Where were you when..? 25 March 1991, the weirdest date in history
- The King and Queen of Pop rock diamonds and fur at the Oscars
Michael Jackson and Madonna attended the Oscars together on 25 March 1991
It was the night Madonna described as the best date she’d ever had: she and Michael Jackson – the Queen and King of Pop – attended the Oscars together on 25 March 1991. She invited him – well, he said, ‘Who are you going with?’ and she said, ‘I don’t know, you wanna go?’ – and both were all a-sparkle. Madonna was in her Marilyn Monroe phase – all décolletage, diamonds and white fur; MJ was in diamonds, too, and a belt that looked as if he had just won the world heavyweight boxing title.
Madonna was there to perform Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Sooner or Later’ from the film Dick Tracy, which would win the Oscar for Best Song. She was coming off the back of a year when ‘Vogue’ and ‘Justify My Love’ had topped the charts around the world, and her controversial Blond Ambition tour had mixed up a cocktail of sex and Catholic imagery and made more than $60 million. She had never been hotter.
Michael – still the world’s biggest pop star – had been busy recording his Dangerous album, the follow-up to Bad. He had already acquired his reputation for extreme eccentricity. Neverland had been completed and the singer’s close friend Bubbles the chimpanzee was now seven years old (he is still alive).
MJ was single, Madonna was 18 months divorced from Sean Penn and dating rapper Vanilla Ice. Not only did she and Michael go to the after-party arm in arm, but he took her home and, she claims, they did some ‘tongue-in-mouth kissing’. We don’t believe her…
Also the year that…
Rollerblades got in line, while Chesney Hawkes had his one and only chart topper
● Bungee jumping and Rollerblading were all the rage. ‘In your face’ was the latest hip speak.
● ‘The One and Only’ by Chesney Hawkes was riding high in the charts.
● Mike Leigh’s Life Is Sweet topped the UK box office, while Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II stormed the US.
● The Nintendo Game Boy had been on sale for six months in Europe, and Christian Dior launched Dune perfume.
Life Is Sweet topped the UK box office; the Nintendo Game Boy gripped the nation’s youth