The original Immaculate Collection tracklisting

[MDNA22 1,166]

16 hours ago, Prayer said:

Alright... you're giving a personal opinion and that's perfectly fine, we do that all the time. But it's just an opinion, not "verified fact" or what necessarily happened behind the scenes. 

The only verified facts we know are:

- Pepsi was going to be the sponsor for the tour and that didn't happen.

- "Dick Tracy" filming happened.

- "Oh Father" was considered a "flop".

- Shep Pettibone was approached by Warner's head of dance music, Craig Kostich, to write and produce an original dance track with Madonna with a "try a let's see what happens with it" approach. That ended up being "Vogue". Confirmed by Shep: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop-shop/6575923/vogue-producer-shep-pettibone-interview

- Madonna told last year that she wrote "Vogue" for "Dick Tracy" cause she was dating Warren at the time (I don't know what to make of this really): 

 

 

That interview was interesting with her saying Vogue started with the rap and worked backwards from that as remember Shep Pettibone saying that the rap was the last part of the song that got written and that the song was as good as finished but missing something and Madonna wrote the rap part while on an aeroplane and was brilliant so it got added. The Shep description makes sense in that the song was likely more inspired by the underground Vogue/Ballroom scene alot more than it was inspired by the Hollywood greats she references in the rap. I guess only Madonna and Shep would really know

[deathproof 10,555]

16 hours ago, kesiak said:

According to Shep, The Immaculate Collection and his work/mixing on it was very last minute, "a rush job" as he put it. That wouldn't make sense if "Vogue" had been written with it in mind, many months before. 

Exactly. It’s been stated for decades that Vogue was always to be recorded as a b-side.

Madonna is the only one who said she wrote it for Dick Tracy. She first said this in 2015 on Howard Stern, then again last year on the Sirius XM show.

Lets not forget, this is the same woman who claims she never said she was a “famed high school drop out” on American Bandstand in 1984 ? I think you can get the point of what I’m trying to say

[Candy Perfume Boy 6,074]

On 11/29/2020 at 12:53 AM, artlover said:

There's even a promo tape. Does anybody own one here? 

Me ;-)

[Smoothie 79]

On 12/5/2020 at 10:58 AM, GhostOrchid said:

So she said it was written for Dick Tracy, and the general knowledge is that it was written for Keep it Together. The point seems to be that we are given information that are not necessarily what really happened.

And if you look closely at the dates, the principal photography for the film started (february 1989) before the LAP Tour got canceled (march 1989), and Madonna was cast way before that. so the original plan was to do the film and then rehearse and go on tour.

I believe Shep when he says he was approached with a "let's see what happens" attitude, but i believe they were aiming it for The Immaculate Collection.

And btw, I don't think she released Oh Father with any ambition for it to be a chart topper. It's just not that kind of song. I think she knew it's not going to do as good as the rest and she was fine with it. Just look at the video, she wanted to tell a story. Same as for example Human Nature. But she could affoard to do that, have a row of chart toppers, followed by a row of low-key personal songs. With Oh Father she was toning it down for what is to come. Besides, you can tell if they aim for a chart topper or not when you see the formats of the single release. Oh Father only got a crappy sleeveless 7" with no real bonus content. It simply wasn't aimed for success to begin with, it was aimed to tell a story.

BTW thanks for that interview clip, I haven't heard it before.

The tour not happening in 1989 had nothing to do with Pepsi ad fuss. 

As someone else said - Dick Tracy changed all the scheduling.

Pepsi cancelled *sponsorship* of the tour but that's all.

[deathproof 10,555]

But she had already started hair color testing for Dick Tracy during the filming of the Pepsi commercial. That’s what the blonde streak was for. So she had already been confirmed for Dick Tracy by then. So maybe the tour was in the fall/winter of 89? Or maybe it was always suppose to be in 1990?

[Sultrysully 2,865]

On 11/30/2020 at 5:50 PM, Nahual said:

I'm glad they didn't include WTG though. I have nothing against the song, it's just kind of generic and not particularly memorable other than because of its Spanish lyrics, but La Isla Bonita already covers that territory much better. 

