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It's hard to imagine...


ryan

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That Madonna recorded this song:

When she looked like this:

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And I have always wondered, just what if there was no controversy with Pepsi..., what if the commercial wasn't pulled, and Pepsi went on to sponsor the 1989 Like a Prayer World Tour..., would we have gotten the same Express Yourself video? Would Madonna have kept the brunette hair or continue to bleach it blond?

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This is an interesting topic...I never thought of any of this. I didn't even know there was a tour linked to the Pepsi deal. So she was supposed to tour through Pepsi for a Like A Prayer tour? Was that supposed to be the Blond Ambition tour with the brunette hair and the cone bra look? I'm confused...but intrigued by this conversation! :)

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It's all in the Pepsi advertisements, they were going to sponsor a 1989 tour. (BA would later be sponsored by Pioneer)

If Pepsi didn't pull the commercial and cancel the deal, Madonna wouldn't have taken on the role of Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy, and there wouldn't have been a need to dye her hair.

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It's all in the Pepsi advertisements, they were going to sponsor a 1989 tour. (BA would later be sponsored by Pioneer)

If Pepsi didn't pull the commercial and cancel the deal, Madonna wouldn't have taken on the role of Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy, and there wouldn't have been a need to dye her hair.

Oooohhhhhhh this is all enlightening. I do believe you're right in thinking that things would've shifted drastically in another direction, image wise. Could the Like a Prayer tour name have fit the Blond Ambition tour setlist? I think so right...so it could've still been the same with her as a brunette being the only difference but it would've definitely changed the impact and overall feel of the tour. She would've been more of a vixen as opposed to the blond bombshell. Idk...it's interesting cause as a blond conquering the world, that was more iconic for so many reasons and in so many ways then if she would've been a brunette.

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Controversy in the earlier half of her career pushed her into more provocative areas. Thank God for those intimidated by her influence on a generation and the media culture of the time. All of it led to Blond Ambition, the Justify My Love video, Erotica, and SEX.

And all of that would give birth to Human Nature.

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Oooohhhhhhh this is all enlightening. I do believe you're right in thinking that things would've shifted drastically in another direction, image wise. Could the Like a Prayer tour name have fit the Blond Ambition tour setlist? I think so right...so it could've still been the same with her as a brunette being the only difference but it would've definitely changed the impact and overall feel of the tour. She would've been more of a vixen as opposed to the blond bombshell. Idk...it's interesting cause as a blond conquering the world, that was more iconic for so many reasons and in so many ways then if she would've been a brunette.

In July 1990, when M hit Paris for BAT, there was an article for the french newspaper "Liberation" that featured an interview with Jean Paul Gauliter. Inside there were original sketches of the costumes he made prior to the ones that were selected by Madonna. On these sketches she appears as a brunette with the same hairdo as in the "Like a prayer" video, she wears a bathrobe because he wanted her to take a shower on stage ( which she replaced by the masturbation scene. On the back of the bathrobe there was a tag "Taste Heaven". In this interview he talked about the "La Isla Bonita" costumes and how at the last minute he had to redo all the costumes because from when he took Madonna's measurements to the time she was about to start the tour she had lost a lot of weight and his team was forced to go to L.A to re-size everything.

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It's not hard to imagine if you were paying attention at the time. :lol: Just as True Blue was recorded with Live Aid/Shanghai Surprise hair... some of Erotica with A League Of Their Own hair... Bedtime Stories with Letterman/Rodman hair... American Life with Swept Away/Die Another Day hair... and so on.

It's all in the Pepsi advertisements, they were going to sponsor a 1989 tour. (BA would later be sponsored by Pioneer)

If Pepsi didn't pull the commercial and cancel the deal, Madonna wouldn't have taken on the role of Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy, and there wouldn't have been a need to dye her hair.

Not true. Dick Tracy was signed off on in '88 and began filiming at the beginning of February 1989, a month before the "Like A Prayer"/Pepsi controversy.

Talked about this a while back... this is Madonna at the release party for Like A Prayer:

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She was already in "Breathless" mode and used props from the set of Dick Tracy in the "Express Yourself" video (namely her suit).

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VINTAGE POST BONUS: 1989 hair history.

1989 began with an earthy, brunette Madonna ready to unleash the Like A Prayer project...

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Before the album was even out she was prepping for her role as Breathless Mahoney, first dabbling with a blonde streak through the front of her hair. The Pepsi commercial was filmed with this look and Vogue magazine removed it from a cover photo via airbrushing...

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By the time Like A Prayer was released in March, she had morphed into Breathless Mahoney, a look further immortalized in the simultaniously filmed "Express Yourself" video...

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Once filming wrapped on Dick Tracy, she began sporting a short, ash blonde cut as seen in the "Cherish" video... and then just sort of let it go grow for the rest of the year. Mesmerize yourself by watching its progress via the 1989 MTV VMA performance of "Express Yourself", the roots reaching their critical peak in the video for "Oh Father"...

1989HAIR04.png1989HAIR05.png

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Then she went dark and slick for a look captured in photo shoots used by Cosmopolitan and Interview magazines, on the "Keep It Together" single sleeve, in the Blond Ambition tour book and, most famously, all up and through The Immaculate Collection...

1989HAIR06.png1989HAIR07.png


In early 1990, it was time to promote Dick Tracy and what better image to do so with than a match of her appearance in the film? Unfortunately, the poor dear initially had trouble achieving platinum. This brassy look was masked by the black and white film used for the "Vogue" video, but was featured in full living color as a Vanity Fair cover shoot.

