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 Bedtime Stories ● 25 Years |
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  Oct 25 2019, 11:09 AM
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#1
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 BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
Posts: 50,947 User: 12,472 
     
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 Today marks 25 years since the release of Madonna's sixth studio album, Bedtime Stories. Having explored sexual fantasies and tackled taboos on Erotica, Madonna turned to a more tender view of love, one driven by intimacy and passion, but also considering the effects of its absence or loss. To articulate the romantic vibe, Madonna worked with R&B producers such as Dallas Austin, Dave Hall and Babyface for a sensual, soulful sound. The work of Massive Attack and Bjork had caught the interest of Madonna too, so British producer Nellee Hooper was assigned to the project to bring a different dynamic with his electronic background. Madonna was toning down her image, wanting to bring the focus back to the music and less on what she said or did, however she made it clear she wasn't apologetic for her provocative sexual image and doesn't hesitate in addressing the backlash on the album. Bedtime Stories saw Madonna continue to grow as an artist. It asserted her talents as a singer and songwriter, demonstrating her ability to maintain a consistent tone across an album of different producers, resulting in a collection designed to be experienced in its entirety. Its commercial performance saw fans enticed by the softer sound, selling more copies than the US and worldwide totals for Erotica. The legacy of this album is Madonna's refusal to apologise for her previous work or show regret or shame. By doing so, she kept the doors open for other female artists to express themselves freely and secured her confidence in her own artistic vision. On its 25th birthday, read us your thoughts and memories of Bedtime Stories. |
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Oct 25 2019, 04:46 PM
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
Posts: 50,947 User: 12,472
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I can remember first purchasing this album in a charity shop with no real idea what the album was about. I knew of 'Secret' and 'Take a Bow' from Celebration but they weren't stand outs at the time and I had no idea about the album's background or anything, whereas I was aware of at least something regarding her other albums. It took a long time to grow; I recall not really being able to distinguish the tracks after listening and there obviously wasn't any upbeat pop songs for my still quite shallow pop tastes. There was definitely something about the album that was appealing though as I did keep returning to it in hope it would grow - perhaps I thought it had a 'grown-up' sound and thought it would be cool to 'get'.
Jump forward to today and I consider it one of my favourite Madonna albums. It's perfect for late night winding down or to play if you're feeling a bit down. Such a tender, warm album, lots of emotional depth and showcases some gorgeous vocals. Madonna had a great vision for this album and everything ties together so well - a song that's defensive like 'Human Nature' doesn't interrupt the laid back nature of the album and a song that takes on a completely different sound and style like 'Bedtime Story' seems to flow so seamlessly. It's testimony to Madonna's skill as artist. |
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Oct 26 2019, 11:09 AM
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 BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 31 August 2010
Posts: 8,788 User: 11,763
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This album is often overlooked by me. Such a pleasant listen . I adore every track bar survival .
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Oct 26 2019, 07:15 PM
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 29 June 2006
Posts: 128,409 User: 845
 
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Never an album I got into at the time or looked into much after, I must look up some tracks.
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Oct 27 2019, 12:38 AM
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#5
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"Jayrusaleminians" - Umi.
Pronouns: he/him
Joined: 4 April 2007 Posts: 41,425 User: 3,217
      
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 I love Bedtime Stories. For me this album excels for two reasons in particular: its smooth production, and for providing us with some of Madonna's warmest/most beautiful vocals of her career. It really just hits the spot for me! It's a very pleasant/calming listen, perfect to chill out to, which I feel makes it quite a unique entry amongst Madonna's studio albums.
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Oct 27 2019, 04:14 PM
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#6
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 ⬛
Joined: 17 February 2011
Posts: 56,203 User: 13,007
               
