.

Madonna Video Nixed by MTV

Network claims that Madonna's latest video is too violent

By 
March 20, 2001 12:00 AM ET

Madonna's latest video, "What It Feels Like for a Girl," has been rejected for heavy rotation by MTV and its sister company VH1. The networks decided that the content of the four-and-a-half-minute video was too violent, so, aside from a single airing tonight at 11:30 p.m., MTV will not play the video.

 

Directed in Los Angeles last month by Madonna's husband Guy Ritchie, who directed the films Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, the video includes a scene in which the singer wraps her car around a lamp pole in what may or may not be a fatal crash.

This is not the first time that Madonna has had a video rejected by MTV. In 1990, the channel refused to show "Justify My Love" because of its steamy images, and in 1992 MTV only showed "Erotica" late at night. This time around the channel expressed concerns about charges of gratuitous violence -- particularly after recent criticism directed MTV's way after a teenage fan burned himself trying to duplicate a stunt he saw on Jackass.

In a press release issued by Madonna's label, Warner Brothers, the singer contends, "[The video] shows my character acting out a fantasy and doing things girls are not allowed to do. This is an angry song and I wanted a matching visual with an edgy dance mix."

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Papa John Phillips Dies
Music Main Next
Shaggy Back on Top

Picks From Around the Web


blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Most Popular

Photos & Videos

Go To Content

Random Notes: Hottest Rock Pictures

Go To Content Play Video

Video: Dave Grohl Sits in With the Rolling Stones

Go To Content

Gallery: 'Born Sinner' Series by J. Cole

Best Ever Lists
500 Greatest Songs of All Time

Other Lists

Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »