I have no idea why this did not get on to GHV2, great vid too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7kjp2tbiqM

paper said:

I have no idea why this did not get on to GHV2, great vid too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7kjp2tbiqM

One of my favorite late 1990s Madonna songs.

I was never that crazy about this song I wonder why they chose this to be a single,instead of superior songs like "Sky Fits Heaven" and "Drowned World/Substitute For Love"?

I think the album is crap but this track is one of the few (MAYBE THREE) that I like. She is really an singles artist.

SoulAlive said:

I was never that crazy about this song I wonder why they chose this to be a single,instead of superior songs like "Sky Fits Heaven" and "Drowned World/Substitute For Love"?

"Drowned World/Substitute For Love" was a #1 single in Spain

PANDURITO said:

SoulAlive said:

I was never that crazy about this song I wonder why they chose this to be a single,instead of superior songs like "Sky Fits Heaven" and "Drowned World/Substitute For Love"?

"Drowned World/Substitute For Love" was a #1 single in Spain

Wasn't it top 5 in the UK too? I could've sworn she released it there. Just checked it hit #10 in the UK. A video of that song I saw on VH-1 but it wasn't released here.

[Edited 11/25/10 15:58pm]

it's alright.

very pedestrian for that album, though.

errant said:

it's alright.

very pedestrian for that album, though.

it pales in comparison to the other tracks.

The video is fantastic but the song is pretty average and sounds so dated compared to the rest of the album that's still fresh-sounding.

Obviously it wasn't on GHV2 because it was not exactly a hit, and unlike "Drowned World", it wasn't performed on tour (even though the Geisha theme was one of the segments).

LiveToTell86 said:

The video is fantastic but the song is pretty average and sounds so dated compared to the rest of the album that's still fresh-sounding.

Obviously it wasn't on GHV2 because it was not exactly a hit, and unlike "Drowned World", it wasn't performed on tour (even though the Geisha theme was one of the segments).

it was going to be part of the ReInvention Tour between Vogue and Nobody Knows Me, but got dropped before the tour started.

I don't really like this song.

The whole track listing of GHV2 was disappointing to me. A lot of Erotica hits were overlooked for annoying songs like "beautiful stranger" (which in my opinion is one of Madonna's worst hits).

They didn't bother to even include "this used to be my playground" - a billboard 100 #1.

I don't really like this song.

One of those Madonna singles that didn't set the charts on fire, for unknown reasons...

This single had it all: catchy chorus, a good rhythm for the clubs, trendy production, epic message, etc.

Love this song. One of my favorites by her. I hope she will do it again live some day.

JoeTyler said:

One of those Madonna singles that didn't set the charts on fire, for unknown reasons...

This single had it all: catchy chorus, a good rhythm for the clubs, trendy production, epic message, etc.

it didn't go anywhere in the US because they botched the single release. they waited too long to release it after they'd sent it to radio and released the video. and it had already been released in other regions on time. they'd basically decided to cancel the single release, but fans complained, and they went ahead and rushed it out since it had already been printed as they were prepping the promotion for "Beautiful Stranger". basically, they'd abandoned it in the US before it even hit the shelves.

errant said:

JoeTyler said:

One of those Madonna singles that didn't set the charts on fire, for unknown reasons...

This single had it all: catchy chorus, a good rhythm for the clubs, trendy production, epic message, etc.

it didn't go anywhere in the US because they botched the single release. they waited too long to release it after they'd sent it to radio and released the video. and it had already been released in other regions on time. they'd basically decided to cancel the single release, but fans complained, and they went ahead and rushed it out since it had already been printed as they were prepping the promotion for "Beautiful Stranger". basically, they'd abandoned it in the US before it even hit the shelves.

nice info. Was that the beginning of the end? I mean, was that the first time that Madonna was truly pissed with Warners?

two years after that Warners ruined the "Impressive Instant" single as well, and then the "American Life" video in 2003...

JoeTyler said:

errant said:

it didn't go anywhere in the US because they botched the single release. they waited too long to release it after they'd sent it to radio and released the video. and it had already been released in other regions on time. they'd basically decided to cancel the single release, but fans complained, and they went ahead and rushed it out since it had already been printed as they were prepping the promotion for "Beautiful Stranger". basically, they'd abandoned it in the US before it even hit the shelves.

nice info. Was that the beginning of the end? I mean, was that the first time that Madonna was truly pissed with Warners?

two years after that Warners ruined the "Impressive Instant" single as well, and then the "American Life" video in 2003...

I wouldn't lay the blame for the "American Life" video at Warners' feet. She's the one that pulled the original.

And no, I don't think she gave a shit about the NRM single. They were trying not to release the single because they knew it was going to tank. Remember that halfway through the lifespan of ROL, Billboard had changed the charts to allow radio-only tracks to chart. WB were adjusting their strategy for that, but the the ROL project had run out of steam by then and NRM never caught on at radio. Plus, she was already on to other things, and they were hyping up for "Beautiful Stranger". NRM only even got a release because fans complained.

