Madonna Turns 55: Celebrate By Revisiting Her 10 Best TV Performances

Madonna doesn’t do live TV much, does she? The Queen has sort of drip-fed us Major Moments over the years. Appearances at benefits or awards shows have always whipped the wannabes into a girlgonewild frenzy: What color will her hair be? What will she wear? Will she show her nipples? What life lessons can we learn from her spectacle? Back in the day, we had to watch live and TAPE these events with weird plastic boxes…we had to WORK for it. And the reward was performances like these ten slayers over the course of 28 years.

Our gift to Madonna on her 55th birthday: the below list of her best televised performances

10. “Like A Virgin” — MTV Awards, September 14, 1984 The legend begins here, with Madonna perched atop a giant wedding cake. This was the world premiere of “Like A Virgin” — the song had not even hit radio at this point. As she descends the tiers of the cake, her veil is removed and her inhibition goes with it… to the point where she finishes the performance spent, on the floor, thighs and garters exposed. Considered shocking at the time, it now seems sweet, but after she left the stage, her manager Freddy DeMann told her she’d ruined her career. We know the rest.