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Fret not, she was back to platinum in time for the launch of the Blond Ambition Tour...

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Guest Not4Pussies

Then she went dark and slick for a look captured in photo shoots used by Cosmopolitan and Interview magazines, on the "Keep It Together" single sleeve, in the Blond Ambition tour book and, most famously, all up and through The Immaculate Collection...

1989HAIR06.png1989HAIR07.png

In early 1990, it was time to promote Dick Tracy and what better image to do so with than a match of her appearance in the film? Unfortunately, the poor dear initially had trouble achieving platinum. This brassy look was masked by the black and white film used for the "Vogue" video, but was featured in full living color as a Vanity Fair cover shoot.

1989HAIR09.png1989HAIR08.png

Fret not, she was back to platinum in time for the launch of the Blond Ambition Tour...

blondambitch.pngblondambitch2.png

thanx mattress for this! yeah i dont think pepsi had anything to do with the change of hair color for the tour.

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It's all in the Pepsi advertisements, they were going to sponsor a 1989 tour. (BA would later be sponsored by Pioneer)

If Pepsi didn't pull the commercial and cancel the deal, Madonna wouldn't have taken on the role of Breathless Mahoney in Dick Tracy, and there wouldn't have been a need to dye her hair.

Not true, in fact, Just as the album was about to come out, she spoke to Rolling Stone in early '89, she was about dye her hair for DICK TRACY. This (the actual interview took place) was before LIKE A PRAYER the song and the Pepsi video was released. She filmed "Express Yourself" when she was in early stages of DICK TRACY. She had every intention to do DICK TRACY before touring. I just don't think she thought that far ahead regarding the tour and maybe thought she'd start the tour later in '89.

I believe there were supposed to be follow up Pepsi commercials which featured follow up singles.

EDIT... I just saw Matt commenting the same. ;)

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I've always wondered why she dyed her hair jet black and cut it so short mere months before commencing the Blond Ambition Tour. Surely she would have known she was going to destroy her hair in the process. I believe this is why she dropped the ponytail and went for the curls mid tour and not because the ponytail was pulling her hair out. It was probably falling out from all the bleaching.

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Whoopie, I have often thought about that. So weird to think she was a brunette when she recorded that song.

And Mattress, you never cease to amaze me!

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wow, i love this thread!!!! And love how can things go very differently if something happens or not. I mean, if Pepsi had sponsored the tour, BAT Wouldn't have existed!

In a paralell universe there's a very different Madonna career right now!

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In July 1990, when M hit Paris for BAT, there was an article for the french newspaper "Liberation" that featured an interview with Jean Paul Gauliter. Inside there were original sketches of the costumes he made prior to the ones that were selected by Madonna. On these sketches she appears as a brunette with the same hairdo as in the "Like a prayer" video, she wears a bathrobe because he wanted her to take a shower on stage ( which she replaced by the masturbation scene. On the back of the bathrobe there was a tag "Taste Heaven". In this interview he talked about the "La Isla Bonita" costumes and how at the last minute he had to redo all the costumes because from when he took Madonna's measurements to the time she was about to start the tour she had lost a lot of weight and his team was forced to go to L.A to re-size everything.

DSC00543.jpg

Ah ah ah that's my thumb right there :)

I posted these on drownedmadonna in 2005. The la isla bonita costumes were inspired by mexican dia de los muertos with skeletor rib cages clothes from his current collection at the time. Then she decided to switch La isla bonita for Holiday hence why Holiday is the only costume not made by Gaultier but by Marlene Stewart.

The blond streak Madonna has in the Pepsi commercial is due to screen tests for Dick tracy. *She wanted to to tour as brunette with her bob for blond ambition tour first then changed her mind because it was supposed to promote dick tracy. Jean Paul Gaultier then had all the final costumes sketched by his longtime sketcher Thierry Perez. It's only at the premiere of Blond ambition in Japan that he discovered the ponytail (which he was not very fond of but it seems like he changed his mind through time since it appeared on his recent collections) (*from Jean-Paul Gaultier Blond ambition diary in french Glamour 1990)

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Ah ah ah that's my thumb right there :)

I posted these on drownedmadonna in 2005. The la isla bonita costumes were inspired by mexican dia de los muertos with skeletor rib cages clothes from his current collection at the time. Then she decided to switch La isla bonita for Holiday hence why Holiday is the only costume not made by Gaultier but by Marlene Stewart.

The blond streak Madonna has in the Pepsi commercial is due to screen tests for Dick tracy. *She wanted to to tour as brunette with her bob for blond ambition tour first then changed her mind because it was supposed to promote dick tracy. Jean Paul Gaultier then had all the final costumes sketched by his longtime sketcher Thierry Perez. It's only at the premiere of Blond ambition in Japan that he discovered the ponytail (which he was not very fond of but it seems like he changed his mind through time since it appeared on his recent collections) (*from Jean-Paul Gaultier Blond ambition diary in french Glamour 1990)

Thank you for this!!!

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The la isla bonita costumes were inspired by mexican dia de los muertos with skeletor rib cages clothes from his current collection at the time. Then she decided to switch La isla bonita for Holiday hence why Holiday is the only costume not made by Gaultier but by Marlene Stewart.

What...? I thought Gaultier designed Holiday costume.

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