The Video Collection 93:99

Background

On September 2, 1999, Warner Bros. Records announced the release of the video album, then titled as The Video Collection 92–99. Released in VHS and DVD, the collection featured 14 videos, including "Drowned World/Substitute for Love", which was not released in the United States as a single, hence was not commercially available prior to the release of Video Collection. The videos in the collection was selected personally by Madonna, who felt the 14 videos to be her best work. The collection had included the 1992 song "Erotica", but it was later omitted due to the sexual content present in the music video; instead the song "The Power of Good-Bye" was added and the collection was renamed as The Video Collection 93:99.

The video release was supposed to be in mid-October, but was pushed to November 2, 1999. The DVD release was to also include an accompanying compact disc with the audio to the videos as a dual-disc Greatest hits album, but was cancelled and the release only included a DVD. The original plan was to have the release coincide with the 1999 world tour which Madonna mentioned in an interview with Larry King the same year. This was also cancelled and postponed until 2001, Madonna instead releasing an audio greatest hits collection GHV2 and embarked on the Drowned World Tour that same year.

Critical reception

Heather Phares from Allmusic gave it five out of five stars and said: "Madonna's Video Collection: 1993-1999 adds to her status as one of the best represented artists on DVD. [...] Though it doesn't offer much in the way of DVD-specific features, the artistry of directors like Mark Romanek, Stephane Sedaoui, David Fincher, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, as well as Madonna herself, is on full display with videos like 'Take a Bow', 'Bedtime Story', 'Human Nature', 'Frozen', and 'Ray of Light'. All in all, it's a worthwhile collection of memorable videos from one of pop's trendsetters." Bryan Chin from University Wire commented "Some people really dislike the Madonna of the '90s. 'Oh, she got so slutty!, they quibble. 'She doesn't have the same kind of cultural impact that she had in the '80s,' they whine. Obviously, these people haven't been paying much attention. With the recent release of The Video Collection 93:99, however, those naysayers are certain to realize what they've been missing. These videos have always been the perfect outlet to chronicle Madonna's smorgasbord of personas." Francis Dass from New Straits Times commented: "Madonna, the pop icon of the 20th century, remains at the forefront of self-promotion and marketing with the release of her music video compilation on VCD format. The collection shows that she is still able to maintain her relevance to the nasty world of music and she is still the queen of re-invention." Jay Webb from The Dallas Morning News felt that the videos on the collection showed "Madonna's true artistic self" but added that such artistic phase was incompletely catalogued in the collection. Jeremy Kinser from The Advocate gave the collection a positive review, complimenting "the showcase of such classic and artistic videos". He listed "Ray of Light", "Bad Girl" and "Take a Bow" as the high-points of the collection, while the inclusion of "Fever" and "Human Nature" was criticized. Jose Promis from Allmovie felt that "[t]he decision to include virtual non-hits such as 'Love Don't Live Here Anymore' over smashes such as 'You'll See' or 'I'll Remember' is bewildering, making this collection a decidedly mixed bag."

Commercial performance

The collection debuted at 36 on Billboard's Top Music Videos chart on December 4, 1999 and the second week it moved 23 places to 13. The next week it reached a peak of eight on the chart, remaining at the position for three additional weeks. Video Collection reached the peak of eight again on the Billboard issue dated February 5, 2000. It was present on the Music Video chart for a total of 32 weeks. On November 13, 2008, the DVD was certified platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of 100,000 copies. It was also certified platinum in Argentina by the Argentine Chamber of Phonograms and Videograms Producers (CAPIF) for shipment of 15,000 copies, as well as gold in Brazil by the Associação Brasileira dos Produtores de Discos (ABPD) for shipment of 25,000 copies. After ten weeks of staying at the top of the Danish Top 10 DVD chart, Video Collection made a re-entry on the chart at five, on February 14, 2001.

The Ultimate Collection

On September 18, 2000, a box set titled The Ultimate Collection was released, which contained The Video Collection 93:99 and The Immaculate Collection. R.S. Murthy from New Straits Times said that "this boxed set offers Madonna fans and the Madonna initiates a very good collection of her videos, and helps them understand the wonder that Madonna is." Jeremy Jennings from the St. Paul Pioneer Press listed the box set as one of the most promising collection in his list of "Best Fall CDs" for 2000. Robin Givhan from The Washington Post called the collection "A veritable homage to the many faces of Madonna, from her current ghetto cowboy incarnation to her old boy-toy persona, the collection featured duded-up music videos and many pictures—a reminder of Madonna as the queen of re-invention."

Track listing and formats