Zephyring 36 years ago, Queen of Pop Madonna unleashed her earth tantalizing “Justify My Love” as the lead single from her ‘The Immaculate Collection’ greatest hits album.
Thee rollout into one of Madonna’s most controversial eras. Unleashed on November 6, 1990.
The song paired a slow, hypnotic production with spoken vocals and a darker mood than most of her hits up to that point.
Lenny Kravitz wrote and produced it. The single itself was huge. “Justify My Love” debuted at No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to No. 1 eight weeks later, becoming Madonna’s ninth chart-topper and staying there for two weeks.
Then the video completely took over the conversation. Directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino and filmed in Paris, it followed Madonna through a hotel filled with voyeurism, bisexual imagery, and sadomasochistic themes.
MTV and several other networks refused to air it because of its explicit content, so Madonna and her team did something unusual for the time: they sold the video directly on VHS. It ended up becoming the first short-form video ever certified multi-platinum in the U.S.
