Like a Prayer

Madonna had spent most of 1988 away from the recording studio. After the poor reception of her films Shanghai Surprise and Who's That Girl, she had acted on Broadway in Speed-the-Plow, only to face unfavorable reviews again. In January 1989 she filed for divorce from Sean Penn, and she had just turned 30, the age at which her mother had died. Out of that turmoil came "Like a Prayer", the lead single from her fourth album, which she wrote with producer Patrick Leonard in about three hours after choosing his music over Stephen Bray's. It was the first song developed for the record, and she drew on her Catholic upbringing, introducing liturgical words with a dual meaning of religion and sexual innuendo that Leonard, uncomfortable with the lyrics, had asked her to change.

Released by Sire Records on March 3, 1989, the single topped the charts of twenty countries and became Madonna's seventh number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for three consecutive weeks. Recorded around September 1988 with a choir led by Andraé Crouch, it also featured rock guitar from musicians including Chester Kamen, David Williams and Dann Huff, hired after the original drummers canceled.

The Mary Lambert-directed music video proved divisive. Showing burning crosses, stigmata and Madonna kissing a black saint, it drew condemnation from the Vatican and protests from religious groups. Pepsi, which had used the song in a commercial, canceled its sponsorship contract with Madonna but let her keep the $5 million fee.