Madonna on the cover of the 1000th issue of Hot Press

Irish magazine Hot Press celebrates its 1000th issue looking back at five decades of music and culture with five different cover artworks.

Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher, who graced the first ever Hot Press cover back in June 1977, was a straightforward choice for the magazine’s ’70s cover. The U2 represent the ’80s, Amy Winehouse the ’00s and the final cover features the biggest selling Irish artist of the ’10s, Hozier. The artist chosen by the magazine as the icon of the ’90s doesn’t come from the Republic of Ireland of Great Britain, but we can’t think of a better choice.

For our ’90s cover, we feature the biggest pop artist of her generation, and possibly the most influential female performer of all time. Madonna has spent her career embodying much of what Hot Press is all about – she’s pushed the boundaries of pop music, reinvented her music and image time and again, and her progressive outlook on issues like sex and gender have drawn controversy from more conservative bases (not that that’s ever stopped her from doing what she wants…)

Hot Press: The 1000th Issue hits the newsstands and will be available online from Thursday, 17 October.