to force the cancellation of the concert in Tel Aviv, Israel. However, the rallies were unsuccessful as the show went on as scheduled. The Girlie Show received positive reviews from critics, and was a commercial success, grossing around US$70 million. Critical reception Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic described the album as "ambitious" and noted that Erotica contains some of Madonna's best and most accomplished music. Paul Verna from Billboard considered it her most varied and creatively challenging collection to date, as well as "bottomless with potential hit singles". Arion Berger of Rolling Stone praised the album's "cold, remote sound", and wrote that "Erotica is everything Madonna has been denounced for being — meticulous, calculated, domineering and artificial. It accepts those charges and answers with a brilliant record to prove them". NME said: "When Erotica the album is good – i.e. when it's funny, original, lively and, yes, sexy – it's about as good as the modern media event gets." J. D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun stated that the most surprising thing on the songs is that they find Madonna singing about love, not about sex. Phil Sutcliffe gave three stars in a review for Q, writing: "The biggest surprise is 'Deeper and Deeper', which could be mistaken for a bopalong tribute to Kylie. However, the substance of Erotica resides in a range of straight-talking, almost intimate songs based, not on an idea about sex, but on experience of relationships." In a retrospective review in Blender, Tony Power concluded: "That female artists (except Millie Jackson) never come on this strongly makes Erotica shocking and, well, arousing." The Independents Giles Smith noted that Erotica revealed that "unlike Jackson and Prince and Springsteen and the rest of her established, major league competition, Madonna's albums are still getting better each time". Charles Aaron from Spin noted that the album is a brave comment on the chilly, tragic detachment of sex under AIDS. Stylus Magazine commented that each song has its own energy. He also noted that "Erotica was too sophisticated for a mainstream besotted with The Bodyguard and a college-radio claque eager to praise R.E.M.'s opaque dirges for the wisdom that Madonna's club fodder showed with less fuss and with a better rhythm section". Robert Christgau commented that "The singer doesn't have great pipes, but because she's too hip to belt [this time], she doesn't need them. She's in control, all understated presence