Madonna's been breaking taboos since Day One, but one of her most infamous moments happened 25 years ago this week, when "Justify My Love" became the first single off her Immaculate Collection.

It was actually the subsequent video that sparked controversy: Shot by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, and inspired by the 1963 Jeanne Moreau-Claude Mann film Bay of Angels, it featured the Material Girl writhing around a hotel with an assortment of gender-f**king boys and girls, including boy toy Tony Ward.

MTV rejected the video but instead of editing or re-shooting, Madge sold it as a "video single"—practically unheard of at a time when videos aired for free all over cable—and made fat bank.

Think about it: A 5-minute VHS tape that cost $10 a pop sold one million copies.

The song, of course, benefited from the heat surrounding the video: "Justify My Love" was No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 for two weeks and, by the following February, it had gone platinum.

Madonna said she was disappointed MTV decided not to air the video. "Why is it that people are willing to go and watch a movie about someone getting blown to bits for no reason at all, and nobody wants to see two girls kissing and two men snuggling?"

As for what she considered acceptable or unacceptable, the Grammy winner declared, "I draw the line at violence and humiliation and degradation."

Ironically, while "Justify My Love" does play with BDSM, androgyny and voyeurism, it's hardly controversial by 2015 standards. (Watch an episode of How to Get Away with Murder if you don't believe us.)

In 2002, 12 years after its release, the video for "Justify My Love" aired on MTV2 as part of a countdown of the most controversial music videos ever.