Btw I won't tolerate any disrespect towards Cherish. It's a cute bop. 

Sorry but the bridge in Who's that Girl is life... and the song went number one.  It belonged on IC.  She just had so many hits by then.  It could have easily been two cds.

[Sultrysully 2,865]

On 12/5/2020 at 4:04 PM, ShantiAshtangi said:

The biggest sacrilege with TIC is the hideous version of Like A Prayer. The thought that there are people who only have TIC as their only Madonna album and only have this ugly remix of Like A Prayer in their collection is hard to bear. 

I don't mind the remixes but it does date the album a bit.  The IC was a dream compared the the butchering of Celebration.  All of the omissions and edits.  And the bonus songs were hardly memorable.  

[GhostOrchid 702]

On 12/7/2020 at 12:50 AM, Smoothie said:

The tour not happening in 1989 had nothing to do with Pepsi ad fuss. 

As someone else said - Dick Tracy changed all the scheduling.

Pepsi cancelled *sponsorship* of the tour but that's all.

Not true. She would have already finished filming dick tracy way before the tour reheasals were supposed to start. And the movie premiered in may 1990. She literelly didn't have anything dick tracy related to do in between when the filming was wrapped and when the promotion for the film started in 1990. 

It's true that the cancelled pepsi promotion threw her off and she could have probably found a new way to fund the tour, but i guess she took the whole situation as a sign to postpone everything till 1990 and focus on I'm Breathless instead

[GhostOrchid 702]

On 12/6/2020 at 3:40 AM, MDNA22 said:

That interview was interesting with her saying Vogue started with the rap and worked backwards from that as remember Shep Pettibone saying that the rap was the last part of the song that got written and that the song was as good as finished but missing something and Madonna wrote the rap part while on an aeroplane and was brilliant so it got added. The Shep description makes sense in that the song was likely more inspired by the underground Vogue/Ballroom scene alot more than it was inspired by the Hollywood greats she references in the rap. I guess only Madonna and Shep would really know

I think Shep told it how it really happened. And how we all know it happened. Once she saw that there is a way to link the song to the movie she threw in the rap. or maybe it was completely unrelated to the film whatsoever.

I love her, but she is known for saying things in order to push something on her agenda. Maybe she needs something from Warren now ?

[BoyToyMark 338]

In all honestly, while I respect Who's That Girl was a massive hit, it hasn't aged well. Cherish has aged well and its bright and everyone loves that song. The songs on The Immaculate Collection are timeless classics. Dress You Up is a much stronger song and probably should've been on there as well. Even Causing A Commotion is stronger than Who's That Girl. Dress You Up is the one with the lasting impact though.

[Alpha 1,172]

3 hours ago, BoyToyMark said:

In all honestly, while I respect Who's That Girl was a massive hit, it hasn't aged well. Cherish has aged well and its bright and everyone loves that song. The songs on The Immaculate Collection are timeless classics. Dress You Up is a much stronger song and probably should've been on there as well. Even Causing A Commotion is stronger than Who's That Girl. Dress You Up is the one with the lasting impact though.

I think had WTG been on it, perception of the song would be way different. TIC became the go-to madonna album out of convenience. Growing up in the 90s it was always the q-sound versions I would hear on the radio. Now i actually hear the originals but for the longest time TIC was the source for all the madonna hits.

[adirondak 1,580]

On 12/5/2020 at 6:40 PM, MDNA22 said:

That interview was interesting with her saying Vogue started with the rap and worked backwards from that as remember Shep Pettibone saying that the rap was the last part of the song that got written and that the song was as good as finished but missing something and Madonna wrote the rap part while on an aeroplane and was brilliant so it got added. The Shep description makes sense in that the song was likely more inspired by the underground Vogue/Ballroom scene alot more than it was inspired by the Hollywood greats she references in the rap. I guess only Madonna and Shep would really know

Maybe Madonna was working out the rap on her own and only brought it to Shep once she felt it was complete and right for the song. That would work for both their accounts. 

