[Ginger Spice]

It would've been really cool if they would've reentered the charts, but they'll probably make the sales chart anyway.

[areyoureadytojump]

released 26 years ago today!

[Agent Yoncé]

My favorite Madonna album. I hate this is overlooked & forgotten in comparison to her other 90s efforts.

[Carlitoz]

Solid album. Very smooth. Really liked it.

After the Erotica scandal and the backlash it brought, I was wondering what she would do next. And then came Secret and all was good again. :) Then the big US commercial success of Take A Bow which never turned into one of my favorites even though it was her longest #1. All videos for the album were great. The video for the Secret dance mix and of course THE dance mix were awesome!! The MTV special for Take A Bow i watched so many times. I was disappointed Bedtime Story and Human Nature were not welcomed in the pop charts. I thought both song and video were AMAZING in both cases.

[ogletree8701]

This album is a favorite of mine. Madonna really put her foot into this album. This album is just impressive from head to toe. Maybe because I love the R&B/Hip-Hop sound she utilized for this album. I rarely get to see her vulnerable side.

[omieethehomieee]

Take A Bow is such a beautiful song. I wanna cry every time I listen to it…

[bat1990]

I stan this B-side from this era so hard

[Ling-Ling]

Arguably the most under-sung album in her discography. I love it front to back, absolutely not skips for me (and yeah, that includes "Don't Stop" to the haters). Such a warm, romantic and groovy album. My only quibble, I wish "Take A Bow" was moved forward in the tracklist. Possibly behind "Don't Stop" or "Inside Of me." It makes no sense sonically at the end. "LTTWM" and "Sanctuary" flow perfectly into "Bedtime Story," which should have closed the album.

And yeah, I love "Let Down Your Guard" as well, Dallas totally recycled that beat for "U In Me" for TLC. Which should have also made it's parent album. Love the artwork and the color scheme (that powder blue tray had me shook back then, lol). All of the videos were tens across the board. Some great remixes came out of this too.