Madonna‘s career-defining fifth studio album Erotica turns 30 this week and, to mark the occasion, the singer quietly dropped the maxi-single to the album’s sixth track, Bad Girl, onto music streamers. It includes a six-and-a-half minute extended cut of the song and is the first time the maxi-single has been made available on digital platforms.
Bad Girl was Erotica’s third single and tells the story of a big city woman desperate to escape her reality, so she engages in all sorts of naughty, self-destructive behavior, including drinking, chain smoking, and sleeping with strangers (which, for the record, we don’t consider self-destructive today, but, remember, this was the puritanical ’90s.)
Upon its release, Bad Girl received positive reviews from critics, although commercially it only reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Madonna’s first single to miss the top 30 or top 20. Today, however, it’s a fan favorite and often considered one of her most underrated songs.
The accompanying music video was directed by David Fincher, who would later go on to direct major blockbuster films including Fight Club, Panic Room, and Gone Girl. In it, Madonna plays Louise Oriole, a successful Manhattan businesswoman addicted to expensive cigarettes and one-night stands. Christopher Walken (random) stars as her guardian angel, but he’s clearly not very good at the job because she ends up being murdered by one of her stranger d*cks in the end. Eek!
In addition to the extended cut of Bad Girl, the maxi-single also includes several additional edits and remixes of the song Fever, the album’s fourth single and a house-style remake of the Peggy Lee classic.
Watch the music video for Bad Girl below…
While you’re here, check out her performance of Fever on Saturday Night Live…