[BoyToyMark 338]

49 minutes ago, Alpha said:

I think had WTG been on it, perception of the song would be way different. TIC became the go-to madonna album out of convenience. Growing up in the 90s it was always the q-sound versions I would hear on the radio. Now i actually hear the originals but for the longest time TIC was the source for all the madonna hits.

That's a good point. The remix Shep did of Causing A Commotion definitely elevated it, though I feel its already a stronger song. Maybe if he'd done one for Who's That Girl with some of the 12" elements it would have helped.

As it stands though, it does stick out on Celebration as kind of less strong than the rest of the 80s hits. A bit of a non-event. Whereas Burning Up and Dress You Up shine still, even in their album versions.

[Alpha 1,172]

37 minutes ago, BoyToyMark said:

That's a good point. The remix Shep did of Causing A Commotion definitely elevated it, though I feel its already a stronger song. Maybe if he'd done one for Who's That Girl with some of the 12" elements it would have helped.

As it stands though, it does stick out on Celebration as kind of less strong than the rest of the 80s hits. A bit of a non-event. Whereas Burning Up and Dress You Up shine still, even in their album versions.

The video definitely did not help

[BoyToyMark 338]

I wonder if we can ask Shep if a Q-sound mix of Causing A Commotion exists? He did remix the single after all.

Maybe a Who's That Girl one does too? It'd be cool to see what he did with it.

 

Cherish still wins out as absolute classic to this day.

[Blue Jean 15,131]

On 11/29/2020 at 10:19 PM, Aiwa08 said:

 

"Shangay Surprise" had zero promotion, at least in my country. The hype for that movie was almost non-existent. 

Wasn’t that because Sean and Madonna were already trying to abandon it by the time it came out? They weren’t happy with all the changes.

[MattyMads 5,489]

I wonder if there was a Q sound mix of who’s that girl? 

[Prayer 14,282]

9 minutes ago, MattyMads said:

I wonder if there was a Q sound mix of who’s that girl? 

I don't think there was... Shep said the Q-Sound thing was a hurry-up job anyway and I think it would have surfaced on any of the following UK singles ("Crazy For You" and "Holiday" 1991 reissues), included on "Celebration" maybe like the alternate Q-Sound mixes of "Lucky Star" and "Borderline" or simply leaked over the years.

But who knows of course.

[Aiwa08 16,190]

On 3/29/2024 at 4:45 AM, Alpha said:

 Growing up in the 90s it was always the q-sound versions I would hear on the radio. Now i actually hear the originals but for the longest time TIC was the source for all the madonna hits.

But there is a simple explanation for this: in 1990, radio stations switched from playing vinyl records to playing CDs. During that same year, the only edited versions available on CD of her old songs were on TIC. Therefore, TIC was the best option for radio stations to play edited versions from a digital source, all available on a single disc. Unfortunately, many of her original 7'' have not been available from digital sources for decades

Of course, when Celebration arrived, it became the new source for playing her old songs on radio stations, and TIC was forgotten.

PS: Her first promotional CD-Single in the USA was ‘Like A Prayer’ in 1989. And the first promotional CD-Single in Europe was 'This Used To Be My Playground' in 1992 (if my memory serves me right). I’m referring to promotional CD-Singles sent to radio stations, I’m not talking about commercial CD-singles.

[EgoRod 5,430]

I always though the reason they never put WTG in anything was because how close it was to La Isla Bonita.

I think they tried to replicate the success of the sound to boost the movie, but the movie was a flop and so they ditch the song too.

Causing a Commotion was more like a ITG. It worked well as single dancey pop radio friendly track.

[BoyToyMark 338]

13 minutes ago, EgoRod said:

I always though the reason they never put WTG in anything was because how close it was to La Isla Bonita.

I think they tried to replicate the success of the sound to boost the movie, but the movie was a flop and so they ditch the song too.

Causing a Commotion was more like a ITG. It worked well as single dancey pop radio friendly track.

