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Vogue (Madonna song)

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"Vogue"
Single cover
Single by Madonna
From the album I'm Breathless
Released March 20, 1990
Format CD single
CD maxi single
Cassette single
7" Single
12" single
Recorded 1990
Length 4:49
Genre Pop
Label Sire
Warner Bros.
Writers Madonna
Shep Pettibone
Producers Madonna
Shep Pettibone
Madonna singles chronology
"Keep it Together"
(1990) 		"Vogue"
(1990) 		"Hanky Panky"
(1990)
For the song by KMFDM, see Vogue (single).

"Vogue" is a 1990 number-one hit single by Madonna. The song was originally slated to be released as a B-side before becoming one of Madonna's biggest hits of the 1990s.

Song information

In mid-1989, after the album Like A Prayer had spawned three U.S. hits - the title track, "Express Yourself", and "Cherish" - and a top-five European single in "Dear Jessie", its fourth domestic single, "Oh Father" stalled at number twenty in the charts. Perhaps to ensure that the last single release of "Keep It Together" would fare better on the charts, Madonna and producer Shep Pettibone decided to compose a new song to be placed on the flipside of "Keep It Together" and quickly produced "Vogue", partly inspired by a dance performed by gay men in New York clubs, in which they used a series of complex hand gestures to imitate their favourite Hollywood stars (see the list of the names of the Hollywood stars below), as well as the cover models on the magazine Vogue.

Never one to ignore an underground movement, Madonna brought "vogueing" into the mainstream when she named her song after it. After presenting the song to Warner Brothers Executives, all parties involved decided that the song was too good to be "wasted" on a B-side and should be released as a single. Although the song itself has nothing to do with Madonna's then upcoming movie Dick Tracy, it was included on the soundtrack album entitled I'm Breathless that she recorded for the film. 

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Chart success

Aided by both a single version and an extended remix, as well as a black and white video directed by David Fincher, the song shot to number one in every territory in which it was released. In the UK, the song knocked Snap!'s "The Power" off the number one slot and stayed there for four weeks, continuing a trend of club/pop crossovers going to number one. In the U.S., the single reached platinum status. In Australia, it was released as a double A-Side to "Keep It Together", and it went to the top spot.

The success of "Vogue" boosted the sales of the I'm Breathless album/soundtrack, and combined with Madonna's Blond Ambition Tour, generated massive publicity for the Dick Tracy movie.

Music video

Madonna in a scene from the Vogue music video.

The video, directed by David Fincher, is considered to be one of Madonna's best. In 1993, Rolling Stone magazine listed the video as the twenty-eighth best music video of all-time. It was the third time Fincher and Madonna collaborated on a video (the first being 1989's "Express Yourself" and the second being 1989's "Oh Father").

Filmed in black-and-white, it recalls the look of 1930s Hollywood films with the use of artwork by the Art Deco artist Tamara de Lempicka, and an Art Deco set design. Many of the scenes are recreations of photographs taken by noted photographer Horst P. Horst. Some of the close-up poses recreate noted portraits of such stars as Veronica Lake and Marlene Dietrich. (Additionally, several stars of this era are name-checked in the song's lyrics). There was some controversy surrounding the video because in one scene Madonna's breasts can be seen through her sheer blouse. MTV wanted this part cut out, but Madonna refused and the video aired with the shot intact.[citation needed] The video features the dancers from her Blond Ambition Tour and documentary Truth or Dare. The back-up singers in the video are Niki Haris and Donna DeLory, who have done back up for Madonna on numerous occasions. Niki Haris is also featured in the limousine scene in Madonna's "Music".

A live version of "Vogue", performed in the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards, also proved popular. It featured Madonna and her dancers dressed in an 18th-century France theme, with Madonna bearing resemblance to executed French Queen Marie Antoinette. The performance was considered risqué, as Madonna and her dancers flashed their undergarments during their routine, and at one point Madonna pushed the faces of two male dancers into her breasts.

In 2004, Madonna opened her Re-Invention Tour with "Vogue", again using an 18th century-influenced theme.

Use in films and television

Hollywood star names

The lyrics of the song reveal the names of several Hollywood stars, in this order:

Nine of the stars were alive at the time the single was released: Greta Garbo (who died less than a month after "Vogue" was released), Marlene Dietrich, Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn, and Lana Turner. Today, Bacall is the only one alive.

Year Single Chart Position
1990 "Vogue" U.S. The Billboard Hot 100 1
1990 "Vogue" U.S. The Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales 1
1990 "Vogue" U.S. The Billboard Hot 100 Airplay 1
1990 "Vogue" U.S. Top 40 Tracks 1
1990 "Vogue" U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play 1
1990 "Vogue" U.S. Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales 1
1990 "Vogue" U.S. Rhythmic Top 40 1
1990 "Vogue" U.S. Billboard Hip Hop & R&B tracks 10
1990 "Vogue" U.S. Adult Contemporary 23
1990 "Vogue" Canadian Singles Chart 1
1990 "Vogue" France top 50 singles charts 9
1990 "Vogue" UK top 40 singles chart 1
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
May 19 1990 		Succeeded by
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