Erotica (Madonna album)  

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Erotica is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on October 20, 1992 by Maverick Records. The album and Madonna's first book publication, Sex, a coffee-table book containing explicit photographs featuring the singer released simultaneously with Erotica, mark Madonna's first release with Maverick, her own multi-media entertainment company, which consisted of a record and film production companies. Madonna incorporated an alter-ego for both Erotica and Sex named Mistress Dita, inspired by actress Dita Parlo; she talks about sex and romance throughout the album. However, other songs also take on a more confessional tone, influenced by the loss of Madonna's two close friends to AIDS.

Erotica incorporates influences from house music, new jack swing, and lounge music. Madonna recorded the album in New York City with Shep Pettibone and André Betts while she was working on other projects. Pettibone sent her a tape with three songs when she was in Chicago and shortly after, they started the album's production in his apartment. During the sessions, they also had problems during sequencing, which according to Pettibone he had to keep things moving as fast as possible as he would not want to Madonna lost interest in music. According to him, her compositions were serious and intense and directed the creative direction of the songs into a deeply personal territory. The album's production was chronicled by Pettibone in an article called "Erotica Diaries", on Madonna's Icon magazine.

After it was released, it received generally favorable reviews from music critics. Some of them believed that it is one of Madonna's most adventurous albums of her career and also praised Madonna's comments on tabboos and AIDS; however, others criticized Madonna's voice and the dance-based music. Erotica was less successful than Madonna's previous records, peaking at number two in the United States and the United Kingdom, being certified double-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It topped the charts in Australia and France, while peaking the top five in Canada, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and other countries.

Six singles were released from the album, with the title track and "Deeper and Deeper" becoming a top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was supported by Madonna's fourth concert tour, Girlie Show World Tour. The concert opened with a topless dancer performing in a pole dance, causing controversy in some countries the tour visited. During the concert in Puerto Rico, Madonna rubbed the island's flag between her legs on stage, revolting the island's government. With the album's release, its accompaining book Sex and Madonna's role on the erotic thriller film Body of Evidence, critics commented that "she had gone too far" and her career was over. Also, the album was banned in some regions and the Vatican banned Madonna from entering the state and her music was banned on its radio stations, among other regions.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Erotica (Madonna album)" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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