Have to agree with all of this. It was the right choice and La Isla Bonita is flawless to this day.

I think Dress You Up is the only song that wasn't included that is very much a staple and still iconic, but like many have said, it was probably left off for incentive to purchase the Like A Virgin album.

[chaosmen1984mk 793]

While for many fans it is a real mystery why Who's that Girl was discarded from the official tracklist, for me the answer is very obvious: its great similarity with La Isla Bonita. If at least the songs had not been arranged chronologically, perhaps Who's that Girl would have had a chance to be part of the official tracklist, but since that was not the case, it was definitely necessary to get rid of it and without leaving traces because two consecutive songs that were very similar to each other was not such a good idea.

On the other hand, I would have liked Oh Father to be part of the official tracklist instead of Borderline. It seems to me that OH Father is a very powerful ballad with a much more intimate and important message than the typical romantic and silly song that was Borderline. I'm sure that if Oh Father had been part of the Inmaculate Collection it would have become another Madonna classic. Something that I feel does not happen with Borderline despite the overexposure received for being part of the official compilation. 

[Blue Jean 15,131]

9 hours ago, chaosmen1984mk said:

While for many fans it is a real mystery why Who's that Girl was discarded from the official tracklist, for me the answer is very obvious: its great similarity with La Isla Bonita. If at least the songs had not been arranged chronologically, perhaps Who's that Girl would have had a chance to be part of the official tracklist, but since that was not the case, it was definitely necessary to get rid of it and without leaving traces because two consecutive songs that were very similar to each other was not such a good idea.

On the other hand, I would have liked Oh Father to be part of the official tracklist instead of Borderline. It seems to me that OH Father is a very powerful ballad with a much more intimate and important message than the typical romantic and silly song that was Borderline. I'm sure that if Oh Father had been part of the Inmaculate Collection it would have become another Madonna classic. Something that I feel does not happen with Borderline despite the overexposure received for being part of the official compilation. 

Borderline was her first top 10 hit in the US and her first big exposure on MTV. It’s a Madonna classic far more than Who’s That Girl let alone Oh Father which was her first flop.

[Prayer 14,282]

28 minutes ago, Blue Jean said:

Borderline was her first top 10 hit in the US and her first big exposure on MTV. It’s a Madonna classic far more than Who’s That Girl let alone Oh Father which was her first flop.

Plus "Borderline" was the song - and video - that made the big suits at Warner realize they had something there and roll on the big money to promote her and help to made her what she became later. Up until then she was this little dance act no one cared about at Warner.

Seymour Stein words:

On signing Madonna:

"I was shocked that I had a lot of opposition at Warner Bros. from the very top -- from Mo Ostin, who was the chairman of the company, and also from their head lawyer at the time, David Berman -- they didn't hear it at all. Fortunately, I reached out for support from the head of international at Warner's, Nesuhi Ertegun... and he said, whatever it costs, we'll pay it. I knew right away that Madonna not only would be big in America, but probably even bigger outside of America. "

On "Borderline":

"I remember when we put out "Borderline"... listening to that record, it sent shivers up my spine. I knew from that day on there was no turning back. If you can believe this, some people ask me... when I met her in the hospital room, that I knew that young woman would be the Madonna that she became. And of course I didn't. I knew she was great. I knew that she had drive and great talent. But it was "Borderline," that song, the fourth single, that I knew there was no looking back. Just clear the decks."

Source: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/soundcheck/segments/madonna-week-seymour-stein-signing-madonna

Luckily she had him believing in her since day one.

On "Who's That Girl" not making "The Immaculate Collection" despite being a #1, I think I said this before but I totally believe it was her not wanting to remind anyone of the movie flop, since she just had a movie hit with "Dick Tracy" and was still pursuing a real actress career at that point.

Imagine having so many hits you can afford the luxury of leaving out a #1 single on your greatest hits compilation.

[Honey Little 3,943]

DO NOT KEEP LEAVING OUT THE INJUSTICE OF CAUSING A COMMOTION.