30 years ago Madonna released her fourth studio album Like a Prayer, the iconic album cemented herself as the true Queen Of Pop a true genius that reinvented and revolutionized the way every band & recording artist would see the world of pop music.
Released on March 3, 1989, 'Like A Prayer' was the lead single off Madonna's 4th studio album of the same name. The song had originally premiered a day earlier alongside the infamous Pepsi commercial on March 2. The premier of the video the following day however would see the commercial eventually pulled from air due to complaints by many family and/or religous organizations. The Vatican also condemned the nature of the music video.
Like A Prayer video, a cautionary tale about prejudices, presumptions, racism and violence with some then-shocking religious imagery thrown in, certainly caught everybody’s attention.
Regardless the song would quickly become Madonna's 7th #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, tying her with Whitney Houston as the female artist with the most #1 singles on the Hot 100.
It would also go on to top the charts in over 25 countries around the world.
The album, released by Sire/Warner Bros. Records on March 21, 1989 was Madonna's longest run at No. 1 for any album, spending six weeks atop the chart. Patrick Leonard, who cowrote and coproduced the set, has talked to Billboard about everything involving the making of the album, and the revelations will blow your mind. Here's a sampling: 1. Prince is on the album! It was a known fact that the singer worked on "Love Song" with Madonna, but what you may not know is that his guitar work is featured on "Like a Prayer." According to Leonard, "the guitar that you hear before the door slams at the start of 'Like a Prayer' is Prince. What happened is, Madonna sent him something to play on and he played on it and sent it back.