Had they not released NRM as a physical single and instead put the resources into a Beautiful Stranger release, she wouldn't have had her lowest charting single to date and ended up with a smash #1 single. BS was everywhere without a physical single. NRM went nowhere with one.

Madonna is her own worst enemy sometimes.

I can't believe that after what 15 years in the music biz after all her hits and 100 million albums or whatever, it was THIS song she chose to do on her first ever Grammys performance, not even a medley with the other hits from the record...when this was her FIRST TIME being acknowledged in Album of the Year, Record of the Year (she wuz robbed when that stupid Record of the Year went to "My Heart Will Go On!!!"...shows what a JOKE the Grammys are anyway; however Lauryn Hill did deserve best album that year, no doubt)...she looked amazing but wow that song did nothing for her, and that performance did her no favors with those boots she couldn't walk in, the lame recreation of this average video...the director really redeemed himself with the brilliant 'Hung Up' clip though.

JoeTyler said:

errant said:

it didn't go anywhere in the US because they botched the single release. they waited too long to release it after they'd sent it to radio and released the video. and it had already been released in other regions on time. they'd basically decided to cancel the single release, but fans complained, and they went ahead and rushed it out since it had already been printed as they were prepping the promotion for "Beautiful Stranger". basically, they'd abandoned it in the US before it even hit the shelves.

nice info. Was that the beginning of the end? I mean, was that the first time that Madonna was truly pissed with Warners?

two years after that Warners ruined the "Impressive Instant" single as well, and then the "American Life" video in 2003...

Impressive Instant would have kicked fucking ASS as a single!!! WB fucked up SO many single releases for Prince and Madge over the years..."Mountains" and "Keep it Together" should both be signature number one hits!!!!!!!!!!

II rocks. Best Madonna songs of the 2000-2009 era:

Get Together

Jump

Impressive Instant

Love Profusion

Hollywood

Nobody's Perfect

Future Lovers

Sorry

WIFLFAG

Paradise

Like It or Not

...in my ever so humble opinion

dude thought u were talkin about da metallica song. now thats a tune.

if u want 2 listen 2 a madonna track 4 me its power of goodbye.

ehuffnsd said:

it was going to be part of the ReInvention Tour between Vogue and Nobody Knows Me, but got dropped before the tour started.

Actually that info came from an unconfirmed source, like a lot of RIT setlist speculation. In the end Madonna Tribe only confirmed a handful of cut songs (including "Swim" that was in the place of "Frozen") but NRM wasn't there. I'd think she considered it for the Geisha segment of DWT but since it's a dance song, she scrapped the idea (reportedly she wanted to dance as few as possible in that show, due to her long break from touring).

There was only one single from Erotica missing that could be called a "hit" and it was excluded because her ballad hits were released on Something To Remember.

"Beautiful Stranger" is one of Madonna's biggest 90s hits, for a long time it was the most played song ever on UK radio, there's absolutely NO way it could have been left out from GHV2, unlike the mid-90s ballad hits that didn't really make a big impact in Europe.

That's all correct, but you can't ignore the fact that Madonna's US airplay was at the worst state since 1983 in the ROL era, both the title track and "...Good-Bye" got mediocre airplay, so the 4th single was unlikely to get a big chart impact, regardless of the staggered single release.

Like errant said, she probably didn't care, but it was not the first Warner screw-up. It started with "Human Nature", the maxi-single came out TWO months after the regular single in the US, and that caused the single not to crack the top 40. Yet "Take A Bow" had all of its formats released on the same day (though it was more than 2 months before it hit #1).

A bigger screw-up was "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", where they didn't plan to release a single, the maxi-single was a last minute thing when airplay was fading, they should have released a regular 2-track single. They most likely robbed her from another #1 hit (a top 3 single at the very least).

Correct me if I'm wrong, but on that night, didn't Lauryn Hill also sing an album track/later single? They chose NRM because it's relatively the easiest song to sing from the 4 singles (after VMA and EMA, I bet ROL and TPOG were banned plus the only time she sang "Frozen" live was the Rainforest Benefit that was not a broadcast event), and obviously they wanted to do cross-promotion, not to mention highlighting a different song for the audience who didn't necessarily check out the show for Madonna/didn't buy the album for the other 3 singles. The rest is up to personal taste, the Grammy voters are people too, both Celine and Lauryn had three times the hype Madonna got in 1998, the Titanic thing was a shoe-in. However, I agree that it's ridiculous that it was the first time she got recognized, but of course that's also due to the hype Madonna got, the people behind Grammy thought it was finally "cool" to honor Madonna for her achievements.

Same goes for the performance, I think it's better than any of her 1998 performances, but maybe because it's the only time she performed this song so it's kinda special. And like I said, I love the video so I didn't mind the recreation on stage, and I think it walks over the "Hung Up" video, which is what I'd call 'average' and it's almost impossible to believe it was the same director helming the videos.