On March 26th of the year 1986 I walked into the local record store in my hood and decided to purchase the NEW Madonna single, Live To Tell. I was a total Madonna head (if you can’t figure that out) and decided I needed the 12″ and the 7″. The cassette-single was not available that day, and CDs were not something that was available until years later (although it did come out eventually as an import only CD, I own that too).
I knew nothing about this song except that it was going to be on her upcoming UNNAMED album (True Blue) and it was in some movie, At Close Range, that Madonna’s husband at-the-time, Sean Penn was going to star in. The rumor also circulated that she was going to sing that song in the movie (she didn’t). But then again, it didn’t matter. All I knew was there was a new Madonna in town. My mom could no longer call her a slut after hearing this song or video, or so I thought.
Anyway, that night I went back home sat on the floor and peeled the plastic saran wrap off my 12″ Vinyl to pop on the player. The only difference from the 7″ was that one of the versions on the 12″ was an LP version, which meant longer (5:53), which meant I had more time with Madonna & that was all that mattered at that time. I put on my mega-large over the ear headphones and proceeded to stare at the images you see above and listen intently. I was in my house alone and it started to rain outside. I remember looking out the front lawn and see the trees move and I knew that something else was there. I got a chill and kept listening. I think I listened to it about 30 times in a row, over and over. It was a spiritual awakening. All I knew was that someone had to take Whitney Houston out, that was the only way she was going to be number one and we could get rid of my Mom’s favorite song, Greatest Love of All. So I waited and bought a few more 7 inch singles, thinking that would help. After its Top 40 debut it took 8 weeks to get her to the top spot but the song went #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart and was her 3rd #1 single. Go Me, Enjoy below!
