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[Liam.k.]

“Travelling to the arms of unconsciousness”

On 19 February 1995, 20 years ago yesterday, Madonna's trippy, experimental 'Bedtime Story' debuted in the UK Top 5.

Background
Despite the R&B vibes of the album, Madonna did acknowledge her dance roots with the title track 'Bedtime Story'. However, this was unlike the synthy/disco-esque sounds from her debut and was instead more electronic and trance inspired - according to Caroline Sullivan, this was "a hypnotic abstraction of a tune with a slow-pulsing trip-hop beat". It was new ground for Madonna and is likely to have been the inspiration for her following album, Ray of Light. 'Bedtime Story' was written by Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk with name of 'Let's Get Unconscious' before producers Nellee Hooper and Marius de Vries, who had been involved on her album Debut, put their stamp on it and gave it its current title. In an interview with Attitude Magazine, Björk revealed that Madonna had in fact got the words slightly wrong but that it was nonetheless "a really interesting mistake".

The music video was directed by Mark Romanek, who had previously directed the video for Madonna's 'Rain', and saw it replace 'Express Yourself' as the most expensive music video at the time with a huge $5m costs production (this was beaten again by Michael and Janet Jackson's 'Scream' later in the year which, again, was directed by Romanek). It was just as trippy as the song itself and was inspired, according to Madonna, by "all the female surrealist painters like Leonora Carrington and Remedios Varo".



Critical & Commercial Reception
Critics responded positively to 'Bedtime Story', with Billboard appreciating its "ingratiating hook" and saying it's "easily among her boldest and most experimental pop singles". Commercial success, however, was split. In Australia, Finland, Italy and the UK, the song hit the Top 10, becoming the highest peaker from the album in the latter country. Yet the song proved too odd for others as it stalled near the bottom of the Top 50 in some countries, including the US where it became the lowest charting single of her career.

UK Chart Run: 4-8-21-41-61-61-62-72-80-X-66-86-80-93 [13wks]

US Chart Run: 74-42-54-65-75-82-99-x [7wks]

Live Performances
Madonna performed 'Bedtime Story' at the 1995 BRIT Awards - her first time performing at the ceremony. The reaction was extremely positive, described as one of the best show openers and was ranked #4 on Marie Claire '​s 30 Best Brit Award Moments. The song was later included on the Re-invention Tour as part of a video interlude.