In 1989, Madonna released “Like a Prayer” using religious symbolism and imagery - it caused worldwide outrage. In fact the pope called for certain shows of the blond ambition tour to be cancelled, bomb threats were called in and Pepsi pulled out of a multi million dollar deal with Madonna. (Madonna got to keep the 5 million)
On April 22 1989, Madonna’s Like A Prayer album and single reached #1 simultaneously in the USA. The album stayed at the top of the charts for 6 weeks. The huge controversy-bans-backlash couldn't stop Madonna's power.
The title track, "like a prayer" was perhaps the most controversial clip in Madonna's entire career. It dealt with issues like race, religion and bigotry.
Do you guys have any idea how big of an artistic risk it was to depict jesus as black and depict a white man framing a back man for a crime? Back in 1989 things were not like they are today and again this shows Madonna's artistic integrity. This album, could have easily ended her career. That is real artistic risk.
Happy 26th Anniversary "Like a prayer" and thank you Madonna for this amazing piece of art.
As Madonna's most introspective release at the time, Like a Prayer has been described as a confessional record. She described the album as a collection of songs "about my mother, my father, and bonds with my family." The album was dedicated to her mother, who died when Madonna was young.
The album uses live instrumentation and incorporates elements of dance, funk, gospel, and soul into a more general pop style. Madonna drew from her Catholic upbringing, as seen in the album's title track and lead single "Like a Prayer". The lyrics deal with themes from Madonna's childhood and adolescence, such as the death of her mother in "Promise to Try", the importance of family in "Keep It Together", and her relationship with her father in "Oh Father". Madonna also preaches female empowerment in "Express Yourself". Like a Prayer received universal critical acclaim, with Rolling Stone hailing it as "...as close to art as pop music gets."
“Like A Prayer is a brilliant, thoughtful, startling and joyful example of popular music.”
The copies of Like A Prayer album included an insert with safer sex guidelines and a warning about the dangers of AIDS, to which Madonna had lost friends.
