Nazis and Nudity: The Top 10 Madonna Controversies

If YouTube had existed when “Justify My Love” was released in 1990, the extremely NSFW music video would have gone viral in minutes, if not seconds. But this was the 1990s, and after MTV deemed the sexually explicit video unfit for television, Madge released it as the first-ever single in VHS format (still available online, for any of you who still own a VCR). It hit stores at just under $10 a copy and later became the top-selling video single of all time. The five-minute video presents a platter of sexual fantasies and controversial themes: androgyny, sadomasochism, bisexuality, sex with multiple partners — the list goes on. When ABC’s Nightline interviewed Madonna about the controversy, she said she knew the video didn’t fit with MTV’s guidelines, but she thought the execs might bend the rules for her. She said the controversy wasn’t something she planned or foresaw, but something that “just happened.”

Next The Four-Letter-Word-Laced Letterman Interview