This is a great album by one of music’s most consequential artists. With this record Madonna completed the transition from young teeny-bopper appeal to a more adult-focused artistry and set up her career for the multi-decade superstar legend she has become. I loved the single “Like a Prayer” immediately and found “Express Yourself” to be a powerful anthem. In listening to the rest of album today, I realized just how amazing it is. Madonna is never going to be confused with Maria Callas. But the vocal performances throughout the album are deeply emotional and remarkably so. Just a monster album and a pillar of late-80’s pop music.
Prince co-wrote and duets on “Love Song” (“the sole product of a much-discussed musical by the pair”)1 and plays guitar on “Like a Prayer”.2 An incredible pairing of two of music’s crown jewels. I wish they had found a way to do more work together!
My Rating:
“‘What I do is total commercialism, but it’s also art.’ Like a Prayer straddles those two ideals with gusto, with even its less satisfying moments adding to the heat given off by the MTV era’s brightest star.”3
Rolling Stone: “…what you hear once you get inside the package is as close to art as pop music gets. Like a Prayer is proof not only that Madonna should be taken seriously as an artist but that hers is one of the most compelling voices of the Eighties.”4
Chicago Sun Times: “There are those who sneer at the methods of the material girl, but no one in contemporary pop raises commerce to a higher art than Madonna.”5
AllMusic: “…the kaleidoscopic variety of pop styles on Like a Prayer is quite dazzling. Ranging from the deep funk of "Express Yourself" and "Keep It Together" to the haunting "Oh Father" and "Like a Prayer," Madonna displays a commanding sense of songcraft, making this her best and most consistent album.”6
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Robert Dimery wrote:
“Beneath the burning crosses for which it is remembered lurks the most spectacular pop album since Revolver.”7
Charts
• Peak on Billboard album chart:8 #1
• Singles on Billboard charts:9
>Like a Prayer #1
>Express Yourself #2
>Cherish #2
>Oh Father #20
• RIAA certification: 4x Platinum | July 16, 199710
Released on March 29, 1989. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: The Living Years by Mike + The Mechanics11
• Number one album: Electric Youth by Debbie Gibson12
• Number one movie: Twins by Ivan Reitman13
• Most watched TV program: Rosanne14
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Stanic Verses by Salman Rushdie15
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: All I Really Needed To Know I Learned In Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum16
Other albums released that month
• Best of Ozz by Ozzy Osbourne
• 3 Feet High and Rising by De La Soul
• When Dream and Day Unite by Dream Theater
• Girl You Know It's True by Milli Vanilli
• Mr. Jordan by Julian Lennon
• Grip It! On That Other Level by Geto Boys
• 101 by Depeche Mode
• Another Place and Time by Donna Summer
• Extreme by Extreme
• Road to the Riches by Kool G Rap & DJ Polo
• Cross That Line by Howard Jones
• Saraya by Saraya
• Shine by Mother Love Bone
• Nick of Time by Bonnie Raitt
• Make Them Die Slowly by White Zombie
• Larger than Life by Jody Watley
• Alannah Myles by Alannah Myles
• Yellow Moon by The Neville Brothers
Sport
• Mar 1 Charlie Francis, coach of disqualified sprinter Ben Johnson tells federal inquiry into Canada's greatest sports scandal Johnson knowingly used steroids since 1981.
• Mar 4 Javier Sotomayor high jumps indoor world record (2.43m).
• Mar 8 Roger Kingdom runs indoor world record 60m hurdles (7.37 secs).
• Mar 9 Roger Kingdom runs world record 60m hurdles indoor (7.36 sec).
• Mar 20 Baseball announces Reds manager Pete Rose is under investigation (fuck Pete Rose).
• Mar 22 Clint Malarchuk of the Buffalo Sabres suffers a near-fatal injury when another player’s skate accidentally slits his throat.
• Mar 22 Pete Rozelle announces retirement as NFL commissioner after 29 years.
• Mar 29 1st Soviet hockey players are permitted to play for the NHL.17
Notable Births
• Mar 2 Nathalie Emmanuel, English actress (Games of Thrones, Megalopolis), born in Southend-on-Sea, England.
• Mar 5 Jake Lloyd, American actor (The Phantom Menace), born in Fort Collins, Colorado.
• Mar 11 Anton Yelchin, Russian-born American actor (Star Trek), born in Leningrad, Soviet Union (d. 2016).
• Mar 13 P. K. Subban, Canadian ice hockey player (New Jersey Devils), born in Toronto, Ontario.
• Mar 16 Blake Griffin, American basketball forward (6 x NBA All-Star; 5 x All-NBA: NBA Rookie of the Year 2011), born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
• Mar 18 Lily Collins, British American actress (Mirror, Mirror), born in Guildford, England.
• Mar 19 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champ in Paris won by Midori Ito (Japan).
• Mar 19 Men's Figure Skating Championship in Paris won by Kurt Browning (CAN).
• Mar 22 JJ Watt, American NFL player (Houston Texans), born in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
• Mar 26 Von Miller, American football linebacker, Super Bowl 50 MVP, 3x All-Pro; 8 x Pro Bowl, born in Dallas, Texas.18
Historical Events
• Mar 2 12 European nations agree to ban chlorofluorocarbon production by 2000.
• Mar 2 Tanker Exxon Houston runs aground in Hawaii, spills 117,000 gallons of oil.
• Mar 3 Eastern Airlines machinists union goes on strike; pilots respect picket lines.
• Mar 3 Robert McFarlane gets a $20,000 fine and two years probation for pleading guilty to withholding information from Congress in the Iran-Contra illegal arms-for-hostages scandal.
• Mar 4 Eastern Airlines machinists strike.
• Mar 7 Iran drops diplomatic relations with Britain over Salman Rushdie's book "Satanic Verses".
• Mar 9 Eastern Airlines files for bankruptcy.
• Mar 9 Soviet Union officially submits to jurisdiction of the World Court.
• Mar 9 US Senate rejects President George H. W. Bush's nomination of John Tower as Defense Secretary.
• Mar 12 Computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee submits his first proposal for an "information management system" to his boss at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) who finds it “vague, but exciting”.
• Mar 15 US Department of Veterans Affairs officially established as a Cabinet position.
• Mar 29 61st Academy Awards: "Rain Man" - Best Picture, Actor (Dustin Hoffman), Director (Barry Levinson) and Screenwriting; and Jodie Foster (“The Accused”) win.
• Mar 29 I. M. Pei's pyramidal entrance to the renovated Louvre Museum opens in Paris, France.
• Mar 29 Michael Milken, junk bond king, indicted in NY for racketeering.
• Mar 31 Donald Trump purchases Eastern's Northeast Shuttle.19
Notable Deaths
• Mar 4 James A. Parsons, Amer metallurgist & inventor (stainless steel), dies at 88.
• Mar 9 Robert Mapplethorpe, American photographer, dies at 42.
• Mar 10 Doc Green, American pop baritone vocalist (The Drifters - "Under the Boardwalk"; "Up on the Roof"), dies of cancer at 54.
• Mar 12 Maurice Evans, British actor (Planet of the Apes; Bewitched), dies at 87.20
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
The rest of the videos are here: You're Welcome 109; Like a Prayer by Madonna
Prime playlist: 109. Like a Prayer by Madonna
Dimery, Robert; 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, p. 610.
Dimery.
Ibid.
Ibid.