Content deleted Content added
Citation bot (talk | contribs) Altered title. | Use this bot. Report bugs. | #UCB_CommandLine |
|||
Line 124:
|align = left
}}
For ''Like a Prayer'', Madonna adopted a new image; she dyed her blonde hair dark, wore well-worn jeans, multiple rings on her fingers, garnet-encrusted crucifixes, a string of colored beads and glass gemstones around her neck.<ref name="Bego2">{{harvnb|Bego|2000|pp=226–227}}</ref> This new look was described as "very sixties" and a "cross between [a] gypsy and [a] hippie" by Mark Bego and Adam Sexton, respectively.<ref name="Bego2"/><ref>{{harvnb|Sexton|1993|p=157}}</ref> It was Madonna's first studio album that didn't feature her face on the front cover.<ref name="AttitudeLAP"/> Shot by [[Herb Ritts]], it depicts a [[close-up]] of the singer's crotch and hands; the first two buttons of her fly are undone and her fingers, adorned with rings and beads, hold down the top of her jeans.<ref name="matthew" /><ref name="LAPTelegraph" /><ref name="Bego2"/> According to O'Brien, the cover was inspired by Madonna's mother, who used to cover up her [[Sacred Heart]] statue with zip-up jeans each time a woman came to visit.<ref name="DivorceGuardian">{{cite web |last1=O'Brien |first1=Lucy |author1-link=Lucy O'Brien |title='We argued a lot': Inside the making of Madonna's 'divorce album' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/mar/30/we-argued-a-lot-inside-the-making-of-madonna-stormy-divorce-album |work=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=January 24, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330130037/https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/mar/30/we-argued-a-lot-inside-the-making-of-madonna-stormy-divorce-album |archive-date=March 30, 2019 |date=March 30, 2019}}</ref> Critics have compared the artwork to that of ''[[Sticky Fingers]]'' (1971) by [[the Rolling Stones]], which shows a close-up of [[Mick Jagger]]'s crotch, and ''[[Born in the U.S.A.]]'' (1984) by [[Bruce Springsteen]].<ref name="YahooLAP" /><ref name="FavoriteLAP" /><ref name="Bego2"/><ref name="NMELAPInfluence"/> Writing for the ''[[San Francisco Examiner]]'', Barry Walters noted that the artwork sees Madonna "virtually exposing herself", while for ''[[Attitude (magazine)|Attitude]]''{{'}}s Matthew Burton, "for a woman whose album and single artwork had been so inextricably linked with her face, [''Like a Prayer''] announced a new kind of Madonna".<ref name="LAPTelegraph"/><ref name="AttitudeLAP"/> The album's back cover shows
On January 24, 1989, ''Billboard'' reported that ''Like a Prayer'' would be released on February 28;<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Coleman |first1=Bill |title=Dance Trax: Beats & Pieces |magazine=Billboard |date=January 28, 1989 |volume=101 |issue=4 |page=27 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1989/BB-1989-01-28.pdf#page=25 |access-date=January 24, 2024 |issn=0006-2510}}</ref> ''[[The Albany Herald]]'', however, reported the release date would be March 15.<ref>{{cite news |title=Release set |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PA1SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KzUNAAAAIBAJ&hl=es&pg=5437%2C3975012 |access-date=February 11, 2024 |work=[[The Albany Herald]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=January 26, 1989 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220129012041/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PA1SAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KzUNAAAAIBAJ&hl=es&pg=5437%2C3975012 |archive-date=January 29, 2022 |page=1}}</ref> ''Billboard'' then informed on February 11 that the album would be sent to radios on March 17, and released four days later.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Pepsi comes 1st to WB |magazine=Billboard |date=February 11, 1989 |volume=101 |issue=6 |page=74 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/80s/1989/BB-1989-02-11.pdf#page=70 |access-date=February 11, 2024 |issn=0006-2510}}</ref> Bray told ''[[Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine)|The Lewiston Journal]]'' that the public would be "very surprised" at the album's personal tone; "anyone expecting but get up and boogie will be most disappointed". There were reports that label executives were "biting their nails" at how ''Like a Prayer'' would be received, but these claims were soon refuted; "it's going to be a significant album [...] sure it's deep stuff, but it's not obscure or gratuitously arty", declared Bob Merlis, publicity chief for Warner Bros.<ref name="Release">{{cite journal |last1=Britt |first1=Bruce |title=Madonna album set for release |journal=[[Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine)|The Lewiston Journal]] |date=March 3, 1989 |page=7B |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6b0gAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tGkFAAAAIBAJ&hl=es&pg=1418%2C391508 |access-date=January 25, 2024}}</ref> On March 2, Spain's [[Cadena SER]] managed to play three of the album's tracks: "Like a Prayer", "Love Song", and "Act of Contrition". Rafael Revert, SER's music manager, explained that the leaks did not come from WEA.<ref name="Marketing"/> Bettina Bose, general manager to WEA Spain, revealed that SER got a [[reel-to-reel audio tape recording|reel-to-reel]] recording from Mexico, which was copied from a raw factory tape.<ref name="Marketing"/> A similar situation occurred in Chicago: on March 15, two days before radio distribution, Ric Lippincot from Z-95 radio station began airing the album on its entirety. Warner Bros sent the station a [[cease and desist]] and tried unsuccessfully to contact Lippincott, who revealed that he didn't think it was a legit court order, but a "strong request" from the label. The source of the leak remained unknown.<ref name=AIDS>{{cite journal |title=Z95 leaks Madonna LP; WB to take action // Madonna LP carries AIDS message|journal=[[Radio & Records]] |date=March 24, 1989 |issue=781 |pages=16 and 38 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Archive-RandR/1980s/1989/RR-1989-03-24.pdf |access-date=January 24, 2024}}</ref>
| |||