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I've just given the album another listen to celebrate its 25th and it's really glorious isn't it
Was never a favourite album of mine but it continues to age brilliantly. Her vocals are some of the best she's done as Jay has said, and the production is just sublime; like Ray of Light that came a bit later but more stripped back and subtle. Favourite part of the album is definitely Sanctuary into Bedtime Story. The transition gets me every single time! *.* |
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Nov 20 2019, 01:27 PM
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#7
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
Posts: 50,947 User: 12,472
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A rundown of the key promotional moments of the Bedtime Stories era:
September 8th: Madonna presented the award for Video of the Year at the MTV VMA’s, escorted onstage by David Letterman and the two poked fun at their supposed feud following Madonna’s infamous appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman earlier in the year. This was Madonna's first official public appearance to promote Bedtime Stories.  October 1st: Interview with The Face magazine.  October 15th: Madonna participates in Jean Paul Gaultier's spring/summer 1995 fashion show in Paris, focusing on 30s, 40s and 50s fashion. Madonna pushes a baby carriage with a white puppy inside. November 30th: MTV premieres "No Bull - The Making of Take A Bow". January 30th: Madonna and Babyface perform 'Take A Bow' at the American Music Awards. February 13th: Madonna makes a surprise appearance on Late Show With David Letterman, presenting David with a Valentines gift. February 18th: Madonna performs 'Secret' and 'Take a Bow' on Wetten Das, a taped German TV show. February 20th: Madonna performs 'Bedtime Story' at the BRIT Awards.  February 22th: Madonna and Babyface perform 'Take A Bow' at the San Remo Song Festival in Italy. March 18th: Madonna hosts a pyjama party for 1,500 fans at Webster Hall in New York to celebrate the premiere of 'Bedtime Story' video broadcast live on MTV. She also reads a bedtime story of Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk. September 7th: Madonna presents Best Rap Video to Dr. Dre for 'Keep Their Heads Ringin'' and wins Best Female Video for 'Take A Bow' at the MTV Video Music Awards. After the show, Courtney Love interrupted an interview with Madonna in what has become an iconic MTV awards show moment. |
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Nov 20 2019, 01:29 PM
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#8
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
Posts: 50,947 User: 12,472
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The Face: October 1994:
QUOTE Madonna feels she’s being punished. Punished for being honest, punished for talking about sex. As she prepares for the release of her new album this month, she invited us to her home in Miami to make her response clear: “I’m not sorry.” It’s hard to judge music when you hear it once, at volume, through good speakers. What I heard sounded good. Some of it sounded great. It’s a more mature sound, based around a polished street soul/swingbeat drum and bass rather than house beats. There are songs here, not the dance-based doodles that formed the basis of “Erotica”. Instead, “Bedtime Stories” is a pop album, which is always what Madonna has done best — better than almost anyone. Four of the tracks are produced by Nellee Hooper, and one of these —”Bedtime Story”, the one most likely to become a club classic after a remix — was written by him with Bjork. Babyface wrote two more tracks, singing backing vocals on “Forbidden Love”. The rest were by R&B songwriter/producers Dallas Austin and Dave Hall. The theme is not sex but love, although the most striking lyrically are the defiant “Survival” and “Human Nature” — the latter the kind of track Prince would be making if he hadn’t lost the plot as well as his name. “Oops I didn’t know I couldn’t talk about sex / I’m not sorry,” goes the chorus. “You punished me for telling you my fan-tasies / I’m breaking all the rules I didn’t make / I’m not your bitch, don’t hang your shit on me.” This time, it seems the negative press has hurt. “I’m being punished,” she tells me calmly when we meet the next day. “I’m being punished for being a single female, for having power and being rich and saying the things I say, being a sexual creature — actually, not being any different from anyone else, but just talking about it. If I were a man, I wouldn’t have had any of these problems. Nobody talks about Prince’s sex life, and all the women he’s slept with. Nobody talks about any of their sex lives. You have to be intelligent about that and say, ‘OK, what’s being said here?’ I’m being punished for having a sex life. For enjoying it and for saying that I enjoy it. I really think it’s that simple.” Nellee Hooper, she says, was a logical choice for the new album. “I decided that I wanted to work with a whole bunch of different producers. Bjork’s album is one of my favourite for years — it’s brilliantly produced, and I also loved Massive. So obviously, he was on the list. Nellee was the last person I worked with, and it wasn’t until then that I got a grip of what the sound of the whole record was, so I had to go back and redo a lot.” Lyrically, I say, there’s not so much about sex and more about… “Romance,” says Madonna. “Or the loss of. Unrequited love.” So has the sex theme gone as far as it can? “I feel I’ve been misunderstood. I tried to make a statement about feeling good about yourself and exploring your sexuality, but people took it to mean that everyone should go out on a f****fest and have sex with everyone, and that I was going to be the leader of that. So I decided to leave it alone because that’s what everyone ended up concentrating on. Sex is such a taboo subject and it’s such a distraction that I’d rather not even offer it up.” She agrees that there is a defensiveness in some of the new lyrics, particularly “Human Nature”: “It’s my definitive statement in regards to the incredible payback I’ve received for having the nerve to talk about the things that I did in the past few years with my Sex book and my record. It’s getting it off my chest. It is defensive, absolutely. But it’s also sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek. And I’m not sorry. I do not apologise for any of it.” One of the most beautiful songs on the new album is “Inside of Me”, a yearning ballad about coming tp terms with a love lost, and learning to cherish its memory. I had assumed it was about Sean Penn, instead, it turns out to be about Madonna’s mother. Her early death is still a subject close to Madonna’s heart, something she talks about a lot with her brothers and sisters, and with her father on the rare occasions she catches him alone. To her, it explains a lot about the Ciccone’s clan’s problems. When her mother Madonna died, no one talked about it. At the time, her father was so devastated that he couldn’t, and they were all told to be strong and not to cry. “Which isn’t to say we didn’t cry, but we didn’t know what we were crying about. We were all confused, these grief-stricken children wondering when our mom is coming back. And then three years later, he just married our housekeeper and said, ‘This is your new mother. Call her mom.’ And we were all thrown into more confusion because it wasn’t clear where the first one went. Everyone has dealt with their grief in different ways, some by becoming over-achievers, some by becoming under-achievers. It was all manic behaviour to deal with what was inside us.” Read the full interview here. |
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Nov 21 2019, 09:26 AM
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#9
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BuzzJack Gold Member
Joined: 4 January 2007
Posts: 2,545 User: 2,392
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Bought this on vinyl recently....gorgeous. Weird, I bought the cd back on release week 25 years ago and all the singles on cd and vinyl but had never bought another album format. Also picked up Something to Remember too.
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